MEALS AND METABOLISM

Nearly everything your horse eats contains starches and sugars that are converted to glucose during digestion, which in turn is used as energy for cells throughout the body. Grains have more, hay generally has less, but every time your horse eats, he’s taking in glucose precursors. As meals are digested, the stomach and small intestine absorb glucose and then release it into the bloodstream. From there, it’s used immediately by cells or stored for later use. Insulin is critical to both of those processes.

Beta cells in the pancreas monitor the level of glucose in the blood, and when they detect an increase, they produce insulin, which travels to cells all over the body. The more glucose there is in the blood, the more insulin is produced for utilization.

“Insulin binds to receptors on cells to ‘open the door,’ as it were, and allow glucose to leave the bloodstream and go into those tissues,” explains Shannon PrattPhillips, PhD, of North Carolina State University. Insulin also helps transform excess glucose into larger molecules called glycogen, which are