What would happen if I could...

Hi!!!

My name is Lucas and I have a bet with my friends about an idea we discussed after seeing a cartoon. What would happen to me if it would be possible to shrink me down to very small size, like an ant, and our pinto stallion Max would unknowingly to him swallow me after my friends would put me into his water bowl.

I know a horse is a herbivore so it can only process plant foods! I told my friends that I believe that I could easily pass through Max without any harm to myself and if I could shrink down so tiny I would prove my friends wrong, who said, if I could do so, Max would just convert me into horse feces, what I think is not true, because Max and I are also best friends and he would never do any harm to me.

Please could you help me and describe to me as detailed as possible, step by step till the end, my journey through Max to prove my friends wrong. The only problem I see is that my friends would need to hold a bucket under Max when he lifts his tail a day later to save me from falling down to the ground. After this I would need to grow myself back to normal size of course, in theory! The stupid faces of my friends would be just awesome later, and Max and me would laugh our butts off about them.

Thank you!!

Erm, I don't think that a miniaturized human could survive such a journey. There are internal parasites (good and bad) that populate the horse's digestive system, but they are specifically equipped to handle that environment.

As far as the tiny volume of non-vegetable matter such a scenario would present, I'm sure that during grazing most horses do take in a bug every now and again (hence some of the "bad" internal parasites). Unless it can survive and live inside the horse, it pretty much turns into the same stuff that grass does.

Here's a decent description of how the horse's digestive system works, I hope that helps you out. Equine Digestion

I think its pretty much a closed system too. You would have to take some sort of breathing apparatus since there is no oxygen in the digestive system.
You could of course build a corn or oat shaped poo pod and travel in it. You could shrink the whole thing, remembering of course to take some snacks with you since it will be a long journey.
The poo pod would do away with the need for immediate decontamination at the end of your journey as well. You could just step out of your pod, say "ta-da" to your friends, adding a hearty laugh and then share the left over snacks with them just to show there are no hard feelings

I think that's been done with cameras in plastic pill casings to record the digestive system in other animals. I watch way too much Discovery Channel, lol.

Gotta be easier than a colonoscopy

I'm afraid that it's not likely that you'd survive your journey. I think Max's immune system would recognize you as the foreign invader you are and then it would kill you.

^^ HA!
Yeah, I hardly doubt you'de make the journey. Hydrochloric ACID is present in the stomach. You'de be burned to a crisp.

Hi,

Thank you all for you answers! But I'm a little bit confused now :( My friends tease me and say they would shrink me if they got a shrink ray and put me into Max, but they would not help me with the bucket. They say 'there is no need because gas would not need to be helped anymore and they would use a magnifying glass to find my remains, I would not be the same anymore and they could keep me as a souvenir'. Actually I don't know what they mean with that -.- I really hope there will be something like a shrink ray invented to prove my friends wrong. Maybe you could help me a little bit further with your knowledge? Something like: First Max would swallow you, there that happens, then that, you will be there now... Max would lift his tail, I would be there now, that happens then and so on, I would go into the bucket, my friends would find me, they would grow me back to normal size again, I would had proved them wrong :)

Thank you all for your kind words! This forum is really helpful!