Dr. Judith L. Mulholland

Tips for losing weight
After treatment for the primary cause of laminitis

• Never starve the overweight animal, not even for half a day.

• Confine the horse or pony away from grazing and feed roughage at this time.

• To prevent ulcers, a minimum of 3-4 roughage feeds per day is essential if there is no access to grazing.

• Use low quality roughage (grass hay) and high quality supplements. It is the energy in the diet which needs to be reduced, not the nutrients as these are essential for life. Minerals, vitamins etc., contain no kilojoules and do not cause obesity! In-fact, supplying balanced nutrition is an essential part of every human weight loss program. All animals must have their nutritional needs met along with their requirement for energy. Mix the supplements (refer to the laminitis diet) with bran and chaff.

• Only allow access to grazing when the feed has totally dried off and even then make sure the paddock has been grazed by cattle or other stock first so that the grass is not like a crop of hay.

• Limit grazing severely when feed is lush and give roughage/grass hay instead.

• Feed roughage just before giving access to grazing as this will fill the stomach helping to  decrease the volume of grass consumed.

• Set a time limit e.g., half an hour morning and night in a dry paddock. Imagine how much grass your horse actually eats while it is picking constantly. It is much more than you probably think.

• Give dolomite and bicarbonate with each small meal and before and after access to grazing to decrease acidity in the digestive tract from fermentation of green grass.

• Increase exercise steadily.

• Some horses must be allowed only very limited access to grazing if at all. Hand held and allowed to pick for 15 minutes is enough to cause an obesity or laminitis problem in some cases. You must judge how much grazing can be allowed so that a balance between hay and grazing will provide sufficient roughage.

• Do not kill the horse with kindness. This is a common mistake that many people make feeling that confining the horse is cruel. Chronic laminitis is deadly chronic boredom is boring. You can improve your horse or ponies quality of life in many ways such as more exercise, going to events, more time spent grooming, scratching, picking out feet, invent some interesting tricks to teach your horse. Giving the horse small amounts of feed often is good management and also provides a reason for your horse to be pleased to see you.