Re: Re: nutrition in foundered horse

["Duncan Fletcher" <dfletche@gte.net>]

There are 2 broad classes of carbohydrates - structural and non structural.
It is the non structural carbs (from grain, spring grass) that should be
primarily digested in the foregut and that can cause laminitis if they reach
the hindgut undigested. Structural carbohydrates are digested by
microorganisms in the hind gut and do not generally cause laminitis. Grass
(or any forage) creates more structural carbs at the expense of non
structural carbs as it matures.

Protein is required for repair of the damage, so if the horses diet was
marginal in protein content (or deficient in one of the essential amino
acids) because of hay quality, the addition of protein might be in order.
OTH, if dietary protein is sufficient, the addition of protein will not help
and can create some other problems.

Does Strategy have a high fat content? I don't like simplistic protein
percentage numbers - they can be misleading. A much better number would be
protein normalized to digestible energy. For example, midbloom timothy at
8.6% protein supplies more protein than oats at 11.8 % protein if one was
substituted for the other and caloric intake was kept constant. High fat
feeds need a higher simple protein percentage in order to maintain adequate
protein intake.

This brings up another question - is Strategy an energy dense feed? The last
thing a foundered horse needs is higher caloric intake.

One other comment. I would not recommend a feed store nutrtionist - there is
high probability of getting a salesman who calls himself a nutritionist. Try
one recommended by a vet.

Duncan Fletcher
dfletche@gte.net





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