What do you feed a laminitic Shetland pony?

What do you feed a laminitic Shetland pony?

Getting the right feed for a laminitic is important for any owner of a horse or pony with laminitis. A high fibre, low starch and low sugar diet is essential for laminitics, so avoid feeds that contain cereals or molasses.

How much should you feed a Shetland?

Horses, minis and ponies need at least 1-1.5 pounds of hay or pasture (on dry matter basis) per 100 pounds of body weight every day. For example: a 300-pound miniature horse needs at least 3-4.5 pounds of hay per day or 9-13.5 pounds of pasture (fresh grass is much higher in water content) per day.

What is the best feed for a laminitic pony?

grass hay
Forage: High quality grass hay is the ideal forage for a horse prone to laminitis. Feed: A product specially formulated for metabolic issues or a ration balancer are the best bet to feed your laminitic horse.

Can over feeding cause laminitis?

Laminitis occurs when the tissues that connect the coffin bone to the hoof wall, called the laminae, become inflamed and the blood supply is compromised. There are several factors that can lead to laminitis; one is over-feeding your horse large amounts of grain (also known as “grain overload”).

How much should I feed my laminitic pony?

Equine Applied & Clinical Nutrition recommends feeding horses prone to laminitis 150-200 IU/kg diet DM, so for a 500 kg horse eating 1.5 – 2% of his bodyweight that would be 1125-2000 IU vitamin E per day (or approx. 300-400 IU/100 kg bodyweight – so 1500-2000 IU for a 500 kg horse, 750-1000 for a 250 kg pony).

How much should I feed my laminitis pony?

Supplements for laminitic horses Feed up to 2% of your horse’s body weight (10 kg/day for a 500 kg horse) per day as low quality, low sugar forage. If your horse requires supplemental feeding, use a feed containing sugar and starch levels of less than 12%.

Can you feed a Shetland pony carrots?

Apples and carrots are safest to feed cut into pieces. Only feed a very small amount of any hard foods like mints and hay cubes. A greedy horse may not chew the treat completely and bolt it down. The food can then become lodged in the horse’s throat, causing choke.

Does exercise help laminitis?

Even light exercise could help reduce the risk of horses’ developing laminitis, research has indicated. They also showed increased adiponectin, a hormone produced by fat cells, of which low levels are a risk factor for laminitis.

How much soaked hay can you feed a laminitic horse?

Feed: Hay – feed approx. 1.5-2% bodyweight hay (depending on whether weight loss is needed (1.5%) or not (2%), so 7.5-10 kg for a 500 kg horse, 3.75-5 kg for a 250 kg pony), soaked for at least 1 hour then drained to reduce sugars (or analysed to show combined sugar/starch no more than 10%).

Can you feed carrots to a horse with laminitis?

Carrots and apples are full of sugar so raises the blood-sugar levels and shouldn’t be fed to laminitics. I never feed them to any of my horses – I far prefer swedes or turnips as the sugar levels are far safer.

How much should you feed a horse with laminitis?

Never starve a horse with laminitis – this can cause hyperlipaemia (which has a high fatality rate) particularly in pony, donkey and miniature horse breeds. Feed at least 1.5% of the horse’s bodyweight unless under veterinary supervision. Recovery/maintenance diet

What kind of Hay does a laminitic horse eat?

Hay is likely to form the bulk of the diet for an EMS/PPID/laminitic horse. Late cut, native species grass hay is likely to have lower sugar levels than early cut improved species (e.g. ryegrass) grass hay. High fibre haylage may also be suitable.

Can a horse get laminitis from too much starch?

Laminitis due to starch-overload is very rare as most horses and ponies prone to laminitis are not fed large amounts of high starch concentrate feeds. It can occur occasionally, for example if a horse or pony breaks into the feed room.

What kind of diet do you need for laminitis?

Potassium (25 g), sulphur (15 g) manganese (400 mg) and cobalt (0.5 mg) tend to be well supplied by a forage diet. Vitamin E and sodium and chloride will usually need to be supplemented – see below.