Equine Metabolic Syndrome Happens When Cell Engines Get Stuck - The Horse's Advocate Podcast #187

Like all animals, horses need energy to survive. That energy comes from fuel, which is why many health issues focus on what horses eat—grains, hay, supplements, and treats are all fuels we can see and buy.

We often ignore how well a horse's cells turn fuel into energy, since we can't see the process or buy a quick fix. We tend to focus on taking action, usually by giving something, rather than changing how we keep them. But for hundreds of thousands of years, horses have adapted to survive on very little fuel when needed.

In this podcast, we talk about why horses need their cell engines—the mitochondria, or MT—to stay flexible in how they use different fuels. Today, horses often get the same type of fuel all the time, which can cause their MT to get stuck. Just like a car engine that loses power, adding more fuel or supplements won't restore full power if the engine itself isn't working right.

Timestamps:

0:00 - How do hay, water, and air make a horse move?

1:28 - Insulin resistance/dysregulation is a distraction from the actual cause of EMS (Equine Metabolic Syndrome).

2:40 - The Cell has an energy budget.

3:30 - What makes a horse thrive?

5:00 - Adding food or supplements can't cause the horse to make more energy.

6:15 - First-principles thinking about energy production in horses.

6:50 - Mitochondrial flexibility.

8:23 - Fructose is unlike glucose in that it drains energy.