How to manage horses and their pastures to prevent laminitis
Grazing is a natural exercise for equids, but it isn’t without risk. For some horses, overingesting certain grasses can lead to laminitis, a painful, life-altering hoof disease that can be fatal in severe cases. It occurs when the laminae the tissues that suspend the coffin bone within the hoof capsule become damaged and inflamed.
So what is it about grass that creates such an issue for these animals? It boils down to the density of the nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs), which are the sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose), starches, and fructans that grasses create during photosynthesis. When a horse digests NSCs, his body breaks them down into glucose and fructose, which the small intestine absorbs. This can result in an increase in blood glucose concentration that can trigger an insulin surge.