Horse Digestive System

Digestion begins when food is eaten by your dog. Once swallowed, it begins its journey down the oesophagus into the stomach. This is where it will be broken down by hydrochloric acid into a liquid. The liquid will then pass into the small intestine. This is where the main part of the digestion takes place. Assisted by the liver and pancreas the nutrients

The esophagus receives food from the mouth after swallowing and then delivers it to the stomach. The stomach holds food which it is being mixed with enzymes which continue the process of breaking down the food into a useable form. When the contents of the stomach are processed they are released into the small intestine. In the small intestine food is broken down by enzymes released from the pancreas and bile from the liver, the food is moved through and mixed with digestive secretions. The small intestine is made up of three segments the duodenum, jejunum and the ileum, the jejunum and the ileum are mainly responsible from the absorption of nutrients in to the bloodstream. These contents start out semi-solid and end in a liquid form after passing through the organ. Water, bile, enzymes and mucous change its consistency, one the nutrients have been absorbed it then moves onto the large intestine. The large intestine connects to the rectum and is specialised in processing water so that emptying the bowels is easy.

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)

Meanwhile, the salivary glands in your mouth are producing saliva, lubricating the food so it can make it’s way down your esophagus and into your stomach. Saliva contains enzymes, substances that make chemical reactions faster and that breaks down large starch molecules into smaller molecules of sugar. The first step of digestion is complete. Once your food gets to your stomach, the stomach starts to furtherly digest your food. Food in the stomach is digested chemically, with chief and parietal cells. Chief cells produce pepsin, which breaks down protein. Parietal cells produce hydrochloric acid (HCI). These cells and their products help to chemically break down food in the stomach. Once food has been mechanically and chemically digested, the food goes into the small intestine duodenum, which  is the upper section of the small intestine. Attached to the duodenum is the pancreas and gallbladder. The pancreas is an organ that produces a variety of digestive enzymes, and the gallbladder is a storage sac that holds the bile produced in the liver. Bile is a chemical that breaks down fat droplets. The duodenum is also the organ that allows nutrients and water to pass through its walls. After completing its rounds in the duodenum, your digested food makes its way down into the small intestine, and then the large intestine. Villi in the small intestines absorbs nutrients into the bloodstream. The large intestine

Horses are prodigious grazers, they eat from grass , hay, flowers, apples, carrots, and other

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.

Poo-eating is normal behavior in horses, especially in foals. The feces a foal eats, especially from its dam, is thought to introduce microorganisms in the gasto-intestinal tract. These microorganisms are needed to switch from a milk- to a forage-based diet. Other reasons for coprophagia in horses are boredom, nutritional deficiency, and disease.

It has organs that have different roles to help the digestive system do its job. One of the organs, names is the esophagus. It is a muscular tube around the throat area, it is connected to the stomach, its job is to carry food down it.The stomach is located on the left side of the abdominal cavity. Its job is to break down the food it uses acid to help it when doing its job. Next to the stomach is the small intestine. The small intestine is a long, thin tube that is located in just inferior in the stomach and takes up most of the space in the abdominal cavity. Its job is to absorb nutrients and materials next is the gall bladder it is located under the liver and its job is to store and recycle excess bile from the small intestine so that it can be reused for the digestion of subsequent meals. After the gallbladder is the large intestine. It is a long thick tube that is located under the stomach and wraps around the borders of the small intestine it job is to absorbed water. Finally, there is the pancreas it a large gland located just inferior and posterior to the stomach. And its job is to further break down food after it has left the

In the small intestine there are three segments that are called the duodenum, jejunum, and the ileum. The small intestine continues to break the food down. It does this by creating enzymes that are released by the pancreas. Bile from the liver helps in digestion of fat and it also eliminates waste. Next step in the digestion is the liver. There are also other things at work in the liver such as peristalsis. Peristalsis is when food moves through and mixes up in the digestive secretions. The functions of the duodenum is that it continues the process of breaking down food. The jejunum and ileum are responsible for the absorption of nutrients into the bloodstream. There are also three organs that have a major function in helping the stomach and small intestine to digest food. The pancreas helps digestion by releasing enzymes that the pancreas releases help break down protein, fat, and carbohydrates from what is eaten. The liver’s two main functions are to make and release bile and also to clean and purify the blood, that as came from the small intestine that is containing nutrients that was just

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.

As a prey animal, the horse has eyes located at the side of the head which allows for a wider field of vision, useful when scanning for predators. However, due to eye location, the horse has only a small range of binocular vision which greatly impacts food selection. The inability to focus on one particular object paired with overall lack of depth perception requires the horse to graze in order to meet dietary requirements as it would be unable to hunt other animals. The equine has evolved to be an efficient grazing animal. The muzzle of the horse consists of sensitive nerves and strong muscles. The pairing of nerves and muscles allow a horse to selectively graze, avoiding plants that are sharp or thorny and separating them from the plants

The horse’s stomach is very small in comparison to the rest of the system, making up about 10% of it. Food can pass through in as little as 15 minutes. The three main areas of the stomach are the saccus caecus (sack-us seek-us), fundic, and pyloric regions. The esophagus dumps the food into the saccus caecus region, where it is mixed with hydrochloric acid, which slows the fermentation process. If the food ferments, it creates gas, and horses have very few ways to get rid of gas. In the fundic region, the fermentation decreases even further and the food mixes with pepsin and stomach acid, which begin the digestion of proteins and fats. In the pyloric region, protein digestion increases and fermentation stops almost

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.

In this report, I will be explaining the efficiency of the different digestive systems, the pros and cons of each digestive system, how all the food is broken down and how each digestive system is suitable for the type of animal.