Horse Digestion System Research Paper

The digestive system of a pig is classified as monogastric or non-ruminant, which is having a stomach with only a single compartment, like humans. In addition, the digestive tract of the pig has five main parts, including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines. Furthermore, the mechanical breakdown of the food begins upon the entrance of the mouth in the digestive tract. Basically, the food is grinded into smaller pieces by its teeth. Next, saliva is produced in the mouth, acting to moisten the small food particles, along with an enzyme that starts the digestion of the starch. Then, the food is pushed towards the esophagus with the help of the tongue. Primarily, the esophagus carries the food from the mouth to the stomach, being a tube, which is carried out with the help of a series of muscle contractions that push the food towards the stomach. Subsequently, after the first of the contractions, swallowing, has taken place, the cardiac valve, located at the end of the esophagus, prevents food from passing from the stomach back to the esophagus. Likewise, the stomach comes next in the digestive tract; it serves as a reaction chamber, adding chemicals to the food. Also, hydrochloric acid and enzymes help break down food into small particles of carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Additionally, some particles are absorbed into the bloodstream, from the stomach, while others cannot be absorbed by the stomach, being passed to the small intestine through the pyloric valve. Moreover, the small intestine aids

The digestive system of the horse consists of a simple stomach, small intestines, cecum, large and small colons, rectum and anus. The horse 's stomach is comparatively small for its size. The stomach of an average horse has a holding capacity of about two gallons. This may be the reason horses eat small but frequent meals. From the stomach food moves to the small intestine, which is the main site of digestion. The small intestine empties into the cecum. The cecum; along with the large colon; make up the large intestine. Digestion in the large intestine occurs by action of bacteria and protozoa. (arg.gov.sk.ca)

into the larger lower part, reducing the amount of food the stomach can hold and slowing the

Esophagus:- It is located inside of the trachea, near the windpipe that is responsible for the respiratory system, these two structures are separate by the epiglottis. A muscular movement that pulls the food downwards is called peristalsis.

Safely adding weight to a horse is more complicated than just adding food to their diet. Horses have a complex digestive tract that includes the esophageal sphincter making it a one-way system; a small stomach to start the breakdown of food with acid; a cecum with microbes to breakdown fiber. A horse’s body condition score is a scale from 1-9 where 1 is emaciated and 9 is obese, and the ideal score is 5. Horses should consume 2 percent of their body weight to maintain their condition. No more than half of their feed should be grain, and the rest should be forages. The amount of food for every horse is based on their age, workload, production status, and their desired body condition score. Overfeeding grain can cause horses to become overweight or even colic. Horses basic nutritional needs are water, energy, protein, vitamins and minerals. To fulfill an adult horses water requirement they should drink between 10 and 12 gallons of fresh, free choice, and comfortable temperature water. It is important for horses to consume a balanced diet so they have enough energy to successfully do their job.

Fibre is an important component of the diet because the horse is a forager by nature, and in the wild can graze for up to 18 hours per day (Allen and Page, 2016). The composure of the horses’ gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) means that they are herbivores, designed to consume a diet predominantly made up of fibre (Lucas, 2016). Fibre is metabolised by bacteria in the hindgut via the process of microbial fermentation (Jones, 2016) this can take up to 72 hours.

Digestion is a multistep process that begins the moment you put a piece of food in your mouth or sip or drink.The mouth is the beginning of the digestive track,and in fact digestion starts here.When taking the first bite of food ,chewing breaks the food into pieces that are more easily digested,while saliva mixes with food to begin the process of breaking it down into a form your body can absorb and use.

From the abomasum, the digested food will move to the small intestine. The digesta is change from acidic to alkaline with the secretion of bile which the pH is very high. This will allow the digestion of different feed nutients. There, enzyme will continue the digestion of feeds and microbes. Most of the absorption occurs in the small

A horse’s stomach is small as it doesn’t eat 3 large meals a day, instead it eats several smaller meals. A herbivores’ stomach (including a horses’) is much smaller in comparison to a carnivore’s stomach as herbivores eat less in one go, therefore needing less processing of food at any one time, resulting in smaller stomachs.

The oesophagus is a muscular tube also known as (gullet); this moves the food bolus

The diet consisting of grass, hay, and various other foods have been known to contribute high acidity which in turns, results in ulcerations. Moreover, sporting events also contribute to these levels. There has been research conducting in this field that have reported that there are over 60% of horses with stomach ulcerations out of which most of them have engaged in racing activities. In fact, horses which encounter stressful situations on a regular basis like racing are the most prone to developing ulcers. Some of the symptoms that a horse with a gastric ulcer will display are poor performance, poor body condition, dull hair coat, diarrhea, colic, and a decrease in

Horses are nonruminant meaning that they are single stomached animals or monogastric. Horses are also herbivore meaning their diet is plant material. Horses secrete generous amounts of saliva containing no enzymes that helps to lubricate their coarse feedstuff. The stomach of the horse is small in relation to its size and that of other mammals. The stomach muscles are less powerful than in other animals making it more susceptible to stomach problems Horses are expected to eat numerous small feedings every day or large amounts twice a day with adequate roughage to prevent stomach problems.

When you feed a horse, it is very important to know that there are six basic nutrition categories that must be met: carbs, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, water. When horse doesn’t have the ability to run away,horses will turn and fight with their hind feet, teeth or strike. Horses generally learn to adapt to stable life, it is vital to exercise your horse's physical needs.There leg muscles are bunched up close to the body, freeing the slender legs for easy fast movement. Each leg ends in a single hard-walled hoof.

So to make sure that this is all done smoothly and without pain to the animal they must all work together. The food goes through the stomachs in this order, rumen,reticulum,omasum,abomasum. These types of animals are called ruminants,a lot of animals are ruminants,in fact almost every animal is a ruminant animal. As you can probably tell by now my personal favorite ruminant animal is a cow. In my opinion cows are one of the best animals around especially when they are calfs. So now you know all about cows and ruminant animals, also about the role each of the four stomachs play in the digestive

This assessment will explain what the role of the liver and pancreas is and how it aids digestion, including what they produce and how this makes the digestive system efficient. It will also include the interaction of the circulatory and respiratory systems during exercise and at rest and how they work separately and together. Lastly, it will discuss what could go wrong with these systems and how it will affect the horse.