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The
Natural Horse Group was established in 2001.
It aims to provide
information that enables people to explore ways of keeping and managing
equines that enhance wellbeing and encourage a natural lifestyle
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Articles
Managing the Laminitic
By Jane Van Lennup
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There are many causes of laminitis and the exact sequence of biochemical mishaps resulting in an attack is not entirely understood. However, whether an episode is caused by incorrect diet, drug therapy, hormonal imbalance or any form of mismanagement or unforeseen event, management of the horse or pony following an attack can follow similar lines.
The vet will no doubt be involved and may instigate some form of drug support and will advise on immediate care. In the end, it is down to the owner to find a system of care that helps to alleviate the present attack and hopefully prevent a recurrence. This writer will concentrate on management of the diet.
It is vital that the diet has as many of the soluble carbohydrates removed from it as possible. This means endeavouring to eliminate sugars and starch. This has a two-fold effect. Firstly, blood sugar levels will be stabilised. This is especially important in more mature horses where the laminitis may be associated with Cushing’s Disease. One of the effects of this is to make the horse diabetic. Secondly, any risk of starch overload is avoided. Undigested starch reaching the hindgut will cause a proliferation of lactic acid forming bacteria and this is often the triggering factor in a bout of laminitis. All feeds containing any added sugars or molasses should be avoided, as well as those listing any type of cereal product. Even peas and beans should be avoided as they have a considerable starch content. Read labels on feed bags with great care and if ingredients are not listed, contact the manufacturer and insist on their telling you what it is made from. Do not be fobbed off with evasive answers or assurances that is safe. You must know exactly what you are feeding. Even many approved feeds have ingredients that are not usually considered suitable for laminitics, so take nothing on trust and furnish yourself with facts.
Some feeds are suitable and even beneficial for laminitics. As well as not having soluble carbohydrates, a good feed will nevertheless have a good balance of nutrients and suitable protein levels. This will then not only help to alleviate the attack, but to repair the damage it caused. Unmolassed beet pulp, with a remaining sugar level of 5% or less, provides a bulky, high fibre feed. Lucerne (called Alfalfa in America and somewhat mystifyingly, by certain UK horse feed producers) is another feed naturally low in soluble carbohydrates, generally being in the range 4 – 7%. This is also high in fibre and protein, around 16 – 18%. This makes it very helpful for restoring normal, healthy horn growth. Lucerne is also high in calcium, magnesium and vitamins.
Not all laminitics are fat and some may even be or become quite emaciated. Feeding plenty of the above mentioned suitable feeds with clean, late cut hay and supplementing with, for instance, linseed, will help restore condition safely. Linseed is a natural anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant, high in oil at around 40% yet low in starch, under 3%. A forage balancer based on linseed could be more appropriate for the laminitic than one based on wheat products, for instance.
Grazing becomes a difficult issue, as some laminitics seem to lose all tolerance for grass. The problem is the sugars in grass, especially the fructans. Sugar is made by the plant in the presence of sunlight (photosynthesis) and converted to structural carbohydrates (fibre) in mild temperatures, usually above 7 deg. C. Thus sugar can be made, but not converted, in cold sunny weather, which is why winter sunshine can bring on suitable conditions for laminitis. Where possible, it has to be safer to graze susceptible horses at night, when sugar is not being made.
Different types of grass vary in their ability to make sugar. The best at making sugar is ryegrass, especially Italian ryegrass and even more so, the tetraploid ryegrasses. These types of grass are very productive and respond well to lavish applications of nitrogenous fertiliser, but they dramatically increase the risk of laminitis. Avoid grazing on fertilised pastures and those sown with ryegrass. A wide range of broad-leaved herbs extends the grazing season and makes a wider range of minerals available as they are deep rooting and also replaces the need for artificial fertilisers.
Grass varies it times of sugar production. Most sugar is made when the plant is growing fast in the early part of the season and before it sets seed. Once it has made seed, its growth naturally declines, as it has fulfilled it biological function. Hay or haylage cut in June will have higher sugar levels than that cut after mid July, when most of the grass has gone to seed. Wherever possible, select preserved forages cut late in the season, ideally from swards high in low-sugar native grasses, and low in ryegrass.
The sugar is collected at the base of the plant; it is the base of the grass stem we chew for its sweetness. Grazing kept short will have higher sugar levels than the sward allowed to grow high. In some cases, the so-called starvation patch can be the riskiest grazing of all. There appears to be nothing for the horse to eat. But this is because the horse has eaten every sweet shoot as soon as it appears. The diet from this paddock will be low in fibre, low bulk and yet proportionately high in sugar. What is required is high fibre, high bulk, low sugar.
It can be very effective to manage these problem horses, or ponies, by strip grazing. The grass is allowed to get tall and fibrous before it is grazed, then the grazed down areas must be fenced off behind the horses, so they do not have access to the young shoots and the grass has a chance to grow tall again. Needless to say, horse pasture should never have chemical fertilisers used.
Keeping laminitics sound and living a healthy, natural lifestyle can be challenging but it is not impossible. Part time housing may also be needed and judicious use of grazing masks or similar means to limit intake. Ensuring that your sward is safe goes a long way to ensuring that these equines stay sound and well. Understanding just what they are eating makes sense of a complicated topic.
© Jane van Lennep M.Sc., B.Sc., B.H.S.I.(S.M. Cert), N.P.S.D. Director, Simple System Ltd. 01728 604 008 / 01371 870 753 |
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