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 Ms. Poutability
Posts: 2362
  
Location: In my own world | What is the difference between the 2? I have fed both. Liked both. Both helped my old mare with runny poo. Coat was pretty with Equipride. Forco website doesn't have as much info about what's in it, prebios, probios etc. I used the Equilix it's nice if you have some that don't need grain to have the lick
thoughts on if they differ a whole lot? | |
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Expert
Posts: 1694
 
Location: Willows, CA | These are two really different products. Forco provides a prebiotic. That means that it's ingredients are intended to provide a more positive environment for the beneficial bacteria in the hind gut. The goal of this is to provide a better environment for the good bacteria, so they can remain dominant in the system compared to the smaller population of bad bacteria. Equipride says that they provide probiotics. These are additional good bacteria to replenish those that are killed off by the change of ph caused by undigested starch and sugars getting into the hind gut. The issue here is how much of a benefit each can be. There is a real question about how successful probiotics are at getting to the hind gut intact. Many can be destroyed in the stomach and small intestine. Clearly, some do make it through, and personally, I think there is a place for the use of probiotics after surgery or anti-biotic treatments, and in some high stress situations. In these cases, any help that the horse can get from whatever amount of probiotics that get to the hind gut is a good thing. On a normal healthy horse, however, I prefer to use prebiotics on a daily basis to support the naturally occurring bacteria in a well managed diet. If you keep killing the bacteria with a poor diet and need to keep trying to add more, with questionable effectiveness, my opinion is that you would be ahead to fix the diet. If you keep that damaging excess starch and sugar from disrupting things in the first place, a probiotic would not provide much of a benefit. and a prebiotic would be a better choice.
Edited by winwillows 2014-11-14 6:05 PM
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Ms. Poutability
Posts: 2362
Location: In my own world | winwillows - 2014-11-14 5:58 PM
These are two really different products. Forco provides a prebiotic. That means that it's ingredients are intended to provide a more positive environment for the beneficial bacteria in the hind gut. The goal of this is to provide a better environment for the good bacteria, so they can remain dominant in the system compared to the smaller population of bad bacteria. Equipride says that they provide probiotics. These are additional good bacteria to replenish those that are killed off by the change of ph caused by undigested starch and sugars getting into the hind gut. The issue here is how much of a benefit each can be. There is a real question about how successful probiotics are at getting to the hind gut intact. Many can be destroyed in the stomach and small intestine. Clearly, some do make it through, and personally, I think there is a place for the use of probiotics after surgery or anti-biotic treatments, and in some high stress situations. In these cases, any help that the horse can get from whatever amount of probiotics that get to the hind gut is a good thing. On a normal healthy horse, however, I prefer to use prebiotics on a daily basis to support the naturally occurring bacteria in a well managed diet. If you keep killing the bacteria with a poor diet and need to keep trying to add more, with questionable effectiveness, my opinion is that you would be ahead to fix the diet. If you keep that damaging excess starch and sugar from disrupting things in the first place, a probiotic would not provide much of a benefit. and a prebiotic would be a better choice.
Thanks. Equipride has both prebiotics and probiotics. I thought I read that Forco had probios? I must have misread. My horses don't get lots of grain. But our weather is doing major temperature shifts. 78 on Monday then it was a high of 33 on tues. I am trying to ward off colic and will have one that is a futirity horses. Hauling is stressful for them sometimes | |
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Expert
Posts: 1694
Location: Willows, CA | Sorry, I stand corrected. Equipride does have both pre and probiotics. The focus has always been in the probiotics that they provide. That said, I still prefer the prebiotic / proper diet route over adding probiotics daily to a horse to try to fix a diet that does not naturally promote a healthy hind gut. | |
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Forco vs Equipride