Laminitis Prevention: Spring Turnout and Weight Management

Laminitis rarely arrives out of nowhere. By the time a horse is reluctant to walk on hard ground or rocking back onto its heels, the underlying trigger — usually a spike in sugar intake from spring grass, or creeping weight gain over winter — has often been building for weeks. For good-doer types, cobs, natives and retired horses in particular, prevention is far cheaper than the six-to-eight-week box rest that follows an acute episode.

Why spring and autumn are the highest-risk windows

Grass sugar (as fructans) rises sharply during cool nights followed by bright sunny days — classic spring and early autumn weather in the UK. A horse that has coped fine on the same paddock all winter can tip into trouble within days once that pattern starts, especially if it's also carrying extra condition.

Track weight and condition, not just "how he looks"

Visual judgement drifts as a horse's shape changes gradually. Two objective checks are worth doing regularly and logging somewhere you'll actually look back at:

Bodyweight via weigh tape, taken at the same time of day, same spot on the girth line, every 2–4 weeks through risk season.
Cresty neck score (0–5) — a thickening, firm crest is one of the earliest visible signs of insulin dysregulation, often appearing before general weight gain is obvious.

Logging these consistently in a horse health record makes a slow upward trend visible long before it becomes a crisis — and gives your vet something concrete to work from if you do need to call them.

Managing grazing without a lockdown mentality

Full removal from grass isn't always necessary or practical on a livery yard. Lower-risk approaches include:

Restricted turnout window — early morning, before fructan levels peak in the afternoon sun, rather than cutting hours randomly.
Track systems or strip grazing to limit intake without full stabling.
Grazing muzzles, introduced gradually so the horse is used to eating through one before risk season starts.
Avoiding turnout on stressed, overgrazed, or recently frosted pasture — stressed grass stores more sugar, not less.

What to flag immediately

Any of the following warrant a same-day vet call rather than a "wait and see":

Shifting weight from one front foot to the other at rest.
A short, pottery walk, especially reluctance to turn tightly.
Increased digital pulse at the pastern — check both fronts for comparison.
Heat in the hoof wall that doesn't settle within an hour of coming off grass.

Building it into yard routine

On a livery yard, laminitis prevention works best when it's a shared, visible system rather than one owner's private worry. A yard status board that flags "restricted grazing" or "muzzle on" per horse, alongside health notes staff can actually see day to day, catches the cases where a well-meaning helper turns a horse out on full grass because nobody told them not to.

Prevention is unglamorous — a weigh tape, a muzzle, and a log nobody reads until they need it. But it's a fraction of the cost, in vet fees and in a horse's soundness, of managing an acute episode after the fact.