Nutrition

• hind gut is the large intestine
• buccal cavity is the mouth, which is where mastication and prehension happens
• functions of saliva are lubrication, buffering and bolus formation
• 4 regions of the stomach are saccus caecum, cardiac, fundic and pyloric
• hydrochloric acid is excreted by parietal cells
• horses digestive tract is monogastric and non-ruminant herbivore
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  The horse's stomach has a capacity equivalent to 8% of the total digestive tract volume
• peristalsis is the wave-like contractions that move the food bolus down the oesophagus
• chief cells in the stomach are responsible for the secretion of pepsin
• capacity of the horses stomach is 9-15 litres
• horses stomach

  
• gastric glands are located in the fundic region of the stomach
• functions of saliva are :

  Buffering of hydrochloric acid

  Formation of a food bolus

  Lubrication
• the small colon is where excess water is absorbed and fecal balls are formed
• Bile emulsifies lipids, making their bonds more accessible to lipase enzymes for digestion
• In the horse, bile is secreted into the duodenum directly from the liver 
• Bile and pancreatic juices neutralise the food bolus as it moves into the small intestine 
• most microbes are found in the caecum and large colon
• mechanical digestion is the crushing of large molecules into smaller particles and mixing of digesta
• the hind gut consists of the large intestine
• the digesta takes 73 minutes to go through the small intestine
• chemical digestion takes place in the stomach and small intestine
• fibre isn't digested in the small intestine but starch, protein and lipids are
• organic matter is crude protein and non-nitrous residue
• minerals are represented by minerals
• crude oil is the exact measurement of nitrogen in feed
• lipids are represented by ether extract
• feeds are compared on a dry matter (DM) basis because the amount of moisture differs between feeds
• starch isn't involved in proximate analysis but crude fibre, ash and dry matter is
• Propionic acid, butyric acid and acetic acid are the main volatile fatty acids produce in the horses large intestine as a result of microbial fermentation.
• git tract

  
• essential nutrients need to be added to a horses diet
• nitrogen free extract is purely calculated on mathematical equations
• volatile fatty acids aren't absorbed in the small intestine but glucose, free fatty acids and calcium is.
• carotenoids are the lipid responsible for skin pigmentation
• unsaturated fatty acids contain one or more double bonds
• an ester bond is formed between glycerol and a free fatty acid to make a monoglyceride
• triglycerides are made up from glycerol and fatty acids
• neutral fats are the lipids used for thermal insulation and energy
• the horse produces more lipase than amylase