Supporting your horse’s gut health from the inside out

As horse owners, we all want our horses to be happy, healthy, and thriving. The digestive tract is fundamental to our horse’s overall health and wellbeing – not only is it where their feed and forage are digested and absorbed but it also plays an important role in their immune function.

The equine digestive system is incredibly complex, and any imbalances or disruptions in the gut can lead to a variety of health issues. The horse is reliant on the microbial population living in the gut to break down fibre, providing a source of slow-release energy. This process is what enables herbivores to thrive on a fibre-based diet and is why looking after the good bugs is so important for our horses’ gut health.

This guest blog from our SEIB Classic Horse Insurance rewards partner, Dengie, explores how we as horse owners can better support our horses’ gut health, from the inside out. As specialists in Horse Insurance, we understand how important it is to support your horse’s health and digestive wellbeing. That’s why we work with trusted experts such as Dengie to help give our clients access to useful, specialist knowledge alongside their cover.

Chew Time!

The journey of feed and forage through the horse’s digestive tract starts with the first bite, and any problems in the mouth can have an impact on what comes next. This is why ensuring your horse has good dental health and can chew their feed and forage sufficiently is essential.

Another element to be aware of here is that horses produce saliva slightly differently to humans. While we produce saliva automatically when we smell or think about food, a horse needs to be actively chewing to stimulate saliva production. Equine saliva contains virtually no digestive enzymes, and these don’t appear until further down the digestive tract. Saliva still has an important role for the horse though, as it helps to soften feed in the mouth and acts as a lubricant to aid swallowing. It also contains bicarbonates that buffer acidity within the digestive tract. This means that more saliva = greater acid buffering.

So, how can we maximise the amount of saliva a horse produces?

The main principle is to maximise the amount of chewing your horse does. The motion and frequency of chewing will vary when different feeds are eaten, and it’s not surprising that feeding chopped fibres or forage encourages more chew time compared to mixes or cubes:

• It takes a horse around 3000-3500 chews to eat 1kg of hay, compared to just 832 chews for 1kg of oats (Meyer et al., 1975).
• The amount of saliva produced when a horse chews also relates to the amount of force they need to apply (Vervuert, 2012). The more fibrous the material, the more effort is required, leading to greater saliva production.

This can help to increase the buffering of stomach acid and support a healthier digestive system.

Key ways to support gastric health

In the upper section of the stomach, the horse relies on the presence of fibre to act as a physical barrier to stop gastric acid coming into contact with the squamous mucosa. This is one reason why feeding a Stubbs scoop of chopped fibre before exercise is often recommended, as it helps to line the stomach and reduce acid splash. Although the same amount of hay would provide a similar benefit, offering chopped fibre in a bucket can be more practical, as many horses will perceive it as a meal and are therefore more likely to eat it readily. Any of the Dengie chopped fibre feeds can be used for this purpose, such as Dengie Healthy Tummy, Ulser Lite or Performance Fibre.

Less starch, more fibre

Minimising the amount of starch in the ration is also key when it comes to supporting gastric health. For horses needing a conditioning feed to maintain their weight, higher calorie fibre feeds like alfalfa can provide a good alternative to traditional mixes or cubes.  Alfalfa is a high fibre feed that is naturally low in starch and sugar because it stores these carbohydrates in its deep roots underground – the part that horses don’t eat!

Due to the abundance of calcium, protein and magnesium it contains, alfalfa is also recognised as providing a natural buffer to acidity in the stomach. Recent research comparing different forms of alfalfa with barley and another high fibre ingredient found that chopped alfalfa offered the greatest potential to support a healthy gastric environment, and this was the case in both the squamous and glandular regions of the stomach (Grimm et al., 2026).

Alfalfa is also useful in the sense that it provides a valuable energy (calorie) level of 10 MJ/kg, similar to a ‘cool mix’ but with around 10 times less starch. When alfalfa is combined with higher levels of oil, as in Dengie Healthy Tummy or Alfa-A Oil, the result is a very low starch but high calorie fibre feed that is ideal for poor doers when it comes to supporting gastric health.

For the good doer, Dengie Ulser Lite offers the ideal alternative. This includes alfalfa pellets as part of the formulation alongside other fibres like low calorie chopped straw and tasty grasses which reduce the overall calorie content compared to a pure alfalfa feed.

Digestive Aids – The Role of ‘Biotics’

Digestive aids can also play a role in maintaining a healthy gut. Biotics is a useful umbrella term for ingredients that are live, originate from live bugs, or act on the bugs already in the digestive system. They are often grouped into three main types: 

• Probiotics – live microorganisms, such as yeast. There are currently no live bacterial probiotics approved for use in horses, so equine products labelled as probiotics are likely to contain live yeast. Yeast can help to break down fibre, making it easier for the good bugs in the gut to access and digest it, which helps horses to get more out of their forage.
• Prebiotics – ingredients that feed the beneficial bacteria already living in the gut. For example, FOS prebiotics provide a food source for these bacteria, helping them flourish and support a healthy gut environment.
• Postbiotics – non-living microorganisms or fermentation products that provide health benefits. They can help support the gut’s natural defences, particularly during times of stress or digestive upset.

Dengie Healthy Tummy and Ulser Lite both contain all three biotics as part of the formulation, which offer additional benefits for supporting a healthy gut.

For more information, or if you would like the Dengie nutrition team to review your horse’s diet and help you select the most appropriate feed for supporting their digestive health, get in touch by calling 01621 841 188 or by completing an online feed advice form. www.dengie.com

About SEIB

SEIB offers a range of horse insurance options, including policies such as their Core, Classic, Sport Horse and Veteran Horse cover, each with different levels of cover depending on the needs of the horse and owner. Our experienced team of horse owners can help provide you with advice on what cover you might need.