Horse intestine

Trial#17: TURVAL 6 Horse daily probiotic influence in chemistry in the large colon of the horse

OBJECTIVE: to determine if "Turval 6 horse" when fed to horses at a pre-calculated rate will cause a change in chemistry (principally a reduction of pH) in the large colon of the horse, Another factor monitored in this trial was total weight gain over the feeding period.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: three young mares were leased for the project.

• mare number 1 is a grade palomino mare, 6 years old, and on July 20, 1997 she weighed 1,004lbs.                                                                
• mare number 2 is a paint mare, 5 years old, and on July 20,1997 she weighed 925lbs.                                                
• mare number 3 is a bay grade QH mare, 5 years old, and on July 20, 1997she weighed 937 lbs.

(Note: none of the above mares are pregnant.)

After procuring these mares and trying to establish a grain source that was palatable to all three mares they subsequently serially developed Strep. equi infections. It took several weeks for all of the mares to becomes clinically free of the infection and be safe for surgery. During the infection period the mares did lose weight, however, we neglected to re-weigh them before starting the trial.

Initially, our intent was to surgically secure the right ventral colon to the abdominal wall so serial samples of ingesta could be retrieved by simple paracentesis. The attempts to retrieve samples in this manner failed. After the horses recovered from the initial surgery we changed our protocol and did a second laporatomy and retrieved a base line sample of ingesta directly from the right ventral colon from each mare.

Lowell R. Smalley

Trial laboratoty: H & S Lab Inc.
9906 North 132nd Street. Omaha, Nebraska 68142 US
Trial n. 17