Do digestive supplements 'work' ?

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Muddywellies

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My horse has a history of EGUS and after veterinary treatment, had been on a good quality supplement since. Now the company has had a substantial price hike and I'm thinking I might stop the supplements. The horse is kept in as much of an 'ulcer friendly' way as possible, and fed high quality feeds designed for digestive support. So I'm wondering if the horse really needs the very expensive supplements, of if good management and quality feed will be enough ? (Not looking for feeding or management advice here as im happy with both and horse is doing well)
 
I don’t see how the ‘probiotic’ ones possibly can, as digestion kills most probiotics so if they’re fed with any kind of food that would trigger digestion then they would die in the stomach surely?

ETA I would be very happy to be proven wrong on this!
 
I sat in on a webinar once with a top vet (sponsored by science supplements I might add 🙈) and she said to feed a supplements containing pectin and lecithin. However, in a half tonne animal, will a mere 25m scoop really make any difference whatsoever ??? I'm honestly starting to think many supplements are sold to make the rider happy, rather than actually do anything. And i feel that the manufacturers will tell us anything to get our money. So I'm interested to hear genuine success stories with gut supplements.
 
Patterdale said:
I don’t see how the ‘probiotic’ ones possibly can, as digestion kills most probiotics so if they’re fed with any kind of food that would trigger digestion then they would die in the stomach surely?

ETA I would be very happy to be proven wrong on this!
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Most will die, but if you feed a high enough dose then some will get through. Whether they’re any use or not is another matter- probably better to promote a good environment for the microbes already in there with plenty of fibre. You don’t need a supplement to do this…..
 
Some probiotic will get through, and POSSIBLY the more expensive ones have additional functionality to enable this - encapsulation, binding to other substances, etc

Personally I think prebiotics are the way to go, feeding the bacteria which are already there to help them thrive.

So good, varied forage which can include adding a fair amount of good chaff or hay cobs if your hay/grass isn't that varied. Herbs, hedgerow and oily seem the favourites. Then prebiotic supplements, they're mainly inulin based with is cheap and palatable on its own. More supplements are using gum arabaic recently which is also cheap and tasteless.
 
The Ron Fields ulcer stuff is good too. Has anyone used Ponease/ Equinectar? People seem absolutely obsessed with it, recommending it over any vet involvement...
 
My 2 will not touch brewers yeast even the tiniest bit and protexin has never really made any difference, they both eat the oily herbs and the aloe vera fine though.

I have fed physilium husk which I think really helps with loose droppings so I tend to have it anyway and gut sponge has also been good for the same thing, I've also used activated charcoal at times but your not meant to feed that permanently.
 
rextherobber said:
The Ron Fields ulcer stuff is good too. Has anyone used Ponease/ Equinectar? People seem absolutely obsessed with it, recommending it over any vet involvement...
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I tried Ponease but Lottie is better on Equine 74 Gastric. It 100% helps her. It’s expensive and I keep trying to wean her off it but within days she’s girthy again. 48 hours after going back on it, she’s better. I’ve got 2L unopened Ponease if anyone wants to try it.
 
Ambers Echo said:
I tried Ponease but Lottie is better on Equine 74 Gastric. It 100% helps her. It’s expensive and I keep trying to wean her off it but within days she’s girthy again. 48 hours after going back on it, she’s better. I’ve got 2L unopened Ponease if anyone wants to try it.
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Well, its nice to hear that, despite its evangelical following, it's exactly like all other supplements, in that what works for one horse does nothing for another!
 
I was told by a vet many years ago that a digestive supplement has to be encapsulated to get to where it needs to in order to work properly. She explained that many of these supplements on the market do contain ingredients that will help, but the majority wont make it where they need to before being absorbed.
 
Equishure is encapsulated and also worked well for Lottie. I go back and forth between trying to work out which one is best! Ponease did nothing, Nor did protexin. Gastric 74 clearly does work for her. In human literature the pre/pro biotic hype is now being questioned re supplements. Pre/probiotic foods are definitely healthy for your gut microbiome, but it is not clear that the supplements help.

I guess it depends on the mechanism of the supplment. They all work (or claim to) slightly differently.
 
I just feed a very good probiotic for hind gut and limestone flour for ulcer horse. I do have the feedmark stuff for stay away shows as I think they need more. I am obsessed with feeding chaff before I ride though. No starch above 6% in feeds and seem to have a happy horse.
 
The Managing Horses with Ulcers FB group is the Ponease and Equinectar Appreciation Group. I am convinced the admin is somehow connected to them. I asked her directly and she said no, but people then PMed me saying she's on commission. So not directly employed but incentivised to sell the stuff. I've noticed that even when people post positive experiences of other products she immediately says ''research' shows Ponease/Equinecta is superior to 'X product' and when asked to produce the 'research' she says she's seen it but can't share it as it's not yet published. But the results are amazing! Honest Guv.

Well if she's getting advanced copies of research papers, (or more likely being told broad conclusions about research) then she clearly IS connnected to them. Plus unpublished research, funded by the company making the product under invesitigation, has not yet been peer reviewed or independently scrutinsed and therefore - frankly - worthless at that stage,

So I have left the group. And will seek not to get sucked down rabbit holes again.

Incidentally I am not saying it helps no-one. But that group annoyed me intensely as it appears to be a promotional group, pretending to be independent.
 
Just had a look at Ponease and no mention of ingredients. The whole website is a crock of 💩. I won’t touch anything which won’t tell you.

It’s why I won’t use the other snake oil speciality of Coligone.
 
LEC said:
Just had a look at Ponease and no mention of ingredients. The whole website is a crock of 💩. I won’t touch anything which won’t tell you.

It’s why I won’t use the other snake oil speciality of Coligone.
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I'm pretty sure coligone is mint flavoured limestone powder!!

I do find slippery elm herbal ones work well for one of mine. She really didn't get on with Rob Fields (I think it was the smell) so baby cob is having that and it's helped after his tapeworm issue.
 
I think it’s like with a lot of things and it’s very much down to individual horses. One of mine is quite anxious by nature and is prone to very loose droppings - since starting on a gut supplement over a year ago we’ve not had a single loose dropping. I’ve never used or felt the need to use one with my others who are all managed the same, nor with any previous horses I’ve owned.
 
I do think we over complicate it all for digestive. Effectively you just need an antacid on top of good management. It’s not rocket science. I feed for hind gut but again only because we know a lot now about gut biome so why wouldn’t you as again can be done inexpensively.
 
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