How long would you soak hay for a laminitic?

I heard that today actually. I remember being told on here last summer that 20 mins was plenty.... my horse is going to be in during the day from now on as getting too fat and was going to post the same question to ask how long to soak his hay! Looks like i will be doing it over night and getting YO to put it in when she brings in a.m.
 
As long as possible (up to 12 hours) but you must ensure the soaking water is changed as often as you can. Hay soak water turns nasty very quickly so if you are doing a 12 hour soak Id try and change it every few hours.
 
And always rinse it really well too if you have soaked it for a few hours, then is much more palatable for the horses. Top Spec told me that it needs soaking for a minimum of 30 minutes to start to lose the sugars but preferably overnight.
 
20 - 30 mins is standard time for normal horses to avoid nutrients being washed out. However for laminitics/fatties we want to remove the sugars so we soak for longer.

Don't forget to feed a balancer to replace the nutrients lost though.
 
12hrs is the recommended for laminitics to remove the sugars which cause the problems. 20 mins soaking is really only suitable to drench mould spores for dusty hay / coughing.

Always make sure you soak in loads of water ideally only 2 small nets per bath full, otherwise the concentration of sugars in the soaking water will be too high.
 
I completely agree with everyone who is saying 12 hours. This is a laminitic we are talking about and therefore the hay really does need a blooming good soaking.
 
Hi

Winergy advised me that if I wanted to reduce the nutritional value of the hay then it had to be soaked for several hours.
Soaking hay for 20mins would ok if you just want to reduce the dust.
 
12 hours for removal of sugars.
i put in in overnight and then rinse it witha few fresh buckets of water to get rid of any of that awful brown/sugary water.
horses eat it fine wet/dried
 
The yahoo Cushings group say 1 hour in cold water, or 30 mins in hot water. And to rinse. They've done tests on the hay before & after soaking & said that's all it needs.
 
i'd say 12 hours, but change the water to get the most sugars out as the concentration inside the hay = concentration in water (osmosis) when it has diffused out as much as possible, so if you reduce the hay sugar, then change the water again, even more sugar will diffuse out down the concentration gradient.. i hope i managed to word that well enough to make sense
 
mrsbloggett said:
12hrs is the recommended for laminitics to remove the sugars which cause the problems. 20 mins soaking is really only suitable to drench mould spores for dusty hay / coughing.

Always make sure you soak in loads of water ideally only 2 small nets per bath full, otherwise the concentration of sugars in the soaking water will be too high.
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I agree.

My mare had lami last year, my Vet, Farrier and the Laminitis Trust all told me the same.
 
That is strange I phoned the trust last week and they said don't soak it any longer than 1 hr as it gets rancid if soaked too long, My mare seems fine on 1 hr

Hay that was left by a livery in the water overnight as i put too much hay out stunk by the morning and we threw it out.

My vet said 2 hrs but the trust said max 1 hr so I do 1/2 - 3/4 you do what you want but I am sticking to what they told me Wednesday,.


found these two quotes as well


How Long Should You Soak Hay For A Laminitic?
A Glad you asked...
The length of time taken to soak hay for a laminitic horse is approximately 30 minutes to one hour. Soaking it longer than that will cause it to obtain a sour taste.
http://www.bodrwyn.org/articles/dietforlaminitis.php
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Where the sugar level in a batch of hay is too high for a laminitic horse, soaking it for half an hour in clean water will reduce the sugar levels
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http://www.elsolequinepractice.com/Equine_metabolic_syndrome.html

Hay - It is also important to feed hay with low (<12%) non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) content. NSC&#8217;s include simple sugars, starch, and fructans. If the NSC of your hay exceeds 12%, soaking it in cold water for 30 minutes prior to feeding will lower the sugar content.
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http://www.adelaideplainsequine.com/laminitis.pdf
Feeding a horse with/prone to laminitis:
What you are feeding your laminitic horse could actually be making his condition worse. These horses
should be kept in good body condition and care should be taken to prevent them from becoming
overweight. It is very important to feed a horse that is prone to laminitis a diet that is low in sugar and
carbohydrate. Soaking the hay for about 30 minutes prior to feeding helps remove some of the sugars
in the hay, which is very beneficial.
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But it's not just the sugar content that you want to reduce, soaking also removes some of the protein, but that takes longer to leach out. After 30 mins I doubt if water would have even penetrated the stalk properly :confused:

I've NEVER had my hay turn rancid after being soaked overnight, but then I only use clean hay.
 
after half hour water is dark tea coloured I always use ex hay it was last years and no stalks pure beautiful hay . Well that said I will still stick to the trust comment on wed last week of max 1 hr. Hay is well soaked in that time it must be fine as she has been on soaked hay 4 weeks now and its not done anything to her lamiminis.

The only thing that did is her escaping and getting into and munching the barley ring bin:(
 
I think 20 mins is all that is required for a dust allergy sufferer, but to get rid of the sugar content you need to soak it for longer as other people have said

I soak mine for an hour, I usually put it in when I arrive at the yard, so depending if I ride etc it could be in there longer but not longer than 2 hours, my horse had lami mildly bout 5 years ago, wear's a muzzle when turned out in the day and touch wood has been fine ever since, my vet didn't tell me to do it overnight
 
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I soak 4/5lbs over night and the water does not go particularly dark or dirty. Someone else soaks a 12lbs net during the day and the water goes a disgusting dark brown colour. It depends on the amount of hay being soaked as to how the water changes.
 
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