HORSEMANSHIP
From page 23
down of foodstuffs in the
body into a form that can be
absorbed and used or
excreted.
A horse's diet is made up of
water, carbohydrates, fats,
protein, minerals and
vitamins and each of these
components is digested in
specific areas of the tract.
If something happens where
it shouldn't, problems and
digestive upset can easily
occur. You particularly need
to guard against gastric ulcers
and the dreaded colic.
Almost all digestion of simple
carbohydrates, protein, and
fat mostly takes place in the
small intestine, though it
begins in the stomach. Simple
carbohydrates (starches and
sugars) and protein begin
digestion in the stomach by
being slightly broken down,
and then the majority of the
digestion of these nutrients
occurs in the small intestine.
Fats are slightly hydrolysed by
enzymes in the stomach, but
the majority of fat digestion
also occurs in the early small
intestine.
On the other hand, complex
carbohydrates (cellulose,
lignin) are digested mostly in
the cecum and partly in the
colon. There is also a small
amount of protein that may
be digested in the large
intestine. The cecum and
colon are where the microbes
that digest the fibre in your
horse's diet (most of the
contents of hay, pasture, etc.)
live, so these areas are where
these substances are finished
digesting.
are in small enough form.
After food is gathered up into Amino acids, glucose,
the mouth, chewed, and
vitamins, minerals, and fatty
swallowed, the stomach kicks acids are taken into the body
into gear. The main functions as they move along the small
of the stomach are to add
intestine, so progress
gastric acid to help with the
shouldn't be too fast or too
breakdown of food, to
slow.
secrete an enzyme to begin
Continued on page 27
protein digestion and
to regulate the
passage of food into
the small intestine.
Basically the
stomach is a holding
and mixing tank.
While food break-
down may begin in
the stomach, it
continues in the
small intestine,
where secretions
help with the further
digestion of protein,
simple carbohydrates
and fat. The small
intestine is also the
main site of nutrient
Left to their own devices in a field, horses will
absorption once they look like they do nothing other than eat
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