Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) is a well-recognised and increasingly common condition. There is increasing research focused around its causes, impact and management, which is helping owners and their horses .  

In the first blog, Understanding Equine Metabolic Syndrome, we explored what EMS is, why it matters to horse owners, what it does to your horse and how it’s diagnosed. If your horse has been diagnosed with EMS, there is good news – it is manageable and sometimes reversible, with the right care and nutritional support. In this second part, Lisa Elliott, MSc – Equine Nutrition solutions, takes a closer look at managing EMS through the right diet, nutrition and lifestyle, alongside taking a proactive approach to prevention.

Dietary Adjustments

Effective management of Equine Metabolic Syndrome begins with making considered changes to your horse’s diet and feeding routine. Here are five ways to make effective changes to your horse’s diet.

1.Reduce calories and non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs)

NSCs include sugars and starches found in forage and cereals, which could initiate or exacerbate Insulin dysregulation.  Choose hay, haylage and feed with lower levels of starch and sugar (ideally under 10%) and consider soaking hay to reduce both sugar levels and calories. Getting your forage analysed for total NSC (sugars plus starch) and calories – which is particularly important for horses and ponies needing to lose weight – can be a useful tool in supporting weight loss and improved insulin sensitivity.  

Horses needing to lose weight should be ideally be having forage which supplies around 6MJ of energy (or calories) per kilo, so even a hay or haylage with a lower energy content of 8MJ/kg can still oversupply calories if fed at the recommended rate of 2% of body weight per day, and may need to be reduced or soaked to decrease the overall calorie content as well as NSC if more than 10%.  Steaming hay has shown some reduction in NSC which could make it useful for a low calorie hay whose NSC is only just over the safe level (10-12%).

Additionally, Oat straw is a good low-calorie forage option, with a typical energy content of approximately 6MJ/KG and minimal starch and sugar and can be fed ad-lib while limiting calorie intake. However, current recommendations suggest straw should be used to replace no more than around 30% of forage and should never be fed as the sole source.  Instead, it should be fed alongside hay or haylage to try and reduce calories without compromising on fibre intake.

2.Manage Grass

Most grass will supply too many calories and sugar to overweight horses with EMS. Longer grass can be lower in sugar and higher in fibre than short grass but if there is a plentiful supply most horses will consume more calories than if on shorter grass because of the volume of grass consumed. Plants produce sugars mainly during the day, so the best way to avoid this is to turn the horse or pony out from night to early morning, bringing them off the grass in the daytime when sugars are highest. This is particularly important during spring and in autumn when the typical autumn flush can mean grass is even higher in sugar.

Another good solution can be to strip graze particularly if your horse is on a field of longer grass, this is because reducing grass intake and therefore calorie intake is key to encourage some weight loss. Electric fencing can be used to create strips of grazing and manage your horse’s grass intake.  

Alternatively, use a grazing muzzle, provided the grass is long enough for the muzzle to work efficiently. This can be useful in reducing overall grass intake. Research indicates that grazing muzzles can decrease grass consumption by around 80% in ponies over a 3-hour period, though individual responses may differ. However, you should monitor your horse’s weight, body condition, and behaviour as some may still gain weight if muzzles are worn only part-time, so stabling or turnout in non-grass areas with low calorie hay or haylage for the rest of the day may be necessary. Introduce the muzzle gradually and supervise until your horse eats and drinks comfortably—never use them 24/7. For further guidance on safe use, consulting an equine nutritionist can be beneficial.

Grazing your horse or pony on shorter grass which provides potentially less calories and sugar due to reduced intake compared to longer stemmier grass can sometimes be the only way to manage an overweight horse or pony. However, an additional form of fibre like hay or haylage may need to be provided to ensure fibre intake is not compromised and to support digestive health.

3.Feed by weight, not volume

Use a scale to ensure your horse is getting the right percentage of their body weight in forage daily. A low energy, high fibre diet – essentially a forage based diet, which reduces calorie intake without compromising on fibre is key to achieving healthy weight loss. Daily forage recommendations are generally around 2% daily, but for overweight or obese horses and ponies, the amount of forage can be reduced to supply 1.75% or 1.5% of bodyweight. However, this still needs to be fed ad-lib using small holed hay nets or a specially made slow feeder, so your horse is never without to maximise digestive health and overall well-being. Hay or haylage can be weighed to ensure you are feeding the correct amount for consistent weight loss.  Weighing should be used if you are partially replacing hay or haylage with an alternative forage such as straw.

4.Use a balancer

Whist a low-calorie forage based diet is ideal to help combat obesity and promote weight loss in horses with EMS, it probably won’t provide all the essentials (vitamins, minerals and amino acids) your horse needs for optimum health, and won’t provide a fully balanced diet.  Balancers offer an ideal solution as they are low in calories because of the lower feeding rates. Look for a balancer, like Coligone Balancer, which is molasses and cereal free to keep starch and sugar to a minimum, but with a high specification of vitamins, minerals and amino acids for optimum health and well-being, whilst providing excellent support for the hindgut microbiome.

5. Support a healthy, diverse microbiome

Certain hindgut microbes are positively correlated with a healthy hindgut, and research has shown that horses with EMS had reduced microbial diversity, significant differences in microbial community structure and lower numbers of beneficial fibre-digesting bacteria. Coligone powder and Liquid provide key pro and pre-biotics – scFOS, MOS and Yeasacc, which work together to feed, stimulate and promote a healthy population of these beneficial hindgut microbes.  Additionally, a healthy, balanced hindgut microbial population will help reduce the chance of digestive disturbances, whilst potentially helping your horse or pony to maintain a healthy weight.

Research has indicated that the equine hindgut microbiome contains a diverse range of bacterial species. This diversity is associated with a healthy microbiome, with a loss in diversity being linked to digestive disease and upset. A more diverse diet promotes a diverse microbiome, which in turn promotes a healthy hindgut.  A low starch and sugar fibre based feed like Coligone Fibre Cubes, Coligone Fibre BIO or Coligone LAMIGONE can be fed in small amounts alongside forage to increase your horse’s fibre intake and create more fibre diversity in their diet to support a diverse, healthy hindgut microbiome.  

Manage weight

Aim for gradual weight loss to meet your horses weight loss goal consistently, ideally you should be aiming for loss of about 0.5–1% of body weight per week. Weight tapes can be used to track progress and identity a gradual reduction in weight alongside using Body Condition Scoring (BCS) to feel for changes in fat composition, with photos to further support weight loss tracking.

Exercise

Creating a ‘calorie deficit’ or in other words more calories going out than in, is key for effective weight loss and can be achieved through a combination of diet and exercise. If your EMS horse is overweight or obese, a suitable calorie reduction diet that doesn’t compromise on fibre intake or essential vitamins and minerals should be implemented alongside a consistent exercise plan

Ensuring your horse has plenty of exercise is one of the most important things you can do to maintain them at a healthy weight.  For an obese horse, however, exercise should be started very gradually and built up to the chosen level once the horse drops weight and becomes fitter.

Not only does exercise help with maintaining your horse at a healthy weight and encouraging weight loss, but regular movement also improves insulin sensitivity. Even hand-walking or light lunging can make a difference at the beginning of an exercise plan, building up as time goes on. Ensuring your horse is always walking in an active walk alongside regular bouts of trotting and canter work will help to burn fat most effectively.

Prevention: A Proactive Approach

Whilst EMS can be well managed with the right nutritional care, preventing EMS generally requires less effort than addressing its consequences. The following tips outline some proactive approaches to prevention:

• Keep horses at a healthy weight year-round

Ensuring your horse is kept at a healthy weight throughout the seasons is probably the most important action you can take to prevent the onset of EMS. This can be achieved through the right balance of diet and exercise with consistent weight and condition monitoring throughout the year.

• Feed the right level of feed for work

Feeding unnecessary energy will result in weight gain, so always ensure you feed for the type of work the horse is doing now and not for what may or may not be done in the future. Assessing the level of work your horse is doing correctly and feeding appropriately, is also important, as work levels are commonly overestimated, leading to overfeeding and excess weight.  Recent research shows that high fibre diets can easily support the demands of working horses, including those in harder work. If your horse is in regular work, supporting this with a high fibre, low starch and sugar, easily digestible feed like Coligone Fibre Cubes or Coligone Fibre Bio is ideal to supply energy without unnecessary calories.

• Avoid over-rugging

Using the autumn and winter seasons to your advantage and keeping rugs to a minimum to avoid over rugging or leaving horses and ponies unrugged (providing they have a good natural coat), can really help with weight loss management.  Horses should use their fat reserves to keep warm in winter, so minimising rugs, or turning them out without one will help them to go towards spring in a much leaner body condition, reducing the chance of excessive weight gain and obesity.

• Regularly assess body condition and fat deposits

Getting familiar with Body Condition Scoring (BCS) can help assess body condition and fat composition. Condition scoring and weigh taping together regularly can help pick up subtle changes in condition and weight loss or even gains, so the diet can then be adjusted as necessary to ensure the right amount of condition.  You should be aiming to maintain your horse or pony on a BCS of 3 (on a 0-5 chart) all year round.

• Work with your vet and equine nutritionist

Collaborate with your vet and equine nutritionist to create a tailored management plan, ensuring early recognition and proactive prevention for your horse’s long-term wellbeing.

If you have any questions about creating the best diet for your horse and keeping your horse healthy through the right nutrition, please contact Coligone – 0333 0503785/07986 183616 or email – sales@hbradshaws.co.uk