What is it and what makes EquiPride and EquiLix work?
There is often skepticism about one product doing the job of many others, but EquiPride and EquiLix are designed to minimize the need for a wide variety of supplements. Our goal has been to supplement forage so well that only minimal grain, if any, is needed for additional energy (depending on activity load). Consequently, EquiPride and EquiLix work effectively for improved hooves, hair coat, joint lubricity, feed utilization, circulation, and reduction of gastric problems which otherwise contribute to colic. We know it’s a powerful supplement that will replace several malady-specific supplements, but that’s what happens when the digestive system operates at optimum efficiency.
EquiPride includes:
Macro Minerals: Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium and the Electrolytes, Potassium & Salt.
Chelated Trace Minerals: Copper, Zinc, Manganese, Cobalt, Iodine, Selenium in forms (complexed with an organic carrier) designed for maximum bioavailability
Mixed VFA’s (Volatile Fatty Acid – Fats) The Omega 3s are added from flax to assure at least 10% of the total fat is Omega 3. It will be higher than that since Canola oil, which is also added, has Omega 3 fatty acid with the predominate Omega 6 and lesser amounts of 9.
Vitamins: A,D, E and Biotin to complement others, such as the B=complex vitamins, a component of the yeast we grow as part of the ProBiotein yeast culture blend.
Protein: A blend that includes isolates (thus no starch) from Wheat, Oats, Barley, Flax and Corn. This provides a broad amino acid profile with special value in the hoof-helping sulfur amino acids such as methionine and cystine.
Prebiotic: This is the term for the short-chains (oligosaccharides) of fructose, manose, and xylose which are beneficial in feeding the probiotic organisms in the gut which, through competitive exclusion (healthy populations of beneficial–probiotic–micro flora) help keep the pathogenic (disease-causing) organisms in check. They can’t get a foothold despite always being around, thus they are “competitively excluded” from massing sufficient numbers to cause the animal to break with sickness.
Enzymes: These are the catalysts of digestion. We identify three forms of enzymes in our supplements – amylolytic (for starch and sugar), fibrinolytic (for fibers) and proteolytic (for protein). These are specifically added to our blend, but there are also other enzymes coming into the blend from yeast propagation and barley malt, including lipase (fat utilization) and phytase (phosphorus utilization).
If we isolated all of the protein, prebiotics and enzymes into separate products instead of leaving them in the EquiPride blend, the cost of the individual supplements would far exceed the blend and not be as effective because there are synergy’s in a blend that cannot be matched by individual components.
The ProBiotein™ blend in EquiPride consists of yeast grown on a media of oats, wheat, barley malt and flax. Yeast excrete a beneficial enzyme which is used to break down the sugars created from starches in the grain media as an energy source they can metabolize and grow on. During the enzyme excretion process, the waste given off by the yeast is a beneficial nutrilite. Yeast when growing are also an excellent source of B vitamins.
In addition to the enzyme created by yeast, barley malt in the grain media has a tremendous amount of other enzymes in it. When you germinate the barley seed, it sends out these enzymes to start utilizing the seed’s storage pod of starch and protein, converting it into plant stem for growth. With barley malt you arrest this growth by knocking off the emerging sprout and drying the grain. Now you have a barley kernel with liberated enzymes that have no place to go. Some of these enzymes are designed to bring carbohydrate energy from the starch to the plant stalk, some are designed to carry protein and others are designed to convey minerals to the stalk. As an example, phytase for instance is designed to liberate and mobilize phosphorus.
What does this mean for the horse? A much greater bioavailability of all the ingredients in ProBiotein. Many raw plants have a phytic acid that ties up other minerals, not allowing them to be utilized. However, when you germinate the seed and ferment the plant you eliminate phytic acid and make the trace minerals much more available to the animal. Further, the barley malt enzyme, alpha amylase, helps break down the rest of the starch in the other media grains used. These grains need to be broken down so that their sugars are liberated and the yeast can eat them, making more yeast, giving off nutrilites and in an anaerobic condition, making alcohol – a dense non-starch energy.
We cook at low temperatures keeping everything alive and do not distill the alcohol out of ProBiotein. If we were to distill, it would require high temperatures that kill a lot of good things. The enzymes would still be valuable, but no longer viable. They would still be a protein and digestible but no longer a catalyst that keeps on working for you. An example would be the difference between paint dried on the wall serving its purpose and paint still in the bucket ready for use.
The ProBiotein blend is soaked on EquiPride’S carrier made up of distiller’s (pre-digested) grains, which is a beneficial feed in its own right. (SweetPro manufactures this in two forms; EquiPride top dress and EquiLix lick block) EquiPride is stabilized by the anti-oxidant / preservative Vitamin E (much of which comes from wheat) and salt. Salt changes the osmotic pressure and stops bad organisms from getting a foothold. It does not affect the nutritional qualities of EquiPride or EquiLix.
Germination and fermentation make for a huge enzymatic cocktail geared to metabolize sugars, proteins and minerals. If we can help the animal’s body do this better then we’ll see health and the utilization of their daily ration improve dramatically. It’s what the body needs for growth!
Everything about EquiPride’s processing is geared toward improving nutrient utilization, which in turn reflects itself in improved animal health, performance and feed utilization. All without “breaking the bank.”
There are lots of fermented feeds in the marketplace, but nothing quite like EquiPride, where the emphasis is on fermentation as the primary objective, not a byproduct. Also a blend of complementary nutrients is embraced over reliance on a single “silver bullet.” EquiPride and EquiLix are especially rewarding products for us because they do so much for animals that people care so much about.
What have you noticed?
If your horses have been on EquiPride, what have you noticed? Please share your experiences! I’d love to hear. And if you’d like to try EquiPride, please contact me. I’ll be glad to quote you a price for small or large quantities.
–Lisa Rasmussen