nutrition in foundered horse

[Roberta Jo Lieberman <woik@home.com>]

<<<Just my guess here, but everything I've read about founder pretty much
leads me to say tell your friend that if he wants to *cause* founder,
keep piling on that protein!   Lif>>

I always thought it was carbohydrates...

Research on the subject back in the 1970s revealed that classic founder
is essentially carbohydrate, or starch, overload. Researchers at the
University of Missouri pumped a starchy gruel into equine stomachs to
study the cascade of events that culminated with acute laminitis. (The
progression included lactic acidosis, falling pH, death of gut bacteria,
endotoxemia, systemic acidosis, fluid shifts leading to electrolyte
changes and other events.)

Management guidelines at the time emphasized eliminating grain
completely from the diet, and giving only grass hay and Lite Salt to
counteract electrolyte losses (particurly potassium chloride). It was
also popular to give methionine, an amino acid (protein) that helps
maintain the strenth of the bond between the coffin bone and boof wall. 

As for prevention, "You can significantly reduce the chance of laminitis
striking your hose by feeding a ration centered around high-quality hay
_supplemented_ with grain -- not the other way around." High-grain fed
horses have more gut bacteria on hand and are more susceptible to
founder from a sudden stressful event, such as a long trailer ride.
Lean, athletic, pasture-kept horses are far less prone to laminitis.
That's why halter horses founder a lot, and endurance horses rarely do.

So at least when it comes to laminitis, carbs were long considered the
enemy. Is this ancient history, or has this work stood the test of time?
If anyone can add more recent developments, please fill this old
fuddy-duddy in...

Bobbie Jo in So. Calif.


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