Part 1 – The Equine Digestive Tract: Foregut – Mad Barn Vet Talk

This video is Part 1 of a two-part series on The Equine Digestive Tract.

Health issues involving the digestive tract are among the most common challenges of owning horses. Whether it be dental disease, gastric ulcers, or colic, horse owners recognize that a lot can go wrong anywhere along the digestive path.

As hindgut fermenters, horses have a complicated and large digestive tract. Feed travels over one hundred feet in the average-sized horse to undergo the full digestive process!

As a horse owner, basic knowledge of your horse’s digestive process is crucial. Understanding what is normal helps owners identify when something isn’t quite right. It also serves as a foundation for making good diet and management decisions that support your horse’s digestive health.

Join Dr. Fran Rowe, one of Mad Barn’s Veterinary Nutritionists, in learning more about digestive anatomy and physiology in the horse. This two-part series is split between Part 1: Foregut and Part 2: Hindgut.

Interested in learning more about issues and diseases that can affect the foregut in horses? We have many resources available:

General Overview
👉 https://madbarn.com/horse-digestive-anatomy/

Mouth
👉 https://madbarn.com/dental-issues-in-horses/
👉 https://madbarn.com/dysmastication-in-horses/
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkogxvugX2A&list=PLxMHb5lae7j8caurVU5NqVJ3xvOxCyczI&index=16

Esophagus
👉 https://madbarn.com/equine-choke/

Stomach
👉 https://madbarn.com/equine-gastric-ulcers/
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbYeTmWp9DA&list=PLxMHb5lae7j8caurVU5NqVJ3xvOxCyczI&index=12&t=3s
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfQ1yQiFBCc&list=PLxMHb5lae7j8caurVU5NqVJ3xvOxCyczI&index=11
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M_YfkqIv8c&list=PLxMHb5lae7j8caurVU5NqVJ3xvOxCyczI&index=14&t=4s

Small Intestine
👉 https://madbarn.com/colic-causes-in-horses/
👉 https://madbarn.com/proximal-enteritis-in-horses/
👉 https://madbarn.com/strangulating-lipomas-in-horses/

Want to evaluate your horse’s diet? Follow this link to get connected with an equine nutritionist or explore our horse nutrition calculator:
👉 https://madbarn.com/analyze-diet/?modal=show

Have ideas for topics to cover or questions about your horse’s health? We would love to hear from you! Please send any questions or comments to vet@madbarn.com
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