- Base the diet on low sugar pasture or hay. All horse’s diets should be based on forage and the laminitic horse is no different. However they need low sugar forages.
- Gain Weight. Provide your horse with access to as much low sugar pasture or hay as it wants to eat. ...
- Maintain Weight. Allow the horse access to up to 2.5% of its bodyweight of low sugar forage (12.5 kg for a 500 kg horse) per day.
- Lose Weight. If your horse needs to lose weight you must do it carefully, as forcing the laminitic horse into rapid weight loss can also stop them from healing their ...
- Never feed a grain or grain by-product based feed. If your horse needs extra feed in addition to the low sugar forage you are feeding you must be VERY careful ...
What do you feed a horse with laminitis?
Consider feeding either a low calorie, fibre-based feed that is balanced in vitamins and minerals or a low intake, low-calorie balancer. Laminitis due to starch-overload is very rare as most horses and ponies prone to laminitis are not fed large amounts of high starch concentrate feeds.
What do you feed a horse with low NCS?
Complete feeds will provide your horse with the calories, protein, vitamins and minerals he needs. Mix your own low NCS balanced feed by using high calorie unfortified ingredients like soybean or lupin hulls, sugarbeet pulp and copra meal.
How to balance a horse’s diet?
Balance the diet with a low dose rate vitamin and mineral supplement and additional protein from soybean or lupins if your pasture or hay quality is poor. Monitor your horse closely. If it is not holding its bodyweight on this diet, increase the amount of low sugar forage you are feeding and reassess your horse.
What does my horse need to eat?
Your horse's diet needs to provide all the nutrients considered essential for health - energy, protein (amino acids), minerals, vitamins, essential fatty acids (and water).
What is the best grain to feed a foundered horse?
Feed grass hay, possibly a little alfalfa hay, or rinsed sugar beet, BUT stay away from corn, oats, barley, and especially stay away from sugar as molasses. Feed extra fat in the form of oil or rice bran if you need to get energy into the horse.
Is hay OK for laminitic horses?
Conserved forage, such as hay and haylage , is the cornerstone of the laminitis prone horse's diet; as they typically spend longer periods stabled, or in a no-grass area.
What to feed a horse that is foundering?
Horses that have foundered should eat hay. Horses that have foundered are prone to founder again, so feed your animal basic grass hay and a little alfalfa. Do not feed oats, corn, or molasses.
What chaff is best for laminitic horses?
Timothy chaff is a variety of grass species, that is grown in New Zealand and Australia. It has lower protein and lower sugar levels than Lucerne, it is also low in non-structural carbohydrates, which is great for horses that are prone to metabolic issues such as laminitis or insulin resistance.
Can you feed lucerne to laminitic horse?
Never starve a laminitic horse For a laminitic prone horse/pony, low sugar roughage sources may include Teff hay, Rhodes grass hay, lucerne hay, beet pulp or soaked grass hay.
Can a horse with laminitis eat grass?
Quick facts. High amounts of sugars in grasses can bring about laminitis in horses susceptible to the disease. Susceptible horses should have limited grazing or no grazing.
Can you feed carrots to a horse with laminitis?
One of the first things you are likely to be told, as the owner of a laminitic or EMS horse, is "no treats, no carrots, no apples..". A grape or prune is sometimes suggested as suitable for hiding pergolide tablets, but owners may be warned not to use a slice of carrot or apple for the same purpose.
What grain should I feed my horse with laminitis?
Forage: High quality grass hay is the ideal forage for a horse prone to laminitis. Feed: A product specially formulated for metabolic issues or a ration balancer are the best bet to feed your laminitic horse.
Is alfalfa good for laminitis?
Due to it's low starch and sugar content alfalfa is ideal for laminitis prone horses or ponies and those with muscle problems.
Is beet pulp good for laminitic horses?
A supplement containing protein, vitamins, and minerals will help the horse heal damaged tissues. For thin laminitic horses, consider providing calories from beet pulp (without molasses), alfalfa hay or cubes, soy hulls, or vegetable oil.
Is oaten chaff OK for laminitis?
A thorough physical examination will rule in/out any underlying conditions that can contribute to/cause laminitis, and these conditions will need specific treatment other than dietary. Once the cause has been determined a dietary plan can be implemented. Avoid ryegrass hay, oaten, wheaten or barley hay AND chaff!
Is lucerne chaff high in sugar?
Lucerne is relatively low in sugar and starch, containing about half the amount of cereal hay (oaten, barley and wheaten) so it doesn't cause large insulin spikes and blood sugar level fluctuations and is very useful as a component of feed for horses with laminitis or metabolic issues such as insulin resistance.
Is hay or haylage better for horses with laminitis?
Haylage is, however, higher in protein, and more digestible than hay giving it a higher DE content. As a result, horses generally tend to do better on haylage, so it's often not ideal for overweight horses and those prone to weight gain, metabolic and laminitic horses, unless it is a high-fibre, lower DE variety.
Which hay has the lowest sugar content?
Low sugar hay is extremely important in a horse's diet due to its health properties and the enormous benefits it can offer. While lucerne usually has lower sugar than a lot of grass hays, it more often than not tests HIGHER in sugar, starch & protein compared to our Low Sugar Hay.
What is the best hay for a foundered horse?
Alfalfa can be an excellent addition to most horses' diets, even for those that are insulin resistant (IR). I often recommend feeding it because it boosts the overall protein quality of a grass-hay diet and, in general, enhances the horse's muscle tone, immune system and overall health.
What kind of hay is best for foundered horses?
Oat Hay, Wheat Hay, and other hays: But don't overlook oat hay or wheat hay as potential roughage sources for horses. These hays, or a medium to low quality grass or alfalfa hay, may be the best choice for a horse.
How to reduce risk of laminitis in horses?
Keeping your horse at a healthy weight for their breed and height is an essential part of minimising the risk of laminitis. We recommend fat scoring your horse and weighing them, using our scientifically validated weigh-tape, every fortnight. You should aim for a fat score of between 2.5-3 on a scale of 0-5.
What to do if your horse has gained weight?
If your horse has gained weight then winter can be a great time to kick start weight loss. Trace-clipping or using a lighter rug will mean that your horse will burn off some of his excess weight keeping warm.
When is laminitis most likely to occur?
The risk is higher in the spring and autumn when grass growth is most rapid, and grass is higher in non-structural carbohydrates such as sugars, starch and fructans. This may increase the risk of laminitis for individuals that are insulin resistant.
How long should I soak hay?
Soaking hay for 12 hours in cold or 4 hours in warm water can reduce the NSC and calorie content, or alternatively mix hay with lower-calorie oat or barley straw (up to 50:50).
Can horses get laminitis from starch overload?
Feed Small Meals: Laminitis due to starch-overload is very rare as most horses and ponies prone to laminitis are not fed large amounts of high starch concentrate feeds. It can occur occasionally, for example if a horse or pony breaks into the feed room. You should always ensure feed is kept secure and you feed small concentrate meals.
Do horses need concentrate meals?
As most horses and ponies prone to laminitis tend to hold weight easily it is unlikely that they will need large concentrate meals, however, it is still very important that they get a balanced diet, providing all the essential vitamins and minerals for health and well-being. Consider feeding either a low calorie, ...
Does laminitis affect the laminae?
This is thought to affect blood flow to the laminae in the hooves, possible through Insulin Growth Factor Receptors. Laminitis can also be associated with sepsis or endotoxaemia and this includes grain-induced laminitis due to starch-overload and health problems such as retained placenta.
What do laminitic horses need?
Meeting the laminitic horse’s requirements for protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals will help them recover from any previous bouts of laminitis, help them to resist other disease and infection and will keep them in good overall health with a strong immune system!
What to feed a horse with a low NSC?
Providing high quality protein that contains good levels of the essential amino acids lysine and methionine (soybean contains the highest quality protein) as well as making sure your horse is getting its essential vitamins and minerals will give your horse the building blocks it needs to repair damaged hoof tissue.
What to feed a horse if he is not holding his bodyweight?
If he still isn’t holding condition, you can add high calorie unfortified ingredients like soybean or lupin hulls, sugarbeet pulp and copra meal to the existing diet.
What is a low NSC complete feed?
Feed a low NSC complete feed at the recommended rates for your horse’s bodyweight and current activity (only use the complete feeds that are not highlighted red in FeedXL). Complete feeds will provide your horse with the calories, protein, vitamins and minerals he needs.
What to mix with low NCS?
Mix your own low NCS balanced feed by using high calorie unfortified ingredients like soybean or lupin hulls, sugarbeet pulp and copra meal. Then add your own vitamins and minerals via a low dose rate vitamin and mineral supplement and add protein from soybean or lupins.
How to gain weight on a horse?
To gain weight. If the goal is to gain weight you should: Provide your horse with access to as much low NSC pasture or hay as he wants to eat (with in reason, if he is consistently eating more than 3% of bodyweight you may need to limit the hay provided).
Why is laminitis painful?
A proper diet can make it a whole lot easier. A majority of laminitis cases are due to insulin dysregulation. For this reason a diet based on low non-structural carbohydrate (NSC; starch + sugars) forage is vital.
1. Manage the Body Condition of your Horse
Obesity is one of the major contributing factors to the current rise of horses with laminitis in the United States. In fact, mismanagement due to overfeeding idle horses causes 70-80% of these laminitic cases. Taking the necessary steps to maintain the correct body condition score can help in laminitis prevention and recovery.
2. Avoid Grain Overload
One primary cause of laminitis in horses occurs from undigested starch (carbohydrates) entering the caecum. This usually occurs due to grain overload or from grazing a pasture that has developed high sugar content grasses. The small intestinal tract can be presented with more carbohydrates than it can digest.
3. Limit Fructan Digestion from Forage
Pasture grasses recovering from frost or drought caused stress are most likely to produce excessive levels of fructans, or grass sugar. Likewise, cool seasoned grass that flourishes in the spring and fall will also have high levels of fructan.
4. Horses with Laminitis Need to Chew
Horses with acute laminitis can often develop sore teeth. The teeth laminae become inflamed just as the laminae of the hooves. Consequently, the tooth pain often discourages proper chewing. Unchewed whole grains are less likely to be digested prior to reaching the microbes of the hindgut.
5. Provide Nutritional Support for Horses with Laminitis
Nutritional Support with the nutrients required for strong and dense growth of the hoof wall and sole may help reduce the time of laminitis recovery. For example, Long-term feeding of a quality hoof supplement may strengthen the cohesive bond between the hoof wall and the coffin bone. This strengthened bond may benefit acute cases of laminitis.
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About The Author
Christy West has a BS in Equine Science from the University of Kentucky, and an MS in Agricultural Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
What is the diet of a horse with laminitis?
Diets for horses with laminitis/EMS/PPID will usually be based on low energy, low sugar/starch high fibre forage with nutrients targeted to meet deficiencies in the forage, identified by forage analysis (or typical values). The diet for your horse will depend primarily on whether:
What to feed a horse with PPID?
Some experts recommend feeding good levels of anti-oxidants to horses with PPID, including vitamin E, zinc, copper and selenium.
How to increase fibre in horses?
Increase fibre - feed 2 - 2.5% of the horse's bodyweight as forage (hay, haylage or grass depending on the need to restrict sugar/starch). Increase the DE content of the diet using rapidly fermented low sugar/starch feeds such as unmolassed sugar beet.
What minerals do horses need?
Minerals/vitamins with an established requirement are: macro minerals (amounts given in g): calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, chloride, potassium, sulphur.
How much should a 500 kg horse eat?
So to lose weight, a 500 kg horse might eat 7.5 kg DM, and a 250 kg pony 3.75 kg DM per day, and to maintain weight, a 500 kg horse might eat 10 kg DM , and a 250 kg pony 5 kg DM per day. NB ideally the energy content of the feed should be analysed and matched to the energy requirements of the horse.
What does a horse's diet depend on?
The diet for your horse will depend primarily on whether: - he/she needs to lose, gain or maintain weight - horses that need to gain weight need to have more energy provided by their diet, horses that need to lose weight need to have less.
Can you soak haylage?
Do not soak haylage as there may be a risk of secondary fermentation. As a rough guide for the quantity of the total diet, feed 1.5% of bodyweight to a horse that needs to lose weight, and 2% of bodyweight to a horse that is the correct weight or needs to gain weight - the dry matter (DM) of feed is calculated.
