May 8, 2026 · 29 min · 17 segments
Following our series on laminitis rehab, Maggie Lambert talks about Cedar, her Rocky Mountain Horse, and his recovery from laminitis back to soundness and work.
I think there's something about some kind of minerals, I can't remember, that is found in that soil as compared to other parts of the US.
Yeah, and I know that, I mean, I'm not sure if everybody listening knows this, but ECIR, the Equine Cushings and Insulin Resistance Group, they recommend for protein to be less than 10% in the hay if you have a metabolic horse because it can, for whatever reason, trigger laminitic issues if it's over 10% in some, for some horses.
So yeah, that's, I mean, it must be hard if the hay around you is just naturally, you know, has elevated protein.
And it's like how much can that actually change when you're soaking it because the hay she was feeding was over 18% protein, but it was below, I believe, a 12% NSC, but obviously the goal of ECIR is to also have things below 10%.
If anybody wants to go to the website ecirhorse.org, they have so much information to really get into the nitty-gritty of the diet if people are wondering, you know, what is a low sugar and starch diet, or what does that mean? Um, they're a fantastic resource.
So I wanted to add that just so that people, if they're, like, so confused and hadn't heard of that before, they can check that out too.
I guess another thing to throw out for all the people out there that their horse may be experienced subclinical or acute laminitis is to talk about the seasonal rise-
I wasn't sure as, at first because he is a little bit older, but, uh, the blood work came back reasonable for his ACTH, but his insulin was just sky high.
I mean, because there are cases of PPID where the blood work can come back normal, and it's just like you were saying, it's like the time of year the person or the vet tested because between January and June, ACTH can be naturally low for most horses.
And then as you were saying with the seasonal rise, which typically starts in July for the Northern Hemisphere, the ACTH will rise just to help, you know, trigger the horse to grow winter coat.
But for horses with PPID, that can lead, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't have an appropriate response to that rise, and that can trigger laminitis.
But people who test in, you know, February, the ACTH, if it comes back normal, it might not be normal in the fall [laughs] when that seasonal rise comes around if it's an early case.
I think there's something about some kind of minerals, I can't remember, that is found in that soil as compared to other parts of the US.
Yeah, and I know that, I mean, I'm not sure if everybody listening knows this, but ECIR, the Equine Cushings and Insulin Resistance Group, they recommend for protein to be less than 10% in the hay if you have a metabolic horse because it can, for whatever reason, trigger laminitic issues if it's over 10% in some, for some horses.
So yeah, that's, I mean, it must be hard if the hay around you is just naturally, you know, has elevated protein.
And it's like how much can that actually change when you're soaking it because the hay she was feeding was over 18% protein, but it was below, I believe, a 12% NSC, but obviously the goal of ECIR is to also have things below 10%.
If anybody wants to go to the website ecirhorse.org, they have so much information to really get into the nitty-gritty of the diet if people are wondering, you know, what is a low sugar and starch diet, or what does that mean? Um, they're a fantastic resource.
So I wanted to add that just so that people, if they're, like, so confused and hadn't heard of that before, they can check that out too.
I guess another thing to throw out for all the people out there that their horse may be experienced subclinical or acute laminitis is to talk about the seasonal rise-
I wasn't sure as, at first because he is a little bit older, but, uh, the blood work came back reasonable for his ACTH, but his insulin was just sky high.
I mean, because there are cases of PPID where the blood work can come back normal, and it's just like you were saying, it's like the time of year the person or the vet tested because between January and June, ACTH can be naturally low for most horses.
And then as you were saying with the seasonal rise, which typically starts in July for the Northern Hemisphere, the ACTH will rise just to help, you know, trigger the horse to grow winter coat.
But for horses with PPID, that can lead, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't have an appropriate response to that rise, and that can trigger laminitis.
But people who test in, you know, February, the ACTH, if it comes back normal, it might not be normal in the fall [laughs] when that seasonal rise comes around if it's an early case.
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