# Make your own Probiotics



## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

Oh goodness. Kefir.

Some lady talked my mother into growing Kefir and giving it to me as a probiotic because I have severe GI problems that cause me to 'go off my feed' often xD its NASTY stuff to grow and smells to high heavens, not to mention the fact that it tastes horrid, but I have to admit that it has helped me more than any other medication I've tried, including Px Probiotics and Protonics. I can definitely see it working for horses.

Hmm...maybe I should start sneaking my Kefir to the horses instead of buying the tubes at $6 each


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

You've been having the milk kefir. Try water kefir. The horses would likely love it. I hear it makes great ginger ale. The real stuff.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Horses make their own probiotic. It is called 'poop' (amonst other things).

Whenever I have a horse that is not doing well, has been recently dewormed, sick or on antibiotics, or has some other health or digestive problem, I just put a scoop of fresh manure in its pen or stall every day. I like a donor that is healthy and parasite free, preferably a slick, fat easy keeper that is eating a similar diet. That horse will have a super high number of the beneficial bacteria that produce the exact enzymes that a horse on a similar diet needs. One small fecal ball will have more good bacteria than a tube of commercial probiotic. 

This is nature's probiotic. A foal will nearly die if it does not have access to fresh manure. They start eating their mother's manure when they are only 2 or 3 days old. If a horse needs it, they will eat it.


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## Trinity3205 (Dec 21, 2010)

yep. Ditto Cherie for sure. If the need it they will usually eat it. 

I have seen horses lives saved that had projectile water diarrhea and were going downhill super fast and nothing was helping by giving a "poop soup slurry" Basically its just a fresh pile of poo from a healthy fat donor horse, wet it a bit in a bucket and mix it round, strain it through a sieve to remove the solids and the vet tubes the liquid down the horses gullet. It helps super fast to restore proper flora. There is a technical vet term for this but I forget it now. Horse poo from a healthy horse is really the best probiotic.


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## Sharpie (May 24, 2009)

technical term: transfaunation


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Thank you. I could not remember the term either.

When I was on the track I ponied and groomed for a top trainer. He had me get a scoop of poop from one of the best 'doers' in the barn every evening, put it in a bucket of warm water, stir it, strain it through a towel and use it to soak evening bran mashes. He called it ,manure tea'. We had some of the best looking horses at the track. 

And yes, I have used this solution to rehydrate horses via a stomach pump and a naso-gastric tube. It beats anything on the market.


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## DimSum (Mar 28, 2012)

Cherie, you are ahead of your time. Did you know that this technique is gaining acceptance in the treatment of bacterial C. Diff infections in people? C-Diff is a huge problem in hospitals and can be fatal. The current long-term antibiotic treatments are hard on the body and not totally effective sometimes.

Studies show fecal transplant's effectiveness treating C. diff infections - CBS News


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

The trainer I worked for had me do this in 1961. He was an old man then. I learned many valuable things from him that I have used for the last 50 years.

One of things he was really good at was 'claiming' cheap TBs that looked really bad, ran bad in cheap races, but had been good horses at one time. He said all they needed was to have someone that knew how to condition them and get them back in shape. We had 2 stakes winners in the barn that he claimed cheap that way.


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## DimSum (Mar 28, 2012)

I never thought about that for horses, gonna tuck that into my little black book-o-knowledge.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

I have had many people tell me that I need to write a book of all the little things I have filed away. There are about 1000 little tricks you can use to help retrain spoiled horses and about as many more about keeping horses healthy -- like the Vitamin A for Rain Rot.

Maybe when I can't ride at all any more (getting there fast) I will do that.


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## Trinity3205 (Dec 21, 2010)

You really should write a book Cherie. Ive already learned alot from you


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