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Re: [RC] green grass, founder and body shape and condition - heidiI simply cannot understand why these horses do not FOUNDER??!!! This fat mare has regular shoeing (though hardly ridden), and I know the shoer would pick up any signs of impending laminitis..... Several posters have had good info about IR and Cushings. Bottom line--some horses are metabolically capable of eating purtnear anything without any difficulties, some horses will founder at the very hint of green, and most horses range somewhere in between. Founder has to do with a sensitivity to either high carbs or to specific chemicals in the growing grasses. Some horses simply have a tolerance and can deal with it just fine. Next equestion involves the thick or "founder" neck. Why do some horses tend to put weight on at the crest of the neck? I mean, otherwise lean-shaped horses. Another friend has a gelding who has had several minor scares with laminitis (lives on irrigated, green pasture)....so has to be rotated on and off. Again, all his weight goes onto neck, not over ribs. He currently has visible ribs; still quite heavy neck..... As others have stated, this is a part of the pathology that goes along with Cushings or IR. It is an inappropriate sort of weight gain, and it occurs due to an inappropriate metabolic reaction to variations in feed. Another friend has an Arab gelding; pretty lean when she got him last fall.....has had regular exercise all winter and good hay and the sorts of things you give a hard feeder (beet pulp, rice bran, etc)...as he was a bit ribby when she got him, pointy hipbones, prominent spine....while he gained weight GRADUALLY over the winter, and overall looks better, some months ago he started to develop that cresty neck...while still almost ribby.....again, the question is, is that just this horse's particular physiology, or does that maybe indicate a prior bout with laminitis??? His access to green grass is only hand grazing It is indeed his particular physiology--but it is a fairly specific sort of pathological physiology. He may or may not have had actual laminitic episodes--but he is sure one that would be at risk. Are some horses more prone to put weight on the neck...and are those more likely to founder? It's all part of the same metabolic problem, yes. Then again, this is California.....all non-irrigated pastures dry out by end of may (I waiting for my front field to dry up so I can put the horses out there, right now it is too green) but, how the heck do folks in other parts of the country manage their horses, in areas where there is more consistent rainfall and pastures stay green all year? Out of 50 head, I've only got one with a tendency to get cresty. And typical of any hormone-related problem, her hormonal axis changes if she is pregnant. So she stays "on the hill" instead of going out to pasture until she is bred. The others have no issues. So I do it primarily by horse selection. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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