Would you feed a laminitic ad-lib hay?

martini55

martini55

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Apr 16, 2004
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I was just reading an article in Your Horse magazine about feeding a laminitc pony. It said that during the winter hay you can feed supplementary hay and then went on to state that if the pony was not over-weight it could be fed ad-lib. There was no mention of soaking. Would you feel comfortable feeding hay ad-lib? I for one, have always restricted the amount of hay my laminitic gets as she is such a good-doer she would balloon on just hay. Just wondered what people's opinions were?
 
it depends - i certainly wouldn't rule it out. some ponies have different triggers - we had one who would get footy on a sniff of pony nuts, but was fine on normal grass and hay. also there is a big difference between one who can get an attack in spring on very rich grass, and one who you really really have to manage all year round. i am careful about petal going on fertilised fields (as in she doesn't) but she is fine to have ad lib hay when she is not overweight.
it is such a wide range, i wouldn't like ot make any blanket statements about how to manage 'a laminitic' between attacks.
 
ditto: i would certainly have ad-lib hay, just as i would with any other horse -but i would soak the hay to reduce its nutritional value further, and also have it in either large, small-holed haynets or two large-hole haynets with one over the other.
 
oh, i hate these types of articles! most of them make uninformed, sweeping statements. I tend to ignore them completely ;) To answer your question, no, i wouldn't feed adlib hay just as is. Soaked for 12 hours would be my preference and bulked out with oat straw. We used to walk such a fine balance with Bonnie that we couldn't feed her hay adlib. In her last winter she did have unrestricted access to (old) hay in the field but was limited to a set amount (advised by our vet) at nights when in her stable.
 
When I had my Laminitic Pony, I didnt want to restrict its food and have a rack of ribs..I just ensured I tried to cut ' the bad bits' I fed Ad-Lib hay.. but ensured is was well soaked.. I think restricting your horse of food, can lead to more internal problems
 
well i tend to trust your Horse; i subscribe to it, and - unlike a few other magazines i have seen and read - it uses the advice of experts in their field, rater than the magazine's own opinion when it comes to giving advice.
so if a vet or qualified nutritionist recommends or suggests feeding ad-lib hay as a possibility, i should think they know what they are talking about and why: they have, after all, been specifically trained for several years.

there is a good saying that "you should find out everything you can, but select and use only what is relevant to you".

:)
 
Laminitics have to be dealt with on a case by case basis because each one will have different triggers. What works for one laminitic may be a disaster for another. Yes, these articles use people who know what they are talking about but their advice cannot be applied to every case.
 
I have to agree, I think with any lami our vets advise is you restrict to 1.5% of the horses body weight in hay (cut out all other feeds other than a handful of chaff to give bute) per day, then once sound gradually increase it and keep a very close eye on what is going on until you find the suitable balance.

When Bo was diagnosed with concusive lami in all 4 feet he was put on this regime and he was sound very quickly, he now has adlib hay 24 hours a day, but no grazing and only fibre feeds, he is also turned out on a soft sandy paddock to hopefully ensure he doesn't get the concussion again :p

I agree I like Your Horse, but they really should make it clear that the advise they are giving is for that particular case and each case should be treated individually.
 
my vet told me to give Loki ad-lib hay (soaked) and nothing else just a tiny amount of happy hoof to hide his bute in. He is still on box rest and still on ad-lib hay.
 
My understanding is that is is really dangerous for laminitics to get overweight so as long as the horse is having plenty of exercise and not getting too fat then you prob could feed ad-lib hay if they have recovered and the hay is low quality.

However i think what is more topical at the moment is watching out for the spring grass - does anyone know any recovered laminitics who have successful gone back on to a normal grazing routine?
 
I understand that each laminitic has to be managed on a case-by-case basis. Unfotunately I have to keep a check on my mare year round. If I fed hay ad-lib she'd be a fatty even in the winter. Although it will be fine for some horses I think that they should have mentioned the fact that some won't be. Some people will read their advice and take it at face-value because they are vets/ nutritionists writing them. But the original letter hardly gave any information on the particular pony and the person writing the article has never met the pony. I feel they should make a point of saying that this advice might not suit all types of horses.

SO1, my mare is out on 24/7 turnout during the summer. The first summer after she had lami she was in at night though as at that particular yard the fields were huge with only a handful of horses grazing on them. I didn't want her muzzled 24/7 so she was out during the day with a muzzle on and in at night. Now we are at a yard with smaller turnout paddocks and I have my own that I manage with electric tape :)
 
I find that with my mare, if I ensure she never runs out of forage, she never gorges herself, and usually just eats her 2% of bodyweight or thereabouts. She's not overweight though, and the cause of her lami wasn't being overweight or an abundance of grass - the thing that triggered her happened at a time when she was losing weight! She's now recovering well on ad-lib forage.
 
We fed the tiny terrorist ad lib hay, I used to bring her in during the day and turn her out at night, she was also working quite hard most of the time. No expert but I'd imagine starving for any length of time would be undesirable.
 
Merlin was only allowed one slice of hay whilst in a starvation paddock. This was one rule that was given to me by his owner when I took him on loan. It did cause a bit or an uproar when someone else decided to put her pony into the starvation paddock with a full hay net. She told me I had to give him more because he was eating her horses hay.
 
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