Digest Rite Sport +

What are causes of difficulties with digestion

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 nutritional balance. These feeds, some with grain, will add to the processing demand of the digestive tract. As they are not part of a natural diet, horses are limited in the amount of hard feed they are able to digest at one time. …learn more visit our website www.vetpro.co.nz and read our article “Understanding A Horses Digestion – How Horses Process Their Feed”

Because horses lack enough enzymes necessary to break down all the soluble sugars found in young grasses, and grains and too much feed, they often pass too quickly though the foregut so undigested feed then moves into the large intestine (hindgut) where it undergoes bacterial fermentation. Lactic acid is released to try and complete the digestion at this point and can result in hindgut acidosis. This is painful and as a reaction creates temperament problems of touchiness, change of personality over excited and bad behaviour, also laminitis can result from absorption of the by-products of this process (Crawford et al., 2007).

How can a Nutraceutical Supplement help A Horses’ Digestion

Equine Athlete Digest-Rite Sport + is a nutritional supplement formulated for both sport and performance horses whose diets are based on hard feed with some pasture. Digest-Rite provides a combination of a MOS pre-biotic, 3 digestive enzymes, a registered toxin binder , rice bran to enhance digestion and at the same time help maintain a healthy digestive tract, plus calcium carbonate to influence the pH of the stomach acid. It also helps prevent the absorption of toxins and excessive lactic acid resulting from only partial digestion of feedstuff.

In terms of digestive difficulties, high fructans in the grass is most often a problem. Digest-Rite provides two types of enzymes which assist digestion of these excess sugars to prevent undigested matter passing to the hindgut., these are alpha Amylase and beta Glucanase, it also contains Xylanase to help digestion of fibre improving the release of nutrients and decreasing gas (Salem et al 2015).

Digest Rite includes a registered toxin binding agent which blocks any toxins that may develop on grains and hard feed due to poor storage, resulting in appetite suppression and weight loss (Raymond et al., 2005).

These actives create a 5-way action

• First, by slowing the passage of food through the small intestine, allowing more time for the horse’s own digestive enzymes to work.
• Second, by enhancing digestion through the inclusion of enzymes that can break down sugars and starch and fibre.
• Third, including the pre-biotic, mannan oligosaccharide which helps maintain a functional gut wall and ensures that nutrients are absorbed efficiently following digestion, and any negative by-products that can cause grass related laminitis are removed.
• Fourth, the toxin binder Mycofix which helps prevent the absorption of any harmful fungal toxins.
• Fifth with calcium carbonate to help improve the pH of the stomach acid to ease the possible effect to create an ulcer.

Digest-Rite should be fed to sport and performance horses on pasture and or grass and hard feed diet and those on high grain diets.

Digest-Rite contains no prohibited substances so can be safely fed before and during competition.

Daily Dose Rate: Average 500kg horse 50gms per day, divided with the feeds or fed in one dose. With horses going on to fresh, or Spring pastures increase to 75gms for that period.

Available in 2kg and 5kg and 20kg bags References

Scientific References

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

Józefiak, D., Komosa, M., Maćkowiak, P., Prószyńska-Oszmałek, E., Kołodziejski, P., Świątkiewicz, S., Rawski, M., Kierończyk, B., Bedford, M. R., & O’Neil, H. V. M. (2020). Exogenous fibrolytic enzymes improve carbohydrate digestion in exercising horses. Journal of Animal and Feed Sciences, 29(1), 35–45. https://doi.org/10.22358/jafs/118207/2020

Kampf, D., Rovers, M., & De Conti Horta, F. (2012). Yeast cell walls in animal nutrition: Differentiation and specific properties of MOS and beta-1,3/1,6-glucans [Conference presentation].

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 haematology 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? Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition in Australia, 14, 191-196.

Salem, A. Z. M., Elghandour, M. M. Y., Kholif, A. E., Odongo, N. E., Jimenez, F. J. P., Montes-de-Oca, R., Dominguez, I. A., & Dibarrat, J. A. (2015). The effect of feeding horses a high fiber diet with or without exogenous fibrolytic enzymes supplementation on nutrient digestion, blood chemistry, fecal coliform count, and in vitro fecal fermentation. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 35(9), 735-743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jevs.2015.07.009