Basic HTML Version
As a person you don't get diabetes or human
metabolic syndrome because you ate a
doughnut last night, you get diabetes because
you have eaten doughnuts for all of your life,
become overweight and changed the way
that your body is able to control glucose and
insulin. ……..it's the same for our horses.
If your horse is comfortably cuddly for several
years, his metabolism will start to change and
he will lay down metabolically active fat. This
metabolically active fat increases his risk of
becoming insulin resistant.
Insulin resistance increases the risk of laminitis
as it prevents glucose being taken up by
the lamellae and eventually they become
weakened. Weak lamellae cannot hold
up the pedal bone within the hoof.
Epigenetics
New research is identifying that what we feed
broodmares and the way we manage the diet
of foals and youngstock may be putting them
at greater risk of disease and obesity later in
life. Diet can have direct effects on the genes
of the foetus. The changes are not in the DNA
ie the genes themselves but in the mechanism
that switches the genes on or off….known
as epigenetics. These epigenetic
differences have the potential to affect
foetal development and growth
as well as influencing long term
patterns of gene expression
associated with the
increased risk of
many diseases.
So for example if a mare is fed high calories
and not enough vitamins and minerals or if she
is on a restricted diet (low protein, vits and
mins) known as suboptimum nutrition, then her
foal is likely to be born with insulin resistance
and therefore at greater risk of obesity and
laminitis as a mature horse.
Metabolic cause
If your horse has been comfortably cuddly for
a long time (possibly before you owned him)
and he isn't eating starchy feed, then the
reason that he has got laminitis is probably
due to long term changes in the way his body
handles insulin and sugar.
Thus for no apparent reason he suddenly
seems to become susceptible when he has a
little too much grass and puts on a little more
weight. In this situation, there hasn't been an
insult to his digestive system, so it takes longer
to resolve this and the aim is to reduce his
body fat and insulin resistance.
Short term
l
Feed hay soaked for 12hrs to provide bulk
but reduced calories
l
Balance his diet especially in terms of
vitamins and minerals and protein
l
Provide a feed that contains antioxidants
l
Add 3 tablespoons of cod liver oil to
his feed.
Long term
You must get his body fat down to below fat
score 3 (0-5 modified score).
1.
Feed according to workload, a horse in
light work or at maintenance doesn't need
lots of calories (energy). They will put on
fat if their calorie (energy) intake exceeds
their calorie use.
2.
Fat score your horse fortnightly and keep
him at <3.7 during the spring and summer.
3.
Remember that our horses evolved to put
on fat through the spring and summer BUT
they lost it through the winter. They were
the original yo-yo dieters!
4.
If he isn't doing much work in the winter,
then don't worry if he goes down to fat
score 2.5. If he loses muscle he will get
a 'weak outline' don't try to improve his
outline by making him fat; wait till the
spring when you can ride him more
and build up his outline through
building muscle.
5.
Try to ensure that your horse gets a
minimum of
1/2
hr active walking per
day. His heart rate should be 80 bpm,
whilst he is doing active walk; this can
be checked with a heart rate monitor.
6.
If he has put on fat in the summer, then
make the most of the winter to lose his fat.
Use a lighter weight rug, so that he burns
off some of his fat keeping warm.
7.
Don't cut back on his bulk. Horses need
bulk to maintain a healthy digestive
system to reduce the risk of colics; to
produce saliva whilst they chew to
minimise the risk of gastric ulcers; to
provide occupational therapy to minimise
the development of oral stereotypies.
8.
Cut back his calories by soaking hay for
12hrs which reduces the sugar/calorie
content
17
. Make sure that you feed
enough to meet his dry matter
requirements (2.5% of his bodyweight).
Oat or barley straw are useful low calorie
bulk forages.
9.
Make sure that the diet is balanced in
terms of vitamins, minerals and protein
throughout life. Remember suboptimum
nutrition of the mare is likely to result in
foals being born with insulin resistance.
10.
Monitor his grass intake. Our research
has shown that some horses can eat
5% of their bodyweight as grass
18
,
gaining 21kg in a week, (4% of their
bodyweight). Grass MUST NOT be
considered 'fresh air'.
11.
Consider a muzzle, increase the
number of horses in the field or cut
grass weekly/twice weekly to control
the amount they can eat.
12.
If you are restricting your horse's grass
intake then feed him a low calorie, high
fibre feed that is balanced in vitamins and
minerals to extend the amount of time he
is chewing. These are usually formulated
to be fed at 500g/100kg BW and
should contain extra antioxidants.
e.g. Safe and Sound.
13.
If your horse has plenty of low calorie
fibre, then ultimately you must balance
his diet by feeding a low intake, low
calorie, vitamin, mineral and antioxidant
balancer; usually formulated to be fed at
100g/100kg BW. e.g.Ultimate Balancer.
14.
Remember a fat horse is in poor condition
as he isn't fit for purpose.
Long term tips
to minimise the risk of laminitis
l
Discuss with your vet if a bran mash is
appropriate to wipe out the bad bacteria
from the hind gut
l
Re-establish gut flora. Yeast improves hind
gut fermentation and probiotics help
re-establish the front end of the gut
l
Provide B vitamins, eg B -Sure making
sure that they don't contain high levels
of copper or iron as often the liver is
stressed trying to remove the toxins that
have leaked from the hind gut
l
Feed a high fibre feed to help re-establish
the friendly bacteria in the hind gut and
to keep your horse chewing whilst he
is stabled
l
Check he is getting enough antioxidants
to reduce the adverse effects of the
inflammation and damage
l
Make sure he has water, at floor level if
he is lying down a lot
l
Feed hay on the floor, so he can nibble if
he is lying down
EQUINE REVIEW
SPRING 2010
12