Feeding soaked hay to laminitis prone horses and ponies may not be as healthy as previously thought.

That’s according to new research conducted by the British Laminitis Consortium, world-leading equine veterinary, nutrition and research experts interested in collaborating on the important topic of laminitis. Their research found that over-consumption of water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) has been associated with the onset of laminitis. It has been recommended that hay should be soaked in water before being fed in order to reduce carbohydrates.

The nine different hay samples were analyzed for WSC and then soaked in cold water. The soaked samples were subsequently analyzed at four intervals of 20 minutes, 40 minutes, three hours and 16 hours.

“The results showed substantially less leaching than reported previously for chopped hay soaked for 30 minutes,” explained Clare Barfoot, one of the researchers. The consortium notes that the study shows that soaking hay may not be sufficient to reduce carbohydrates for laminitis prone horses.