Laminitis question

[dunthing]

Can anyone who has/had a horse with laminitis give me details about the type of ground their horse was grazing, whether it was on an arable or dairy farm. I believe that there is a link between laminitis and where the horse has grazed. If there are enough replies, I will put my theory forward and see if anyone agrees with it.

 

[Donkeymad]

Mine was on arable land. She had stress lami though, and was very slim.

 

[magic14339]

i know of 1 this year on arable and 2 on dairy however the 2 on dairy pasture were very overweight and overfed!!! whereas the one on arable had a managed diet and still got it. arable horse did have a history of it the other 2 had never had it

 

[dunthing]

Thanks for your replies. My theory is that Nitrate fertiliser, as used on dairy land, is almost pure protein and can cause lami. I am positive that our old welshie got his this way.

 

[pottamus]

My land has had no fertiliser or cattle near it in over 10 years...if ever! It is pretty rough grazing on a clay soil. My lad still got laminitis on it even though I was careful how much he had.

 

[peanut]

[ QUOTE ]
My land has had no fertiliser or cattle near it in over 10 years...if ever!

[/ QUOTE ]

Same here. My tb x id was on chalky soil and was not in the slightest bit overweight.

 

[Tiggy1]

Mine was on old grazing with sheep on it and still got it.
Dairy pasture will be very rich for the very purpose of the lactation of the cows and the energy needed for it.

 

[mrstommylee]

It depends on the time of year aswell, in spring and autumn the soluble carbohydrate content of the grass is higher and this can cause laminitis due to the fermentative bacterial content of the hind gut. They produce vasconstrictive endotoxins which can restrict the blood flow to the hoofs and cause laminitis.

 

[dunthing]

Thanks for your replies. I do still think that some cases are conected with the use of nitrate fertilisers. My sister has a highland mare who lived out on her field which had previously been used for silage. The farmer fertilised the adjoining fields, which he still owned, and each time he did, the mare would get lami. This mare had lami for most of the first year that she was in there and over the years it's tailed off. She luckily had very slight rotation and now has wide web shoes which have made her completely sound. My daughter's welshie was fit, slim and sound until the yard fertilised the paddocks with nitrate fertiliser. The following day, he had lami which eventually caused him to be PTS. The Laminitis Clinic, which was just down the road from where we kept our two, said that they couldn't state that nitrates were to blame as there was no firm evidence but they are looking into it and will update their literature when they know more.

 

[Orangehorse]

It isn't the fertiliser as such, it is usually the rate of growth of grass, so obviously added fertiliser is going to make the grass grow faster, but as the above replies show, ponies can get lami on old pasture too. It is the amount of sugars in the grass, whatever the variety. Grass varieties are sown for different uses, so a dairy farm wants maximum feed value from the grass and silage, and it is often a very short term ley.

I think if nitrates were to blame it might have been proved by now. As one american said, there is world-wide research going on into the causes of laminitis, and "some of the experiements are not pretty" - in other words they are taking healthy animals and making them get laminitis so they can see the processes and what exactly is happening to the horse's bodily functions as well as its feet.

Although the classic laminitis case is from just too much grass, it is a very complicated condition and there are other reasons, and added factors which make it appear.

I live on a farm and the grass is fertilised, although we do not have short term leys. I believe in the "leaky gut" theory, and mine have yeasts all year round and added magnesium in the danger periods of spring and autumn.

 

[teddyt]

[ QUOTE ]
It isn't the fertiliser as such, it is usually the rate of growth of grass, so obviously added fertiliser is going to make the grass grow faster, but as the above replies show, ponies can get lami on old pasture too. It is the amount of sugars in the grass, whatever the variety. Grass varieties are sown for different uses, so a dairy farm wants maximum feed value from the grass and silage, and it is often a very short term ley.



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Totally agree with this. It is carbohydrate overload not excess protein that causes laminitis. Farm grass is quick growing, high energy grass for maximum meat and milk yield. Furthermore the horses digestive system is totaly different to other farm animals, particularly cows. So farm grass is actually totally unsuitable for horses, even more so when it is encouraged to grow quicker with fertiliser.

Slow growing, low sugar grass varieties are better for horses but they can still get laminitis from these too.

 

[rascal]

In our horses case it was caused by cushings.

 

[dunthing]

I do hear what you're saying but the small individual paddocks that daughter's welshie was in had very short grass, so much so that we were feeding hay to supplement the lack of grass. His lami came on the day after the paddock was fertilised.
My sister's highland was a little overweight and the grass was very evident.