soaking hay to reduce sugars - is it pointless?!

[itsonlyme]

I was talking to a vet today & the topic of hay soaking came up. He said he'd recently been to a veterinary-related lecture, where the speaker informed them that soaking hay to reduce sugars is ineffective & pointless, and that it just causes all vits & minerals to be lost.
has anyone ever had the starch/sugar content of soaked hay analysed? Just curious really, cos i soak mine.

 

[amandap]

In my observational non scientific experience it is definitely not pointless. There seems to be a push to say this atm and I'm at a loss as to why. Hay at less than 10% NSC (non structural carbs) is ok for most laminitic horses but unless you buy in bulk and have your hay tested you have no idea how much soluble carbs and sugars are in it.Leaving it soaking for longer periods does start to leech some minerals etc. Here's some US research.
http://www.safergrass.org/pdf/SoakReport.pdf

I'm afraid no matter what any Vet says my pony prone to laminitis is having her hay soaked until more is known...

 

[Natch]

Soaking hay for 1 hour reduces sugar and short chain fructan content by around 31%:

Watts, K. A (2004) Forage And Pasture Management For Laminitic Horse. Clinical Techniques in Equine practice 3 (1) pp 88-95 [Online]. Available at: <http://www.safergrass.org/pdf/CTEPforagelaminitis.pdf< [Accessed 12th August 2011]

However your vet is quite right in saying some minerals are also lost, as is protein.

 

[Lotty]

No it's not pointless. I'm on a livery yard that buys their hay in, they will have about 4-5 batches bought in over the winter. Last year one of their batches was my veg and farrier said like "smoking tobacco" and my mare got laminitis. I now soak my hay for 12hours to leech out all sugars and I feed Happy Hoof, 1 scoop am and pm for her vitamins.

 

[ruby1512]

Agree with lotty all mine get theres soaked for at least 12 hours and get supplements in there feed for vits and minerals, we have 3 that are lami prone and a little fat shetland than doesn't need anymore weight on him.