We hear a lot about including prebiotics and probiotics in our diet to promote healthy digestion, whether by eating certain foods like yogurt or taking supplements. Similarly, there are hundreds of prebiotic and probiotic products on feed-store shelves we can give to our horses for their own gut health. Here’s a little more about just what they are, what they do and how to decide whether your horse even needs them.

Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that stimulate growth and/or activity of bacterial components of the intestinal microflora (beneficial microbes inside the horse’s gut). Prebiotics are neither absorbed nor hydrolyzed (broken down) in the small intestine and, once they pass through unchanged, they can act as a nutritional substrate (surface on which to grow and obtain nourishment) for certain types of bacteria within the colon and cecum – the hindgut.

Probiotics are living microorganisms that can provide a beneficial effect beyond their nutritional value when they are ingested in certain amounts. Probiotics work to help prevent colonization of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract by pathogenic strains or prevent disease through four main mechanisms of action:

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