How to Feed Insulin Resistant Horses
During digestion food is broken down to its most basic form: glucose (sugars). Insulin produced by the pancreas regulates how much glucose is in the bloodstream and moves excess glucose from the blood into cells. There is no cure for insulin resistance in horses. You can control it by feeding low sugar/low starch hays and grain and limiting your horse's access to pasture. Feeding low sugar/low starch hays and grain are beneficial because once broken down during digestion they produce very little glucose. This helps stabilize the amount of insulin in your horse's bloodstream. An added bonus to feeding low sugar/low starch hays and grains is that obese horses will lose weight, and horses prone to laminitis will have fewer episodes.
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Challenging
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Hay analyzed for sugar content
- Tub big enough for a bale of hay
- Water
- Low sugar/low starch grain
- Vitamin/mineral supplement
- Pasture
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1
Work with your veterinarian to formulate a feeding program for your horse. Your veterinarian can tell you how many calories (split between hay, forage (grass) and low starch/low sugar grain) your horse needs to consume to stay healthy.
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2
Feed good quality legume/grass mix or grass hay. Have the hay analyzed (your vet can help you find a laboratory that can do this) for sugar content. Feed hay with less than 10 to 12 percent sugar. If your hay has a higher sugar content soak the hay in water: 30 minutes in hot water or 60 minutes in cold water. Discard the water before feeding the hay.
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3
Feed a low sugar/low starch grain if needed to maintain your horse's weight. If your horse is obese (ask your vet to show you how to estimate his weight), feeding grain is contraindicated for treatment of insulin resistance.
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4
Add a complete vitamin/mineral supplement to your horse's diet. This ensures your insulin resistant horse is receiving his daily allotment of vitamins and minerals.
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5
Have your pasture grass analyzed for sugar content. Do this when the grass is actively growing (spring and fall for cool season and summer for warm season). Allow your horse access to pasture according to your vet's recommendations.
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Tips & Warnings
Oats and beet pulp should be the main ingredients in quality low starch/low sugar grain mixes.
Most of the calories your horse consumes should come from hay or grass forage.
For thin horses with insulin resistance, adding 1 cup of corn oil (ask your veterinarian first) to their grain can add fat without starch or sugars.
Horses prone to laminitis should have limited access to actively growing grass.
Cool season grasses have the highest sugar content in early spring through early summer and again in early fall. Warm season grasses have the highest sugar content in late spring to mid summer.
