Feeding Practices, Equine Dental Health - and Whiskers?

In the past twenty years I have only had one horse I've raised require dental floating. I have had rescues and "rehome" horses needing work but, when my vet or dental professional has checked my horses it's always been "They're fine, we'll check again next visit".
I was reminded of this seeing the recent article from Kentucky Equine Research (KER) - Feeding Practices May Impact Horse Dental Health which explains how many modern diets and horse keeping practices can affect our horses' teeth.
I'm fortunate in Arizona to not have the lush green pasture often prized by many horse owners. As some owners with "easy keeper" horses discover, this beautiful pasture can be far from ideal for their horses' health and they find themselves ripping out grass to make "Paddock Paradise" tracks and dry lots.

My Arizona "Pasture"

My horses get to "graze" on mesquite, chaparral, prickly pear cactus and other desert bounty in addition to their main diet of ground-fed Bermuda hay with Timothy pellets added for variety.  When it's windy I place their hay in nets at a fairly low level and with extreme weather, they eat directly from floor mats in the barn. They've gotten quite good at ferreting out the stray clump of grass that shows up during rainy season and don't seem to have problems with the annual mesquite bean crop - likely because they ease into them as they ripen with daily access so don't gorge like a horse with limited turnout might.

Along with good dental health, I haven't had sand issues from ground feeding, either.  I attribute this to always having hay available so their gut is never empty, feeding a substantial amount of (molasses-free) beet pulp daily with their supplements which supplies some pectin and mucilage, and never clipping muzzle hair.  I don't advocate direct ground feeding for show horses which may be clipped as they are lacking vibrissae - the essential, extremely sensitive whiskers which allow the horse to feel tiny differences - such as separating a flake of food from a grain of sand.  Because of the importance of the facial vibrissae to the horse, including for protection from eye trauma, trimming equine facial whiskers has been outlawed in Germany. See the fascinating discussion of sensory perception in the horse at the link below.

Warm regards,
Patti in Sunny, Warm Vail AZ

LINKS:

KER article: Feeding Practices May Impact Horse Dental Health
http://ker.equinews.com/article/feeding-practices-may-impact-horse-dental-health

Vibrissae - general in mammals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskers

Vibrissae - importance to perception in the horse http://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/media/us/samplechapters/9780702026348/9780702026348.pdf

Can Beet Pulp Replace Psyllium to Avoid Sand Build Up?

Anonymous asked onMar 31, 2012 02:08 PM

I live in Nevada and was told beet pulp will help in getting sand out of my horses bellies. I'm new to this horse thing and would love some help as we love our horses. If you would email the answer to me at ****@yahoo.com thank you

Reports of using Beet Pulp to help avoid a build up of sand in the large intestine of horses are mainly anecdotal.  I don't advocate replacing psyllium with beet pulp, but it does share some similar properties (gel-forming pectin) that might help with sand removal. Beet pulp also encourages development of "good" microbes in the gut,which helps improve fiber fermentation (poor fermentation is one cause of "hay belly"). 


Sand impaction is common in areas with sandy soils.  The sand gradually accumulates in the colon and can cause chronic discomfort or acute colic.  You vet can identify characteristic "grating" sounds of sand in the abdomen and sand can sometimes be found in the manure.  Sand accumulation can be seen with some imaging devices in your veterinarian's clinic (field ultrasound and xray machines are not powerful enough to visualize the abdomen).


Psyllium has traditionally been used to prevent or remove sand accumulation in the horse's gastrointestinal (GI) tract and there are a multitude of products available in tack and feed stores and online catalogs. Psyllium  contains mucilage which when ingested and mixed with the fluids in the GI tract forms a gel. It is thought that this "gel" picks up and helps move the sand.  


Two studies have shown that psyllium had no effect on the removal of sand from the large intestine (within the parameters of the studies' designs).  A later study showed that a [specific product] containing psyllium plus pre- and pro-biotics may be effective prevention treatment.  At an Equine Veterinary Congress in Italy in 2010, in a presentation by an American veterinarian it was proposed "The efficacy of psyllium is highly controversial, but can be used because it is unlikely to cause problems and owners will expect it."


So, in light of these studies and the claims of the makers of the many psyllium products, where does that leave us?  


This is something to discuss with your vet. I live in sandy desert and stopped feeding psyllium about ten years ago when I began feeding beet pulp to all my horses.  (See Beet Pulp I - You want me to eat WHAT???) I feed hay in small mesh hay feeders or scattered over an acre or more to "simulate" grazing.  Several different veterinarians have indicated they hear no sand when checking my horses.


I have had more than one veterinarian tell me the best prevention for sand colic is feeding "free choice hay" (which might be best done in slow feed hay nets to avoid excess weight gain) and others agree with the feeding of beet pulp as a prevention tactic.  Using mats under feeders will help our equine "Hoovers" from rooting around in the sand to find those last tidbits - especially with wet or oily feeds which sand can stick to or hay like alfalfa which drops fine leaves.

Photo from WHISKERS-ON

For a bit of fun, get down to ground level with your horse as he munches some hay or a treat off the ground and watch how he uses his whiskers and sensitive lips to easily pick up only the "good stuff".

References

Failure of Psyllium Mucilloid to Facilitate the Evacuation of Sand from the Equine Large Intestine
Phillip D. Hammock, DVM; David E. Freeman, MVB, PhD; and Gordon J. Baker, BVSc, PhD, MRCVS
http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/AAEP/1998/Hammock.pdf


Fecal Sand Clearance Is Enhanced With a Product Combining Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Psyllium in Clinically Normal Horses
A. D. Landes1, D. M. Hassel2, J. D. Funk3 and A. E. Hill4
1 Equine Medical Service, Fort Collins, CO, USA. 2School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, USA. 3,4College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/aaep/2007/landes/chapter.asp


Chronic colic: diagnosis and treatment
David Freeman
MVB, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA
http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/sive/2010/english/18.pdf


The Myths and Reality of Beet Pulp
Copyright Susan Garlinghouse, 1999
http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/beetpulp.shtml