Now, when we talk digestion, we, we always start with the mouth
and then we carry it all the way through the digestive tract.
So that's really where, you know, your, your
digestive, digestion starts in the mouth with mastication.
And horses, when they chew, they don't chew up and down like
we do, they actually chew side to side, to break down these long
stem forages, remember this is you know, what nature intended for them to
eat was to eat the grasses and the other forages on the ground.
So, they produce a lot of, a lot of saliva, you know over ten gallons per day.
And get, you know of course that's going to vary on the forage, if its
really green leafy forage that's in the
spring, you know it's got more, more moisture
content so that they don't have to produce as much saliva as something like really
dry hay, or during the drier months
when they're eating grasses that are pretty dry.
They'll, they'll produce some more saliva and
that's important, it starts the digestion, digestion.
They've got some enzymes in there, and bicarbonate
which buffers the stomach, because remember all of us
know, you know, our stomachs can get a
little acidic, so yeah, that's what saliva helps with.