New Laminitis Research Projects on the Horizon

The research projects will explore the effects of diet on senior and obese horses’ microbiota, and horses’ predisposition to pasture-associated laminitis.
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British horse feed company SPILLERS—part of the WALTHAM International Laminitis and Obesity Research Consortia—will be involved in two PhD programs in 2015, in which researchers will evaluate laminitis and obesity.

In some surveys around 50% of leisure horses and ponies in the United Kingdom have been reported as obese which increases their risk of several adverse health consequences including laminitis. Laminitis is a serious disease currently thought to affect up to 15% of leisure horses and ponies in the U.K. It is therefore essential that we continue to investigate these important conditions. One of the new PhD programs will explore the effects of diet on the microbiota of senior as well as obese horses. The other will try to discover more about predisposition to pasture-associated laminitis.

Under the supervision of Caroline Argo, BVSc, BSc, PhD, Dipl. ECAR, MRCVS, of the University of Surrey, the University of Liverpool Equine Hospital and the University of Aberystwyth will be involved in the dietary research. Improvements in equine nutrition, husbandry, and the availability of energy rich grass combined with decreased workloads and improved veterinary care have compounded to increase both longevity and accumulation of fat in horses and ponies. Subsequently there is increased demand for improved nutritional management of senior (20 years and older) and obese animals. The study will explore the effects of diet on the microbiota of such animals and examine how this information can be used to improve advice on their feeding and management.

The pasture-associated laminitis research program will be based at the Royal Veterinary College, London, under the supervision of Nicola Menzies-Gow, MA, VetMB, PhD, Dipl. ECEIM, CertEM (Int.med), FHEA, MRCVS, and Jonathan Elliott, MA, Vet MB, PhD, MRCVS, Dipl. ECVPT. It will continue current work trying to identify which individual horses and ponies are at an increased risk of suffering from pasture associated laminitis

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