We WARHorses know that our horses are precious and delicate beings. They appear large and strong but size and strength do not make them impervious to accidents and illness. Walk into any saddle shop or feed store and we will find ample products to keep our horses healthy and comfortable from fly sheets to pain meds to hoof conditioners. But for overall health and well-being the best thing we can do for our horses is to provide good food and nutrition. Occasionally we need a little help on this front, especially when our horses are stressed. Great Gut is a great solution.

Over recent years I have taken on a few new horses. My new residents are all rescues; two were confiscated from their owner for neglect and abuse and two were pulled from kill pens. All were severely undernourished, traumatized and dealing with sudden dramatic changes in lifestyle – STRESS.

I was grateful when WARHorses advertising partner LVPerformance asked us to review one of their products, Great Gut (c). The brochure accompanying the product sample included testimonials detailing positive results for horses in training and traveling frequently to shows. I was excited to see how Great Gut would help my rescue horses.

What IS Great Gut?
“Great Gut is a once a day essential supplement that can enhance a horse’s digestive process, thus making all nutrients immediately available from your current feed.”

Great Gut is designed for horses of any age (including foals) and activity level and can help your horse manage digestive stress. Stress maybe influenced by many things including hay fluctuation, stress from competition and transport, sickness, training and what rang loudest to my ears – unhealthy diet and changes to diet.

The product includes four live probiotic strains including two specific to equines and a high concentration of organic acids. Probiotics are the good bacteria that live within the gastrointestinal tract of animals. The body breaks down nutrients through the digestive process. The nutrients in turn create bacteria – probiotics (the good bacteria) or pathogens (bad bacteria). Great Gut increases the probiotic bacteria which helps fight off pathogens like salmonella. Unique to Great Gut is the inclusion of organic acids which lower the pH in the digestive tract making it more unfavorable to pathogens.

Let’s Do This
I began giving Great Gut to my newest rescues. One mare recovering from neglect and inconsistent feeding was slowly gaining weight but still in need of a hundred pounds or so. In the four months at my farm despite consistent feed her manure remained wildly inconsistent and I have never heard a horse gut make such strange noises. I only had the gelding two months, a young and active OTTB who had a great transitional home and enjoyed good food for a year. But he had recently suffered a pasture kick and been confined to a stall for several weeks then moved to my farm to face three very bossy mares. That is a lot for a horse to manage and despite a good appetite he lost weight and experienced inconsistent manure and flatulence.

I started both horses with the highest recommended daily dose of Great Gut – two fluid oz once a day in their feed. Within weeks both had normal manure and the strange gut sounds were silenced. I was so impressed with the results I started my other two horses on Great Gut. One of the mares suffers messy diarrhea when in season. Her first cycle after six weeks on Great Gut showed a significant reduction in the amount of diarrhea. I fully expect the issue will resolve with continued use of Great Gut.

Final Thoughts
In summary, I am extremely pleased with Great Gut and plan to continue its daily use for all of my horses. It is reasonably priced, easy to use and my horses enjoy the taste. Great Gut has be lauded by both professional horse trainers and equestrian competitors. I am pleased to include an additional perspective – the benefits of Great Gut for rescue horses suffering from poor nourishment and emotional stress.

Review by Melanie Eberhardt, Publisher WARHorses