Hartog Concentrate feed

The effect of roughage and the effect of concentrate feed will first be described before discussing the preferences. Horses are natural grazers, who eat small quantities of fiber rich roughage for many hours a day. Horses and ponies have a small stomach, a relatively short small intestine and a large bowel and large intestine. Fiber-rich food stays short in the stomach and flows to the small intestine. There enzymes break down the proteins, fats, and easily digestible carbohydrates. The remains of these fibers flow to the small and large intestine and feed for the bacterial flora there. The final products of this degradation, volatile fatty acids, use the horse as an energy source. Due to the eating habits and the time needed to digest the fibers, food is always in the small intestine and there are small snacks of food through the stomach every day from 14 to 16 hours a day.

Roughage causes unhealthy intestinal flora

Concentrate feed stays longer in the stomach than roughage. In concentrates there are no fibers and it does not contribute to a healthy intestinal flora. In the stomach there are bacteria that produce volatile fatty acids. The composition of the volatile fatty acids is different in the degradation of starch and sugars than in fiber. Too much cereal, starch and sugar rich concentrate produce a very sore gastric content. This also has to do with the fact that horses are chewing less on concentrates than on roughage. This causes less saliva to facilitate swallowing and promote the mixing of stomach and intestines. In addition, the saliva reduces the acidity in the stomach.

When a horse does not deliver a slight labor performance, the horse can perform well on only roughage. A good quality hay or pre-dry silage can then be chosen. Hartog's range includes the Gras-mix and Compact Grass. These roughage feeds are good replacements for hay or roughage and they are always in good quality.

Concentrate feed replaced with Luzerne-Mix

The concentrate can be replaced by Hartog Lucerne-mix. The Lucerne-mix contains all the necessary daily building materials that need a horse and / or pony. It satisfies the daily need for vitamins, minerals, trace elements and amino acids. You can replace the concentrate with two buckets of 10 liters per day. When you press the bucket properly, there may be two kilos. This can be supplemented with hay, silage, grass mix or compact grass.

A mineral lick can be hung in the box or whey of the horse at all times. The horse or pony will use this when there is too short of minerals. In addition to the Lucerne-mix, it is not necessary to feed other dietary supplements.

Extra information

A stool vacuum is undesirable behavior. Weaving, knocking the door, manger biting, sucking air, walking hammers or walking around are all examples of this. Often it occurs in young animals. Horses get back from here is very difficult or even impossible. In almost all cases, behavior has caused frustration or discomfort, and thus decreases the well-being of the horse.

The power supply does not make all the stools, but it plays an important role in the development of it. In that context, gastric ulcers may not remain unannounced. For both, a good ration and avoiding stress is a lot of trouble to prevent. Horses are naturally grazers, who eat small amounts of fiber-rich material many hours a day. They have a small stomach, a relatively short small intestine and a large intestine. Fiber-rich food stays short in the stomach and flows through to the small intestine. There enzymes break down the proteins, fats and easily digestible carbohydrates. The remains and fibers flow through to the colon and the intestine for the bacterial flora there. The final products of this degradation, volatile fatty acids, use the horse as an energy source. Due to the eating habits and the time it takes to digest fiber, food is always in the intestine, and there are sixteen to eighteen hours a day of food through the stomach. By chewing on fiber rich food, the horse makes saliva, which facilitates swallowing and promotes the mixing of gastrointestinal juices. In addition, this saliva reduces the acidity in the stomach.

Stomach ulcers
The stomach of the horse continuously produces gastric acid. It seems, regardless of the feed regime, that the acidity in the stomach in the morning (01:00 - 09:00) is the lowest and the stomach acid production is highest. If a horse doesn’t eat for a long time, then there is a very sour content in the stomach. The development of a stomach ulcer starts with this. A stomach ulcer arises when the stomach of the stomach is ignited and thinned. This protective layer prevents infection of the acid on the rest of the stomach wall. In addition to not eating, more factors are known that are the cause of gastric ulcers. Stress, the composition of concentrate, the portion size of concentrate and maybe even movement. Horses that get stomach ulcers often come from a stressful situation. Long-term travel and heavy training, for example (sports horses). Or weaning foals, especially if they are taken abruptly from the mare and come alone. Stress decreases the resistance and may be affected by the acid in the stomach wall. A ration of many concentrates and little roughage gives a chance of stomach ulcers; Concentration remains longer in the stomach than roughage. In the stomach there are bacteria that produce volatile fatty acids. The composition of these volatile fatty acids is different in the degradation of starch and sugars, than in fiber. The amount of volatile fatty acids and the species affects the development of gastric ulcers. Cereal, starch and sugar rich concentrate, make the stomach content even more sour. Especially because horses on these feeders chew less for a long time and thus make less saliva. Finally, there are research results indicating that movements of the horse affect the gain of gastric ulcers. In racing horses it has been measured that the sour contents of the stomach move during the cleaning step and end up in the non-sore stomach area and cause damage. It is a fact that eighty to ninety of the raccoons have stomach ulcers. These horses often get a very powerful ration and often under stress.

Manger biting and air sucking
These two vices usually go together. The light suction is not always clearly visible, but often present. The horse puts his teeth on an edge, spants muscles in his neck or neck and sucks air in. The air does not enter the lungs but he swallows as it were. The air stays in the esophagus and then returns to the outside. By the way, not all mangers are air pistons, but usually they work together. Horses that suck mangers and air are likely to try to make saliva. It may be due to lack of chewing behavior. A horse only makes saliva with chewing. You see the horses especially after eating food. On a congestion, a horse chews only a little and therefore makes little saliva. In short, a horse may go through cribs because of an uncomfortable feeling after eating food. In horses with stomach ulcer, you also see that they sometimes suffer from colic and have pain after eating food. Stool ovens usually occur in young foals that are being weaned. Stress is then inevitable. When accompanied by a lot of concentrated feed and little roughage, these are the right conditions for developing stable ovens. Do not forget the period in which young horses are being trained. They are only stolen for the first time, get a lot of concentrate and all changes and black workouts cause stress. And so there are many more situations that meet these conditions. Sucking the crib and sucking air gives a certain satisfaction, thus relaxing the horse, and that is the positive incentive to keep going. Once taught and confirmed, this behavior is very difficult to change. Not all horses who have stomach ulcers also have mangers or vice versa. This can be completely separate from each other.

Colic
It's not so that air sucks through the entire gastrointestinal tract. This has long been assumed because horses with this stable ointment often have digestive problems with gas accumulation. With certain research techniques one knows that the air does not go beyond the esophagus. The crib and air sucking has the effect of slowing down the flow of food through the intestines. This changes the digestion of the feed and / or the gas discharge that occurs during the digestion. The digestion of food can also be adversely affected by gastric ulcers. The stomach causes a forage of the food. If this forgiveness persists in part, it has consequences for digestion in the small intestine and colon. All in all, both 'conditions' can cause digestive problems. Many horses who have sucked air or have stomach ulcers regularly get colic. Another reason to prevent these ailments.

Prevention
 Horses must be able to chew. Avoid periods longer than eight hours without food. Make sure every horse and each foal get plenty of roughage and eat. Give foals in a herd of sufficient eating places with always fresh and good roughage. Enter the concentrate in small portions. This reduces the production of volatile fatty acids in the stomach. Therefore, preferably more often a day if the horse really needs so much concentrate. Keep in mind that there are other energy sources such as extra fiber or vegetable oil that can replace and part of the concentrate. Reduce the amount for an adult horse up to two kilos at a time. Do not give a foal more than one kilo at a time. Interestingly, it has the incidence of lucrative effects in the prevention of gastric ulcers. Both the high calcium and the protein in the lucerne have a buffering effect, that is, they provide a less acidic gastric content. Adding some lucerne to the concentrate also has the advantage that the horse should chew longer and thus make more saliva. Finally, it appears that pasture yields the best result in the healing of gastric ulcers and the prevention of cribs. Probably also because the meadow is relaxing and of course the most natural food pattern. Due to the high feed value of our grasslands, it is unfortunately often impossible to keep horses continuously and keep them in good condition at the same time. But a few hours a day should be possible for each horse.

Extra information: Bron Paardenweekblad “De Hoefslag” www.dehoefslag.nl

Author:
Anneke Hallebeek
Feedingadvice Horse
Specialist animal feed vet
Moerstraatsebaan 115
4614 PC Bergen op Zoom