We believe the cause of most horse maladies is based on nutritional mismanagement and refusal to accept the fact that nutrition is physiology. This problem goes way beyond simply how much protein or energy is fed each day.

Preventive Medicine and Nutritional Management

As a biotechnology company, we have had a long interest in the concept of preventive medicine. We view nutritional management as one of the cornerstones for implementing such a program.

A Hunch Becomes a Reality

Intervention that helps approximate normal intestinal function should have two positive effects:

1. It should maximize the efficient utilization of the diet fed.

2. It should help prevent the diet from becoming a source of potentially serious, life-threatening, physiologic problems.

At first, this concept was only our working hypothesis — basically a hunch. But, several years ago, we had veterinary clinics participate in 17 field clinical studies with our product called ReStore™. And our hunch proved right.

ReStore™ was developed to enhance the natural digestive processes of the horse. Now, well beyond those initial studies, ReStore™ has positively demonstrated the importance of intestinal management in growth and body condition maintenance. Most interesting to us, ReStore™ appears to positively impact those problems associated with management-imposed nutritional stress, such as colic and chronic diarrhea.

Intestinal Management is Critical to Your Horse

Some say the design and creation of the camel was a celestial committee decision. If so, the horse was planned and developed by the same committee, with leftover parts of the camel.

This design left the horse in a precarious ecological position. Compared to other plant-eating animals, such as the cow, sheep (or even the camel), horses appear to have been put together backward.

The digestive tract of most successful plant-eating animals includes a modification of the stomach.

This modification allows for some pre-digestion of plant material by special bacteria that reside here.

Without these bacteria, the animal would starve. No mammal possesses the enzymes necessary to digest the structural part of plants or their seeds. Horses, most likely because their primary defense is to run from danger, were not provided with a modified stomach, which would add considerable weight and bulk — weight and bulk that must be carried when attempting a fast getaway.

Instead, horses put the specialized digestive organ, vital to living on plants, at the end of the line where essential populations of bacteria live in the large intestines and two blind sacs next to it called ceaca. The rest of the digestive tract is not much different from your own.

How Horses Cope with the Digestive Tract’s Arrangement

The backward arrangement of the digestive tract creates problems. To deal with it, horses are forced to spend all of their time eating, and eating relatively small meals. Small meals allow more time for chewing, which increases feed particle breakdown. This gives the natural stomach acids and enzymes produced in the small intestines and pancreas time to attack and absorb some of the nutrients present. Small meals also accommodate the restricted size and efficiency of the all-essential large bowel bacterial attack on the structural part of the plant that makes up the majority of the carbohydrate source available to the horse.

The take-home message: Horses developed over millions of years as animals that do best eating small meals and eating often. What was true a million years ago is still true today.

However, today, relatively few horses have the ability to free range. They live confined to stalls, their behavior dictated by the schedules of their caregivers. There are a number of ramifications to this artificial lifestyle. The most serious results from the inability to eat light and continuously.

Typical Husbandry Challenges Good Nutritional Management

Today, the typical housing environment requires that food be brought to the horse, not sought by the horse. There are only so many hours in a day, so the horse must be fed once or twice a day. Based on its evolutionary development, this is exactly the opposite of the way a horse should be nutritionally managed. Another important consideration: today’s horses are larger than horses have ever been. So to keep them “looking good”, there’s an increased emphasis on feeding concentrated forms of energy and protein, usually delivered in the form of small grains, often further processed.

The net result is that large quantities of feed are presented to a digestive organ designed to handle small quantities. What’s worse, these quantities are presented in large bursts, rather than slowly and evenly over prolonged periods. This situation pretty much described how possibly 99% of today’s horses are fed. At worst, it can be responsible for everything from behavior problems to loss of use due to structural abnormalities — or worse, the death of your horse.

The horse, despite its size and apparent zest for life, is perhaps the most physically and psychologically delicate of all domestic animals. Our job as caregivers is to minimize the stress they are forced to live with, stress over which we have no control. The closer we can approximate their natural needs, the less we put them at risk. Preventive medicine and management programs based on this concept are the best way to assure your horse lives a long, healthy, and productive life.

Call Biovance at 877-246-7500 to place your order, or you may order via the website: www.restoreforhorses.com.

1. What is Revolution–Rx™?

Revolution–Rx™ is a safe and natural alternative to feeding small grain-based sweet feeds in the diets of all classes and ages of horses. Its concentrated energy and protein is fortified with ReStore™, a patented technology that has been clinically shown to maximize digestive efficiency and aid in the prevention of digestive disorders in all classes of horses.

2. How does it work?

Revolution–Rx™ has three distinct modes of action:

1) Through its ReStore™ component, Revolution–Rx™ stimulates digestion and overall gut function. ReStore™ does this by stimulating the growth and metabolic efficiency of the essential bacteria that live naturally in the large bowel of the horse. Without these bacteria, the horse is largely unable to utilize much of its natural diet. By increasing microbial efficiency and thus increasing digestive efficiency, the risk of the horse developing problems, such as impaction and colic, is significantly reduced as well.

2) Revolution–Rx™ is formulated as a concentrated nutrient source. The energy provided by Revolution™ is primarily as unsaturated vegetable fats and oils. In addition, again as a result of ReStore™’s effect on gut bacteria, Revolution™ increases the production of the volatile fatty acids, a byproduct of microbial metabolism that are a key natural source of energy. It is also a biologically superior source of the amino acids needed by the horse for muscle development and energy, especially during periods of exercise.

3) As a result of the proprietary manufacturing process used in its manufacture, Revolution–Rx™ is in a physical form that actually stimulates the grazing reflex. This prevents feed bolting and stimulates salivary flow, and has apparent positive physiological value in stall-bound horses.

3. How is it made?

The process used to make Revolution–Rx™ involves a proprietary methodology that combines Revolution’s™ nutrient components into a matrix that maximizes biological availability.

4. What are the expected results?

Revolution–Rx™ has been shown to have a positive impact on nutrient utilization and performance throughout a horse’s life cycle. Improved growth rates as measured by muscle and skeletal development in young horses, restoration and maintenance of body condition during periods of stress such as during lactation in mares or in post surgical situations have all been reported. Revolution–Rx™ is particularly recommended for use in animals that are at risk or diagnosed with the metabolic diseases associated with the consumption of grain-based concentrates. Examples include Cushing’s Syndrome, Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy, and laminitis. Revolution–Rx™ is also recommended for use in horses susceptible to colic, intermittent chronic diarrhea and other problems associated with gut function.

5. How safe it it?

Revolution–Rx™ is completely safe. Clinical tests and extensive field use under a variety of environmental and management conditions have confirmed this.

6. Are there any side effects?

In seven years of clinical studies and field use, none have been reported or observed.

7. How should Revolution–Rx™ be used?

Revolution–Rx™ is recommended as a substitute for grain-based concentrates in the diet. Feeding rates will vary with the individual and nutritional need. Maximal efficacy of the ReStore™ component is achieved at feeding rates of 6 lbs of Revolution–Rx™ per day based upon an average body weight of 1000 lbs.

8. Are there any alternatives?

Revolution–Rx™ is a unique patented, proven technology. There are no alternatives.

9. How do I get started?

Contact Biovance Life Sciences at 877-246-7500 for more information.

Did you know The Tunnel of Love is one of the oldest attractions in amusement parks? Folks tell me guys like it because it gives them a chance to be in the dark with their date and steal a little kiss. If you watch at the exit, you can tell by the smiles or scowls how well the trip went.

Well, over the years, I’ve found many feeding programs are like a trip in the dark. They can make a horse lover smile, or scowl.

I like Holiday Inns’ old slogan, “The Best Surprise Is No Surprise”. That’s why I’d like to visit with you about the horse’s digestive tract: If you know what’s happening in there, you won’t be in the dark and you won’t be surprised.

Since we started with tunnels, let’s stick with the theme: When food passes through a horse’s digestive tract, it’s like a trip through the car wash. Both the car wash and digestive tract are tunnels within a structure. Both are divided into sections. Both do specific jobs at each location. Both must deal with energy and motion. But here the similarity ends.

The digestive system of the horse is far more complex and wonderful than the machinery of a car wash. It’s also longer. It’s about 110 to 115 feet when extended. The horse uses energy and motion to create energy. The car wash consumes energy.

Still, the tunnel analogy is appropriate. For both the car wash and the horse’s digestive system --- it’s in one end and out the other. So let’s stick with the tunnel. Let’s imagine we have an X-ray video camera. With it, we’re going to follow a bolus of hay as it enters the digestive system. We’re going to go through the tunnel to see what’s going on in there.

To provide energy, food must be broken down into smaller structures that will pass both actively and passively across (i.e. through) the wall of the intestines into the blood stream. In the upper GI (gastro intestinal) tract, this processing and extraction of nutrients is done by secretions (acids or enzymes) that interact with food. In the lower digestive tract, the breakdown is done by a very hard working bacterial population.

Now, to the tunnel: We will follow a large bite of hay as it enters the horse’s mouth. The horse’s file-like teeth crush and grind this tasty mouthful of fiber. Crushing breaks the fiber into smaller pieces and releases its contents so they can mix with saliva. The first step of the digestive process has begun.

Next, the mouthful of crushed slurry is swallowed and sent to the stomach. In the stomach more digestive acids flood the bolus (the mass of chewed food), to breakdown the soluble portion of the mixture.

Now the stomach contents move into the small intestines. Here more digestive enzymes are added. The soluble contents dissolve in the enzymatic fluids and move along the small intestines with the ground fiber. And it is here where fat is broken down to fatty acids. Now things are getting busier. All the dissolved substances — non-structural carbohydrates (sugars), amino acids, and the fatty acids — mix with more fluids and are absorbed are into the blood stream through the intestinal walls. This all takes place before these nutrients reach the hindgut or large intestines.

The easy part of the trip is over. But the fiber (structural carbohydrates), the primary energy source for the horse is still intact. There is still work to do. So now it moves to the hindgut, the first part of the large intestine.

Here’s where this fiber will be digested into usable energy by fermentation, one of nature’s magnificent miracles.

The fluid in the large intestine contains millions of small intestinal (enteric) bacteria. The job of these bacteria is to eat the fiber (structural carbohydrate), and produce from the fiber the volatile fatty acids and amino acids that are the primary source of energy for your horse.

If ReStore™ is added to the diet, the chemistry in the hindgut is stabilized at a pH range of 6.2-6.4. This pH is ideal for bacterial growth. As a result, “they become fruitful and multiply”, and millions and millions more bacteria are created.

With more bacteria on the job, more fiber can be eaten. More fiber properly predigested by the bacteria means more volatile fatty acids and amino acids are produced from every pound of fiber the horse eats.

Still, the bacteria can’t digest fiber in total. The undigested fiber passes into the small colon where the digestive tract makes a final effort to extract more nutrients. The fluid that arrives here still contains some dissolved soluble fatty acids, amino acids, and undigested fiber. In the small colon, excess fluid is reabsorbed through the intestinal wall directly into the bloodstream.

Fecal balls form as the excess liquid is extracted. They are at the final stop on our journey.

At the anus, the fecal balls exit the tunnel. But when they drop to the ground — despite the hard work of the digestive system — they still contain undigested fiber and significant residues of digestible energy as fatty acids, amino acids, and vitamins.

So, you can see that the horse’s food is virtually separated from his body as it’s processed through the tunnel we visited. This marvelous tunnel allows the horse to derive the energy needed for survival and exercise. Any alteration by feeding excess soluble carbohydrates or interfering with the process, slows down the motility (movement of food through the tunnel), resulting in a greater chance for disease or colic.

ReStore™ increases the effectiveness of the digestive bacteria in the hindgut. It does so by producing a favorable environment and a nitrogenous substrate (a nutritive base) for them to reproduce and function. The more digestive bacteria present, the more efficient the use of fiber for energy and the healthier the bowel.

Just hose it down with water, right?

No. Actually, it is very important to understand how to safely and quickly cool down a hot, sweating horse. Research shows that simply hosing off a horse does little good, does not significantly drop the horse’s temperature, and might have detrimental effects.

Cool to cold water poured or sprayed over a horse’s skin wets the horse, and the very thin layer of water actually contacting the horse’s skin is super heated quickly to the horse’s body temperature. The rest of the water being sponged or dumped or sprayed on the horse merely sheets over the initial one- to two-cell water layer on the horse. The initial water acts like a raincoat and does not allow other water molecules to contact and cool the skin, so the horse can in fact become hotter even while being cooled off.

The best method for cooling a horse is to spray or sponge on water with one hand and to almost immediately scrape off the now super heated water with a sweat scraper in the other hand. Spray, scrape, repeat is the cooling method of choice resulting in significantly reduced core temperature and requires less water.

Water can be fairly cold with this cooling method because it does not stay on the horse’s body long enough to cause muscle cramping.

We are at a critical point in understanding horse nutrition – do we really understand how the digestive process works in the horse? How significant is digestive fermentation to the horse? Horses are herbivores, like ruminants, but unlike cattle and sheep, where the majority of forage and other dietary fiber sources are digested in the stomach (rumen & reticulum), the majority of fibrous feeds are digested in the cecum and colon or hindgut of the horse. This digestive process is predominately microbial fermentation.

The horse’s stomach consists of regions with enzymatic as well as fermentative digestion and is small compared to other animal stomachs based on body size. The stomach of the horse contains about 10% of the capacity of the intestinal tract compared to about 70% for ruminants. This means the horse's stomach has only 14% the capacity for feed as the mature ruminant. Because of this relatively small size, the rate of passage or how fast the food consumed by the horse moves from the mouth to the large intestine is very fast. The residence time or how long food remains in the stomach of a horse can be as short as 15 minutes or as long several hours based on meal size, particle size, and amount of grain fed.

The small intestine preferentially performs enzymatic digestion, and a significant amount of the starch or carbohydrates and proteins are digested and absorbed in the small intestine. The residence time in the small intestine can be as little as 30 to 60 minutes with a rate of passage of 1 foot per minute. Thus, feed consumed by the horse can move from the mouth to the cecum in approximately 1½ hours!

The cecum is the digestive organ where microbial fermentation takes place and where the forages, such as hay or pasture are digested. Significant amounts of water soluble B-vitamins and vitamin K plus bacterial protein and fatty acids are produced in the cecum. Once feed enters the cecum, the rate of passage slows considerably. Feed remains in the cecum for 6-10 hours depending on feed type and maturity of forage, meal size and activity or exercise level. From the cecum, the feed passes to the colon where the end products of microbial fermentation are absorbed and utilized by the animal. Residency time is 48 to 70 hours in the colon. Undigested or indigestible feed is eliminated via the rectum.

The season is rapidly approaching when decisions must be made and money must be spent on breeding next year’s futurity winner. This is the easy part. Getting a mare in foal can be a very frustrating experience. It is also almost always guaranteed to be expensive. However, recent breakthroughs in the physiological chemistry of both the breeding mare and stallion offer new hope in making breeding your mare less like a trip to your local casino.

The key to minimizing risk (both physiological and financial) in equine reproductive management is to understand exactly what is going on and what are the consequences of that action. To begin, equine sex, properly done, is a violent, stressful activity, even when the stallion is not an active participant.  Outside elements such as extenders, and even semen that are inserted into the mare, can be viewed as "foreign material", especially since the uterus of the mare is so immunologically active.  This in and of itself poses problems, but to add insult to injury, if the union of the stallion’s sperm and the mare’s egg is successful, the end result is a parasitic organism (read foal) that is eventually expelled when the mare’s body has had enough.

Successful reproduction, the production of a live foal at birth, involves short-circuiting a series of physiological checks and balances inherent in the mare to ward off infection and deal with immunological challenges. Physiological chemists have discovered that two fatty acids found predominantly in fish oils, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) appear to play a key roll in allowing and maintaining a successful pregnancy. They also report that to work, the DHA and EPA must be available to the mare in a specific ratio that only exists in certain cold water fish oils.

For the past four years, Biovance’s technical team has worked closely with a leading supplier of a DHA/EPA complex to develop a product that is effective in horses. This product is palatable, and “user friendly”. It is also highly biologically available due to a proprietary process used in its manufacture. Finally, it is cost effective. This product, called Target E, will soon be available -- just in time for the breeding season. Look for details on our website and upcoming newsletters.