Spring management

While we are all looking forward to warmer, drier weather, spring can also be a very worrying time for horse owners. When you are concerned about laminitis and weight gain the start of spring may fill you with dread.

I meet many horses who are on heavily restricted diets for health reasons but often the recommended management is causing these horses to live chronically stressed and feeling hungry, which not only causes behavioural issues, but actually damages their health further.

We are often told that our only option is to keep our horse isolated, as they can’t go out onto grass with other horses, and told we should only give them a very restricted amount of forage. This is extremely stressful for a horse. I really do wonder about the link between chronic stress and high insulin levels in these horses who are extremely restricted yet never seem to make much improvement, their lives just get smaller and smaller until you feel like you’ve got nowhere to go.

I understand that not everyone has access to a perfect track-system style set up and I am also not advocating for just throwing food at your laminitic horse, but we do need to find a balance that also supports their emotional wellbeing and the rest of their body. What you often find is the weight and insulin levels improve too once the horse doesn’t feel so chronically stressed.

From a behavioural perspective I see so many overweight horses, who have very restricted access to forage, being described as bargey and disrespectful etc. These horses are chronically stressed and hungry and prime candidates for stomach ulcers. On top of their restricted forage intake they are often also expected to exercise hard on compromised bodies in an effort to help them lose weight, they are going to be sore.

Until we find a way of managing them that doesn’t leave them feeling this way they’re not going to feel relaxed and pleasant to be around. Instead of getting stronger halters and harsher training to teach them “respect”, we’re much better off addressing the actual problem, which is the management.

Just because your horse isn’t overweight or at risk from laminitis, doesn’t mean spring is all plain sailing. Another common spring issue is new grass upsetting horse’s guts. I often see horses with very green, sloppy droppings on summer turnout, these horses are not going to be comfortable and this is not healthy.

There are so many small management tweaks you can make that might make a really big difference to your horse’s overall healthy and wellbeing.