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Horses may eat dirt for several different reasons: Needing salt (specifi cally, the sodium in salt) Needing other minerals Needing benefi cial microbes from the soil to aid digestion Needing the absorbent activity of clay to settle a digestive upset Boredom, habit


Presence of a disease which alters mental function COPYRIGHT © 2011 CHRISTINE M. KING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


Back to the minerals that were pooped out.


All going well, the mineral eventually ends up being of some use to the horse—but only once it’s been processed by the microbes in the soil and by the plants who so rely on these mi- crobes for their own minerals. Soil microbes are essential in rendering inorganic, chemi- cally stable minerals of maximum use to larger organisms, plants and animals alike. Without them, the minerals may just sit there in the soil, largely unavailable for use. Soil microbes are the powerhouse of healthy soil, and thus the foundation of a healthy pasture or garden, and from there a healthy horse or human. Another aspect of healthy soil is its water


content. Healthy, well-hydrated soil is more a gel or a complex of globules than a solid or a loose collection of disparate parts. It holds together, and it holds water by virtue of its rich organic content (its humus). T e water component is important here because some portion of the minerals in healthy soil can


slip their bonds and form ionic solutions or colloidal suspensions within the soil’s wa- ter, both forms being more readily absorbed by cells than mineral complexes of any sort. One remarkable


thing I noticed once I started looking closely at the healthy, well-fed horses in my practice who occasionally eat dirt is that they repeat- edly went back to the same area of the pasture and they dug or bit down until they exposed the roots of the grass or the moss that was growing there. T ey didn’t go any deeper, and they didn’t dig in the bare areas of the fi eld; they went for the rich, moist soil around the plant’s roots, ignoring the above-ground part of the plant entirely. Were they aſt er microbes or minerals? Or


both? Is the distinction even worth making here? I don’t know yet. For now, it’s simply a good reminder that Mother (nature, that is) knows best. We think we know what horses need in their diets in the way of minerals, and we diligently follow the advice of equine nu- tritionists and others who have studied these mat ers. But at the end of the day, it’s all just an educated guess, and all recommendations are based on averages. “T e average horse, doing this thing, needs this much of this mineral to avoid signs of defi ciency.” However, the fi eld of equine nutrition is


not as cut-and-dried as we’re in the habit of thinking. Horses themselves illustrate this fact every day in their individual responses to the diets we formulate for them. T ere is no such thing as an average horse. T ere is this horse and that horse, and this horse needs this much, whereas that horse needs that much. T e National Research Council recommen- dations for feeding horses are only a starting point. We feed what we think the horse needs, what should avoid defi ciency, and then, if we are wise, we’ll off er various opportunities for the horse to fi ll in the blanks from there, as we really don’t know what they are. Eating a wide variety of plants grown in healthy soils, and even eating the soil itself, are two such ways. T ey are also nature’s ways, which certainly recommends them to me, nature’s apprentice that I am. One note of caution, however. Even the USDA acknowledges that our topsoils have steadily become depleted of minerals and oth- er nutrients through decades of commercial farming. Also, some areas of the country are defi cient in certain minerals, not from farm- ing, but simply from geological variations.


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T e Pacifi c northwest is one such example, being historically defi cient in selenium and a number of other nutritionally important trace minerals, including copper and zinc. Soils, pastures and hay fi elds, and livestock themselves all need to be supplemented ac- cordingly. As a long-range plan, feeding trace minerals to the soil may be the best strategy; but in the meantime, the plants and the herbi- vores need their own supplementation. Eating mineral-defi cient soil won’t do it.


Horses may also eat soil to replenish or supplement their gut microbes


MICROBES In my view, horses may also eat soil to


replenish or supplement their gut microbes. Horses rely heavily on the enormous and di- verse population of bacteria, protozoa, fungi and other microbes in their digestive tracts, particularly those in the large intestine. T ese organisms are essential for the breakdown of dietary fi ber, which is a critical component of the herbivore’s diet. Fiber is food for horses and other herbivores. T e horse gets about 70% of his daily calorie needs for maintenance from the microbial breakdown of dietary fi ber. T at’s how important gut microbes are to the horse. T e gut microbes also supply the horse with


vitamins (several of those in the B complex), amino acids, growth factors, and probably other valuable substances we haven’t given any at ention yet. Furthermore, a healthy resident population of microbes forms a very important component of the body’s defense against the overgrowth of potentially harmful (i.e. patho- genic) bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella. The gut microbes are primarily derived


from the manure of other herbivores, plants the horse eats, and the soil in which the plants grew. Once a healthy population of gut microbes has been established in the young foal, it is maintained throughout the life of the horse by the simple cycle of bacterial rep- lication within the gut—as long as suitable


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