Ways to help

If weight gain is not an option because your horse already has fat stores coming out of winter, then it is worth considering the following as part of your tailored management system:

■ Feed a low-calorie balancer only, no chaff or chop.

■ Restrict access to grass by stripgrazing, track-grazing, co-grazing, post-grazing and/or using a grazing muzzle.

■ Take all, yes ALL, rugs off. You are allowed a thin, no-fill rain sheet to minimise grooming time.

■ If your horse is stabled at all and you need to give some forage:

● Weigh hay (2% of bodyweight over a 24hr period is usually appropriate, but please check with your vet or nutritionist first)

● Soak hay (8-12 hours with boiling water and out of direct sunlight)

● Use a small-holed haynet, double-net or other form of trickle feeder

● Split the 24hr ration into multiple, smaller nets and space out through the stabled period. Try to avoid your horse being left without any forage for more than four to six hours as this can cause further problems.

● Feeding straw also has a place in weight management (see box, below).

■ Increase exercise in advance of the spring grass emerging. Get your horse on an increased plane of exercise, boosting the metabolic rate and improving the insulin sensitivity in advance of the increased calorie intake.

The important thing is acting now. There is no time to prevent laminitis when it happens, and any horse carrying fat stores is a ticking time bomb. Some cope with excess fat better than others, but there is no way of knowing how far from the tipping point your horse is.