Diet Planning - Top tips for feeding laminitis prone horses and ponies
Do Not Starve
Even if your horse is overweight they should not be starved as this can be detrimental to their metabolic and digestive health. Those horses that need to lose weight should have their intake very gradually restricted to 1.5% of their current bodyweight, this is 7.5kg for a 500kg horse, and be fed little and often.
Manage Bodyweight
If your horse or pony is laminitis prone it is really important to monitor bodyweight regularly so that you can act sooner rather than later to rectify any unwanted weight gain. If your laminitic is overweight then weight loss should actively be encouraged. A good place to start is with a little MOT session of your horse and your horse’s current feeding regime. This includes weighing your horse and the amount of forage/feed typically provided.
The Blue Cross Fat Horse Slim pack is an ideal tool to help you understand and implement a weight loss regime. This pack is fully supported by Dengie and to obtain your copy please click here.
Monitor Grazing
Laminitis prone horses and ponies generally need to have restricted grass access, especially at times of peak grass growth such as the spring and autumn months. It is however important to be aware that even when grass growth is not at its peak, due to the number of factors that influence grass growth and fructan accumulation it is impossible to predict a totally ‘safe’ grazing time.
For very overweight laminitis prone individuals it may be best to totally avoid grass access initially so that feed intake may be monitored and controlled to promote weight loss. For those individuals that do spend time grazing, intake may be restricted by the use of strip grazing, grazing muzzles or turnout on a no grass area but providing forage instead.
Have Your Forage Analysed
Recent research by the Laminitis Consortium suggests that contrary to popular belief soaking hay does not result in a significant reduction in water soluble carbohydrate (sugar) levels and therefore it should not be assumed that soaking hay will make it safe to feed to laminitis prone individuals.
The only way to know exactly what your hay provides is to get it analysed. Dengie offer a forage analysis service that costs £15 for basic analysis that includes dry matter, protein, fibre and water soluble carbohydrates or £25 if you would like mineral analysis included as well. Click here for further information.
Feed Laminitis Trust Approved Products
Laminitis Trust Approval is given to feeds that reach standards outlined by the scientific committee of the Laminitis Trust and identifies those feeds that are considered suitable for horses and ponies that are prone to or are suffering from laminitis. For further information about the Laminitis Trust feed approval mark please click here.
Looking out for the Laminitis Trust Approval Mark is an easy way to identify those feeds that are likely to be suitable for your laminitis prone individual when you are in the feed store. Do make sure it is the genuine approval mark as some manufacturers have developed their own logos which can be misleading. All you have to do then is compare the products to see which one would be most suitable for your horse’s individual needs. Dengie have 4 products approved by the Laminitis Trust including Hi-Fi Lite, Alfa-A Lite, Healthy Hooves and Alfa-Beet which is the most approved products by any manufacturer.
Choosing Your Bucket Feed
Sometimes more choice equals more confusion! In practice more choice actually equates to greater flexibility especially as not all laminitis prone individuals are overweight or at rest! Just choose the Dengie feed most suited to your horse’s bodyweight and workload and then add a broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement from the Natural Vitality Vits & Mins in order to provide a balanced ration. If you feed Healthy Hooves at the recommended feeding rate no additional supplement will be necessary. Here’s a little more information on all of the Dengie Approved products to help you decide.
| Feed | Suitable for... |
| Hi-Fi Lite |
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| Alfa-A Lite |
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| Alfa-Beet |
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| Healthy Hooves |
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Keeping horses on limited rations occupied for longer
When stabled and/or fed restricted rations it is important to still try and keep your horse occupied and chewing for as long as possible as this beneficial for their behaviour and digestive health. The most obvious way to do this is to feed little and often, but we do understand that this can be very labour intensive and sometimes impossible especially in the middle of the night!
Tricks to make smaller amounts of forage last longer include feeding in small holed haynets or putting one net inside another and hanging nets from the beam in the middle of the stable to make it trickier to consume. When it comes to fibre as a bucket feed consumption may be slowed by using a large bottomed bucket, or putting a football or large smooth stones on top of the feed so that your horse has to physically manipulate the object to get at the feed.
Licks may also provide some extra entertainment for stabled horses, but not all are suitable. Formulated with less than 10% sugar Dengie LiteLick Garlic and LiteLick Respiratory are suitable for horses that require a low sugar ration providing intake is monitored carefully.
Veterans with Cushing’s disease
Cushing’s disease is a non-nutritional cause of laminitis and can unfortunately mean that you may be feeding your horse appropriately, but that laminitis may still occur. Furthermore veterans with Cushing’s disease may have even more specialised feeding requirements due to other complications such as poor dentition and weight loss. For specialised feeding advice for these individuals please contact the Dengie Feedline on 0845 345 5115 or click here to send us an e-mail.
