

To determine how to manage horses on pasture, you must first identify the ones most at risk for laminitis. “There isn’t a lot of snow, and the grass stays green all winter long.” Is Your Horse at Risk? “In marine climates, like the Pacific Northwest, the U.K., and the coastal regions of Australia, there is no seasonality for laminitis,” says Watts. But, again, the issue depends more on where you live than what time of year it is. Even if the concentration of NSCs in the grass is not maxed out, that same horse might still run into problems if they are allowed to overeat.”Ī common misconception is that the only time of year grazing poses a risk to horses is in the spring.

“It is possible to founder (cause the coffin bone to rotate or sink in) a healthy horse in just a couple of hours if they’re predisposed and allowed to overeat grass that’s high in NSCs.

“That can happen at any time of year depending on where you live,” adds Watts. “In the spring and fall the ambient temperatures at night are too cool for the plant to use its sugar stores for growth, resulting in a higher concentration of sugars the next day, and the concentrations just get bigger and bigger every day,” Pratt-Phillips says. So, by the time the sun rises in the morning, each plant’s overall sugar content is low again. If the temperatures are above 40 degrees F overnight, plants use those sugars to grow. The plants generate more and more sugar throughout the day, so each plant’s sugar content is at its peak by the time the sun sets. Grasses and other plants photosynthesize to create sugar on sunny days. “Horses that tend to eat regular diets that are rich in starch and sugar can develop insulin dysregulation (ID), and for horses that are already at risk, consuming something that’s extra high in starch and sugar can send them over the edge where they might have a laminitic crisis,” she says. Shannon Pratt-Phillips, PhD, a professor of equine nutrition and physiology at North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, studies obesity, metabolic issues, and glucose disturbances in horses. “Abnormally high insulin can be a feature of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID, formerly equine Cushing’s disease), or they can have high insulin as a standalone condition.” The important beaches of Bermuda have also been marked on the map.“In the horses that are predisposed to metabolic disorders, when they ingest a high amount of NSCs, they secrete too much insulin,” explains Kathryn Watts, Colorado-based researcher and founder of. The reefs are very healthy and are biological hotspots, supporting a diversity of marine law. The reefs, which protect the limestone coastlines from erosion, are protected by law. Bermuda is one of the most northerly places where coral is found. Although there are no freshwater lakes or rivers in Bermuda, the area is lush and green, due to the consistently high levels of rain. The layers of limestone are covered with a red soil, high in iron, low in magnesium. The land in these depressions is very fertile and home to most of the agricultural production in Bermuda. Its position has been marked by a yellow upright triangle on the physical map of Bermuda seen above.Īlso, as observed on the map, the land is generally flat, rising to low hills separated by depressions. The highest point is a hill only 76m (249 ft) high. All the islands are volcanic in origin, originating from a mountain mass that rose from the sea floor millions of years ago. Of all the other small islands, only about a dozen are inhabited. The 8 largest islands are connected by bridges and causeways and form a fishhook-shaped landmass, stretching 22 miles in length and about a mile across. Bermuda is located 918 km (570 miles) east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and 1,250km (775 miles) southeast of New York City in the North Atlantic Ocean. km, the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda (generally referred to as a singular territory) actually consists of 181 islands, of which the Main Island is the largest.
