Laminitis and Founder – No Equine is safe!

by Carola Adolf, NEP/fSHP August 2010

• Is your equine in excellent condition right now (mid/end  winter), perhaps even a little on the heavy side?

• Do you pride yourself to provide the best feed, stabling, good or improved pasture and rugging all year around  

• Have reduced exercise activity over winter

• Is your equine approaching maturity (not growing any more)

• Has your equine ever suffered from laminitis before

• Could there be any imbalance or circulatory problem in the  hoof (here it is important for owners to learn what a healthy hoof should look like and how it functions…)

If  you have agreed with any of the above points,

YOUR HORSE MAY BE AT RISK.

No, don’t get me wrong: It is not “good husbandry” that renders well-cared-for equines vulnerable to laminitis – but the reason can quite simply be “meaning too well” and providing  consistently too much of a good thing:

No matter how well bred your pony or horse might be, its biological make-up is still the same as that of a horse that lived millions of years ago: It is equipped to adapt to winter conditions so its body systems are ready to receive the gifts of spring with nature providing rich and nutritious food in order to build up condition lost over the poorer months…… you get the picture….

Your equine was not meant to be in top condition all year around…. There is constant change in nature,  an up and down. Nature provides.

The dilemma is this: We, as caring owners, eliminate almost all the stresses of winter, the nutritional down-time  - and  we keep our equines in top condition, warm and cozy. …. BUT NATURE STILL PROVIDES. It does equally so in the wild, as it does in your paddock.

So what is it that nature provides, particularly in spring, and in your paddock that can be so dangerous to modern – well cared for - horses?

NON-STRUCTURAL CARBOHYDRATES (NSC) –

In plain English: The sugars found in plants when they grow (the process of photosynthesis).