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CarbCare Horse Feed for Insulin-Resistant Equines

SaskiaKC

SaskiaKC

Expert
Messages
6,313
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I just happened to see an ad for this online. I think it linked from the World Equestrian Games site I was looking at. I had never heard of this particular feed before but I am really interested in learning more about it. I know that human digestion is very different from horse digestion but I wonder if there might be any way nutritionists could study the non-grain ingredients in this sort of horse feed and how they might be adapted for low-carb human foods like breads and pizza crusts?

All I've found so far is the use of beet pulp and I can't imagine that being made chewable for humans, let alone digestible!
 
SaskiaKC said:
I just happened to see an ad for this online. I think it linked from the World Equestrian Games site I was looking at. I had never heard of this particular feed before but I am really interested in learning more about it. I know that human digestion is very different from horse digestion but I wonder if there might be any way nutritionists could study the non-grain ingredients in this sort of horse feed and how they might be adapted for low-carb human foods like breads and pizza crusts?

All I've found so far is the use of beet pulp and I can't imagine that being made chewable for humans, let alone digestible!
Click to expand...
Thank you for this interesting topic. We might adapt to beet pulp given a few thousand years of selective breeding !! I have noted that some animals (e.g. dogs) are sensitive to grains and grain-free food is available. But lower carb food for horses, what will they think of next ??
 
By all acounts. Sweet grass & high carby mixer feed has long been associated with an equine condition known as Laminitis..

Laminitis can't realy be "cured" in the animal. But it can be managed with diet.
 
And human teeth are more like equine teeth than like the teeth of carnivorous animals. (I do eat meat.)
 
Hi,

A horse's teeth are more for grinding plant bassed matter bit like a cow, they graze. (The cows style is a little different.)

I was brought up around horses many years ago, one of which was Laminitic? (A Welsh mountain pony.)
I was talking to a vet (socially.) back last year, she said that Laminitis is starting to be understood as a form of equine diabetes.
 
The equine equivalent of type 2 is "equine metabolic syndrome" which - if untreated - is one of the major causes of laminitis.

Treating it is mainly diet based although metformin is used sometimes. We do cut back significantly on the sugar and starch intake for horses with EMS. They have restricted access to grass (high in sugars) & their feeds are low in starch. Beet pulp is a by product of the sugar beet industry and is low sugar as a result.

Very similar to the low carb diet for T2 which is why I find it amusing that isn't supported by the nhs. Vets have been in support of it for the animal equivalent for many years.

Once you've got any excess weight off a horse with EMS if they need additional calories then the level of fat is increased I the diet...
 
Circuspony said:
The equine equivalent of type 2 is "equine metabolic syndrome" which - if untreated - is one of the major causes of laminitis.

Treating it is mainly diet based although metformin is used sometimes. We do cut back significantly on the sugar and starch intake for horses with EMS. They have restricted access to grass (high in sugars) & their feeds are low in starch. Beet pulp is a by product of the sugar beet industry and is low sugar as a result.

Very similar to the low carb diet for T2 which is why I find it amusing that isn't supported by the nhs. Vets have been in support of it for the animal equivalent for many years.

Once you've got any excess weight off a horse with EMS if they need additional calories then the level of fat is increased I the diet...
Click to expand...

Hi Thanks for an update, :)

It's probably nearly 3 decades since i dealt with a laminitic horse. I remember us keeping Pebble off the grass, omitting the sugar beet. & using a feed product at the time called "Lamiease??" Not sure how effective the stuff was at the time..

Edited to add; i probably haven't ridden in that time either...
 
I have known a few horses that were diagnosed with "insulin resistance" but at the time theirs was not called diabetes That's been several years ago now though. And they were kept off pasture most of the time.
Our Shetland-cross, like many other ponies, had to have his grazing limited so he wouldn't founder.
 
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