Research published recently supports the practice of feeding
soaked hay to ponies with insulin dysregulation (ID).
Ponies with ID may have raised levels of insulin in the
blood at rest or after feeding. Hyperinsulinaemia is known to increase the risk
of laminitis. It is often suggested that hay fed to such ponies should first be soaked
to reduce the water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content.
Researchers at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences,
University of Liverpool, United Kingdom carried out a study to compare the
insulinaemic and glycaemic responses of ponies to three different roughages: soaked
hay, dry hay and haylage. Soaked hay was immersed in water for 14hours , and then drained for30 minutes,
before being fed.
Twelve native or native-cross ponies were used in the study.
They ranged from 3–15 years old, were mostly overweight (>6/9 BCS) and were maintained
on hay and pasture. Six had insulin dysregulation; six did not.
The researchers monitored blood glucose and insulin levels before
and after feeding. They found that insulin-dysregulated ponies showed a higher
and more prolonged increase in serum insulin levels in response to all forages
than did ponies without ID.
Soaked hay, dry hay and haylage produced significantly
different insulinaemic and glycaemic responses when fed on an equivalent dry
matter (DM) basis to ponies with a wide range of insulin sensitivity.
The
lowest increases in blood insulin and glucose were seen in ponies fed soaked
hay. Haylage with similar non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) content to dry hay
resulted in a higher insulinaemic response to feeding.
The authors comment that feeding diets that minimise the
insulinaemic response is likely to be particularly important in ponies with ID.
They conclude that their findings support the practice of
soaking hay with water to reduce postprandial insulinaemic responses in ponies.
They advise against feeding haylage instead of soaked hay to ponies with ID.
For more details, see the open access article:
Insulinaemic
and glycaemic responses to three forages in ponies
H.B.Carslake,
C.McG.Argo, G.L.Pinchbeck, H.A.Dugdale, C.M.McGowan
The
Veterinary Journal, (2018) Vol 235, pp 83-89
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