Steamed or Soaked hay for laminitic??

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junior_R

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Hello,

Basically as the title says, i have a laminitic : ( & i hear so many mixed reports on how to soak the hay and how long for etc.
is steamed or soaked best and how long for?

thanks for any advice
 
saok it for a long period.. id say a couple of hours max personally.. this makes it useless for nutrients.. Very low fat and feed ad-lib.. fibre levels need to be maintained inorder to removed toxins.
 
soak for 24 hours. you want to leech all the goodness out of it so it is as low-cal and low-sugar as possible for a laminitic. steaming only damps down the dust spores, laminitics need more than that doing.
 
I was advised by my vet to soak my ponies hay (whilst she was having an attack) for 18 to 24 hours, then rinse before feeding in a small holed haynet to make it last longer
laugh.gif
 
Research done says soaking for 30 mins in hot water removes approximately the same amount of sugars as soaking for one hour in cold water

Here's a condensed version of the text -

Purpose

To determine if soaking a variety of different hays in cold or hot water for specified periods of
times results in a reduction of the Water Soluble Carbohydrate (WSC) as a tool in the management of horses with laminitis, insulin resistance or HYPP.

Sugar, fructan and potassium are all water soluble in both alfalfa and grass hay. Simple
sugars, disaccharides, and short chain fructan are soluble in cold water, while the longer chain
fructans are soluble in hot water Soaking hay to reduce dust and allergens for horses that have
heaves is already a common practice in horse care. We propose that soaking hay can be a
practical method for reducing WSC and potassium in the treatment of horses with laminitis,
insulin resistance, or HYPP.

Procedure

Fifteen hay samples of multiple varieties were split into four representative subsamples of up to
50g each. When original sample size was insufficient the samples were split into four samples
of equal weight. The four subsamples were designated as A) Dry, no soaking, B) soaked for 30
minutes in room temp. tap water, C) soaked for 60 minutes in room temp. tap water, or D)
soaked for 30 minutes in hot tap water. The room temp tap water averaged 27.8 C and the hot
tap water, 50.3 C. Samples were soaked in 4 L of water. Upon cessation of the soaking period,
the water was poured off and the samples were removed from the beakers and allowed to
briefly drain. Samples were placed in aluminum pans and dried at 60 C overnight. Once dry,
they were ground through a UDY Cyclone Mill fitted with a 1 mm screen and analyzed for sugar
and potassium (K). The Dry (A) samples were simply dried, ground and analyzed.

Results

Soaking in cold water for 30mins - av reduction in sugars 19%
Soaking in cold water for 60mins - av reduction in sugars 31%
Soaking in hot water for 30mins -av reduction in sugars 29%


That any help?
 
soaking reduces the sugars in the hay-good for lamanitics-can soak from 2-12 hours in fresh water and rinse well with the hose.
steaming-swells sores and reduces dust-will not remove sugars-good for horses with respiratory issues.
 
Best to soak it as this way you are getting all the nutrients out.

If you steam it you are merely making it more palatable but keeping the calories in.
 
Definitely rinse it off after you have soaked the hay, otherwise some of the sugars will remain on the hay. Also it freshens the hay as well after it's been sitting in water for sometime.

Definitely don't steam it, it just makes it even more palatable and doesn't get rid of any sugars or calories at all.
 
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