Super high in protein, resilient, increases nitrogen in the soil, grows prolifically in areas with concentrated horse manure (provided the horses that produced that manure have been primarily, if not exclusively forage fed), such as former sacrifice, dry lots--but....
for the horse prone to laminitis it can be a mine field instead of merely a beautiful pasture. Clover is high in the sugar than seems to create the most problem in insulin resistant horses. The clover that I use is a cool season plant with rapid growth in early spring and late fall. That is when it is the most dangerous.
I introduce the horses to the clover gradually, allowing access to the clover rich pastures for only about 15 minutes daily for the early growing seasons. Tradewind, with his fast history of severe founder in the wild dos not even get that limited exposure.
To date I have not had a problem with promoting the growth of clover in my pastures. However, we are learning more every day about laminitis, founder, insulin resistance and its causes. Stay up to date on the research concerning dietary links to equine health problems.
And keep this in mind--founder has now risen to be the number two reason that horses are euthanized.
I support clover. I plant it and it serves me well.
But I keep my eye on it.
It is a loaded gun.
(This picture is from early November. I will not give the horses access tothis clover patch for a few more weeks and then for very short stretches of time.)
Talk about a rich diet...Not so much about the clover, The photo on this post really contains the very cutting edge of all things important in American horsemanship today, Families riding together, naturally trained and kept horses,young people becoming tomorrow's mentors, and all of then bent on keeping wild horses wild. I am pretty scrawny, but I could get fat and founder on that diet!
ReplyDeleteBack on topic, I note a news article this week detailing the several hundred million case epidemic of type II diabetes.
Much front line research data points to the very same thing in horses. Much of the Laminitis that Steve mentioned is directly attributable to insulin resistance in horses. Diet. Sugar and chemicals. None of us need that.
People and Horses should be on the same path, but that ain't the right one. -Lloyd