The stark consequences of starch
Bird seeds make horses unable to digest plants
Unusual and inappropriate feeding can be of dramatic consequence for the native microflora in the horse’s gut. In nature horses forage on hundreds of plants species. Due to their high content of starch seeds like barley and oat have a higher energy value than forages and are often used as supplement feeding for tame horses. But horses have a limited ability to digest starch!
Horses only produce about 8 to 10% of the amount of amylase (instrument that digests starch) produced by pigs. Because of this, large portions of starch escape digestion in the small intestine and pass on to the hindgut for fermentation with bacteria! The increased supply of starch requires unusual bacterial species, which results in production of acids. Large amounts of acids overwhelm normal pH buffering capacity of the hindgut, and the pH level of its contents decreases.
Low hindgut pH diminishes the growth and activity of bacteria that digest cellulose, which is the main component of plants! The animals become unable to digest plants - their natural feeding! So, grain overload stops the digestion of forage.
Improper feeding can keep your horse hungry!
The situation is even worse, because bacterial species that are stimulated by large amounts of starch produce some toxic compounds. These toxins travel with the blood stream and trigger a reaction in the animal body that ends with laminitis, gastrointestinal disturbance, gastric ulcer. So, the improper feeding can cause negative changes in native flora and activate the growth of bad bacteria. In the end horses are poisoned and can suffer from hunger even with a full stomach!
Horse owners kept in the dark
Information about dangerous effects of grain-based feeding of animals appeared initially in 1966 with a huge amount of dates coming every year, which proved direct connection of high-starch diet and cause of laminitis. Why have horse owners been so unaware of this? Is it because companies, that produce grain-based feeding, do not use scientists? Or is it simply because these companies do not want to know about the dangerous consequences of the feeding they make? Well, these questions need special discussion and maybe we’ll come with this later…
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