Five Things About Performance Horse Gut Health

The life of a performance horse can be unusual, compared to non-performance horses. Show horses tend to travel frequently, can have inconsistent meal and water times, and are often subjected to high pressure situations, such as making the finals at an upper-level event or competing multiple times in a day.

It comes as no surprise, then, that the stress of such a lifestyle can subject these horses to gut health issues. Not only can these problems put a damper on a horse’s career, but they can also become serious quickly and take time to overcome.

Quarter Horse News spoke with Thomas Kellerman, DVM, of Brazos Valley Equine Hospitals in Navasota, Texas, to get more information about keeping a performance horse’s gut healthy.

Forage Is Instrumental for Good Gut Health

Horses were built to graze and eat frequent small meals throughout the day, so their stomachs constantly produce acid to digest all the plant matter they ordinarily would consume. Most horses in training and showing programs don’t have the luxury of constant intake of food, though. Instead, modern management practices usually require them to eat two large meals of grain a day, but if a horse’s diet is lacking in forage, it can create many health issues.

“Frequent intake of forage helps to maintain gastric health in particular,” Kellerman said. “Nutritionists typically recommend a minimum of 1.5 to 2% of a horse’s body weight be fed in quality forage on a dry matter basis per day. Ideally, that amount of forage should be split into at least two feedings per day.”

“Forage” could mean pasture, assuming the pasture has good grass and isn’t a dry lot or full of weeds; grass hays, like coastal, Bermuda or Timothy; or alfalfa hay. While experts agree that horses generally require long-stem forage to slow overall consumption and increase the amount of fibrous bulk that moves through the gut, horses that have dental or respiratory issues, such as equine asthma, may not be able to handle it. Providing these horses with hay pellets, cubes or beet pulp can help them meet their fiber needs while protecting their stomachs from acid.

Gastric Ulcers Are Common

Even if a horse is eating plenty of forage, there are other things, like the stress of traveling and showing, that can lead to stomach ulcers. These are erosions in the lining of the stomach, varying from small, superficial single lesions to multiple large defects. It is estimated that 50 to 90% of horses have experienced a stomach ulcer at some point in their lives.

Horses with stomach ulcers may show signs of colic, ill-thrift or pain-related behavioral issues. Once diagnosed, they are typically treated with a 28-day course of omeprazole, which blocks stomach acid production. Some horses require up to 60 days of treatment, depending on the severity of the ulceration.

“There is very rapid turnover of the proton pumps, which is why we treat horses with diagnosed gastric ulcer disease daily to keep the stomach pH higher, or less acidic, than it normally would be without treatment,” Kellerman said. “Horses can also develop ulceration in the glandular stomach, which is constantly exposed to gastric fluids. Horses that develop glandular disease are sometimes treated with sucralfate, which almost acts like a liquid bandage to coat the healing tissues, as well as misoprostol, which is a prostaglandin analogue to increase mucosal blood flow.”

Other Gut-Related Diseases Can Pose Problems

While stomach ulcers are a common gut problem in horses, they aren’t the only concern. Colic is another major issue. There are many things that can cause a horse to colic, but research shows that going for several hours without water, staying stalled without turnout, eating a diet that is high in grain and changing environments often — all things that affect show horses — can greatly increase the risk.

Colitis and inflammatory bowel disease also play an important role, especially in horses of performance age. Additionally, certain infectious diseases can affect the horse’s gut, along with parasites, inflammation and tumors. Any time your horse is acting abnormal warrants a call to your veterinarian, but if you see certain symptoms, it’s highly possible something in the gut is the culprit.

“Colic, anorexia, difficulty maintaining body condition, reaction to girthing and behavioral issues are all signs that would cause me to look at a horse’s gastric health,” Kellerman said.

Gut Health Extends Beyond the Stomach

When equestrians think of gut health, they tend to focus solely on the gastric aspects. After all, the stomach plays a large role in a horse’s well-being, and it’s also easy to visualize with a gastroscope, Kellerman said. But a horse’s gut health goes beyond the stomach.

“Every portion of the equine gut plays an important role in their overall health from nose to tail,” Kellerman said. “Even though the small intestine and colon are more difficult to directly examine, they still play a vital role in a horse’s health. Issues such as right dorsal colitis from long term NSAID use, and infectious causes of colitis, such as Salmonella or Clostridial enteritis, can have a massive impact on horses if they develop diarrhea.”

Sand accumulation in the colon, which is often cleared through the use of psyllium supplementation, is common in some parts of the country and can lead to sand colic, chronic diarrhea and weight loss. Veterinarians are also discovering how the use of prebiotics and probiotics can support the horse’s large colon health. A recent area of interest, Kellerman added, is the horse’s microbiome, or natural population of bacteria in their gastrointestinal system, and using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to target individual therapies to specific horses.

Prevention Is the Best Plan for Performance Horses

You can’t completely prevent stress if your horse is frequently on the road traveling to shows or rodeos, but there are still management strategies you can utilize to prevent ulcers and other gastric diseases. Kellerman likes to give a preventative dose of UlcerGard to horses to help them mitigate the pressure of being on the road. There are also products available on the market that help buffer stomach acid and chemically decrease the acid content of the stomach for a period of time. Keeping a supply of forage in front of your horse on the trailer and in his stall can also keep stomach acid from building up and creating sores. When on the road, taking several short breaks to give water, rather than powering through the drive, may keep colic at bay. And, by allowing your horse to have mental breaks at shows, even if it’s just to hand graze for a few minutes or walk around to see other horses, you can keep his stress levels down and his mental health stable.