Modern horses and ponies are subjected to many stresses and challenges – including moving yards to new management and forage sources, strenuous training and competition programmes, national and international travel to stay-away shows, and high starch diets to provide energy. In addition, the use of antibiotics following illness or injury and the use of wormers as part of the healthcare programme, can all result in short term, or sometimes ongoing disruption to the microbial population in the hindgut (known as the gut microbiota). This disruption can adversely affect performance in many ways, ranging from a subtle decrease in energy production or a reduction in immunity, through to a decrease in gut pH and metabolic and immune system disruption, but certainly to a significant decrease in health, wellbeing and performance.
Pro-Gut Balancer is a unique combination of pre and probiotics, together with a mannan oligosaccharide (MOS), to help maintain the health of the microbial population in the light of the many challenges faced by modern horses and ponies.
Benefits of Pro Gut Balancer
Pro-Gut Balancerprovides a unique triple action approach to maintaining gut health:
- Probiotics(from the Greek “for life”) Pro Gut Balancer contains the only live yeast licensed for use in horses, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with the highest number of live colony forming units (cfu) per serve. This live yeast plays several vital roles:
- Helping fibre digestion, by using their hyphae to help pull the fibre particle apart. This enables the fibre digesting bacteria to colonize and digest the fibre more readily, producing volatile fatty acids (VFA’s) which are a vital energy source for the horse.
- Scavenging pockets of oxygenin the gut, which would otherwise be toxic to many of the beneficial microbes.
- Outcompeting the lactic acid producing microbes, and encouraging the growth of those which can use lactic acid, thus helping to reduce the likelihood of a drop in hindgut pH which can disrupt the delicate balance in the microbiome.
- Prebioticsare typically fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), usually obtained from sugarbeet, but are also naturally found in a number of vegetables of fruits such as chicory, onions, asparagus roots, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes, leeks and bananas.
Unlike most carbohydrates, these FOS’s are largely unaffected by stomach acid, and other digestive enzymes, but instead, they are selectively fermented by many of the beneficial bacteria in the hindgut. In other words, they act as a food source for, and selectively encourage the growth and activity of the beneficial intestinal bacteria which are associated with health and well-being.
- Mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS):Is obtained from the cell walls of yeasts, and contains beta glucans as well as mannans, acting as a prebiotic. MOS’s also have the ability to bind or attach to specific, undesirable or pathogenic bacteria, and carry them on through the gut to be excreted, thus preventing them colonizing the gut and causing disruption to the microbiota and a resulting in a reduction in health, wellbeing and performance.
Pro-Gut Balancer should be fed for 7-10 days before, during and for 7-10 days after any stressful activity that might adversely impact the microbiome such as long distance travelling, moving yards, broodmares going away to stud, youngstock starting sales prep., antibiotic therapy, worming etc.
Elite competition and racehorses, with ongoing strenuous training and competition programmes may benefit from longer term daily use.