In nature, horses are browsing animals with very selective grazing habits. Their digestive systems are well adapted to handling grass diets. However, horses have to cope with variations in the make-up of pasture, damaged pasture and climatic conditions, all of which can mean a lack of consistency in their grass intake.
The quality and quantity of pasture that horses have access to can also be quite different from that of a natural habitat. In addition, many horses are fed grains, premixed feeds and other hard feeds to compensate for the workload that we require of them. These factors can challenge the horse’s natural ability to successfully digest feed and forage (Hansen et al., 2015).
In terms of digestive difficulties, fresh young grass is most often a problem. Because horses lack enough enzymes necessary to break down all the soluble sugars found in young grasses, and have a limited ability to digest large amounts of grain or feed at one time, undigested feed can pass into the large intestine, or hindgut, where it undergoes bacterial fermentation.
Lactic acid is released during this fermentation and can result in hindgut acidosis. This is painful and can result in temperament problems including touchiness, changes in personality, excitability and bad behaviour. Laminitis can also result from the absorption of by-products of this process (Crawford et al., 2007).
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ provides three types of enzymes which assist digestion to help prevent undigested feed passing to the hindgut. Alpha-amylase and beta-glucanase assist with the digestion of sugars and starch, while xylanase helps with the digestion of fibre, improving the release of nutrients and decreasing gas (Salem et al., 2015).
Being able to feed a product that contains a toxin-binding agent has obvious advantages for horses grazing problem pastures or receiving grains and hard feeds.
Toxins can develop on grains and hard feed, particularly as a result of poor storage, and may contribute to appetite suppression and weight loss (Raymond et al., 2003).
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ contains the registered Mycofix toxin binder, which helps bind harmful fungal toxins. Once bound, the toxins cannot be absorbed and are passed out in the faeces.
Many sport and performance horses are kept in situations where the amount of available grass is not sufficient to meet dietary and energy requirements. Supplemental hard feed is usually fed to improve the balance.
These feeds, some containing grain, add to the processing demand of the digestive tract. Oats and barley are ideally suited as an energy source but they have a high starch content, and most premixed feeds contain one, if not all, of these grains. Some even contain maize, the most energy-intensive grain.
As these feeds are not part of a natural diet, horses are limited in the amount of hard feed they are able to digest at one time.
As with grass, if too much is fed at once, or if the passage through the small intestine is too rapid, an undigested amount passes through to the hindgut where it undergoes bacterial fermentation.
The by-products of starch and sugar fermentation can affect both temperament and performance. Over-sensitivity, excitability, being touchy and grass-related laminitis are common problems.
Feeding a product like Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ that improves the digestion of grasses and grains has obvious advantages for sport and performance horses, especially those prone to these problems.
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ is more than just a simple digestive additive, such as those containing only live yeast cultures.
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ contains:
These actives create a four-way action:
Firstly, by slowing the passage of food through the small intestine, allowing more time for the horse’s own digestive enzymes to work.
Secondly, by enhancing digestion through the inclusion of enzymes that can break down sugar, starch and fibre.
Thirdly, the inclusion of the prebiotic mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) helps maintain a functional gut wall and ensures that nutrients are absorbed efficiently following digestion and negative by-products are removed.
Finally, the Mycofix toxin binder helps prevent the absorption of harmful fungal toxins.
The binders in Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ do not absorb vitamin or mineral supplements in feed.
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ should be fed to sport and performance horses receiving a grass diet, or a combination of grass and hard feed, and those grazing pastures where conditions are likely to cause nutritional problems.
This may include:
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ contains no prohibited substances, so it can be safely fed before and during competition.
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ is a nutritional supplement formulated for both sport and performance horses whose diets are based on pasture and some hard feed.
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ provides three digestive enzymes. Alpha-amylase and beta-glucanase assist with the digestion of sugars and starch, while xylanase helps with the digestion of fibre, improving the release of nutrients and decreasing gas.
Because horses lack enough enzymes necessary to break down all the soluble sugars found in young grasses, undigested feed can pass into the large intestine, or hindgut, where it undergoes bacterial fermentation. Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ provides enzymes which assist digestion to help prevent undigested feed passing to the hindgut.
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ contains the registered Mycofix toxin binder, which helps bind harmful fungal toxins. Once bound, the toxins cannot be absorbed and are passed out in the faeces.
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ should be fed to sport and performance horses receiving a grass diet, or a combination of grass and hard feed, and those grazing pastures where conditions are likely to cause nutritional problems.
Vetpro Digest-Rite Sport+ contains no prohibited substances, so it can be safely fed before and during competition.
For an average 500 kg horse, feed 50 g per day, divided with the feeds or fed in one dose. With horses going onto fresh or spring pastures, increase to 75 g for that period.
Dosage: Average 500 kg horse.
50 g per day, divided with the feeds or fed in one dose.
With horses going onto fresh or spring pastures, increase to 75 g for that period.
Available sizes: 2 kg, 5 kg and 20 kg bags.
Key ingredients:
Competition use: Digest-Rite Sport+ contains no prohibited substances, so it can be safely fed before and during competition.
Crawford, C., Sepulveda, M. F., Elliott, J., Harris, P. A., & Bailey, S. R. (2007). Dietary fructan carbohydrate increases amine production in the equine large intestine: Implications for pasture-associated laminitis. Journal of Animal Science, 85(11), 2949–2958. https://doi.org/10.2527/jas.2006-600
Hansen, N. C., Avershina, E., Mydland, L. T., Næsset, J. A., Austbø, D., Moen, B., Måge, I., & Rudi, K. (2015). High nutrient availability reduces the diversity and stability of the equine caecal microbiota. Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease, 26, 27216. https://doi.org/10.3402/mehd.v26.27216
Lindenberg, F. C., Lützhøft, D. O., Krych, L., Fielden, J., Kot, W., Frøkiær, H., van Galen, G., Nielsen, D. S., & Hansen, A. K. (2021). An oligosaccharide-rich diet increases Akkermansia spp. bacteria in the equine microbiota. Frontiers in Microbiology, 12, 666039. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.666039
Raymond, S. L., Smith, T. K., & Swamy, H. V. L. N. (2003). Effects of feeding a blend of grains naturally contaminated with Fusarium mycotoxins on feed intake, serum chemistry, and hematology of horses, and the efficacy of a polymeric glucomannan mycotoxin adsorbent. Journal of Animal Science, 81(9), 2123–2130. https://doi.org/10.2527/2003.8192123x
Richards, N., Choct, M., Hinch, G. N., & Rowe, J. B. (2003). Equine alpha-amylase: Does it limit starch digestion in the small intestine of the horse? In J. L. Corbett (Ed.), Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition in Australia (Vol. 14, pp. 191–196).
Salem, A. Z. M., Elghandour, M. M. Y., Kholif, A. E., Odongo, N. E., Jiménez, F. J. P., Montes-de-Oca, R., Domínguez-Vara, I. A., & Dibarrat, J. A. (2015). The effect of feeding horses a high-fibre diet with or without exogenous fibrolytic enzymes supplementation on nutrient digestion, blood chemistry, faecal coliform count, and in vitro faecal fermentation. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 35(9), 735–743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jevs.2015.07.009
Choct, M. (2015). Feed Non-Starch Polysaccharides for Monogastric Animals: Classification and Function. Animal Production Science. https://rune.une.edu.au/web/handle/1959.11/20650
Kampf, D., Rovers, M., & De Conti Horta, F. Yeast Cell Walls in Animal Nutrition: Differentiation and Specific Properties of MOS and β-1,3/1,6-Glucans. https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/25040227/yeast-cell-walls-in-animal-nutrition-orffa
Respondek, F., Goachet, A. G., & Julliand, V. (2008). Effects of Dietary Short-Chain Fructooligosaccharides on the Intestinal Microflora of Horses Subjected to a Sudden Change in Diet. Journal of Animal Science, 86(2), 316–323. https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/86/2/316/4799425
Cheeke, P. R. (1998). Endogenous Toxins and Mycotoxins in Forage Grasses and Their Effects on Livestock. Journal of Animal Science, 76(3), 909–918. https://academic.oup.com/jas/article-abstract/76/3/909/4625222
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