Feed to Prevent Founder

We all love to see our horse enjoying a graze on delicious spring grass. But that pasture your horse eats with such gusto is not as benign as you might thinkparticularly for horses with metabolic disorders or genetic predispositions although any horse of any breed can develop grassrelated hoof issues at any time. In fact some horses are better off avoiding the green stuff altogether. Learn how to manage your pasture and feed program to prevent founder or laminitis in your horse.
Mineral Balance

While grass contains most of the nutrients your horse needs for strong healthy hooves it doesnt provide all those nutrients in the right balance or quantities. Calcium magnesium and sodium chloride are commonly deficient selenium and iodine are frequently low as well.
Other vital minerals like zinc copper and manganese may also be present but their levels in relationship to one another will affect how available they are to your horse. Minerals compete for absorption sites along your horses intestinal walls.
For example if zinc levels are too high they can block copper a mineral thats essential for maintaining the robust lamellar tissue your horse needs for his coffin bone to be properly supported within the hoof capsule. Iron is another competitive mineral that inhibits uptake of other minerals that are prevalent in grass.

Starch and Sugar Levels
Sugars and starches can be present in pasture grasses in levels that trigger a laminitic event. These nutrients are meant to be digested in the small intestine but if your horse ingests these simple carbs in quantities greater than the small intestine can handle the excess will continue along the digestive tract into the large intestine.

The large intestine is populated with microbes that process digestible fiber. These beneficial microbes thrive in an environment with a relatively neutral pH. If they are overrun with
sugar and
starch their home becomes so acidic they cant survive. When they die they release substances that are toxic to your horse.
At the same time acidloving microbes take over and compromise the integrity of the intestinal wall allowing those toxins to penetrate and enter your horses bloodstream. When they reach the hooves they cause the blood vessels to constrict starving your horses hooves of nutrients and setting off a laminitic event.
Forage with a simple sugar technically known as ethanolsoluble carbohydrates or ESC plus starch level of 10 percent or less should be low enough to keep your horses microbial population happy.