Know Guts,
Know Glory.
HORSE-BAC® ELITE
ADVANCED FULL-SYSTEM SUPERBIOTIC—
FROM FOREGUT TO HINDGUT
A compromised gut can affect far more than digestion. It can impact nutrient absorption, performance, recovery, behavior, and overall condition. Horse-Bac® Elite supports the entire digestive tract with proprietary Lactobacillus fermentation metabolites designed to help maintain microbiome balance and support peak performance.
WHAT IS
HORSE-BAC® ELITE
One Superbiotic. Whole-Gut Support
Horse-Bac® Elite is not a probiotic, buffer, or coating supplement.
It is an advanced superbiotic: enhancing microbial growth and balance of existing beneficial bacteria already in the digestive tract. Powered by a proprietary Lactobacillus bacteria, our unique fermentation technology produces a product with prebiotic and postbiotic benefits.
Horse-Bac® Elite delivers bioactive metabolites that support beneficial gut microflora throughout the digestive tract—from the foregut to the hindgut.
FORTIFIES
FUNCTIONAL GUT MICROFLORA
ENHANCES
NUTRIENT ABSORPTION
SUPPORTS
LACTIC ACID METABOLIZATION
PROMOTES
IMMUNE READINESS
Gut issues don’t always
look like gut issues
Performance horses face constant digestive challenges:
- Training/competition stress
- Travel
- High-grain diets
- Environmental changes
- Medication use
- Intense exercise
- Poor appetite
- Reduced performance
- Weight loss
- Behavioral changes
- Slow recovery
- Digestive discomfort
Why riders are switching to
HORSE-BAC® ELITE
BEYOND BUFFERS. BEYOND COATINGS.
BEYOND TRADITIONAL PROBIOTICS.
Most digestive support products focus on only one part of the problem.
TRADITIONAL ULCER PRODUCTS
Primarily stomach-focused
Often temporary support
Focus on symptoms
Limited hindgut support
STANDARD PROBIOTICS
Primarily microbial supplementation
Live organisms may struggle to survive digestion
Focus on bacterial populations
Variable effectiveness
HORSE-BAC ELITE
Whole digestive tract support
Bioactive metabolites ready to work
Supports gut function and performance
Foregut-to-hindgut approach
TransAgra takes a holistic approach. Horse enthusiasts and competitive riders can feel comfortable that Horse-Bac Elite® is an all-natural, safe, and effective product that meets their riding standards.
Performance starts in the gut.
SUPPORTS A HEALTHY DIGESTIVE ENVIRONMENT
→HELPS MAINTAIN MICROBIOME BALANCE
→ENHANCES NUTRIENT ABSORPTION AND UTILIZATION
→SUPPORTS RECOVERY, RESILIENCE, AND PERFORMANCE
Built for the
demands of the
performance horse
- Jumpers
- Hunters
- Eventers
- Dressage horses
- Barrel racers
- Reining horses
- Racehorses
- Horses under training
- Frequent travelers
Horse-Bac® Elite is created by TransAgra, a company with more than 65 years of expertise and research experience in fermentation-based animal health solutions.
Because when the gut performs,
so does the horse
GUT HEALTH, ULCERS, AND PERFORMANCE HORSES
What causes stomach ulcers in horses?
Primary Causes and Risk Factors
- Continuous Acid Production & Fasting: Horses continuously produce hydrochloric acid in their gastric system. When a horse goes long periods without forage or feed (such as during travel or overnight in a stall), the acid directly contacts the unprotected upper stomach lining. This lining, and the lining throughout the intestine, can be damaged resulting in lesions forming.
- High-Grain and High-Starch Diets: Feeding large amounts of grain or concentrates causes the rapid fermentation of sugars, producing short-chain fatty acids that damage mucosal cells in the stomach.
- Intense Exercise and Training: Strenuous work increases intra-abdominal pressure, causing acidic fluid from the lower stomach to splash up onto the sensitive, non-glandular upper stomach lining (acid splash).
- Stress and Management Changes: Routine disruptions, social isolation, and stall confinement elevate stress hormones like cortisol, which lowers protective prostaglandin levels and reduces blood flow to the stomach lining.
- Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs): Long-term or high-dose use of conventional NSAIDs (like phenylbutazone) blocks protective prostaglandins (specifically COX-1), diminishing mucus and blood flow defenses in the stomach. These drugs can also slow natural repair mechanisms for the stomach lining.
- Intermittent Water Access: Limited access to water during heavy training, transport, or hot weather reduces hydration and natural gut movement. Therefore ensuring that your horse has a clean source of water is very important.
- Equine Squamous Gastric Disease (ESGD): Affects the upper, non-glandular region of the stomach and accounts for the majority of ulcers due to direct acid contact.
- Equine Glandular Gastric Disease (EGGD): Affects the lower, glandular region of the stomach, which is more closely linked to chronic stress, breakdown of local mucous/bicarbonate defenses, and NSAID use.
What’s the difference between foregut and hindgut health?
Comparison of Foregut vs. Hindgut Health
Anatomy & Composition
- Foregut: Includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and small intestine (making up roughly 38% of the digestive tract).
- Hindgut: Includes the cecum, large colon, and small colon (making up over 62% of the digestive tract). With prominent hindgut function, this is an important area to protect. Many probiotics and gut treatments do not travel all the way to the hindgut to deliver their benefits. Horse-Bac® Elite is specifically designed to reach the hindgut and provide the needed levels of support.
- Foregut Digestion: Relies on mechanical chewing, gastric acids (stomach), and targeted digestive enzymes (small intestine) to absorb amino acids, fatty acids, and glucose. Horse-Bac® Elite provides protection and support to these necessary functions.
- Hindgut Fermentation: Relies on a symbiotic ecosystem of bacteria, protozoa, and fungi to ferment structural carbohydrates (fiber/forage) into volatile fatty acids (VFAs) for energy. Horse-Bac® Elite is designed to support and feed the good microflora in the digestive tract to support all of the necessary functions for which those microflora are responsible. Having the full balance of active microorganisms is key to having the most active and healthy gut possible.
- Foregut Issues: Prone to painful gastric ulcers in the non-glandular region of the stomach, often caused by empty stomachs exposed to continuous acid or high-starch meals.
- Hindgut Issues: Prone to hindgut acidosis, gas, impactions, loose stool, and colic, typically triggered by sudden feed changes, stress, changes in water intake, excess starch/sugar spilling over from the foregut, or a lack of continuous forage.
Can gut health affect performance?
How Gut Health Impacts Equine Performance
- Energy Production: Horses get a large share of their energy from fiber fermentation in the hindgut, which produces volatile fatty acids (VFAs) like butyrate, acetate, and propionate. If the microbiome is disrupted, energy output can drop significantly, causing lethargy and poor stamina.
- Hydration and Electrolyte Balance: The hindgut plays a major role in absorbing water and electrolytes. When gut motility or health is compromised, fluid absorption drops, leading to faster dehydration and delayed recovery during hard work or travel. Keeping your horse hydrated and utilizing the water properly in their digestive system is critical.
- The Gut–Brain Axis: Stress, travel, and high-intensity training can alter microbial diversity. Having strong microbial diversity, and ensuring that those microbes are healthy and able to do their respective activities in the gut, is one of the strengths offered with regular use of the Horse-Bac® Elite product. Through the gut-brain axis, gut discomfort often manifests as anxiety, resistance, sourness, or cribbing rather than obvious digestive distress.
- Cardiovascular and Muscular Fitness & Recovery: Studies on endurance horses and racehorses show that a more diverse microbiome and optimal butyrate production are closely linked to higher aerobic capacity, lower fatigue markers, and better inflammation regulation. Additionally, removing lactic acid from the muscles assists in faster recovery after vigorous exercise.
- Picky eating or loss of appetite
- Unexplained weight loss or a dull coat
- Resistance to the girth, tail swishing, or temperamental behavior under saddle
- Loose stool, recurring mild gas, colic, or slow post-exercise recovery
Supporting Equine Gut Health
- Forage-First Diet: Provide a steady supply of quality long-stem forage to keep hindgut microbes stable. Note that forage that is cut too fine does not promote microbial balance and can be problematic.
- Stress Management: Minimize abrupt management shifts and allow frequent movement or turnout to reduce gastric and hindgut irritation. Prepare for transport, ensure adequate clean water supply, and provide a safe and healthy environment for stabling or turnout.
Why are performance horses at higher risk for digestive challenges?
Key Contributing Factors
- High-Grain and High-Starch Diets: Performance horses often receive large, concentrated grain meals instead of continuous forage. Excess starches can overflow into the hindgut without being fully digested in the foregut, causing fermentative acidosis and disrupting beneficial microbial populations.
- Stall Confinement and Limited Grazing: Unlike horses in a natural pasture setting, performance horses spend long hours stabled with restricted access to free-choice grass or hay. This creates stress, reduces chewing time, lowers saliva production (which naturally buffers stomach acid), and increases the risk of gastric ulcers.
- Intense Exercise and Fasting: Working horses often have feed withheld before training or competition to prevent gut fill. Empty stomachs combined with high-intensity exercise reduce gastric blood flow and expose the unprotected upper stomach lining to splashing acid leading to compromise of the stomach lining and higher incidence of ulcers.
- Travel and Environmental Stress: Frequent hauling, unfamiliar surroundings, social isolation, and competition pressure trigger a physiological stress response. Stress weakens the mucosal lining of the GI tract, depresses the immune system, and increases susceptibility to hindgut inflammation, colic, and gastric lesions.
- Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome: Estimated to affect up to 60% to 90% of performance horses due to continuous acid exposure.
- Hindgut Acidosis & Dysbiosis: Imbalances in microbial populations that can lead to leaky gut syndrome, systemic inflammation, or laminitis.
- Colic & Performance Decline: Gas or spasmodic colic, reluctance to engage the hindquarters, back tension, and poor stamina.
What is a superbiotic?
These same superbiotic metabolites stimulate the animal’s immune system. Because the horse’s immune system has been primed and ready, it can respond rapidly when faced with a challenge. This can prevent or reduce negative effects such as diarrhea and loss of appetite.
A probiotic is a live bacterial culture. It relies on colonization of the horse’s gut for it to work. Our superbiotic is a stabilized product which boosts animal immunity and the natural microflora already present in the horse’s unique GI tract. Probiotics are species-specific. Superbiotics nourish and encourage growth of beneficial bacteria of all types in all equine species.
Maintaining a robust population of beneficial bacteria in the animal’s digestive tract is critical for health, performance and profitability in equine species. Horses with balanced, beneficial gut bacteria require less medication, have better feed intake and utilize feed more efficiently. These translate into a more focused and higher-performing animal.
Promote a healthy GI tract by stimulating the growth of beneficial microflora native to the animal’s gut. When these populations flourish, overall nutrient absorption increases, resulting in improved performance.
How is Horse-Bac Elite different from a probiotic?
Developed by TransAgra using proprietary Culbac® technology, it relies on a specialized fermentation process rather than relying solely on fragile live cultures. The unique fermentation process employed to create Horse-Bac® Elite takes many weeks and develops natural beneficial elements designed specifically for the equine digestive tract.
The primary differences break down into three main categories:
1. Reach and Survival in the Hindgut
- Standard Probiotics: Traditional equine probiotics consist of live microorganisms (like bacteria or yeast). They are highly sensitive to heat, shelf life, and stomach acid. Many standard probiotics colonize only the early part of the digestive tract and struggle to survive the harsh trek through the stomach and small intestine.
- Horse-Bac Elite: This formula is completely stabilized to survive the entire gastrointestinal tract. It is specifically designed to safely bypass early digestion and function efficiently all the way into the hindgut (the cecum and colon), which is where horses rely most heavily on microbial fermentation for nutrient absorption and energy production.
Standard probiotics strictly add external, live “good bugs” to the gut, and can often imbalance the natural microbiome by “outcompeting” good bacteria that may be present in smaller quantities in the gut but still performing critical physiological necessities. Horse-Bac Elite acts as a comprehensive “tribiotic” system:
- Pro-biotic Effect: Rather than adding a single or group of live bacteria to the gut and expecting them to do the jobs of all of the necessary bacteria (like a typical probiotic), Horse-Bac® Elite nurtures all of the different good bacteria in the gut and supports them to do the jobs they were designed to do. In this way, the digestive system is balanced throughout the entire digestive tract and functions as efficiently as possible.
- Prebiotic Effect: It provides a targeted food source to fuel and stimulate the growth of the beneficial microflora already living inside your horse’s unique microbiome.
- Postbiotic Effect: It delivers the beneficial, metabolic byproducts created during the extended fermentation process to make the product. These compounds immediately support gut lining integrity and immune function without needing to wait for live bacteria to colonize.
While standard probiotics only address microbial balance, Horse-Bac Elite includes an integrated vitamin, mineral, and amino acid pack custom-tailored to the equine digestive system. It features highly bioavailable nutrients that help prevent appetite suppression, assist muscle recovery, protect joints, and maintain hoof integrity during times of extreme stress or heavy competition.
Trusted by riders, veterinarians, trainers, and therapists who demand more
“I have used the Horse-Bac products for approximately three years for a variety of conditions. They have been very useful for horses with excessive fecal water syndrome, most of which had tried several other treatments with no response. Our post-operative colics with a pelvic flexure enterotomy appear to bounce back faster and suffer less post-operative ileus at day 3 when Horse-Bac Elite is added to the post-op feeding plan. Several of my well-traveled show horses are on the liquid Horse-Bac Elite to reduce the stress-related GI consequences of heavy travel.”
DR. JAMES D. LILLICH, DVM, MS, DACVS
Board Certified Equine Surgeon · Ellensburg, WA
“I’ve used Horse-Bac and Horse-Bac Elite at shows to help horses with travel stress and aid with focus in the arena. Horses respond well to the product with less gut challenges during travel and better performance.”
LISA SHANE
Trainer · Snohomish, WA
“I have so many horses that have just turned around, of all ages and stages in life, with all different kinds of injuries. My Ohio barn started sharing a gallon of Horse-Bac among three horses ten days ago. Hind end lameness disappeared in the worst of the three, all three lost their girth sensitivity, and they all got a beautiful coat back. I love the way it changes their coats and settles them down, and I’m going to put every horse that comes through the facility on it while they are here. This is an amazing product and I’m proud to represent it!”
SARA CARTER, BS IN ANIMAL SCIENCE, CESMT
Equine Rehab Specialist · Founder & Owner, Topline Animal Services and Rehab, LLC · Newnan, GA
Trust the gut
BETTER GUT HEALTH.
BETTER PERFORMANCE.
SUPPORT YOUR HORSE FROM FOREGUT TO HINDGUT WITH HORSE-BAC® ELITE.