Thankfully, fixing up your horses gut health is actually quite simple. Here are three things to implement immediately.
Feed Plenty Of Forage - Horses should have 1.5 – 2 % of their body weight a day in forage (grass, hay and chaff).
For a 500 kg horse that’s 7.5 to 10 kg/day.
Forage feeds the good bacteria, fills the stomach up so its acid can’t splash around and burn the top section of the stomach.
This is very important to protect from ulcers.
Take Care With Grain - Whilst grain can provide calories, grains also contain a lot of starch - which we know the Bad Bacteria love!
If you feed grains, make sure (with the exception of oats), that they are cooked (extruded, boiled, micronized, steam flaked) to make the starch more digestible AND feed grains and grain-based feeds in small meals. No more than 1 kg/feed for a 500 kg horse.
Oats can be safely fed whole or cracked, but still feed them in small meals!
Feed A Balanced Diet - Your horse’s gut needs a lot of different nutrients to repair and maintain itself to do its job well. Make sure the diet you are feeding is meeting all requirements for protein, minerals and vitamins.