Grass and Inflammation

Can your horse’s pasture grass actually CAUSE ‘inflammation’?

Yes it sure can.

NB: This is to help those people having issues with their horses. Many peoples horses will be coping just fine.

Grass after a drought-breaking rain is highly potent in potassium and nitrogen especially when it is fluorescent!

Spring & Autumn are coming up fast and some regions have had drought-breaking rains - all signify CHANGES in the grass which have the potential to stress the horse’s metabolism.

Inflammation is the body’s natural protective response to injury, infection, or chronic imbalances. This isn’t only about ‘physical’ injury, let’s not overlook the ‘body-chemistry’ injuries.

Common signs of the latter include:

• Stiff movement

• Footiness/EMS

• Hard/tight/sore back muscles

• Mild swelling of larger muscle masses

• On-going issues with saddle-fitting

• Twitching, hypersensitivity

• Reluctance to move out

• Exercise Intolerance

• Tying Up

• Peeing more than usual

• Sweating with very little exertion

• Digestive upsets (inflammation of the gut lining)

• High Muscle enzymes (CK) in blood tests

• Allergies/Itching/Swellings Grass Colour and Length is an indication of nutrient content:
  

  

  Grass that is very short will be high in potassium and nitrogen but not sugars as there is very little leaf area to manufacture them

Aspects of green grass which precipitate an Inflammatory response:

High Potassium – because it disturbs calcium homeostasis, reduces magnesium uptake and stimulates histamine release from mast cells, has a big influence on your horse’s brain, nerve, muscle & organ function and immune response.

Excess Nitrogen from high Crude Protein levels – a certain amount of this nitrogen is used for tissue repair or growth but the excess must be converted in the liver to urea so it can be excreted. This increases the metabolic workload on the liver and kidneys.

In certain conditions eg after drought-breaking rains the excess nitrogen is converted to ammonia, which will contribute to systemic inflammation. (Not to mention the profound effect this will have on your horse’s behaviour – turning him into a fire-breathing dragon overnight)

The nitrogen excretion process leads to increased urine output.

Sugars & fructans – as leaf area increases especially in cool season grasses. Results in Insulin Dysregulation and changes to vascular function.

High in Potassium & Nitrogen!

Any or all of these trigger release of ‘pro-inflammatory cytokines’ which increase blood flow and make tissues more permeable and promote inflammation.

High Potassium & NitrogenManagement steps to help your horse cope with less than ideal grass:

• Reduce potassium, nitrogen, sugar load by lessening green grass intake and increasing hay. Hay is suitably low in potassium & nitrogen, you may still need to establish sugar levels for EMS/obese or laminitis prone individuals

• If your horse is already grazing green grass, don’t ADD to his metabolic load with lucerne/alfalfa or clover

• Add salt to daily feeds

• Only add electrolytes after the horse has been sweating

• Be mindful that harrowing is spreading nitrogen onto the soil which is OK once or twice a year (but not weekly and while horses are still grazing the area)

• Don’t fertilise horse paddocks with nitrogen, urea, DAP (nitrogen is in ammonium form), NPK

• Give the grass time to become mature & stalky before allowing grazing access appropriate for the individual horse.

Lush grass will be high in potassium, nitrogen, sugars AND water!

Mature grass - will still need access to be managed according to the individual horse's requirements.