“The pain can be compared to tearing your fingernail away at a 45 degree angle, but then the horse is asked to walk on that painful foot,” explains Equine Nutritionist Don Kapper.
Illustration of horse's hoof showing effects of severe laminitis
When horses go out in the morning and consume large amounts of pasture (now rich in non-structured carbohydrates) they are at greater risk for laminitis.
© 2020 by JoAnne Rissanen New window.
When laminitis occurs, an incident has affected the quality of the laminae in the foot. It has been torn and the coffin bone may rotate. This can range in severity.
One cause is overfeeding starch found in cereal grains (oats, corn, barley, wheat, rice) or fresh, immature pasture. In the spring and fall, when there is frost present at night, the sugar is stored in the grass.
When horses go out in the morning and consume large amounts of this pasture (now rich in non-structured carbohydrates) they are at greater risk for laminitis.
“Nutritionally, it is critical to ensure the pH of the digestive system is at optimal,” says Kapper. Normal pH of the cecum is 6.7 – 6.8. When the pH drops to 6.5, this is referred to as acid gut syndrome and it is accompanied by a loosening of the stools.
An acid smell will also be present in the feces. If pH reaches 6.0, laminitis will occur in 80 percent of horses.
If a horse is laminitic, eliminating high starch and sugar content cereal grains will help maintain a normal pH in the cecum.
Using a ration balancer, which will be low in non-structured carbohydrates, is an ideal way to feed proteins, minerals and vitamins to horses prone to laminitis.
Depending on the weight of the horse, the balancer can be fed at one to two pounds a day and meet all of their needs to complement their grass or mixed forage intake without having a negative effect on the cecum.
Forages also play a role in pH. Analysis can be done for non-structured carbohydrates for starches and sugars.
New technology also allows testing of structured carbohydrates for water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) and ethanol soluble carbohydrates (ESC).
In a laminitic horse, it is the WSC plus starch that requires monitoring because that measures starch plus fructans (present in cool season grasses).
Fructans are not found in legumes, warm season grasses or grains. Fructose is a large molecule sugar that cannot be broken down and absorbed in the small intestine. It has to go all the way to the fermentation vat (cecum) to be released and this is where it will affect the pH of the cecum.
Feeding forage ad-lib will result in the production of saliva – one of the best buffers for the horses’ digestive system and the most effective way to control PH.
“Horses are designed to be continuous feeders,” explains Kapper.
An 1100 pound horse will eat up to 18 hours a day consuming about 2 – 2.5 % of their body weight per day in dry forage. This will produce between 25 to 30 gallons of saliva, significantly reducing the chances of acid gut syndrome and improving nutrient absorption and over-all health.
Press release provided by Equine Guelph