Working with your horse’s digestive system as nature intended could be key to helping your horse thrive. Read on to see the Horslyx Back To Basics Guide as featured in Horse & Hound.
Understanding the evolution of the horse as a trickle feeder of forages and the equine digestive system helps us understand what a horse or pony requires in a balanced diet. Horses have evolved to continuously roam over vast areas and graze, or ‘trickle-feed’ for 16–18 hours per day. Today, horses are kept in relative luxury compared to their ancestors. However, their digestive system is still similar, so a horse still needs this trickle-feed supply of nutrients to remain in optimum health.
How it works
The digestive system starts with the mouth, chewing and licking releases saliva, which helps to buffer stomach acidity. The horse’s stomach is the size of a rugby ball and is where the digestion starts, continues in the small intestine, and is completed in the hindgut. Two thirds of the equine digestive system is in the hindgut, where the fermentation of fibre occurs by micro-organisms and beneficial bacteria.
When the hindgut is healthy, and the horse is trickle-fed ample amounts of good quality forage, plus a balanced diet, the hindgut will provide the horse with warmth from the fermentation of fibre and a range of B-vitamins which ensure that the horse’s skin and coat are healthy, and his hooves are in good condition.
However, a long-term undersupply of minerals, including trace elements and vitamins, can lead to more serious problems, some of which cannot be rectified. It is important, irrespective of workload that the horse’s diet is balanced in terms of gross and micro nutrients to maintain normal health and performance expectations. The horse has evolved to be a trickle feeder, with the majority of its diet to be comprised of forage, it’s important to remember that grass is not balanced ideally for a horse, so using a balancer to balance the deficiencies results in a healthier animal.
Common Misconceptions
It is a common misconception that balancers only come in a bag and form part of a complementary feeding system. Balancers can also include feed licks and comprehensive powdered supplements. Balancers are not miracle cures and will fail to have the desired effect if they are underfed to cut costs or not fed at the appropriate daily frequency.
Balancers have been designed to overcome the shortfall in required nutrients of horses consuming a largely forage based diet. The choice of balancer is important as it is not only the purchase cost of the balancer that should be taken into consideration but also the ancillary requirements, whether that be time and frequency of feeding, storage conditions, or dedicated feeding equipment. An ideal situation is to provide horses free access to balancers consumed alongside the forage in a trickle-feeding fashion rather than in a once or twice-daily hit.
Like all complementary feeds, it is important that balancers are not wasted, so they need to be palatable for the duration of time that they are available to the horse. Another key point is to ensure that Balancer combinations are avoided to prevent potential over supply issues of trace elements.
Formulated in the UK
Horslyx Balancers have been carefully formulated to balance the deficiencies in forage and grazing. This is a unique and innovative approach to ensuring that the modern horse receives an ideal supply of vitamins, minerals and trace elements to support optimum health and vitality. Promoting a natural trickle feed pattern that allows the horse to self-regulate and consume Horslyx when required.
All Horslyx need to be licked, which takes patience. Horses only produce saliva when biting, chewing, or licking, and saliva is an excellent natural buffer and lubricant within the gastrointestinal tract. This leads to better digestion, less stress, and a happier, healthier horse.
Horslyx Balancers are ideal for all equines, both competition and leisure, stabled and grass kept, and are even suitable for laminitis prone equines. With six balancers to choose from, find the right Horslyx Balancer for your horse:
Horslyx Original Balancer is suitable for all horses, from those at rest requiring a low calorie diet to performance horses who may require additional supplementation to meet their nutritional requirements.
Horslyx Mint Balancer is made with real peppermint oil. The aroma and taste of mint often makes it an ideal appetite stimulant for fussy equines.
Horslyx Mobility Balancer can help maintain healthy joints for the performance horse that requires support for hard working joints or as an aid for older horses, with Glucosamine HCI, MSM & Omega 3 Oils and a combination of powerful antioxidants.
Horslyx Respiratory Balancer provides a two-pronged approach to supporting a healthy respiratory system. Ingredients such as menthol, eucalyptus, and aniseed support the airways; meanwhile, the high-specification balancer package helps to maintain immunity.
Horslyx Pro Digest Balancer can be fed to support the digestive system from the stomach to the hindgut. Ingredients include Slippery Elm and Seaweed Meal are as a source of mucilage.
Horslyx Garlic Balancer contains pure garlic oil to help provide a natural and effective way to help combat the problem of biting insects.
Horslyx Balancers are manufactured under a Hazard Awareness and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system in accordance with the Universal Feed Assurance Scheme and the BETA NOPS code. This means that Horslyx are of the highest standards and are available for competition use under HRA/FEI competition rules.
