Feeding soaked hay to a laminitic

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rvpeary

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Hi ny connemara mare got lami end of may 2012. She has been stabled on soaked hay and happy hoof and is doing great. Recently has her heart bars off and is sound :) how long do i need to carry on soaking hay? Is this forever? Obviously i will if i need to. Atm she has two nets at night soaked for 12 hrs and 2 nets during the day soaked for around an hour as she started to lose too much condition as she came back into work. Would it be worth dropping the soaking time of the night nets to an hr and seeing how she goes or do u think i am pushing it?

Any information will be greatly appreciated :) x
 
It is impossible to say without knowing the sugar and starch content of the hay unfortunately. Imo and experience you will have to be vigilant about diet, weight and exercize for the rest of her life to avoid the chance of another episode. That includes grass intake especially at high risk times. Watch her carefully for the slightest sign of footyness, lethergy, crestyness etc. etc. and tighten diet immediately.
There is some evidence (safer grass- Kathryn Watts) that soaking for an hour removes the bulk of sugars able to be removed ie. water soluble ones. However some of us have found one hour not sufficient in an acute attack. I have soaked for an hour and rinsed for my laminitic at times with no ill effects but then I've also had some hay batches that I've had to soak twice as a temporary measure until I could source a different supply. I suspect that hay was very high in sugars and once the water was 'saturated' with it no more could leech out but the second soak in clean water did the trick. It is pure speculation though.

So glad she has done so well. In the end it's going to be your call as there is no right answer unless you can get the hay tested. :)
 
Personally, I'd call the vet and just ask for some additional advice following the last visit. Do you have any idea what triggered the lammy in the first place? And what did the vet say at the time? Also, how much work is your pony doing atm?

By soaking your hay for that long you're sucking the calories out of it, personally I'd mix the morning and evening ones so she has one thats been soaked well and the other which isn't so dead of calories together, morning and night. That way she's got a constant supply of energy 24/7. Have you thought about changing the happy hoof or adding something thats high calorie/low sugar to compensate for the calories lost working?

Just be careful you dont increase too much too soon as its the sudden difference in diet that can (in some cases) trigger the lammy again. Also take a look at the sugar content of your hay, some are higher is sugar than others. I feed mine long, coarse timothy hay that was cut late because it isn't as nutritionally loaded as the earlier cut stuff.
 
FWIW I also feed my laminitic shetland on Mag Ox as well, because it's supposed to help them metabolise sugars better. Whether that's true or not I couldn't swear to, but mine seems all the better for it.
 
Hi the vet and farrier suspect that it was caused by a too short trim by a diff farrier, although she was slightly over weight. Shes not now :) i have started her on speedy beet to see if that helps her weight loss. It seems to. She is also on mag ox and lami prone. I will try mixing it and see how she goes. She gets ridden around 4-5 days a week about 30-60 mins.:)
 
It seems counter productive to soak hay to get calories out then feed speedibeet to get calories in.
Why not try dry hay, use the weight tape every week and if she puts on too much go back to soaking?
 
The point about soaking hay for laminitics is to reduce water soluble sugars. Horses get calories from starches and fermentation in the hindgut, they do not need excess sugars. Excess sugars spill into the hindgut and interfere with fermentation and can cause weight loss due to incomplete digestion.
Keeping sugars and starch at lower levels is the first line of attack and defense against laminitis.

I would feed speedibeet and add yea sacc and a good balancer (Pro hoof or Pro Balance from Ebay). If the balancer contains yea sacc you wont need to add extra. You may need a little extra magnesium though. Increase the soaked hay ration and try the one hour soaking before trying unsoaked as she recently had an attack is my advice.
 
A laminitic prone horse needs combined starch and sugars so be less than 10%. Some hay and haylage is suitable therefore to feed unsoaked (such as Marksway Hi fibre haylage). If you want to be sure whether it is safe to feed your hay unsoaked, then you can send a sample away for analysis to www'forageplus.com. It is £27.50 for a nutritional analysis. Then you will know if you still need to soak it or not.
 
With my Laminitic (which was caused by emerging encysted small red worms) I soak the hay for just over one hour and then feed the hay from the floor to allow her sinus's to drain while she is eating the hay.
I also keep her weight down so that I can just see her ribs.
I also give her one measure of formula4feet per day (developed by a team headed by Robert Eustace the vet who specialises in laminitis)
Also get your vet to show you how to take your horses digital pulse so that you can check it each day.
If your horse is in then feed one slice of hay every 4 hours to keep the gut moving.
 
Polos Mum said:
It seems counter productive to soak hay to get calories out then feed speedibeet to get calories in.
Why not try dry hay, use the weight tape every week and if she puts on too much go back to soaking?
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The idea is that you remove the calories from the sugar in the hay and replace them if necessary with calories in the fibre-rich speedibeet which is molasses free.

Laminitics react to the sugars/soluble carbphydrates, not just to an overload of calories. It creates the wrong environment in the gut and allows toxins to pass into the bloodstream and from there to the feet.
 
Thankyou for your replies. I know how to check her pulse as check it whenever she has grass and when i added the speedi beet and reduced soaking time. I guess its just a case of trial and error, just hope i dont get any errors! Haha x
 
rvpeary said:
I guess its just a case of trial and error, just hope i dont get any errors! Haha x
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Sadly it is and don't feel too bad if you do make an error just try and put it right early and asap. Most of us have done it. I've been up and down with my pony for two years but this last year we've really got stability and that's because I've resisted tinkering anymore and fed a good balancer.
Vitamin E is very important to feed when the diet is grass free btw. Some balancers have it in so check.

Good luck. Things may be a bit up and down until you get a balance that suits her.
 
It really depends on the individual and is a case of trial and error... I would be very inclined to continue soaking well in spring and autumn when grass sugars are higher.

Two questions for you..

How big is your mare? and How big (heavy) are your haynets? The quantities you describe sound quite large for a relatively small horse / pony... not so much of a problem when soaked but unsoaked could cause you problems...

I would start weighing your (dry) hay if you don't already and feed no more than 1.5% of her bodyweight a day..
 
Shes 14.3 and on 15kg dried hay in double soaked nets. She was on 10kg but dropped way too much weight so i upped it. Vet had advised that once back up to correct weight to feed adlib soaked hay.

Thanku, i will look into the balancer :) x
 
My 16.1hh mare had laminitis 3 years ago and I still soak her hay, she is a good doer though. I feed her 1.5% of her body weight and weigh her every 2 weeks at the same time, her weight does go up & down very slightly but I'm always aware.
 
rvpeary said:
Shes 14.3 and on 15kg dried hay in double soaked nets. She was on 10kg but dropped way too much weight so i upped it. Vet had advised that once back up to correct weight to feed adlib soaked hay.

Thanku, i will look into the balancer :) x
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Yes, I'm sure thats fine.... but if you decide to stop feeding soaked hay I think you will find you have to reduce the amount you feed... My 17.2hh lami prone is on 8kg unsoaked overnight... there is a good but not rich covering of grass in his field during the day...
 
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