Timely Nutrition Talks in Belgium, Part II

This blog post is a continuation of the one below titled “Take Home Messages from Timely Nutrition Talks in Belgium, Part I.”  Read that post first to get the full story!

On day two, we had another tag team talk with Al Merritt (Professor Emeritus, University of Florida, retired) and Veronique Juilliand discussing “Equine GI physiology – some species specific features.”  They gave a great overview of the functional aspects of the GI tract, along with data demonstrating the unique and important enteric nervous system.  Overall, it was a timely review of the physiology of the equine GI tract and the importance of each unique component.  As nutritionists, we need to remember how a system works in order to figure out what is wrong with it and how to fix it when things go awry.

Take Home Messages from Timely Nutrition Talks in Belgium! Part I

I had the privilege to attend an international conference over the weekend, hosted by the European Equine Health & Nutrition Congress.  I traveled to the city of Ghent, Belgium where the University of Ghent hosted the conference, titled “Feeding for Gastrointestinal Health.” Over the two days, there were multiple talks related to equine nutrition and GI health and here are take home messages from a selection of them.  If you are interested in learning more about this topic, a well-organized and referenced proceedings was published at the conference and can be ordered through the following website:  http://www.equine-congress.com/en/home

On the first day of the conference, I signed up for a workshop titled “Dental pathologies with GI consequences & dietary solutions.” For two hours we discussed case studies of horses with poor, neglected dentition and their current feeding programs.  We all agreed that with proper and careful dental care and alterations in feeding programs, horses can be put back on the right track.  Take home message: Be proactive about dental care, especially for Senior horses.  Utilizing higher fat and fiber feedstuffs can help increase caloric density of rations and compensate for weight loss/lack of intake that may result from painful dental conditions.