LAMINITIS WATCH:

I’ve been studying Laminitis for the last twenty years, as sadly we’ve seen so much of it through running our horse shelter and helping many thousands of owners to reverse it.

This is a topic that is very close to my heart and we often write about it on this site to try to help owners prevent this condition…

So, here goes with today's info on this harsh affliction for horses:

Did you know that Laminitis itself is not actually a disease at all but rather a symptom, that is caused by other issues going on in the horse's body, most of the time that comes from what your horse is actually eating!

A diet too high in plant sugars, predominantly from a staple diet of green, growing grasses, can cause the whole body to become highly inflamed in our equine friends.

What then happens, which is the same for people with diabetes, is that the highly inflamed body compromises blood flow and circulation to the extremities to cause death to tissues, blood vessels and nerves in the feet, which we call peripheral neuropathy….. and it’s this that can result in amputations of the lower extremities in humans and laminitis and then founder, which is when the hoof bones tear aware from the hoof wall, and sinks and/or rotates inside the hoof, in horses.

We are painfully aware that it's hard for owners to believe this can be caused by your horse eating fresh green growing plant matter in the form of pasture and we sympathise with how hard it can be to get your head around it.....

But unfortunately, that is the exact problem .....which is that people don't equate this horrific condition IS caused by what looks like to be innocent green growing grass!

However, pasture-induced laminitis IS the second single biggest reason for equine deaths here in New Zealand, (colic is the 1st) as our idyllic grass-growing climate of wet and warm makes for us to be the laminitis capital of the world.

Also, it is not only caused by ryegrass, which is a myth and mistruth, as all grass can cause laminitis and all types of horses, ponies and donkeys can develop it as a symptom because it's caused by anything that inflames the cells inside the body.

With grass affectedness also being a massive problem here too, as flushing grass carries the highest levels of Mycotoxins, which can also cause laminitis because it causes inflammation due to the slow poisoning of your horse by different types of toxic ergots that live inside these plants and grasses.

Therefore, as you can see these are significantly higher challenges for our poor New Zealand horses to cope with compared to m, most other countries, which just don't have as many extreme conditions as we do here in Aotearoa.

Preventing your horse from getting laminitis requires a good grass management plan.

This can take the form of feeding more dried grasses such as hay, chaff or straw or preferably a mix of all 3, whilst break feeding, or tracked grazing or perhaps you can bring your horse in during the day and only allow paddock access in the early morning when sugars are at their lowest?

But please don’t just leave ponies, donkeys and horses in the paddock full time when the grass is growing, such as between now and the New year, or you do risk them developing this condition. Which is excruciatingly painful and life-threatening.

Whichever way you decide to manage your grass, it will make all the difference to a horse to prevent this terrible condition.

Also, it’s essential to understand that whilst hoof care is critical for a healthy horse, it won’t fix laminitis because it’s not about the hoof at all but about what your horse’s staple diet is.

We sincerely hope this info is passed around to help more horses from developing laminitis.