The barn where we used to board our horse gave him Fast Track daily. I've been reading that you really shouldn't give a probiotic all the time as the gut builds up a resistance to the bacteria. What has been some of your experiences?
Posted 2007-04-09 2:17 PM (#58902 - in reply to #58897) Subject: RE: Probiotic
Expert
Posts: 1723 Location: michigan
I feed a small amount of yeast to my horses daily. You can buy feedgrade yeast in bags for less than daily horse products. They are very healthy. I have not read about the resistance factor with yeast products.
Posted 2007-04-10 6:01 PM (#59007 - in reply to #58903) Subject: RE: Probiotic
Veteran
Posts: 294 Location: Fort Worth, Tx
Probioics are "good bacteria" which are present in the gut all the time unless you have given your horse (or yourself, or your dog, etc) powerful antibiotics, which don't know the difference between good and bad bacteria. Because they are a naturally occuring substance in the intestine, I don't see how your horse could build up a resistance. Think of it this way-yogurt contains probiotics, and you can eat that every day without problems, right? Anyone else have any info?
Posted 2007-04-12 6:35 PM (#59160 - in reply to #58897) Subject: RE: Probiotic
New User
Posts: 1
Location: Manheim, PA
Interesting discussion. The term 'probiotic' is reserved for human food; whereas, AAFCO prefers we use 'direct-fed microbial' or DFM. DFMs include bacteria, and in the broadest sense, yeasts. The roles are dramatically different. Fundamentally, yeasts scavenge oxygen from the GI lumen. Oxygen negatively impacts anaerobic (without oxygen) digestion of cellulose and hemicellulose by bacteria. This allows the 'beneficial bacteria' in the DFM to colonize the gut, and aid in digestion, primarily of forage (hay or pasture). Daily feeding of a DFM will have no detrimental effect on digestion, and will not lead to resistant strains of bacteria. DFMs should be evaluated on the daily dosage of live, viable microbes...CFU (colony forming units). Furthermore, some DFMs have yeast and bacteria (multiple species) and enzymes. Some have added biotin (hoof health), kelp meal (organic source of trace minerals), etc. One such product is LIRA EQUINE GOLD! Compare the label guarantees versus the competition and you should find that it exceeds any other DFM on the market for quality, consistency, CFU and price per daily dosage.
Posted 2007-04-14 2:45 AM (#59263 - in reply to #58897) Subject: RE: Probiotic
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 378 Location: Nebraska
With as much as 50% of the horses energy requirements coming from the large intestines, there is "bugs" to help break down the food and help with digestion. Many factors can alter the type and population of these bugs, stress, diet, gestation, lactation, dehydration, disease, antibiotics, ect. The theory behind probiotics is to keep the popualtion and type of good bugs on an even keel not allowing room or food for the bad bugs to populate, this is thought to increase the horse's immune system, increase feed efficiency and keep the gut ph steady. So if you want to use probiotics, watch your horse health, if you don't see a positive effect in 2 weeks or a negative happens. I wouldn't use it
Probiotic
Ditto to that! Obviously very well informed, but came out as gibberish to me. So are we saying these probiotics for horses are good or bad?