I don't keep up with the latest research on IR and EMS, so maybe someone has already made this specific connection. If so, comments welcome to "flesh out" my thoughts.
Anyone who is involved in the production of grassfed meat and dairy can tell you that grazers and grass co-evolved. They keep each other healthy. However, they are usually referring to ruminants, not horses. These same grassfed gurus generally know squat about grazing horses, especially idle, non-breeding horses.
Having become keenly interested in restoring a piece of deteriorating high desert land with the assistance of my horses, my interest in the actual role that horses play in grassland environments has grown. The first realization is that with correct management, the wild horses under the care of the BLM, might actually be managed on the range to restore the broken water cycle. (See Allan Savory's "Holistic Management" before you scream that overgrazing is the cause of desertification.)
These ideas begin to take root and to branch out in many directions. Because I am so convinced that "excess" potassium in grass is at the base of many equine metabolic diseases, I can only ask, "WHY" is grass such a luxury consumer of potassium, if that very habit makes it toxic to horses?
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With winter bearing down rapidly, my driving mare, Spunky has grown a thick coat. My determination to work with her through the winter, so she is fit for long pleasure drives next year has forced me to consider partially clipping her. The reason for this is because she sweats heavily under the heavy coat, and our cold, wet weather prevents her from drying properly. Even the neighbors are taking notice. Her long hair tends to curl when it gets damp, and they all think I've been flogging her to death when in reality, I keep close watch on her expenditure of energy so as not to overface her. So horse sweat is suddenly a topic of keen interest.
I like to nose around in equine conditioning books, and I began recalling some things I read about electrolyte loss in working horses.
According to Sarah Pilliner, Getting Horses Fit, horse sweat is ten times richer in electrolytes (potassium, sodium and chloride) than human sweat. Horse sweat contains 130-190 grams of sodium per litre, 20-50 grams of potassium and 160-190 grams of chloride. A teaspoon is roughly 5 grams, so a litre of horse sweat contains up to 5 teaspoons of potassium. A horse can lose 15 litres (about 3 gallons!) of sweat in an hour of hard work in hot conditions. She goes on to say that while human athletes are more concerned with hydration, horses are deeply concerned with electrolyte loss. It takes something like three days for a horse to replenish its electrolytes after hard work in hot weather.
So...perhaps the grass DID evolve to serve the horse. Horses are meant to travel as much as 30 miles per day for food and water. That probably entails a lot of sweating.
I have been looking at +3% potassium in grass as "poison" for at risk horses. Of course it is, when it is not balanced with adequate salt, calcium and magnesium. But the problem once again reverts back to human management, or mismanagement. Our horses were designed to be constantly on the move, and require constant replenishment of electrolytes. Because of confinement and forced idleness (who has to "force" a horse to stand around, doing nothing?) the electrolytes are still being constantly replenished, but we have eliminated movement, and consequently sweating, which may be the natural healing agent we seek for our horses. That, and plenty of salt, calcium and magnesium. I still believe that all that potassium passing through the horse's system is responsible for disruption of Ca and Mg metabolism, which is one of its indirect routes to IR and EMS. Perhaps it is NOT the potassium that is the killer - perhaps it is the removal or restriction of the horse's natural requirement for heavy exercise that is killing them. Just like the desertifying rangelands of the west, perhaps nothing is "broke" with our horses except human intervention in the natural way of things.
As Pogo said, "I have seen the enemy, and he is us!"
Spunky got a "trace clip" yesterday. I'm looking forward to seeing how she dries after a drive today!
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