New thoughts on Laminitus

[Gingerwitch]

Had an interesting chat with my blacksmith yesterday.....

Lots of folk in the horse world are starting to think that it is stress that causes laminitic's rather than weight- one of the interesting arguments being put forward is that horses are designed to get fat and then would loose the weight over the winter months.

Will be interesting to be around in another 100 years or so and see what the thoughts are then.

Watching this area of research with interest - as it does seam to be a very very strange ailment.

 

[thatsmygirl]

Stress is known to bring on laminitis anyway that's not new.
Horses may be designed to put on weight in summer but not on the lush fields we put them on, it's un natural to them and should be walking miles a day searching scrub land and picking at headges, not eatting green grass.
I think if people are stupid enough to believe that, the vets are going to be very rich and anybody who lets their pony get fat with that in mind need to be banned from owning ponies full stop.

 

[zaminda]

Stress and concussion laminitus aren't new, and yes horsesare meant to put on weight in the summer, but they are also supposed to lose it in the winter, and this is one thing in which we kill them with kindness, they are rugged and well looked after, come out of the winter looking well, then don't have the space to pile on the pounds.

 

[[59851]]

it will indeed be very interesting, My thoughts exactly on letting horses drop weight in the winter. My retired mare is allowed to do this. With her it's now a quality of life, she is out grazing with her friends, getting fat in summer and losing alot (although she doesn't get thin she goes between a 2 and 3 on a score chart) and in summer she is a good 4 - we have never had a problem with laminitis- although what IS interesting is that people say nothing when she is fat, yet pass comment when she drops weight!!
The trouble these days is that horses and ponies are kept in good to fat condition all year round. There is a huge proportion of leisure horses that are overweight and sadly people think fat is normal. The showing world also has alot to answer to for this problem. Look at show horses 40 years ago - they were a damn sight slimmer than they are now!!

 

[Kaylum]

Defo not new my friend had a horse who had live the same place all his life but she moved house so had to move him and he got it straightaway. The vet said it was caused by stress. This was 10years ago.

Show horse were slimmer cause they weren't packed full of hard feed and people left fields to be more natural.