According to Dr. Kathleen Crandell, a nutritionist for Kentucky Equine Research, some horses won't require any additional calories, whereas others may need to consume up to 25 percent more calories each day to maintain condition.

For example, if a horse typically consumes approximately 2 percent of its body weight in forage per day (equivalent to 20 pounds of dry forage for an average 1,000-pound horse), then this horse could require almost 30 pounds of dry forage per day in cold weather. Rather than simply feeding more of the same forage to offer additional calories, horses can be fed concentrates, fat (either as oil or high-fat supplements such as rice bran), or energy-dense forages such as alfalfa or clover mixed with their regular hay.

“Healthy horses living in regions that typically have milder winters, are maintained indoors, or are blanketed when outdoors for limited periods of time can be fed a diet similar to that fed in warmer months,” Crandell advised. Horses that may require additional feed to maintain an appropriate BCS include:

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During the last seven days of the study period, researchers recorded body condition score and weight, and percentage of body fat was estimated with an ultrasound. Each horse was then given an exercise test on a treadmill and a field test that mimicked a competition, which was scored by judges. Blood samples were taken, as well as heart rate, temperature and respiratory rate.

On the treadmill test, the horses that had gained weight had a higher heart rate and temperature, and heavier respiration. Blood tests showed that heavier horses had lower physiological fitness.

The team also found that overweight horses showed a marked gait asymmetry compared with leaner horses, as was shown both by sensors placed on the horses while they moved. The heavier horses moved most asymmetrically on the day after their field test.

Judges overseeing the field test also scored heavier horses lower than their leaner counterparts, suggesting that weight affects performance.

The authors conclude that higher body fat and body weight lowers equine performance, made horses move more unevenly, and delayed their recovery from exercise.

Read the full study here.

Read more at HorseTalk.

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Texas A&M and the Morris Animal Foundation are funding research on the debilitating condition. Currently, the main treatment option for asthmatic horses is the use of corticosteroids, which can cause laminitis in overweight equines.

Texas A&M researcher Dr. Michelle Coleman intends to use 60 horses brought to the University's veterinary teaching hospital for the study. The research team will assess each horse's body condition, identify if they have insulin issues, and determine their asthmatic state by listening to their lungs and taking fluid samples from their lower airways. The horses will be divided into four groups of 15: Obese and asthmatic, non-obese and asthmatic, obese and healthy, and non-obese and healthy.

Each group will be examined for inflammation markers, including cytokine levels. The cytokine levels in humans differ between obese asthmatic people and non-obese asthmatic people. The study will also look at each horse's lung microbiota to see if there is a difference in obese asthmatic horses and non-obese asthmatic horses.

Researchers hope the results from the study will allow horse owners and veterinarians to identify horses at higher asthmatic risk and assist in preventing asthma or intervening in such situations earlier.

Read more here.

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Obesity is also one of the most prevalent health conditions in humans.; it's associated with premature mortality, metabolic dysfunction and a myriad of health conditions. In horses, obesity-induced conditions include laminitis. Because of this, obesity is important to both human and equine medicine.

Drs. Natalie Wallis and Eleanor Raffan note that obesity regulation can be disrupted by both genetic and environmental factors. The heritability of obesity is high in humans and lab animals, with evidence showing the same in companion animals.

Laminitis is of significant concern as it is such a devastating disease. The risk factors that link obesity and laminitis are collectively called equine metabolic syndrome (EMS). EMS is defined as insulin dysregulation. Insulin resistance is common in EMS, but it's rare for horses and ponies to actually become diabetic.

Add to that discovery that not all overweight equines develop EMS, and EMS doesn't always cause laminitis. Last but not least, not all horses that have EMS are overweight. These paradoxes exist across breeds and between individuals, similar to humans, where there is variability between individuals and between ethnic groups.

The scientists concluded that obesity is a health concern of both humans and horses, and more research is needed on the molecular basis of obesity and associated metabolic conditions. They also note that veterinarians have much to learn about obesity from human genetics and laboratory animal models. They hope that by using both of these, animal studies will be fast tracked

Read the review here.

Read more at HorseTalk.

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Fat tissue stores energy and plays an important role in the synthesis and release of hormones that assist with metabolism and insulin function. Abnormal insulin function is a key risk factor for horses that develop hormone-related laminitis.

Drs. Danielle Fitzgerald, Stephen Anderson, Martin Sillence and Melody de Laat used 26 ponies for a study to determine if there is a correlation between cresty necks and the incidence of horses developing equine metabolic syndrome. Each of the ponies was given a body condition score (BCS) and a cresty neck score (CNS), which objectively measures the accumulation of fat on the neck. The scale goes from 0 to 5, with 5 indicating that the crest is so large it had dropped permanently to one side.

The ponies were then divided into three groups: those with a CNS of 3 or greater, but moderate body condition; those with a CNS of 3 or greater that were obese; and  those that had moderate body condition and no cresty neck. The researchers used an oral glucose test to determine how each pony regulated insulin.

From the results, the scientists concluded that crestiness was a primary indicator of insulin dysregulation. Ponies that were not overweight, but that had a cresty neck score of greater than 3, were five times more likely than non-cresty neck ponies to have insulin dysfunction, and therefore be at risk of laminitis. Obese horse without a cresty neck were less likely to have an increased risk of insulin dysregulation and related problems.

These finding confirm what horse owners and veterinarians have suspected, that a cresty neck is a key indicator that a horse or pony has an insulin regulation issue. The results  are also consistent with human obesity studies that link specific fat accumulation patterns to health complications.

Read more at EQUUS magazine.

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