Feeding horses and ponies prone to laminitis
The risks associated with laminitis
Anyone that has owned or cared for a horse or pony that has suffered from laminitis will know how painful and debilitating the condition can be. It is a popular myth that laminitis only affects fat ponies; it can strike almost any horse or pony at any time.
Laminitis is a metabolic condition that affects the whole body; a complex cascade of events occurs often starting in the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in inflammation of the lamellae associated with lameness. It is for this reason that laminitis should not be thought of as a disease of the foot or hoof; it is merely expressed in the foot.
Nutritional causes of laminitis
The most common cause of nutritionally induced laminitis is due to an overload of rapidly fermentable carbohydrate either from starch found in cereals or plants as well as sugars and fructan found in grass.
It is thought that fructan can cause disturbances in the digestive system in a similar way to undigested starch. This is because fructans are not thought to be broken down significantly by the horse’s enzymes and therefore pass through the gut largely unmodified to the hindgut where they are rapidly fermented by the bacteria present. However, it is important to understand it is not just fructans that may contribute to the development of laminitis but the total amount of fructans, simple sugars and starch reaching the hindgut.
The long term feeding of sugar and starch based feed have also recently been identified as having a role in the development of laminitis due to the metabolic changes and insulin resistance that occurs as a result of this traditional way of feeding.
Controlling cereal starch
Reducing the incidence of laminitis is most effective though dietary management; it is thought that 50% of all laminitis cases could be prevented through diet. The main feeding strategy is to reduce the amount of starch from cereals, sugar and fructans from pasture reaching the hindgut. On a practical level this means restricting access to pasture at high risk times, mainly in the spring before flower development and during the autumn.
Feeding safely
WINERGY Equilibrium Low Energy and Senior are both formulated to be suitable for horses and ponies prone to laminitis due to their very low sugar and starch content. As well as reducing the risk of cereal overload WINERGY Equilibrium Low Energy and Senior can help reduce the risk of insulin resistance. Both feeds are proven in feeding trials to be low glycaemic.