Digestion In Horses

Horses have a type of digestion that is called hind-gut fermentation a type of digestion characterized by a relatively small fore-gut and mid gut which digesta passes through fairly quickly. To the hind-gut where the majority of digestion occurs via microbiological forces. Staring out the digesta is swallowed into the stomach which in a horse is monogastric having only one chamber to it. That said, it is not the kidney bean shape that we would think of in humans or pigs, but it has a more pronounced curved shape making a kind of crescent shape. Do to this shape it can be divided into three regions of activity with can be classified by both acidly and condition of digesta. The most cranial section is the oesophgeal region where the oesophagus …show more content…
This style of digestion is somewhat of the inverse of hind-gut fermentation. There is a large fore-gut where the majority of digestion occurs that is then followed relatively smaller hind-gut. For this process to work ruminants are an equipped with a polygastric stomach which is separated in to four distinct sections by membranous structure with in the stomach. Following the transport of digesta first there is the rumen the larges part of the stomach being able to hold as much as 50 gallons of fluid and for which this style of digestion is named for. Continuing along next digesta will pass in to the reticulum which is actual more cranial than the rumen. Next digest will in to the omasum and then on to abomasum. From which is then passed on the dudenum in the small …show more content…
Where this may not seam like a big deal, do to this technique of eating now and chewing later cows do not differentiate well between food and no food items. This will often cause them to swallow small pieces of metal if found in their food. Such as nails, wire, or bolts which can then puncture the reticulum causing it to leak. This will then lead to an infection of the peritoneum.

Once the digesta is sufficiently broken down and fermented to allow the utilization of the nutrients it will pass in the omasum. The part of the stomach that acts as a sort of gate way between the fermentation digestion of the rumen and the glandular digestion of the abomasum. This act is performed by a series of large folds in the omasum that only allow small particles though. Returning any larger particles to the rumen for further digestion. Due to these fold the omasum despite it being the smallest of the four sections it contains around 30% of the surface area of the