STOP! Feeding Your Horse RoundUp
Consider the Equine Environment – there are many things that horses come in contact with that can negatively affect their health. Our responsibility as their owners is to minimize their exposure so that they can lead healthy, productive lives.
Recently there was publicity regarding monensin poisoning of almost 80 horses in Oklahoma. This caused a rush of questions by horse owners as to the processing of their horse feed.
However, there are health consequences caused by everyday exposure to man-made chemicals found on pasture, in water and in feed.
In their pasture there are noxious weeds and insects which bite causing disease and parasites pass by flies. If they don’t drink clean water, they can be susceptible to Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis from opossum feces. And of course there is Lymes disease caused by ticks. So we spray the horses for insects and treat the horses with antibiotics.
Many environments are quite dusty which can cause allergic reactions, problems breathing and damage to the respiratory tract.
Fertilizers can be dangerous to horses due to high nitrogen levels. Herbicides, like Roundup are used to control weeds in crops can bind to minerals and remove them from the diet and can kill gut flora, affecting digestion.
Their feed can be contaminated with antibiotics from distiller grains, fungicides to control microbial growth and through the presence of glysophate. This chemical, commonly known as Roundup has been found as residues in horse and human food. There are limits set, but to my knowledge, this is not something routinely tested for.
GMO ingredients in feed such as wheat, corn, alfalfa, beet pulp and more can be sprayed with glyphosate during the growing cycle and harvesting cycle leaving residues that can be harmful to a horse’s digestive tract. Feeds can have prebiotics in them, but if the glyphosate removes the microbiome of the digestive tract that helps a horse digest, then digestion is reduced and the stomach, etc. is left unprotected. Glyphosate residues also chelate minerals needed for muscle building and sound, healthy bodies. Once chelated, they are blocked from the body.
Many feeds contain non-nutritive fillers and lack the balanced nutrition that horses need from their diet. I often get asked, ‘why are these fillers in the feed’. The answer is simple – you have to use more to feed your horse. And the companies make more money as a result. Balanced nutrition should contain all of the vitamins/minerals needed to support a healthy body. There are products out there that just don’t have enough to accomplish this goal.
From the start of Daily Dose Equine, our goals were to provide horses with safe horse feed using the best ingredients that included balanced vitamins/minerals. In addition, we wanted to be free of the health problems associated with Roundup.
We use 4 main ingredients along with our vitamin/mineral mix – timothy hay, alfalfa hay, roasted oats and roasted barley. Each balancer and feed that we make is a different combination of these ingredients. In addition, no feed contains glyphosate (Roundup) as we use non-GMO ingredients.
Our products are high in fat and fiber. Some are very low in starch/sugar -- perfect for that easy keeper. We have other products that include roasted oats and barley for the horse that needs more calories to maintain their weight.
We have been successful in helping the IR horse/pony lower their IR levels while gaining weight. We have also been successful in helping a thoroughbred gain and maintain weight without losing focus during training. We have a senior feed for horses without good teeth that is 25% hay to help them maintain their weight. And for the imported horse not used to eating a diet of GMOs, we have a full line of products to meet their needs. In addition to these successes, we have shown improvement in digestive health.
VonBruggen, A.H.C., et al, Environmental and health effects of the herbicide glyphosate, Science of the Total Environment, Volume 616-617, pages 255-268, March 2018. Environmental and health effects of the herbicide glyphosate - ScienceDirect
Walsh, L., Hill, C., & Ross, R. P. (2023). Impact of glyphosate (RoundupTM) on the composition and functionality of the gut microbiome. Gut Microbes, 15(2).
----, Morris Animal Foundation-Funded Study Shows Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Linked to Equine Metabolic Syndrome. Foundation-Funded Study Shows Chemicals Linked to Equine Metabolic Syndrome
Nalage, Dinesh, et al, The impact of environmental toxins on the animal gut microbiome and their potential to contribute to disease, Food Chemistry Advances, 3: 100497, December 2023. The impact of environmental toxins on the animal gut microbiome and their potential to contribute to disease - ScienceDirect
Novotny, E, Glyphosate, Roundup and the Faitures of Regulatory Assessment. Toxics, 2022, June 13; 10(6): 321 Glyphosate, Roundup and the Failures of Regulatory Assessment
Comentarios