07/04/2022
Super helpful diagram showing differences In grass length and NSC. Mowing grass and/or keeping at risk horses in over-grazed paddocks aren’t suitable options for reducing access to sugar (NSC) content in grass for laminitis prone horses & ponies (even though long grass may seem counterintuitive). NSC content is often related to growth phase (as well as environmental conditions).
Not a joke...
Have you ever wondered why you can have a 15 acre field and part of it is chewed down to nubs and the other part has grass a hand high, But your horse is constantly grazing in the chewed down part?
Grass 6 inches and taller has less sugars than grass under 6 inches.
For every inch drop below 6 inches, the fructan (sugar) content rises.
Grass under 6 inches is stressed like it's a Monday morning with a project deadline. It uses sugar to repair itself.
Stop mowing your fields short.
Stop grazing your chubbys on chewed down grass. (this is why grazing muzzles are so touted...they keep the horse from being able to get much short grass)
(We aren't saying let your fields be 3 feet tall, by the way. The optimal thing to do is keep them 6-8 inches tall and graze them in small areas there)
