SciencePure Nutraceuticals Inc., the developers of brand PUREFORM®, is jumping into 2022 with two new products to help systematically boost the immune system and aid in digestive absorption in horses. Both formulas are also recommended for horses that may have metabolic syndromes.

Equine Cushing’s Disease, more correctly called Pars Pituitary Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID), is a non-cancerous but progressive enlargement of the pituitary gland in the horse. It is estimated that 20 percent of horses over the age of 15 will develop PPID. Note that Cushing’s Syndrome in humans and dogs (when not due to giving too much steroidal medication) involves an actual tumour of either the pituitary or the adrenal glands, (either benign or malignant), whereas Cushing’s Disease in horses has a different cause.

Horses have an extraordinarily large digestive system — compared to humans they have more than double the length if you were to place them side-by-side, start to finish! This long path for food digestion is packed with twists and turns (and the inability to vomit), so it’s easy to see how digestive upsets can occur in our equine partners. Below is a quick overview to give you a better understanding of how we can feed to our horses’ needs while keeping in mind how they evolved.

The best way to evaluate a horse’s weight and condition is with this universally recognized Body Condition Scoring (BCS) system based on the Henneke Body Condition Scale. Since it can be hard to recognize if your horse is over- or underweight, it is often helpful to have two or three friends who don’t see your horse every day use the BCS system to objectively score your horse.