Feeding a laminitic, is haylege ok?

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robthecob

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Quick question, one of the poorly ponies on our yard doesn't seem to be improving very well. We must be on week 6 of box rest :( I just wondered if any type of haylege was ok to feed. I always thought it had to be soaked hay but this stuff is apparently ok for laminitics. It's like horse hage I think and it's not being soaked. I really feel for the owner and I know any piece of info will help but i have no direct experience with laminitus.
 
No...in a word. If the horse has laminitis then I would be feeding soaked hay only. Why do you ask? Has the horse gone off its hay and not eating it or something?
My horse did this box rest for laminitis to the point where he stopped eating even a pad of hay and was dropping weight in a scary way. I ended up feeding him some dengie healthy hooves to pick his appetite up and he then went back to his hay again within a few days.
 
I've fed the commercially bagged high fibre haylages to a laminitic safely before, I think soaked hay would be worth using if the pony still isn't improving though as there are some that apparently react to haylage.

Things like Fast fibre are useful too.
 
Not my horse but the horse has been on haylege since the start. I think the vet said it was ok but it just goes against everything I know about laminitus. I believe the horse isn't as improved as we would hope for know so I'm just thinking anything that might help...
 
NO I found it too says its OK for laminitics but it gave my mare a flare up.


I would not use haylage on a recovering laminitic. simples.

stick to soaked and rinsed hay

robthecob I have sent you PM
 
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robthecob said:
Not my horse but the horse has been on haylege since the start. I think the vet said it was ok but it just goes against everything I know about laminitus. I believe the horse isn't as improved as we would hope for know so I'm just thinking anything that might help...
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Normal haylage is a no no. You can buy the high fibre horsehage which has been fine for the two laminitics on my yard. However, if they have a flare up I soak it for 12 hours just to be extra careful. They have never had a flare up when fed exclusively on this haylage, only when on the grass, or in the case of my mare, her first cushings induced laminitis episode was due to her being fed normal high energy haylage.
 
It is the special haylege :) the little packaged bales so definately not as bad as the high energy normal stuff but I'm just thinking of anything that might help
 
High fibre Timothy haylage shouldn't be an issue for a laminitic pony as I use this stuff for my barefoot horse. Only thing I would say is to be very careful that it is purely Timothy grass with no meadow or rye grasses mixed in as these will cause a problem.

Must admit though I would use soaked hay as it does the same job and is so much cheaper. Timothy haylage is so expensive because timothy grasses aren't as high yield as other grasses grown for haylage. Good luck and I hope the pony comes right soon.
 
Well, there is haylage and there is haylage. Some of the bagged stuff from feed merchants is a definite no. You can smell the sugar when you open the bag.
Big bale haylage from Italian ryegrass leys is probably too high in sugars also. This also applies to hay containing this grass variety. You could get away with this if it is soaked, but this of course depends on the margin of tolerance of the individual horse.
The presumption that haylage is always higher in sugars than hay is also erroneous as haylage does ferment in the bag which uses up sugars which hay does not.
There is no easy answer, but haylage from a permanent ley may well be lower in sugars than hay from the same source.
Basically, whichever you choose to use will need soaking for a lamanitic.
 
robthecob said:
Not my horse but the horse has been on haylege since the start. I think the vet said it was ok but it just goes against everything I know about laminitus. I believe the horse isn't as improved as we would hope for know so I'm just thinking anything that might help...
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If this is the case then soaked hay may be an option to try for a week, but for all the minerals (and salt) you soak out you have to replace it - so a good general purpose supplement such as Pro Earth, Forage Plus or Equimins MBA would be good

This time of the year - it is worth considering Cushings blood tests - once you begin to address the underlying causes....

Also try - and this will sound strange - some black tea in a bucket. It often helps ponies like this.
 
I personaly don't think its worth the risk, the owner could buy it then cause problems, so risking the horse making the lami worse and wasted money.


My mare always had haylage before for the asthma, and the beginning of the lami she was ok with it then we went to hay then back to haylage ( same one timothy one in mauve packet) and the equilage too. Within 48 hours she had a flareup.

Stick to soaked hay and rinse it and you can't or should not go wrong. If its rich hay soak it longer. Fast Fibre is good as long as they don't hay liver disease then its a big no no.

Just ask yourself or ask owner of the horse

If its its lame does she want to take the risk of causing a flare up ?

Or just get a good container soak hay rinse it and know that its safer for the horse?
 
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My laminitic is fed only on high-fibre haylage - Equilage or Horsehage branded - as she reacts to even soaked hay and the samples we sent off showed that it was still higher in sugar than the haylage. Too much variation in cuts of hay and soaking times, the nutritional analysis of the haylage is much more consistent.
 
blackcob said:
My laminitic is fed only on high-fibre haylage - Equilage or Horsehage branded - as she reacts to even soaked hay and the samples we sent off showed that it was still higher in sugar than the haylage. Too much variation in cuts of hay and soaking times, the nutritional analysis of the haylage is much more consistent.
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Thing is there is allot of difference between a laminitic who has recovered or laminitic prone to one recovering or not stabilized yet.


I think with some, once a laminitic has recovered it prob can cope with haylage but not all.

But in recovery or during delicate phase haylage should not be used.
 
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I have fed equilage & horsehage (blue one) to both my laminitics, so far neither have had another flare-up. As pale rider & black cob say, hayledge ferments off some sugars. You can always soak hayledge too if you want to reduce sugars even more.

Second or (third or forth :D) the fast fibre & straw as useful fibre adding feeds :)

Blackcob, can u remember where you sent yours off for analysis to? I have some homemade very late cut hayledge I would like testing :)
 
brucea said:
And barley straw can be good too - all mine get barley straw as a "eat that if you're hungry" - I have 2 lamis.
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I bought straw for my lami but then got told not to use it with liver disease.
So I sold it to another livery:)

My view is if your going to soak haylage you might as well just use hay and soak that IMO as
1. no shelf life to use within 3 days of opening
2. if you have to weigh your hay its easier than haylage as sections are more often than not thinner so you don't have to pull apart the section of haylage to then weigh out specific amounts,
 
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The key thing is the quantity of sugar within either hay or haylage once its made.

Obviously, if you can get an analysis done so much the better, particularly if there is a consistent supply.

We are finding it harder to make hay as the weather doesn't help so haylage is a better bet in our location. Just because you have a horse prone to lamanitis doesn't preclude the use of haylage as this is just one factor in the overall management of this type of horse.
 
The branded marksway haylage is guaranteed that the sugars are under a certain percentage (think it is 3%?), unlike hay. To be on the safe side, I soak it if the horse has an active bout of laminitis. OP, has your friend's pony been treated with ACP or sedalin? This is very effective at increasing the blood supply to the laminae and boosting recovery.
 
Leviathan said:
Thing is there is allot of difference between a laminitic who has recovered or laminitic prone to one recovering or not stabilized yet.


I think with some, once a laminitic has recovered it prob can cope with haylage but not all.

But in recovery or during delicate phase haylage should not be used.
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She was fed it during the acute stage on the advice of our (specialist) vet. As above, it was guaranteed under 3% sugars - the hay samples we sent off were 8% dry and not a great deal less soaked - can't remember without looking but it was more like 6 or 7% than 3%.

The newest crop of Equilage we had delivered last week is very straw-like in character!

Elle, we used Dodson and Horrell. :)
 
Wagtail

The branded marksway haylage is guaranteed that the sugars are under a certain percentage (think it is 3%?), unlike hay. To be on the safe side, I soak it if the horse has an active bout of laminitis. OP, has your friend's pony been treated with ACP or sedalin? This is very effective at increasing the blood supply to the laminae and boosting recovery.

That's interesting, of course the most effective way of increasing blood supply is taking the shoes off.
 
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