Laminitis and the horse’s diet

Unfortunately, laminitis affects horses and ponies every year, no matter what the season. It is an extremely painful condition that is caused by multiple factors and can result in permanent damage to the hooves. You can read our article here to learn more about the signs, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment.

Laminitis and the horse’s diet

It is well known that a horse’s diet can play a big part in both the onset and the severity of a laminitic episode, and also in managing laminitis. In particular, excessive total dietary calories, especially the calories from sugars and starch, are known to be implicated. This is because high dietary levels of these Non-Structural Carbohydrates (NSC), including fructans, may overwhelm the normal site of digestion in the horse’s upper gut, so they are passed through the hind gut.

Even though the fibre-digesting bacteria can digest NSC and fructans, excessive levels will disrupt the gut microbes, resulting in a drop in pH which kills the beneficial fibre-digesting microflora. Consequently, toxins are created which trigger metabolic changes and, although the exact mechanisms are not clear, this change in the gut microbiome can trigger laminitis. The main things to look out for in your horse’s diet are:

• Excessive daily overall calories
• Excessive intakes of grass high in high water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) consumed during spring and autumn grass growth flushes, as well as stressed grass.
• Concentrate feeds that are high in sugar.
• Large cereal-based meals.

How to Manage Laminitis with Careful Feeding

Conduct a forage intake assessment

It is vital to accurately assess forage intake, focusing on the amount of forage as well as the type of forage. If your horse is prone to laminitis, make sure they do not overindulge on forage as this will be the vast majority of their diet. This is likely to mean restricting access to grazing during spring and autumn. Strip grazing, track grazing or a well-fitting muzzle can all be helpful to restrict intake. Forage selection should be clean, not dusty, and should have a high stalk-to-leaf ratio as very leafy, green forage will have higher levels of NSC.

Choose other forage options

Choose bagged forage products rather than air-dried hay as they will have lower NSC levels due to the fermentation process. Clean oat straw is also another good option as it is lower in NSC than most grass hays and, when carefully introduced, can provide a useful low NSC, low calorie, high fibre forage. Providing a proportion of the daily forage allocation as straw can help meet both the psychological need to chew and to help maintain gut motility in horses and ponies on restricted diets.

Assess your horse’s feed

As mentioned above, many concentrate and cereal-based feeds contain high levels of sugars or water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) and starch, so these should be removed from your horse’s diet. Instead, choose a fibre-based feed, low in sugars and starch, and make sure vitamins and minerals are provided through suitable intakes of high fibre concentrate feeds. Alternatively, you can include an additional supplement to ensure vital minerals and vitamins are provided.

Monitor bodyweight & exercise

The use of condition scoring and weight tapes can help to prevent obesity and to monitor weight loss programmes if required. Research has also confirmed that developing and maintaining a suitable exercise regime is vital in helping to manage horses and ponies prone to laminitis.

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Mollichaff and HorseHage for Laminitics

High Fibre HorseHage and Mollichaff HoofKind Complete have been designed to support horses prone to laminitis. With low levels of starch and sugar and high fibre levels, these are both great options for horses and ponies prone to laminitis.

Browse these products today and contact our friendly and knowledgeable helpline team either by phone or on one of our social media platforms, to discuss how High Fibre HorseHage and Mollichaff HoofKind Complete could help your horse or pony.