Hoof Nutrition Intelligence is a twice-a-month web segment that is designed to add to the education of footcare professionals when it comes to effectively feeding the hoof. The goal of this web-exclusive feature is to zero in on specific areas of hoof nutrition and avoid broad-based articles that simply look at the overall equine feeding situation.
Below you will find Part 1 of the latest question and answer installment that you can share with your footcare clients.
Q: What can I do so I don’t have to worry about lush spring pastures leading to grass founder concerns?
By Tom Lenz, DVM
Here are a 1/2-dozen steps you can take to avoid grass founder in the spring:
- Keep easy-keepers and ponies off lush, fast-growing pastures until the grass has slowed in growth and has produced seed heads.
- Graze your horses on pastures containing a high percentage of legumes, such as alfalfa or clover, as they do not contain fructans.
- Avoid grazing horses on pastures that have been grazed very short during the winter months.
- Keep cresty-necked, overweight horses in stalls or paddocks until the pasture’s growth rate has slowed. Introduce these horses to pasture slowly.
- Allow horses to fill up on hay before turning them out on grass for a few hours.
- Use a grazing muzzle.
Tom Lenz is an American Association of Equine Practitioners member from Louisburg, Kan.
Hoof Nutrition Intelligence is brought to you by W.F. Young Co. (Absorbine). 
Like many significant achievements, Absorbine® grew out of humble beginnings—and through the tenacity of someone willing to question the status quo. In this case, it was a young woman in late 19th-century Massachusetts: Mary Ida Young. Her husband, Wilbur Fenelon Young, was an enterprising piano deliveryman who relied on the couple’s team of horses to make deliveries throughout the Northeast. Inspired by Mary Ida and Wilbur’s vision, Absorbine® has continued to add innovative products throughout the years — products used every day by horse owners around the world. Which is why, since 1892, we’ve been The Horse World’s Most Trusted Name®.
Click here to read Part 2 of the June 1, 2017 installment: Is it okay to let my horses eat the dandelions in my pastures?
Click here to read more installments of Hoof Nutrition Intelligence.