Laminitis Risk

Jasper arrived at Chh Headquarters 5 years ago looking very unwell (see photograph below) - has never had another bout of laminitis. PHOTOGRAPH Cathy Dee

FAQ - Should equines recovering from laminitis ever be put back out on grass?

Seeing any horse, let alone your own horse suffering a laminitis episode is next level distressing. It is completely understandable why people want to make sure they don’t put their horse through it again.

This is why the short answer is NO.

Here are our viewpoints that may help with decision making.

Confinement is often necessary when a horse has acute laminitis. He is in excruciating pain and needs intensive care.

Having a small area with deep sawdust, like a stable, safe yard, round-pen keeps him comfortable and promotes lying down. While he is in such pain he is not going anywhere anyway.

However, once recovered he needs more room to move, have friends, be able to make his own choices and have access to suitable hay.

It helps to understand that even though they have recovered, they can remain ‘close to the brink’ of a relapse for a long time after. It can take very little to tip them over again. This is why it is always wise to 'stay this side of trouble' and not take any risks at all.

This is where it becomes a challenge for many horse owners to keep their horse ‘off grass’ , especially those who don’t own the land. They are now between the ‘rock and the hard place’ with the choice of keeping him ‘locked up’ or ‘letting him back out on the very grass that caused the laminitis in the first place’.

Even a compromise – kept in for some part of the day and out for the rest, can be extremely risky and NOT worth the risk.

There is no supplement you can give them that can guarantee your horse won't get laminitis.

By far the safest solution for these horses is to create a permanent 100% grass free living area, with choices of shade and shelter, room to move and places to go, all with a friend.

Another concern is about their horse’s mental health if he has to stay ‘off grass’.

Until you have kept horses OFF grass and ON grass-free Tracks you don’t realise how CONTENTED they become.

People think horses are somehow deprived if they aren’t out there grazing. This could not be further from the truth and weighing up the pros and cons for a horse that has had laminitis, a grass-free life is by far the better option.

Track Liveries are a great option for those who cannot set up their own Track or Dry Lot, but not everyone has one of these on their backdoor step.

“But they need to graze green grass to get Vitamin E”: Vitamin E is easily added in a quality supplement – eg Premium/Supreme MVA which contains the high levels of Vitamin E needed when horses are on hay diets.

"What about the use of grazing muzzles"?

Many people use them as part of their management strategy for horses who otherwise wouldn’t get any exercise.

They are OK for short periods (an hour or two) but be aware the horse is still able to eat that ‘wrong forage’ – just less of it.

"What about the grass when it stops growing"?

Still very risky for many laminitis prone horses because it will still contain whatever contents it had when it stopped growing.

Lami Apps

These only tell you the likelihood – we wouldn’t advise relying on them as there are too many variables - better to remove the risk altogether.

Can you ‘Keep an eye on them’ via feeling the crest and/or monitoring the Digital pulse:

Sometimes laminitis develops more slowly but sometimes onset is rapid, especially in horses who have had previous bouts.

Over-night the crest can go rock hard and the pulse can become evident and it can be too late.

"What about only giving grazing access between 6am – 10am"?

Depending on how ‘close to the brink’ the horse is, and the what the grass is ‘doing’ this may or may not work.

Sugars may be lower at this time of day but nitrates are higher and these also pose a problem.

Green grass, especially when it is in growth mode is THE MOST UNBALANCED feed item you can give any horse let alone those who have already suffered and are prone to relapse.

The longer they live grass free the further from ‘the brink’ they get.

Photo taken the day he arrived. Jasper was given to us 5 years ago because he had repeated bouts of laminitis and his owner could not keep him grass free.

Photo 2. Jasper has lived grass free ever since and never had another bout.

Photo taken the day he arrived. Jasper was given to us 5 years ago because he had repeated bouts of laminitis and his owner could not keep him grass free.

"But my horse is fine back out on grass"... Whether any individual horse will go down with another episode of laminitis when allowed access to grass depends on numerous factors.

It goes without saying that any reintroduction of grass is done incrementally and is carefully managed.

It is the interaction between the metabolism of the individual horse with the nutrient composition of the grass he is exposed to that will determine this.

Metabolic health (which includes hoof health) is influenced by overall lifestyle – environment, nutrition, genetics, age, the level of exercise, to name a few.

The Nutrient composition of grass on any given day is influenced by the soil, the species, stage of growth, night-time temperatures, rainfall, sunshine hours, or whether the grass is growing in the shade or not. Together determining its Dry Matter & sugars (WSC + Starch) content, potassium, Crude Protein/nitrogen, Digestible Energy, DCAD.

A horse with a robust, healthy, metabolism is better equipped to maintain homeostasis (internal equilibrium) and withstand such fluctuations in the grass he is grazing, than a horse whose metabolism is still recovering from his last bout and is still vulnerable to changes in the grass due to weather or length of time he is allowed access.

It is impossible to KNOW how any horse will respond to going back out onto grass until you have done it; for some it might work out, for others it could be catastrophic.

This is not a risk we at Calm Healthy Horses are prepared to take when owners from all over the world request our advice about how to feed their horse who is recovering from laminitis.

We endeavour to give advice that is safest for all scenarios.