"Laminitis" the smartphone App was created to provide horse owners with a practical tool to help monitor weather conditions in a way that can be used to warn when grazing on grass poses an increased risk to horses prone to laminitis.
Local weather conditions are monitored to predict the rise and fall of non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) in C3 grasses and starch in C4 grasses. When the levels of NSCs or starch are predicted to increase, this is reflected as a rise in grazing risk.
Under particular weather conditions, both C3 and C4 grasses can become stressed, significantly increasing the risk of a horse becoming footy or suffering a laminitic episode. When this happens, the risk gauge will rapidly increase to High and maintain this level until the NSC levels in C3 grasses and starch levels in C4 grasses, along with overall grass stress, are predicted to have lowered again.
Today, laminitis is a major problem for horses worldwide and is one of the most common causes of lameness. With the help of this app as an educational tool, it is hoped that fewer horses will suffer from this condition in the future.
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Belarus, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Great Britain, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Moldova, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United States
* Devices that do not have GPS capability will require you to use the search feature to find your current location.
This application is not intended as a replacement for correct animal husbandry or to replace veterinary advice, it's role is simply to act as an additional early warning tool to advise when grasses at the location you have selected are likely to be 'under stress' and therefore to have accumulated excess non-structural carbohydrates (NSC, i.e. sugars, starch or fructan) which could significantly increase the risk of a laminitic episode should it be grazed.
This app can give you a warning when the risk of grazing induced laminitis is rising or high. However, individual horses vary widely in their ability to tolerate fluctuations in NSC levels so what is safe for one horse may not be safe for another. In addition, grazing is only one risk factor for laminitis and you need also to be aware of the risks posed by other causes, including toxins, metabolic problems and sugar and starch levels in hard feed, which cannot be measured by this app.