Laminitis surge

[maisie06]

So reading the news section and it's saying about a huge surge in cases got me thinking that when I started out with horses we didn't see anywhere near as much laminitis as we do now and those cases tended to be the classic little fat ponies, EMS wasn't really heard of either.

I understand we have better diagnostics these days but what do you think is the cause of this perfect storm of laminitis? I have a few theories, Ponies living longer and laminitis being a secondary to cushings, environmental factors such as mild wet winters and hot summers leading to grass becoming very sugary, diversification of cattle grazing to horse pasture, Feeding of excess hard feed and lack of work leading to obesity, I also wonder if we are breeding animals prone to metabolic disorders,

Discuss...

 

[clairebearfur1]

So many people are more educated now, dont see ponies in big fields of grass anymore, smaller fields with hay is common.

 

[ycbm]

All those. Plus a shortage of grazing land so close cropped grass, never rested and sky high in stressed grass sugars.
.

 

[Patterdale]

Lots of horses and ponies are fat now. People have an obsession with constantly feeding them. How many times do you see a fat pony on a bare paddock (great), but with some weary red faced woman taking it 76 carefully measured and soaked haynets each day to ensure it has constant food, then wondering why it’s still fat (facepalm)?

They need to be kept hard and worked hard to stay slim, something not many people seem prepared to do. My kids ponies spend much of their time on a large bare paddock without hay, and with not much growing to eat at all. They are all slim, healthy, forward and with zero symptoms of ulcers.

I have relented this week and I’m feeding them some hay as we’ve had no rain for a month now and they’re just standing on brown dead grass. But they’re not fat. If they were, I wouldn’t feed them drought or no.

When people can stop feeding fat animals constant hay and hard feeds (oh it’s just a bit of balancer, he’d die without it) then the problem will be solved, but I can’t see that happening.

 

[scats]

• Far more native and Cobby types nowadays.
• People rarely winter horses out.
• Increased traffic on roads= less hacking. As a teen I would hack out for 4-5 hours every weekend with my mates. The main roads here were busy but nothing like nowadays, where it’s downright dangerous.
• Feed companies with their product for every occasion, colourful bags and constant marketing.
• People seem to have less awareness of the level of work horses are in and over estimate the work their horse is doing.
• Awareness of gastric ulcers. People have become obsessed with constant forage, but not recognising that in the wild the constant forage would be of very low nutritional value, whereas their nice green hay isn’t.
• More rug variety- different weights, combos etc. Horses never need to use energy to keep warm.
• Fit, lean horses are often considered skinny, because people aren’t used to it. There is pressure on yards to have ‘show condition’ horses because that’s what people think looks ‘good’.

 

[ITPersonnage]

Agree with the above - obese underworked horses etc. add into the mix a wet spring (remember ?) then a hot spell and unprecedented grass growth, many would suggest climate change being responsible and you have the perfect storm.

 

[Hallo2012]

• Far more native and Cobby types nowadays.
• People rarely winter horses out.
• Increased traffic on roads= less hacking. As a teen I would hack out for 4-5 hours every weekend with my mates. The main roads here were busy but nothing like nowadays, where it’s downright dangerous.
• Feed companies with their product for every occasion, colourful bags and constant marketing.
• People seem to have less awareness of the level of work horses are in and over estimate the work their horse is doing.
• Awareness of gastric ulcers. People have become obsessed with constant forage, but not recognising that in the wild the constant forage would be of very low nutritional value, whereas their nice green hay isn’t.
• More rug variety- different weights, combos etc. Horses never need to use energy to keep warm.
• Fit, lean horses are often considered skinny, because people aren’t used to it. There is pressure on yards to have ‘show condition’ horses because that’s what people think looks ‘good’.

all of this.

i teach at 5 BIG livery yards in my area and i would say more than 75% of the equines are overweight, at least 25% are what i would class as morbidly obese.....people seem utterly blind to it.

people are absolute snowflakes now too, dont want to ride when its too hot, cold, wet, windy....any excuse....so horses are not working as hard as I feel they would have under previous generations.....only this week ive had lessons cancelled as 24+a breeze is too hot apparently......so another day off for the horses..........

 

[Gamebird]

A few reasons for the high levels of obesity and EMS:

Although it is multifactorial. a lot of it does boil down to feed, and lack of work. I have two TB types in light work, neither get any hard feed at all. Grass and hay only. There is an unbroken 4yo pony next to them which gets two big feeds a day and is obese. Ditto about 6 cobs up the yard. All are in similar or less work than my TBs. Why waste all that money?

A lot of livery yards are ex livestock/dairy farms. Grass that has been specifically improved for many years to produce as much liveweight gain and butterfat as possible. It is not suitable for keeping horses on.

It's worth remembering that cobs were essentially the workhorses of the working classes. Sparse poor quality, fibre-based feed, and lots and lots of miles a day.

The problem is that people just don't see fat anymore. So often it is completely denied, or the animal is called 'chunky', 'cuddly' or 'round'.

No letting the metabolism do its thing and naturally swing throughout the seasons. Horses would and should naturally be poor coming out of winter. This isn't allowed to happen any more.

In a country where the government have today announced the creation of 10 new childhood obesity centres which will treat children as young as 2 , we really can't expect horses to be any better off than kids.

Fat is a MUCH bigger horse welfare issue in this country than starvation. I have euthansed probably at least 10 horses this year directly due to diseases stemming from obesity. I have euthanased none due to starvation. Yet let your fellow livery owners see your horse's ribs and you will be witch-hunted all over social media.

 

[Gallop_Away]

people are absolute snowflakes now too, dont want to ride when its too hot, cold, wet, windy....any excuse....so horses are not working as hard as I feel they would have under previous generations.....only this week ive had lessons cancelled as 24+a breeze is too hot apparently......so another day off for the horses..........

To be fair I wouldn't ride in 24+ heat. If our horses were acclimatised to it then that's a different matter, but the majority of UK horses are not. Call me a snowflake if you like but I prefer to ride early morning/late evening in these temperatures and would cancel a lesson if it was booked for the hottest part of the day in the temperatures we've been having lately.....

To answer the OP I agree with scats who I think has summarised it nicely.

• Far more native and Cobby types nowadays.
• People rarely winter horses out.
• Increased traffic on roads= less hacking. As a teen I would hack out for 4-5 hours every weekend with my mates. The main roads here were busy but nothing like nowadays, where it’s downright dangerous.
• Feed companies with their product for every occasion, colourful bags and constant marketing.
• People seem to have less awareness of the level of work horses are in and over estimate the work their horse is doing.
• Awareness of gastric ulcers. People have become obsessed with constant forage, but not recognising that in the wild the constant forage would be of very low nutritional value, whereas their nice green hay isn’t.
• More rug variety- different weights, combos etc. Horses never need to use energy to keep warm.
• Fit, lean horses are often considered skinny, because people aren’t used to it. There is pressure on yards to have ‘show condition’ horses because that’s what people think looks ‘good’.

 

[cauda equina]

I wonder how much of the increase is related to use of endocrine disruptor pesticides

 

[marmalade76]

All this and rugging, everything is rugged now, even native and cob youngsters that aren't in work so don't even have the excuse of trying to keep them clean.
And nobody allows them to get lean in the winter anymore as nature intended.

 

[Cortez]

Obese horses are normalised now. There is so much marketing by feed companies and pushing of the idea that EVERY horse needs constant feeding, balancers, grass isn’t enough, ulcers! Esoteric conditions that need vitamin xyz fed daily, etc., etc. New horse owners are generally 1st timers and don't have experience behind them.

 

[tristar]

i can remember riding 10 miles to a show and 10 back, many years ago, [too many!]

may to july are the worst, i watch em like a hawk and count every calorie.

horses need to walk miles every day, searching the grass, a danger signal is them at rest in the day, they can sleep at night, when they come in

recognizing when they are putting it on and acting instantly is what i do.

i do so love a slim horse, someone said my big grey looked like a ferrari when he was walking across the yard, that super sashay walk of a loose fit horse

its an alien conception to many, is slim horses

years ago we had paddocks with grass for a short while in the spring, then it went hot and all summer they were short of grass, but it was old grass, not fertilized, seeded, pampered, a bit knxckered actually

 

[tristar]

i rode yesterday in about 26 degrees, schooling, my horse and i thoroughly enjoyed ourselves

i did drink a fair drop of water though later

 

[Polos Mum]

I listened to a fascinating vet led obesity lecture a few months ago.

Very interestingly the level of obesity has increased at broadly the same rate in humans, dogs, cats and horses !!!! over the last 20 years.

Chemicals in the food chain / fertiliser / pesticides was really one of the only things that anyone could think of that could impact all four species similarly.

They also thought that fear of 'fat shaming' played a part culturally. Nobody is really stepping up to call out obesity (in any species - humans included) and vets were reluctant to do it even when it was a welfare issue.
If clients hear things they don't like they just leave and find professionals willing to ignore it.

I've been riding for 35 years and totally agree that obesity is something nobody gave a second thought to 20 years ago.

 

[Love]

Due to my current experience I wonder if its the level of work (or not work).

My gelding is usually in full work (approx. 5 days a week mix of average 2 hour hacks on very hilly terrain or 40mins ish in the school - novice dressage/80-90cm jumping level. Sometimes more sometimes less with regular competitions/funrides). He's recently been out of work due to an unknown lameness.

I cannot even tell you how quickly he has put weight on in that time. And I just cannot shift it without the work. As soon as I noticed I fenced off the majority of his field and the bit he is in is bare. Any hay he gets is soaked and he is fed only enough balancer and chaff to get his bute in him. Thats it. I wouldn't have classed the work he is usually in as overly hard work either but I obviously took for granted how much of an effect it has on them

What's most embarrassing is being told by vets how his weight now is absolutely not ideal (which i obviously know). I have always been so conscious of his weight and up until this lameness starting at the end of april he was fully competition fit and looking fantastic! I guess they hear excuses all the time though, so why should they believe me when I try to explain its only since being out of work

 

[Gallop_Away]

I think the increase in equine obesity is also directly linked to the increase in obesity in people. We want horses "chunkier" to carry heavier riders.

All too often you see adults who are overweight themselves riding horses/ponies that are also overweight. Terms like "weight carrier" are flung around these days to describe horses that are just plain fat.

 

[vhf]

I listened to a fascinating vet led obesity lecture a few months ago.

Very interestingly the level of obesity has increased at broadly the same rate in humans, dogs, cats and horses !!!! over the last 20 years.

Chemicals in the food chain / fertiliser / pesticides was really one of the only things that anyone could think of that could impact all four species similarly.

The main thing that links humans, dogs, cats and horses is... humans.
WE are responsible. We have access to more knowledge, faster information sharing, greater information gathering than ever before and yet...
Society as a culture believes in two over-riding things. That ease and comfort is good, and marketing is something to be believed in. So we under-work and overfeed, pamper and cosset, take in more and more messaging telling us how to be happier, more comfortable, have easier lives, and... bam. we have the state of things today. We have lost the ability to work hard, think for ourselves, or apply those to the animals who share our lives.
And yes, I am being very polar in my view here quite deliberately; I am not so naïve as to think the answer is ever simple, or the fault universal.

 

[Follysmum]

Farrier and I were discussing this today and he said he definitely has seen an increase the last month or so. He said over half his clients horses/ponies with it were because of the owners and the way they keep them, far too much feed, grass , lack of exercise and not treating them as a potential.

I’m sure equally there are people
that try their best and do everything that can and still their horses/ponies get it.

 

[Pinkvboots]

i rode yesterday in about 26 degrees, schooling, my horse and i thoroughly enjoyed ourselves

i did drink a fair drop of water though later

Exactly You just have to get on with it don't you a quick half hour of schooling won't kill a horse or a person I tend to do it early before the heat if I can but sometimes it's whenever I can fit it in.

 

[Gallop_Away]

Exactly You just have to get on with it don't you a quick half hour of schooling won't kill a horse or a person I tend to do it early before the heat if I can but sometimes it's whenever I can fit it in.

Having seen a horse overheat (not one of mine) I beg to differ. Riding can wait till its cooler.

 

[Ellibelli]

Having seen a horse overheat (not one of mine) I beg to differ. Riding can wait till its cooler.

Is 24 degrees with a breeze really too warm to exercise a horse? I totally get it in the approaching 40 degrees we got on some days last year, but 24 degrees?

 

[Gallop_Away]

Is 24 degrees with a breeze really too warm to exercise a horse? I totally get it in the approaching 40 degrees we got on some days last year, but 24 degrees?

Potentially. There are many other factors to consider such as humidity, horses fitness, what level of exercise are you planning on working the horse to, is the horse used to working in higher temps etc. However considering the horse I witnessed overheated in 25° heat after not a particularly strenuous schooling session (horse was also relatively fit having hunted most of previous season), it isn't something I would personally risk.

We all must make our own judgement calls but I wouldn't criticise anyone for choosing not to ride in the temperatures we've been having lately, and opting to ride later/earlier in the day.

 

[Katieg123]

In relation to the above posts...

 

[Surbie]

To be fair I wouldn't ride in 24+ heat. If our horses were acclimatised to it then that's a different matter, but the majority of UK horses are not. Call me a snowflake if you like but I prefer to ride early morning/late evening in these temperatures and would cancel a lesson if it was booked for the hottest part of the day in the temperatures we've been having lately.....

To answer the OP I agree with scats who I think has summarised it nicely.

Same here - I appreciate an instructor isn't going to want to teach me at 5/6am, but if that's when it's cool enough for me and my horse, then that is when I am riding.

One of the liveries at my yard keeps her horse out 24/7 all year, he is a fabulous weight, in a good amount of work and fit with a hint of rib. And yet judges at shows won't place him because he lacks enough 'show condition'.

 

[sassandbells]

Echoing a few other commenters, I think a lot of people just can’t recognise an overweight horse. I’ve been on a mission over the past year to get weight off my Welsh D x ID as I dropped the ball and got a bollocking off my vet & farrier for her condition. She looks infinitely better now, with careful management, but still has fat pads in places & ribs are still hard to feel. Multiple people (with fat horses) on the yard have been commenting about her looking a bit slim & asking if I’m going to feed her more… lord knows how she didn’t get lami last year, and lord knows how their horses haven’t got it this year either…

 

[ycbm]

Chemicals in the food chain / fertiliser / pesticides was really one of the only things that anyone could think of that could impact all four species similarly.

There's another. Overeating.
.

 

[GreyDot]

Rugs with necks - to add another reason - since their invention, no horse is cold! I see very few horses come out of winter looking lean. Then slapbang in to spring grass and longer turnout and there is no buffer for the weight gain.

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

Over feeding in winter, not letting the animal do what it would do in the wild. You don't see feral stock with laminitis. Micro managing leads to problems. Pretty simple for humans and animals if they followed four words, eat less, move more.

I have a pony on restricted grazing that I am having to exercise in hand and only being gently ridden due to her being treated for Lymes. She on the chubby side of 3 but I can't exercise her as I would normally. Such a worry.

You should be able to see ribs with movement and I aim to see them after the winter before spring commences!

 

[Flowerofthefen]

When I had ponies we kept them at the most beautiful and beautifully maintained stud farm. They were turned out in groups of mares and geldings, in huge fields, 4/5 to a field. The fields were rotated regularly so we always had loads of grass. They would come in to a section or 2 of hay and get 2 feeds a day of straight feed. We rode them for hours, especially in the holidays, sometimes all day!! Not a lamanitic in sight!