Do you give your horse pro bios?

[arabianequine]

I was thinking about giving my horse pro bias. It does not say horses can have it though. I though I heard people say they give it to their horses. My horse is not eating her timothy grass hay but is eating the flake of alfalfa I put out. I was wondering if she is spoiled and holding out or if there is a reason she is not eating the grass hay? She did not eat the grass last night or this am so I did not put anymore grass out but I did put the flake of alfalfa each time. I usually do one of each am and pm. She has been eating both kinds of hay for a couple months now and no problems. Also she was just wormed at the beginning of this month.

Thank you!

 

[arabianequine]

What I find on line is 15 g per horse per time? Is this right and for how many days? I have a 60g tube of pro bios.

 

[shadowpaints]

i only give my horses probios when they get wormed, or when we change the hay, it wont hurt them, and if your horse have the runs its a good idea to give it to them. if its for diarehha then its 25grams a day for about 5 days, when i worm them ill give them 15 grams right after worming, to help replace the bacteria in the stomach

 

[welsummerchicks]

There is some research on probiotics use for humans - it really does seem to do something to improve growth in human babies, so companies that make baby formula are now distributing a 'test product' in some markets in Europe, to see if parents are interested.

I will look for some research on probiotic use for hind gut fermenters (horses, lol). I'm also curious to see which bacteria specifically, could be beneficial for horses. A lot of horse digestion is via rotifer. They are also very good about synthesizing vitamins.

http://www.equidblog.com/uploads/file/probiotics.pdf

 

[SourRoses]

Oh.. hey I'm curious Welsummer.. seeing you say that.

Do you have more info or any links about the human baby/probiotics thing? Curiosity must be satisfied

Thanks.

 

[welsummerchicks]

I will try to backtrack to the articles I found on humans and probiotics. I'd be sure it's more than a 'gee, people seem like they'd buy this and pay more for it'. That does happen a lot.

As it applies to horses, you should really read that link up above, if you think that probiotic use in horses is a done deal. Just as far as what bacteria a given product includes, a lot of products out there are very questionable, as a lot of bacteria have not been shown to do anything for horses. That and it is not enough to just have a given bacteria - for a lot of effects, you also have to have a given strain of the bacteria, any other strain just does nothing.

Be careful, I find an awful lot of inaccurate information on the internet on probiotics - really impossible claims, that they produce all sorts of vitamins, minerals, antibiotics - do all sorts of impossible things. Be skeptical, it will help you keep hold of more of your foldin' money.

 

[SourRoses]

Thank you

No worries... I am more curious towards hearing the how, that they might might increase a babys birth weight, than for any immediate use... It shall be a few years at least before I have any babies

I'm sure I get enough bacteria in yogurt and cheese, LOL.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Here's a good summary of the studies and general ideas about probiotics for human babies.

http://www.ifm.net/industry/probiotics.htm

There are really two products - PRE biotics - that just encourage beneficial bacteria to grow, and contain things that just tend to encourage the specific bacteria. And PRO biotics, that are actually LIVE bacteria. Usually lactobacillus.

We just have to keep straight what these products really DO and what they don't do, and not just believe a lot of wild claims in ads. We also have to understand whether the product we are buying, what it really contains, not only what it MIGHT do, but can that form of it actually do that and how much of a difference it really can make.

You see probiotics are not medications, so they don't get any controls put on them or anyone checking whether the product really contains a form of something that can actually do anything, and if it did something, would that even be to an amount we could even notice. A lot of times companies try to sell us stuff that might have shown a tiny difference that either is within the 'error range'* or is 'clinically insignificant'. We have to be careful as this is a supplement and the supplement industry is 100% unregulated.

*The error range is say, your scale measures weight give or take 2 lbs(that is how accurate most human scales are). So if it says you weigh 100 lbs, you weigh anywhere from 98 to 102 lbs. Say, if a study finds a product causes 2 lbs of weight loss, that is within the error range of the scales they used, it may or may not mean anything at all.

 

[Godsgrl]

I read the title as PHOBIAS, and I figured, well, probably. Oops.

 

[welsummerchicks]

At first I couldn't figure whether it was phobias or pro-bios. I thought maybe in that part of the country if one heard someone name one of the products, it might sound like the word in the title.