Grand Meadows Cares Series: Do You Really Understand Your Horse’s Digestive System?

by Nikki Alvin-Smith

The delicate nature of a horse’s digestive system is widely known, but a full understanding of what happens where and why is not always as well known. The questions of how and what grain to feed, whether any grain should be fed at all, how forage balances the horse’s diet, and how equine feed supplements fit into the nutritional equation are not easy to address. Especially given the different breeds and sizes of Equus, their variant lifestyles and litany of horse management protocols that the equine caregiver follows.

Confusion reigns supreme when it comes to what to throw in the feed bucket and how to know if the horse’s health is on the right track or in decline. The horse’s health faces seasonal challenges, changes in stress levels and performance criteria and the inevitable issues all our digestive and immune systems face that are caused simply by aging up.

Horse Owners’ Ambivalence To Scope Out The Equine Digestive System

Resourcing a simple answer that scopes out the horse’s digestive system and is replete with straightforward and earnest advice is not always easy for the horse owner to locate. Biology was not everyone’s favorite class in school, and digesting technical talk and scientifically-backed research papers is not approachable for many folks, even if they had the time to spend at the task.

Sadly, until an Equus is in real trouble health wise, the horse owner is often ambivalent about checking out the details of the horse’s alimentary canal and how it actually works. Reliance on the veterinary surgeon’s advice may offer a generic viewpoint based on their own experience as an ambulatory service provides where they are expected to be master of all, in the vast field of equine science. It can be very helpful for the veterinary professional who is tasked to explain the machinations of the equine nutritional processes and needs during an equine medical crisis, if the horse owner has a basic working knowledge of how the animal’s digestive system operates.

The ABC’s Of Equine Digestion

Grand Meadows’ owner, Nick Hartog, brings his down to earth British approach to a series of short and readily accessible video chats on the topic of equine digestion that offer a nose to tail understanding of the horse’s digestive system.

Start with watching these videos, you will learn a lot and be entertained. We promise these horse videos are not boring!

And then read these Grand Meadows articles about the horse digestive system, equine microbiome, and horse health in general:

The better educated the horse owner/caregiver the better the quality of care and feeding the horses in their care will enjoy. Much money can be saved on potential vet bills, overfeeding of grain rations and inadvertent poor nutritional feeding practices.

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About Grand Meadows: Founded in 1989 by visionary Angela Slater, Grand Meadows is a leading horse health product and equine supplement manufacturer driven by the guiding principle of providing affordable, extremely high-quality science-backed horse products to help ensure horses look and feel their best.

For the past 35 years the company’s mission has been honored and developed further, by President Nick Hartog, who among other accomplishments is one of the founding members and current board member of the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC), an organization that has a profound impact on the safety, transparency, and legitimacy of the animal supplement industry.

Grand Meadow products are widely used and trusted across the entire horse community from Olympic medal winning competitors and successful horse racing trainers to backyard horse owners. Their equine supplements are highly regarded for their excellent quality resourced ingredients and completely accurate labelling and effective formulations. Learn more at https://www.grandmeadows.com/

Grand Meadows, Orange, CA
Media Contact: NAS@NikkiAlvinSmithStudio.com
Tel: 607 434 4470
https://www.grandmeadows.com/

Photos are available on request.

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