Watch his weight
Obesity is fast becoming a hot topic in the equine world and affffects the health of so many. Dengie tells you what impact it can have on your horse if he’s carrying extra pounds
AS A HORSE OWNER you want your horse to be happy and healthy. But do you perhaps feed him a little too much, or maybe he’s not getting enough work to burn off those calories? There are a number of conditions your horse could suffer from if he’s obese, the most well known of which is laminitis, he’ll also have a poorer prognosis compared with those that aren’t overweight. Obesity is the health issue of our time with significant proportions of the human, pet and horse populations classified as being overweight or obese. The National Equine Health Survey 2016 found that, of the 16,751 horses and ponies included in the study, 18.6% were overweight. The figure is likely to be even higher as the study relied on owner assessment and we generally underestimate our horse’s body condition.
Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS)
There are several other effects that can occur as a result of obesity and the term EMS has been developed to describe them. An EMS case would typically be overweight with regional adiposity (e.g. a cresty neck) but it’s now clear that not all EMS cases are overweight. The latest findings from the Equine Endocrinology Group are that insulin dysregulation (ID) is a more accurate term to use than insulin resistance and it’s this disruption to normal metabolic processes that increases the risk of laminitis.
Diet and laminitis
The final trigger in many cases of laminitis is diet-related. Pasture has been estimated to be responsible for up to 60% of diet-related cases and the advice is to restrict grazing access. Studies have shown that feeding cereals reduces insulin sensitivity and so it’s advisable to avoid cereal-based feeds as much as possible, particularly for those that are at a higher risk of developing laminitis.