shaiarabians
25th Jan 2006, 11:07 PM
Crossposted from another forum
do have a read it is well worth the information as I have had this work with several founders so far:) .
I may have stumbled on part of an answer to the "why so many (more) horses this year getting founder/laminitis?", so thought I'd throw it open for discussion.
As far as I can make out through homework, horses with founder/laminitis have a combination of too much phosphorus (phosphates) with not enough calcium & magnesium to balance it, and too much protein (protein found in grains, lucerne, and unbalanced pasture). In other words, there are too many "soluble carbohydrates" in the feed which = too many starches and sugars, and not enough trace elements and minerals. Eventually, the horse's metabolism overloads with this (think of eating only fairy floss for X number of weeks), and their system breaks down.
I understand the "too much phosphorus" usually results from the superphosphate that is put on the paddocks. Not directly from the superphosphate, which is mostly a lot of extra nitrogen, but because superphosphate also "binds up" copper and sulphur, and suppresses (prevents) the copper and sulphur uptake into the pasture grasses.
So, this year we have seen an increase (or seem to have more reported cases) of founder/laminitis. I was speaking to someone tonight who said they had raised this question with a USA soil specialist. This guy said (don't quote me word for word) that with lack of magnesium known as a major cause of founder, this year's increasing numbers of founder most probably results from (a) continued overgrazing and depletion of trace elements/minerals in the soil until it reaches critical levels, in combination with (b) the warmer climatic temperatures (and hence warmer soil temperatures). Whereas calcium is an inert mineral and is contained in rock which is then released into the soil water (and absorbed into the plants and paddock grasses), magnesium is highly reactive (ie is broken down fast), and in warmer temperatures it is bound up by the soil bacteria (mycorrhiza), and therefore there is no extra magnesium to go into the grasses etc. Magnesium is needed for all enzymes in the horse's gut to work and for muscles to function correctly.
To sum up, with warmer soil temperatures, particularly in soils with very low magnesium to start with, no magnesium gets through to the plants, and therefore the animals that eat it don't get enough magnesium to make their gut bacteria work properly. That combined with very high sugar levels (in grass or grain or some processed feeds) and too many phosphates (= lack of sulphur and copper), may be our major cause of founder. Bearing in mind calcium and magnesium need to be kept in balance together, other "ailments" which are thought to occur through lack of calcium and/or magnesium include muscle and tendon issues, ringbone, splints, strangles, stringhalt, warts, shin soreness and arthritis. So if you have seen any of these other things in horses around the one with laminitis, it's a pretty good bet this may be a major part of the problem.
The answer - make sure the soil has the right level of trace elements/minerals in it, and what you feed them does too ie if the soil is too low in magnesium, top dress with dolomite (calcium and magnesium together) and you may have to supplementary feed the calcium, magnesium, copper and sulphur etc until the soil is "right", because you can't fix it all in one hit (or one year). None of these remedies is expensive, so if this sounds half right, being "too expensive to fix" is not a viable excuse. Plus the consequences of not doing it might end up "too expensive to fix".
One more thing to think about, horsie gorges itself on fairy floss grass because its body is trying to get the nutrients/vitamins/minerals it needs, which are only there in tiny quantities, so he/she keeps eating, eating, eating because natural instinct is saying it needs to do this to get what it needs. I have seen this personally over the last 3 months having a horse going from almost foundering every spring for the last 4 years and in "lock up" for 3 - 6 weeks each time, to being on re-mineralised pasture (different place) with feed literally over her 16h ears for the last 3 months, and for the first time ever, is nicely covered, wonderfully shiny, but not fat or frumpy.
all the best Liesl
Shai Arabians
do have a read it is well worth the information as I have had this work with several founders so far:) .
I may have stumbled on part of an answer to the "why so many (more) horses this year getting founder/laminitis?", so thought I'd throw it open for discussion.
As far as I can make out through homework, horses with founder/laminitis have a combination of too much phosphorus (phosphates) with not enough calcium & magnesium to balance it, and too much protein (protein found in grains, lucerne, and unbalanced pasture). In other words, there are too many "soluble carbohydrates" in the feed which = too many starches and sugars, and not enough trace elements and minerals. Eventually, the horse's metabolism overloads with this (think of eating only fairy floss for X number of weeks), and their system breaks down.
I understand the "too much phosphorus" usually results from the superphosphate that is put on the paddocks. Not directly from the superphosphate, which is mostly a lot of extra nitrogen, but because superphosphate also "binds up" copper and sulphur, and suppresses (prevents) the copper and sulphur uptake into the pasture grasses.
So, this year we have seen an increase (or seem to have more reported cases) of founder/laminitis. I was speaking to someone tonight who said they had raised this question with a USA soil specialist. This guy said (don't quote me word for word) that with lack of magnesium known as a major cause of founder, this year's increasing numbers of founder most probably results from (a) continued overgrazing and depletion of trace elements/minerals in the soil until it reaches critical levels, in combination with (b) the warmer climatic temperatures (and hence warmer soil temperatures). Whereas calcium is an inert mineral and is contained in rock which is then released into the soil water (and absorbed into the plants and paddock grasses), magnesium is highly reactive (ie is broken down fast), and in warmer temperatures it is bound up by the soil bacteria (mycorrhiza), and therefore there is no extra magnesium to go into the grasses etc. Magnesium is needed for all enzymes in the horse's gut to work and for muscles to function correctly.
To sum up, with warmer soil temperatures, particularly in soils with very low magnesium to start with, no magnesium gets through to the plants, and therefore the animals that eat it don't get enough magnesium to make their gut bacteria work properly. That combined with very high sugar levels (in grass or grain or some processed feeds) and too many phosphates (= lack of sulphur and copper), may be our major cause of founder. Bearing in mind calcium and magnesium need to be kept in balance together, other "ailments" which are thought to occur through lack of calcium and/or magnesium include muscle and tendon issues, ringbone, splints, strangles, stringhalt, warts, shin soreness and arthritis. So if you have seen any of these other things in horses around the one with laminitis, it's a pretty good bet this may be a major part of the problem.
The answer - make sure the soil has the right level of trace elements/minerals in it, and what you feed them does too ie if the soil is too low in magnesium, top dress with dolomite (calcium and magnesium together) and you may have to supplementary feed the calcium, magnesium, copper and sulphur etc until the soil is "right", because you can't fix it all in one hit (or one year). None of these remedies is expensive, so if this sounds half right, being "too expensive to fix" is not a viable excuse. Plus the consequences of not doing it might end up "too expensive to fix".
One more thing to think about, horsie gorges itself on fairy floss grass because its body is trying to get the nutrients/vitamins/minerals it needs, which are only there in tiny quantities, so he/she keeps eating, eating, eating because natural instinct is saying it needs to do this to get what it needs. I have seen this personally over the last 3 months having a horse going from almost foundering every spring for the last 4 years and in "lock up" for 3 - 6 weeks each time, to being on re-mineralised pasture (different place) with feed literally over her 16h ears for the last 3 months, and for the first time ever, is nicely covered, wonderfully shiny, but not fat or frumpy.
all the best Liesl
Shai Arabians