[whirlybird]

I have heard that if a horse eats grass with frost on it it can cause them to founder. Is this true?

[spyro1]

I have never heard of this, but ehn again it doesn't snow down here Snowbirds, any answers?

[CANDYGIRL]

I have not heard of that one, but you know Foundering is a result of Laminitis. Frosty grass can cause colic, which in tern can trigger laminitis. Laminitis is a bit miss understood. Laminitis is triggered by toxins in the gut, it can be caused by eating rich grass, highly sugard(molassed) feed, foaling, all sorts of things you wouldn't think of. Check out a site called the Laminitis Clinic by RoberT Eustance(can't put you a link, still can't work that out) Foundering is a result of the lamini dying off thus causing the pedal bone to rotate out of it's natural line. You can run your thumb over the top of the coronet band, starting just above it, and if a pony as foundered istead of you thumb running smoothly down, there will be a dip, don't panic it will be quite prevelent, but it will show you signs of Laminitis before it gets to this stage.There are different stages of Founder, and a horse that has foundered can be corrected by proper shoeing etc. Check out the Lami Clinic Site, and it will show you photos of Founder, Sinker, and give you the reason behind Laminitis. Will try and sort the link thing out for you. One thing, if your horse is stabled, put some hay out in the field, so he can eat that, or if he's out do the same, if they live out like mine, at the begining of winter, I try to put enough hay in the winter to last overnight, or give a warm feed in the morning before turning out, ie mixed your feed with warm water rather than cold.

[spyro1]

candygirl, try this: type in http:// then the address, then .com that should work, you can also go to their page and up in the address box at the top of your screen, right click on it and copy the address and then right click again after you go to your post and paste it. Both these methods should work for you

[spyro1]

P.S. Staying on the topic of grass, but veering just a bit, I had someone tell me once that fresh cut grass (like after you mow your lawn) is dangerous for horses to eat as well. Any thoughts on this?

[CANDYGIRL]

Syro, THIS IS DEFFINATE NO GO

Cut grass from a lawn is full of toxins. A first class chance to give collic. Where I used to keep Candy, the houses backed onto houses, the owners thought they where being kind to empty the cuttings into the field for the ponies to eat. Candy had the worst case of colic I have ever seen. The vet had to come out 3 times a day, I thought I was going to loose her. He had to give her internals everytime to see if she had Twisted Gut. The only thing apart from his anti-spasmodic jabs, and anti-toxin jabs, was for me to give her very wet bran mashes to flush her system out. It was a risk I had to take, you know she was lami prone too, and one of the worst thing you can feed Laminitics is Bran because of the Magnesium thing.(Go into more details on thatif you want me to). It took 3 weeks to get her right. The photo of her charging around on my site, is the first day she had been out of the stable, after this bout. In those days they said you shouldn't let them roll, because of twisting a gut, but now they have changed the train of thought, and say let them roll, if they are going to twist, they will do it whether they roll or not. Hope this as helped if you want me to go on about the Bran and Lami issue you know I will help. Another bow to your arrow.

Going to try this link, wish me luck

http://equilife.co.uk/laminitis-org

if i have still been a was, just type laminitis clinic in keyword their are a couple of pages done by Robert Eustance, I've got the book(T-shirt, video) no joking, just the book.

[CANDYGIRL]

Spyro the link works. Thanks matey. wink

[spyro1]

[CANDYGIRL]

Spyro The BHS, British Horse Society has issued a warning on feeding horses grass cuttings. The add was so long. so try this one and you might find it, I will keep trying to get it easier, still learning.

http://British Horse Society

[CANDYGIRL]

Doesn't work, Get to there home page by keyword and then maybe, just maybe, you'll put the correct link for me. British Horse Society. Thanks mate.