What can I feed my lami-prone horse?

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Ellietotz

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Hi!
So my 16 year old Welsh D is prone to laminitis which is avoidable with cutting off his grass supply by a lot. He lives out all year round and is now on hay to make up for the lack off grass supply.
I was just wondering what is good to feed him to help his hooves and to prevent laminitis without him dropping weight as well. Currently, I ride him three times a week and give him a small feed of pony nuts and chaff after exercise. Is this okay for him to eat? I can't seem to find anything on whether these foods are okay for laminitis prone horses.

I really appreciate all advice.

Thank you!
 
It's best to feed a high fibre low sugar/starch diet so hifi molasses free range would be suitable allen and page do a molasses free low starch range as well, you could add some micronised linseed to help with his weight, you don't mention what pony nuts your feeding but most have molasses in which is best to avoid for horses with laminitis.
 
ditch the mollassed chaff and pony nuts and get him onto a straw based chaff no molasses and linseed dampened with speetibeet or kwickbeet which are also mollasses free. Ideally a low carb high oiland protein diet will keep him well You could soak his hay for an hour or more to reduce the sugar further
 
A decent mineral balancer, I use Progressive Earth Platinum, but other people use Forage Plus and I've used Equivita before, salt, and a handful of micronised linseed. I feed that in just enough Agrobs to hide it.

I also feed high fibre haylage, not hay purely because hay can be so variable whereas the haylage is guaranteed to be low sugar/high fibre. I slow him down by mixing straw through it and giving him a couple of bg tub trugs filled with chopped oat straw. However thats for weight loss, so if yours isnt a good doer then you could feed the haylage ad lib
 
You don't say which chaff or pony nuts.

My girl is a good doer and hard to keep the weight off. I would suggest trying the molasses free healthy hooves chaff.

If you want to use a pony nut, make sure it is a high fibre one.
 
Hi, I'm currently using countrywide stores pony nuts which are high fibre for horses in light work, are they still bad?
 
I use countrywide stores horse and pony nuts for light work and dengie Alfa a chaff original, these both say they're high fibre and low sugars. Are they okay to keep using? Also, what about any vegetables or fruits? Shall I avoid any?
 
check the contents as I think Alfa a original has molasses in it you can buy molasses free. Most cubes are held together by mollasses the best foods should have less than 7% starch and sugar added together if you can and have sugar at the bottom of the list of ingredients if it is near the top it is high in sugar
 
Just bought a bag of Top Spec zero - basically chopped oat straw. Put it in front of my porky Connemara and she gobbled it down - this is the blurb from the web:

It is designed for horses and ponies that are overweight and need an exceptionally low-calorie source of mature forage. Horses and ponies can pick away steadily at TopChop Zero when they no longer have access to grass or hay or even haylage. By doing this they will ensure a supply of fibre to the microflora in their hindgut during periods when otherwise there would be no forage supply e.g. from late evening until morning stables. This will be of huge benefit to the horse’s digestive health. The formula for TopChop Zero was tested and developed at the Middle Park Equine Research Unit and has been approved by the nutritional team for use in most horses. It is ideal for overweight horses and ponies, horses and ponies that have to eat haylage that is too ‘rich’ for them, often resulting in loose droppings, overweight horses and ponies prone to, being treated for or recovering from laminitis.
 
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