Detoxification of horses

The spectrum of horse diseases is wide. Here is an overview of some typical diseases.

When a horse has colic, it has cramping abdominal pain. Colic itself is not a disease, but rather a symptom of a disorder in the digestive tract. Colic can be life-threatening.

Fetlock eczema (also called fetlock eczema) is a bacterial inflammation of the skin in the fetlock. Germs penetrate through defects in the skin barrier and trigger inflammation.

Laminitis is a very painful inflammation of the hoof skin. The hoof dermis connects the coffin bone with the horn capsule. As a result of the inflammation, there is severe swelling under the horn capsule and severe pressure pain occurs. In addition, blood circulation in the hoof is impaired.

A distinction is made between acute and chronic coughs. Acute cough is a bacterial or viral infection of the respiratory tract. Chronic cough is a non-infectious disease of the deeper respiratory tract. Even though animals affected by chronic cough often only cough when trotting, their lung function and thus their performance are significantly restricted. Possible causes include fungal spores in hay or straw, lungworm infestation or an allergy.

Osteoarthritis is a chronic inflammation of the joints. The horse is in pain and is therefore lame. Older animals, ponies and sport horses, which are exposed to a lot of stress, are particularly affected.

Sweet itch is an allergic reaction to substances in the saliva of certain stinging insects. Affected animals suffer from severe itching. Severe rubbing on the itchy skin areas can result in fur loss or skin infections.

Periodic eye inflammation (also called moon blindness) is an inflammation of the vascular membrane in the eye. The inflammation occurs recurrently in attacks and can result in blindness.

The cause of many of our horses' illnesses is excessive exposure to toxins. By relieving the animals' detoxification system, you can prevent illness. You can do two things:

1. You can try to reduce the sources of poisoning.
2. You can use detoxifying nutritional supplements to help your animal's body get rid of toxins.

Horses are exposed to various sources of poisoning. If too many of them work together, the body's own detoxification system reaches its limits and all harmful substances can no longer be eliminated. It therefore makes sense to identify the sources of poisoning and to ensure that animals are kept exposed to as few toxins as possible.

• Toxins in grass and roughage
  Fresh grass as well as hay and straw can contain poisonous plants such as ragwort, lily of the valley, marsh horsetail or autumn crocus. Ergot, a fungus that can attack grasses and grains, is particularly toxic.
• Mold and bacteria in hay
  Hay that is not sufficiently dried is a breeding ground for microorganisms such as mold and bacteria, which are harmful to horse health. Mycotoxins, produced by molds, particularly put a strain on the liver and kidneys.
• Aflatoxins in horse feed
  Aflatoxins are powerful poisons produced by certain types of mold. Oilseeds, corn, wheat and rolled oats are often contaminated. The poisons often arise when feed is stored incorrectly.
• Plant protection products in animal feed
  When growing grain, herbs, meadows and fruit, various pesticides are used that can be toxic to horses. Pesticides pollute many feedstuffs. Although there are maximum exposure limits for the individual toxins, it is not known what effects the combination of several toxins in one feed has on the horse's organism.
• Heavy metals in water
  In some regions, drinking water contains high concentrations of heavy metals. Some of them are harmful to health: for example, lead, cadmium, copper, nickel, mercury and zinc. The body's own detoxification system cannot remove heavy metals well, so they are stored in the organism.
• Indigestion
  Feeding that is too high in fructan, sugar or starch leads to digestive disorders. On the one hand, these result in the intestinal mucosa being damaged. On the other hand, the intestinal flora changes and many intestinal bacteria die. When intestinal bacteria break down, endotoxins are formed. Since the damaged intestinal mucosa can no longer fulfill its protective function, these toxins enter the horse's organism.
• Metabolic diseases and infections
  Metabolic diseases such as Equine Cushing's Syndrome (ECS), viral infections or bacterial infections result in an accumulation of metabolic toxins that put a strain on the body's detoxification system.
• Medication
  Medications, antibiotics and vaccinations help the body cope with or prevent illness, but they also put a strain on the detoxification organs.

These symptoms can indicate that the body's detoxification system is overwhelmed and that toxins are not being removed automatically to a sufficient extent.

• Weight problems:
  unexplained weight gain or unexplained weight loss
• Digestive abnormalities:
  Fecal water, diarrhea, foul-smelling feces
• Languor:
  frequent yawning, loss of performance
• Skin problems:
  Sweet itch, skin fungus
• bad hooves:
  poor growth, cracks, broken hooves, split horns
• Problems changing fur:
  Winter fur is not shed or not completely shed, itching, bald spots
• Metabolic disorders:
  for example Cushing's, laminitis, equine metabolic syndrome (EMS)