Obesity & Laminitis: Keep the horse's mind and body healthy while restricting diet

Course overview

Weight management of the modern equid is a challenge for many horse, mule and donkey owners. Obesity and the associated health-related impacts are well-documented with equine laminitis being the consequence of greatest welfare concern. Equine laminitis is a common and debilitating condition resulting in pain and lameness in the affected feet. Laminitis has been found to affect between 1.5% and 34% of horses worldwide and it is estimated that 1 in 10 horses in Britain will develop an episode every year. The majority of laminitis episodes are considered to be endocrinopathic in nature; specifically linked with the inability of the horse to properly regulate their insulin levels in the blood, resulting in hyperinsulinaemia (referred to as insulin dysregulation [ID]). Insulin dysregulation is a key component of Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) and while not all animals with EMS will be overweight, most EMS horses will have general and/or regional adiposity. Management changes which induce weight loss (usually dietary restriction alongside exercise where possible) have been shown to improve or even reverse ID and are important in the management of horses with EMS and ultimately help reduce the risk of laminitis. However, common methods of dietary restriction can be at odds with the innate behaviours and physiology of a horse i.e. a herd animal that needs to move and trickle feed on high fibre forage (including both grazing and browsing-type behaviours) for up to 18 out of 24 hours. This webinar takes a holistic approach to the subject of obesity and laminitis, particularly focusing on how we can provide horses with options to promote loss of excess fat, maintain a healthy body condition and reduce the risk of laminitis while still enabling them to be a horse and live a rich life.