Laminitis - first response and actions?

mrdarcy said:
Happy Tummy is a product I recommend a lot to rebalance the stomach - brilliant stuff and works a treat.

re mould inhibitors etc - yes a problems for some horses. Another source of issues is the pesticides on sugar beet. All Uk sugarbeet is sprayed with lots of very strong pesticides and this is impossible to wash off, however many times you soak your beet pulp. I've stopped feeding sugar beet for that reason, though do use sugar beet water at endurance rides but that's only and occasional thing.
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This is something I've been looking into.

I'd be really grateful if you could point me in the direction of any scientific evidence re the pesticide residues, I've been researching this a bit and can't find any proper sources, specifically relating to sugar beet.

I am aware of a company that is keen to promote the idea that sugar beet is a bad thing, but they are unable to provide evidence, so for me the jury is out.
 
Why is the horse sedated? I was of the understanding that if pedal bone is not rotated, movement can encourage circulation etc. I have also heard reccommendations of bedding on sand for maximum hoof support?
 
LucyPriory said:
This is something I've been looking into.

I'd be really grateful if you could point me in the direction of any scientific evidence re the pesticide residues, I've been researching this a bit and can't find any proper sources, specifically relating to sugar beet.

I am aware of a company that is keen to promote the idea that sugar beet is a bad thing, but they are unable to provide evidence, so for me the jury is out.
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Sorry Lucy no links I can point you to but same goes for any crop grown in the western world. If it's not organic then it will have pesticides sprayed onto it and being a root crop specifically means those chemicals will be absorbed into the vegetable and stay there. Unless we feed organic everything then our horses will be ingesting chemicals - scary really.
 
Everything in proportion. If you are feeding a horse 'naturally' then the bulk of it's diet will be forage. Very little forage is organic and most people have no idea of the status of their hay and have little opportunity to find out. And many horses these days graze in fields next to a road, or agricultural crops. So their grass will be full of contaminants too and some of the worst will be from our cars.

So I tend towards thinking that 100g or so of non organic unmolassed sugar beet is trivial by comparison.

Especially as the pesticides used tend to be water soluble and the processing of sugar beet uses water to leach the sugar out of the beet. I need to check the biochemistry (its on the list) but I am not aware that the pesticides bind with the sugar beet any more strongly than does the sugar. I'll let you know when I find out.
 
MM&PP

It's interesting, the sand thieng. At first it might make sense, but having a professional and recreational laminitic I found they liked the sand to lie on and roll in, even better to lie in and burrow your sore feet into

But they didn;t find it the best surface for moving on. That was pea gravel.

It seems the sand is too conformant - pea gravel less so.
 
Re the 'factor x' theory I have never heard the term before but the concept was pushed while I was at uni.

2 (very) different equine nutrition lecturers were both adamant that though hind gut acidosis can occur without laminitis, laminitis does not occur without hind gut acidosis. One of the major contributing factors mentioned was feeding too much in one go. In basics (sorry if I'm taching grandma...) The equine stomach is relatively small (rugby ball sized) and a large feed cannot all fit so the pyloric sphincter will open allowing undigested grain into the small intestine before the stomach has finished it's job. Then as horses are pretty naff at digesting starch even at the best of times the grain ends up the hind gut. This allows the lazy acid producing bacteria (which there are always a few of hanging about) to go 'sod the cellulose there's sugar here' and they have a field day. They then multiply causing a lowering of the pH (acidosis) which kills off the cellulose digesting nice bacteria.

I haven't got acess to all the journals any more but these two articles discuss acidosis.

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/124/12_Suppl/2742S.full.pdf

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2005.00975.x/full
 
TFC - agreed. Hind gut acidosis is key.

I am of the thinking - 'look after the hind gut (and contents) and the risk of laminitis is dramatically reduced'.


Factor X are causes of hind gut acidosis beyond sugar/starch overload.

Two key suspects are too much acidic/fermented food eg haylage and stress.

And these are all in reference to slow onset as opposed to toxic shock induced.
 
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