Powerhouse Nutrition for Vibrant Horse Health
In addition to high quality feed that is balanced and meets the vitamin and mineral requirements of a horse, there are two key factors that play an important role in achieving vibrant health for our horses – detoxification and healthy inflammatory responses.
Detoxification
Just like humans, horses are exposed to many toxic chemicals every day. Toxins are in the air they breathe, the feed they eat, and the water they drink. Toxins are in the drugs, vaccines, chemical wormers they receive. Toxins can also enter the horse’s body through bacteria, fungi, parasites, infections, and more.
Detoxification is as important for horses as it is for humans because when the horse’s system gets overburdened with toxins, nutrients may not get processed and used effectively by the body. The first signs of trouble can show up in a variety ways, but are often seen in the form of irritated, inflamed, and itchy skin. If not addressed, it can put the horse at an increased risk for disease, tumors, and even cancer.
Inflammation
All disease starts with inflammation, and according to Michael Ball, DVM in an article on thehorse.com, more animals die from an inflammatory disease than all other disease processes combined. Inflammation is often caused by a bacteria, virus, or fungus, but any irritation of tissue can cause some form of inflammatory response. Laminitis is the inflammation within the foot; arthritis the inflammation within a joint, tendonitis the inflammation within a tendon, gastritis the inflammation within the stomach, colitis the inflammation within the large colon, and the list goes on.
Inflammatory responses are necessary for killing invading organisms and the normal healing of damaged tissue. However, too much inflammation does more harm than good, and therefore needs to be controlled, and preventative measures should be taken. Chronic inflammation can also be caused by poor nutrition, and that can take years until an outward problem manifests. Your horse could appear fine today, but the tissues inside his body could be percolating with inflammation.
Inflammation is usually treated with drugs such as steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). While these drugs can help control inflammation, at least temporarily, they add more toxins to the already compromised body of the horse.
Nothing Beats BEETS to Improve the Health of your Horse
When it comes to making a healthy addition to your horse’s feed, nothing beats beets! Beets are a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals, as well as plenty of other health-promoting compounds and phytonutrients with outstanding anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and detoxifying effects.
Just a small amount of red beetroot added to a horse’s daily feed, in the correct form, can help relieve common ailments in horses with a boost of powerful nutrition – naturally. Most importantly, a daily serving of powerful red beetroot nutrition promotes overall health and vitality, and can help prevent common ailments in horses in the first place.
Synthetic vitamins are often added to balance a horse’s feed, but many times the desired results are not achieved because these artificial vitamins tend to pass through the body without being absorbed.
Not All Beets are Equal!
The best way to supplement the nutritional intake of your horse is by supplying the added nutrition in the form of whole plant foods, like nutrient-rich red beetroot. The body is equipped to handle supplementation in this natural form because it recognizes and uses nutrients from plant sources found in nature. The horse’s body can easily absorb and utilize these nutrients in its whole form to benefit his health, because they contain all the supporting cofactors and conutrients that work together.
Most horse owners think of beet pulp when we talk about beets for horses, but the healthy vegetable we are referring to is red beetroot, or red beets.There is a big difference.
Beet pulp comes from sugar beets and is the by-product from the commercial sugar industry. While beet pulp is a highly digestible fiber, it does not include the nutrients found in red beetroot, and all sugar beets grown in the US are now genetically modified!
Red beetroot on the other hand, is the vegetable grown for human consumption, and valued for the abundant nutrients that benefit virtually every system in the body.
Horses also can reap the health benefits from red beets as long as they are fed in the correct form that is digestible for horses.
Discover the difference Olewo Red Beets can make in the health of your horse
