Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Its Implications on Laminitis

The term ‘easy keeper’ or ‘easy doer’ is heard often in the horse world when it comes to animals that retain fat fairly easily or that simply maintain their body weight without having to be fed in large amounts. Most people don’t think much of it, while plenty are glad to have horses that are easy to feed. However, that ‘cresty neck’, fat on the tail head and on the sheath or mammary glands of horses can have a lot more to do with their health than most folks take into consideration. Yes, they’re overweight but, in most cases, it doesn’t seem like a very big deal. However, recent studies have shown that these ‘easy keepers’ may be a big target for a detrimental condition.

Horses and ponies that tend to store fair amounts of fat on their neck, butt and where their sheath or teats are can become chronically laminitic. However, this chronic laminitis is not limited to overweight or obese animals, but can occur in horses and ponies who are significantly leaner in their body or even, in some cases, perfectly normal. One key element to each of these horses and ponies is that they could possibly have a condition known as Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) which is causing the chronic laminitic issue.

What is Equine Metabolic Syndrome?

The condition known as Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) gains its name from the similarities it shares with a widely known disease in humans: Metabolic Syndrome or better known as Type II Diabetes. The condition was suggested in 2002 by Johnson of the University of Missouri Veterinary Medicine College. He proposed insulin resistance, obesity of the neck, tail head and sheath/mammary gland area, and an increased predisposition to laminitis were symptoms of a clinical syndrome in horses and ponies....

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... horses with EMS found that feeding grass hay that was restricted to 1.25% of the animals’ body weights in combination with soaking the feed in cold water and feeding a vitamin and mineral regimen managed to improve the condition of the effected horses. In a period of six weeks, these animals lost an average %BM of about 7% as well as improving in the circumference of their belly and body condition score. Also, the horses showed higher insulin sensitivity by the end of the study.

Chronic laminitis sufferers also should have foot/frog support to prevent a possible founder while the disease is in the infant stages of management. This isn’t to say that the condition is entirely reversible, there has been no proof that EMS will entirely go away. Prevention in this case is key, and by not overfeeding or over-supplementing, your horse is at a lower risk for EMS.