The horse is unique in that most of the digestion of their feed occurs in the hindgut through the process of fermentation with the help of billions of naturally occurring bacteria and protozoa (together known as microbes). The cecum and large colon are similar to the rumen and reticulum of Read more…
small intestine. The horse small intestine is over 70 feet in length and contains three parts. The first part is the duodenum. It starts at the stomach and extends 3-4 feet. Where is the duodenum located? The duodenum is the first part of the small intestine. It is located between Read more…
Horses are able to utilize large amounts of roughage due to their relatively large cecum. The cecum is a section of the colon where digestive bacteria break down roughage. What organ does a horse have that will digest roughage? As prey animals, they adapted to a grazing, wandering lifestyle, eating Read more…
Fibre, which is also called ‘structural carbohydrate’, is essentially provided by the pasture, hay, chaff, haylage and high fibre feeds like sugarbeet and legume hulls in your horse’s diet. Where do horses get fiber? Horses should consume 1.0 – 1.5% of their bodyweight per day in quality roughage to meet Read more…
These carbohydrates include cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. Fibre cannot be digested in a horse’s small intestine. Instead, the horse relies on the billions of bacteria that live in the hindgut to digest the fibre by fermentation. Where does fiber digestion occur? Dietary fiber is the part of food that is Read more…
Horseshoe kidney occurs during fetal development, as the kidneys move into their normal position in the flank area (area around the side, just above the waist). Horseshoe kidney occurs in about one in 500 children. How does horseshoe kidney develop? It occurs during fetal development as the kidneys move into Read more…
Researchers are not certain why some babies develop horseshoe kidney. Exposure to certain drugs or alcohol in the uterus may play a role . It is also more common in people with specific chromosomal disorders. Some people are unaware that they have horseshoe kidney and do not have symptoms. What Read more…
The cecum is a large fermentation vat that is positioned primarily on the right side of the horse’s abdomen (FIGURE 4). In the average adult horse, the cecum is about 1 m long, is shaped somewhat like a comma, and can hold up to 68 L of ingesta. Why do Read more…
The bladder stores urine and the urethra conducts it out of the body. Normal horses produce between 5 and 15 mL urine per kg body weight per day but this varies with food type and the extent of loss of water from the gut, the respiratory tract and skin. What Read more…
Sir, Horseshoe kidney is the most common congenital renal fusion anomaly, with an incidence of 1 every 400–1600 births. [1,2] Kidney stones are common in patients with horseshoe kidney with a reported incidence ranging approximately from 20% to 80%. What problems can a horseshoe kidney cause? About 1 out of Read more…