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  Discussion on Alfalfa frozen prior to cutting produces toxin causing laminitis?
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New Member:
Dhaslett

Posted on Thursday, Nov 25, 2004 - 1:36 pm:

My horse shows many signs of mild laminitis. We eliminated the usual causes. It started right after her overly long feet were trimmed quite short but she hasn't recovered in the 2-3 days Dr. O's article on sore feet indicates would be normal. She's been sore both front and rear over a week. The farrier says the mixed grass and alfalfa hay we're feeding could cause laminitis because we had a freeze in August before it was cut. He says being frozen causes the alfalfa flower to produce a toxin that can cause founder. Has anyone heard of this? Can it cause laminitis?
Member:
Canyon28

Posted on Thursday, Nov 25, 2004 - 2:49 pm:

I think your farrier is making excuses because he got her too short. If the horse has had really long feet for a while, the farrier cannot trim them short in one visit. He has to shorten them gradually, coming back in 6 to 8 weeks to trim her again a little shorter than the previous visit. I have had a few problems with farriers that are used to shoeing almost all the horses they work on, getting a trim too short and causing lameness. I had one mare that was lame for several weeks after getting trimmed too short by a farrier I used to use. I had to bute her the first few days becasue she was dead lame. He was a good farrier if you wanted shoes put on, but he always trimmed my brood mares so short they gimped around for up to a week. I think the problem is with the long feet being suddenly trimmed very short, it causes a radical change in their stance. It is really bad on a horses tendons and navicular bones to leave them too long, and will end up permanently laming them if allowed to continue for years. I have several mares with chronic lameness problems that I bought from the pacific northwest that were left out on wet grassy pastures with way overly long feet for years and years. but as I said, trimming them really short after they have been too long is a common cause for them to be lame for a while, too. The best thing is to get your mare on a 7 to 10 week farrier schedule depending on your pasture conditions.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Nov 26, 2004 - 9:16 am:

A great question Donna and not one with a simple answer. First let me say that I agree with Christine if you have a strong history or objective proof that the soles where cut too thin. While many horses have several days of tenderness when trimmed, when horses are trimmed too thin the time they remain is variable and sometimes prolonged, especially if those feet are allowed to become bruised.

That said however, there are some issues with freezing on forage. The first problem is if the forage is frozen after cutting but before drying out it might rot. Rotting forage can promote the formation of botulism and can happen with any forage.

Second is that of nitrate poisoning which has not been reported in horses in this form. Some forages including fescue and sudan grasses, if they are exposed to frost while rapidly growing accumulate nitrate in the stems. Grazing or making hay while this condition exists has caused poisoning in ruminants. Nitrates in ruminants are converted to nitrites by the microbes in the rumen. Nitrites are very poisonous to all animals and induces oxidation of hemoglobin in blood similar to that seen in red maple poisoning on which we have an article. Horses do not have a rumen and the nitrate does not make it back to the cecum so it is easy to see why this does not happen in horses. The nitrate itself can be irritating to the gi tract inducing colic and diarrhea why this has not been reported in horses is not understood. It is not believed that alfalfa stores enough nitrate to be a problem with this.

Any foodstuff that is damaged, whether by freezing or any other means, is more prone to molding and mold toxin formation so one should always examine feeds of any kind for it and avoid them. If the leaves and stems look full and healthy this is unlikely to have occurred.
DrO
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