Post by Sunny Acres Ranch on Dec 24, 2009 10:31:03 GMT -8
Here is an article addressing the dangers of horses eating frost covered pasture on sunny days. Something to be aware of.
MERIDIAN, Idaho - (Business Wire) A cold, sunny morning with frost on the grass too often creates horse feed that triggers laminitis, a metabolic disease in horses similar to adult onset diabetes in humans and an increasing concern in horse health.
This is because cold, frosty grass is high in fructans, a carbohydrate in horse feed that can lead to laminitis and digestive problems, said Judy Sinner, a representative of Dynamite Marketing in Selah, Wash. Dynamite has been making all-natural horse feed, as well as feed and nutritional supplements for almost every member of the animal kingdom, for four generations.
Recent research by Dr. Annette Longland, a member of the British Society of Animal Science, found that 1.8 kilograms of fructans is all that is needed to trigger laminitis.
Cold, sunny days are dangerous because sunlight spurs grass to produce sucrose, a sugar needed for growth. However, grass does not grow in cold temperatures, so it stores the excess sucrose as fructans. Fructans can cause laminitis because the body treats them as carbohydrates or grains.
“Essentially, this means that a high dose of fructans has the same effect as if a horse gets into the grain bin and overeats,” Sinner said.
In addition to avoiding pasturing horses with a tendency to laminitis on a sunny winter day, horse lovers can use several products to provide extra support in winter horse feed, Sinner added.
A probiotic, such as Dynamite’s Dyna-Pro, helps horse health by providing support against the sudden overload of lactic acid caused by fructans. A daily dose of Excel can help stabilize the PH balance in the horse’s gut. Easy Balance provides extra magnesium, chromium, cinnamon and thiamine to support blood sugar balance. OxE Mega provides Vitamin E, which does not exist in grass and stored hay. Vitamin E is particularly important for pregnant mares, young horses and working horses.
“Our company’s roots are in healthy horse feed,” said Callie Novak, vice president of Dynamite Marketing. “In fact, our horse supplement was so far ahead of its time that we have recently seen other companies use some of our original feed technology and introduce it as ‘new’ — 20 years after we first introduced it.
Dynamite products are available through more than 4,000 individual distributors across the country. All products use only natural ingredients and are made in the United States for quality control.
For more information about Dynamite products, go to www.dynamitemarketing.com/shellyrichardson
MERIDIAN, Idaho - (Business Wire) A cold, sunny morning with frost on the grass too often creates horse feed that triggers laminitis, a metabolic disease in horses similar to adult onset diabetes in humans and an increasing concern in horse health.
This is because cold, frosty grass is high in fructans, a carbohydrate in horse feed that can lead to laminitis and digestive problems, said Judy Sinner, a representative of Dynamite Marketing in Selah, Wash. Dynamite has been making all-natural horse feed, as well as feed and nutritional supplements for almost every member of the animal kingdom, for four generations.
Recent research by Dr. Annette Longland, a member of the British Society of Animal Science, found that 1.8 kilograms of fructans is all that is needed to trigger laminitis.
Cold, sunny days are dangerous because sunlight spurs grass to produce sucrose, a sugar needed for growth. However, grass does not grow in cold temperatures, so it stores the excess sucrose as fructans. Fructans can cause laminitis because the body treats them as carbohydrates or grains.
“Essentially, this means that a high dose of fructans has the same effect as if a horse gets into the grain bin and overeats,” Sinner said.
In addition to avoiding pasturing horses with a tendency to laminitis on a sunny winter day, horse lovers can use several products to provide extra support in winter horse feed, Sinner added.
A probiotic, such as Dynamite’s Dyna-Pro, helps horse health by providing support against the sudden overload of lactic acid caused by fructans. A daily dose of Excel can help stabilize the PH balance in the horse’s gut. Easy Balance provides extra magnesium, chromium, cinnamon and thiamine to support blood sugar balance. OxE Mega provides Vitamin E, which does not exist in grass and stored hay. Vitamin E is particularly important for pregnant mares, young horses and working horses.
“Our company’s roots are in healthy horse feed,” said Callie Novak, vice president of Dynamite Marketing. “In fact, our horse supplement was so far ahead of its time that we have recently seen other companies use some of our original feed technology and introduce it as ‘new’ — 20 years after we first introduced it.
Dynamite products are available through more than 4,000 individual distributors across the country. All products use only natural ingredients and are made in the United States for quality control.
For more information about Dynamite products, go to www.dynamitemarketing.com/shellyrichardson