How did we get here? A modern problem with very modern roots

EMS hasn’t “always been around”. In fact, the metabolic epidemic we’re now facing only really began in the last 50-years or so ago. As our horses stopped being working animals and became leisure partners, every part of their world changed – their feed, their grass, their management, their movement, even the very soil beneath their feet.

And with those changes came the perfect storm for metabolic dysfunction.

A toxic, ultra-processed world our horses were never designed for

Let’s call it what it is – we live in one heck of a toxic world. Our horses do too. From the 1960s onwards, intensive farming swept across the UK and beyond. Fields that had once held diverse, stemmy, fibrous grasses were suddenly saturated in fertilisers, herbicides, fungicides and pesticides. Crops were reshaped into high-yield, chemically supported mono-cultures.

Wheat is perhaps the biggest example of how dramatic this shift has been. The natural, 4-foot, nutritious spelt our grandparents knew morphed into a genetically manipulated, 18-inch frankenwheat designed for mass production, not nourishment. And this modern wheat – plus its by-product “wheatfeed” – is now stuffed into the majority of shiny bagged horse feeds, despite being gut-damaging and pro-inflammatory.

Same with soya, same with corn. And same with ryegrass.

If it’s not organic, it’s almost certainly chemically grown – and your horse is eating it.

And then there’s modern grass…

Our horses’ ancestors lived on long, coarse, stem-rich tundra, steppe and semi-desert grasses – fibre-rich, nutrient-poor, slow to digest, exactly what the equine gut evolved for over 50-million years.

Today? We plonk them on neon-green, short-bladed grass that’s:

• high in simple sugars

• high in fructans

• low in fibre

• low in stem

• grown on nitrogen-rich soils

• designed for dairy cows, not horses

Ryegrass, especially, is a metabolic nightmare – up to 36 percent sugar, plus endophytes that can trigger laminitis and even foal loss.

Haylage joins the party… and not in a good way

Haylage is often marketed as “easier to digest”, “gentle on the gut”, and “great for good-doers”.

Not a bit of it.

Haylage requires lactic-acid-producing bacteria to ferment. These bacteria are pathogenic in the equine hindgut. They:

• lower the hindgut pH to acidic

• trigger hindgut acidosis

• produce gas

• inflame the small intestine

• disrupt the biome

• kill off fibre-fermenting microbes

• split open the gut wall → leaky gut

• release endotoxins into the bloodstream

• light the fuse on laminitis

But the bag still says “Suitable for laminitics”.

Add chemicals in the water, pollutants in the air, vaccine heavy metals, and electromagnetic load

Chlorine, fluoride, agricultural runoff, environmental toxins – we’re all swimming in chemical exposure our bodies (and our horses’ bodies) have never seen before in evolutionary history. GM plants are even designed to absorb these chemicals and keep them locked in.

This constant background toxic load further stresses the gut–liver axis, tipping metabolic horses even faster into trouble.

Then… remove movement

In the wild, a horse walks 20–30 miles a day. In a stable, they’ll move maybe 800 metres. Even in an open barn – perhaps 1–2 miles.

And what do humans do when we think our horses have worked hard? We feed them more. Often in the form of a high-calorie, ultra-processed bag of “energy” they didn’t need in the first place.

Modern life = too many calories, not enough movement. It should sound familiar, because exactly the same thing has happened to us humans.

The evolutionary mismatch that led to EMS

The short version?

• We engineered grass to be too rich.

• We fed processed ingredients the equine gut was never evolved to see.

• We reduced forage diversity.

• We restricted movement.

• We fed haylage (lactic-acid time bomb).

• We added environmental toxins.

And then wondered why our horses’ metabolisms broke.

The truth? We've fed our horses sick.

And EMS is the end result of a body trying – desperately – to cope with a modern lifestyle evolution never prepared it for.

Everything begins in the gut – always has, always will

If there’s one fact I’d love every horse owner to understand, it’s this:

- Metabolic disease begins in the gut long before the crest hardens, the fat pads appear, or the feet go footy.

We’ve spent decades focusing on the small intestine – how to squeeze every nutrient out of every calorie. But the real metabolic engine of the horse sits further down. The hindgut is where the fibre-fermenting microbes live, producing the short-chain fatty acids that fuel the entire system’s ‘energy’.

When that delicate microbial society is disrupted, the whole metabolism unravels.

Short grass is a metabolic landmine

Modern pasture – the short, neon-green, sugary stuff – is totally at odds with the horse’s natural diet. Horses are meant to graze long stemmy grasses with low sugar and high cellulose content.

Short grass?

• high in fructose
• high in sucrose
• high in glucose
• high in pectins
• high in fructans
• low in fibre

With no stem, no roughage, and nothing to slow digestion, the small intestine is bombarded with more sugar than it can process. The excess passes straight into the hindgut – where the trouble really begins.

Fructans, grass growth phases, and the perfect storm

When grasses are in the growth phase, fructan levels surge – especially overnight and in cold, bright conditions. Horses cannot digest fructans in the small intestine, so what happens?

They head directly into the hindgut where the lactic-acid-producing bacteria (LA bacteria for short) gorge themselves stupid.

Cue:

• massive LA bacterial bloom
• rapid death of the fibre-fermenting microbes
• acidic environment
• biome collapse

And with biome collapse comes…

Hindgut acidosis: the gateway to EMS and laminitis

A healthy hindgut's pH stays comfortably neutral. But when LA bacteria are in party mode, they ‘burp’ lactic acid as their waste product. 

This drops the pH to acidic – as low as 1.3, creating:

1. SIBO (Small intestinal bacterial overload/inflammation) - A thin, delicate tube that should never be inflamed, now feels like a balloon being blown up. Cue discomfort, bloat, risk of colic.
2. Killed-off good microbes - Fibre-fermenters can’t survive in an acidic room, so they die, releasing endotoxins.
3. Leaky gut - Acidity + inflammation weakens the intestinal wall, so it eventually tears open. Undigested matter, pathogens and endotoxins leak into the bloodstream.
4. Systemic inflammation - The immune system goes into panic mode, hormone signalling becomes chaotic, and the liver becomes overwhelmed.
5. Laminitis trigger points - Those leaked endotoxins circulate directly to the hoof’s vascular bed, inflaming the laminae – sometimes in a matter of hours.

This is why an EMS horse can look “fine” at breakfast… then footy by lunchtime.

So, EMS isn’t just “too much grass” – it’s a metabolic domino effect

Once the hindgut is disturbed, the rest of the body follows:

• Insulin skyrockets to deal with sugar overflow.
• Fat cells release hormones that worsen appetite and inflammation.
• The crest hardens.
• Leptin signalling breaks down.
• Hunger goes haywire.
• The liver struggles under toxic load.
• Cortisol rises.
• Blood flow to the hoof becomes chaotic.
• The risk of laminitis becomes frighteningly high.

And all of this begins with gut biology out of balance.

We’ve been targeting the wrong end of the horse for decades

For years, the horse world obsessed over:

• low sugar feeds
• laminitic-friendly molassed beet pulp
• slow release energy
• bagged balancers
• haylage as a miracle solution

While completely ignoring the fact that the hindgut – and not the small intestine – is where metabolic health is won or lost.

The human world is ahead of us here – we’ve already seen human metabolic diseases linked to:

• microbiome disruption
• gut permeability
• diet-induced inflammation
• insulin resistance
• cortisol dysregulation

The same principles apply to horses – they just show it in different ways.

In short? Metabolic dysfunction is a gut-first problem – always

• EMS is not a grazing problem.
• It’s not a “greedy pony” problem.
• It’s not a weight problem.
• It’s not even a grass problem in isolation.

It’s the cumulative metabolic pressure created by:

• inappropriate forage
• disrupted biome
• lactic-acid overload
• microbial die-off
• leaky gut
• systemic inflammation
• hormone chaos
• insulin spikes

And that is exactly why metabolic horses must be approached from the gut outwards, not from the grass downwards.

Insulin Resistance - the engine-room of EMS

If EMS had a power source, it would be Insulin Resistance (IR).

Everything – the crest, the fat pads, the constant hunger, the laminitis risk – all of it traces back to the same hormonal misfire. So let’s simplify it.

Insulin’s job is beautifully straightforward - it moves glucose from the bloodstream into the cells.

• Glucose = energy.
• Insulin = the key to the door.

With EMS, the door stops opening properly.

What happens when the cells stop listening to insulin?

This is the crux of IR – and it’s nothing to do with laziness, “good doerness”, or greed. It’s a biological overflow situation caused by a diet far too rich in modern sugars, starches and inappropriate ingredients.

When the cells become resistant to insulin’s message, four things happen:

1. Glucose stays in the bloodstream, raising blood sugar levels.
2. The pancreas pumps out more insulin to try to force glucose inside the cells.
3. The cells, already full of stored glucose, refuse the message – overload, not deficiency.
4. Excess energy gets stored as fat, especially crests and fat pads.

And this? This is what drives EMS.

Dr Jason Fung’s “overflow” analogy – the simplest explanation you'll ever read

Dr Fung’s insight revolutionised how we understand IR in humans – and it applies perfectly to horses.

He explains that an insulin-resistant cell is not starving – it’s full.

We often imagine IR as a broken lock – insulin can’t open the door to let glucose in. But in reality, the cell isn’t trying to keep glucose out – it’s doing the biochemical equivalent of shouting: “No more room at the inn!”

The cell is simply overstuffed with glucose, and there’s simply nowhere else for it to go. So the pancreas produces even more insulin… and even more… and even more…

And chronic high insulin becomes toxic in its own right.

What does high insulin actually do to the horse?

It drives:

• fat creation
• fat storage
• fat pad formationcrest thickening
• slowed metabolism
• chronic hunger
• inflammation
• hormonal chaos
• laminitis risk

High insulin doesn’t just respond to the metabolic problem – it amplifies it. This is why the metabolic horse can look:

• overweight yet undernourished
• hungry yet fed
• footy yet stabled
• exhausted yet restless

Nothing aligns because the hormones are misfiring.

Simple sugars + modern grass = biochemical mayhem

Grass during its growth phase is loaded with:

• fructans
• simple sugars (glucose, sucrose, fructose)
• pectins
• stress-induced carbohydrate surges

Combine that with:

• haylage
• beet pulp (even unmollased carries 7% sugar residue)
• molasses
• oil
• wheatfeed

… and you have the perfect storm for insulin chaos.

And then comes leptin resistance… the hunger hormone problem

Leptin is the hormone produced by fat tissue to tell the brain “We’re full now - stop eating.”

But when the horse becomes insulin resistant, the leptin message stops getting through. The brain thinks the horse is starving, so what does it do?

• ramps up hunger
• increases foraging drive
• slows metabolism further
• triggers carb cravings
• stores even more fat
• hardens the crest

This is why EMS horses behave like bottomless pits – they’re not greedy – their bodies simply aren’t hearing the right messages from their hormones. 

For the record, Dr Kellon says that all IR horses have leptin resistance, so there we go. Whether we like it or not, we should be factoring leptin resistance into the whole IR/EMS scenario.

The crest: a hormonal organ, not just a fat ridge

That hard, stubborn crest so many EMS horses develop? It’s not just “fat” – meet adipose tissue. 

Adipose tissue acts as a hormone factory, producing inflammatory signals that worsen both insulin AND leptin resistance.

Here’s why:

• crests are so hard to shift
• weight loss can plateau
• dieting backfires
• mood and behaviour change
• laminitis risk skyrockets

Crests aren’t cosmetic – think of them as metabolic alarms.

The IR → laminitis connection

Insulin is more than a sugar hormone – it’s a vascular hormone too, which means high insulin:

• disrupts blood flow to the hoof
• damages the laminae
• causes vascular swelling
• triggers inflammation
• reduces oxygenation
• destabilises the hoof architecture

And this can happen fast - sometimes within hours. This is why an EMS horse can be sound one day, pottery the next, and fully laminitic by morning. Everything hinges on insulin.

Human parallels – the biology is identical

Let’s look at the human metabolic syndrome:

• type 2 diabetes
• fatty liver
• obesity
• PCOS
• hypertension
• Alzheimer’s (now being called Type 3 diabetes)
• cardiovascular disease

All rooted in IR.

Horses? Swap PCOS for cresty necks and the rest is remarkably similar. Same cause, different symptoms - we’re all drowning in the same modern food environment.

You simply can’t fix IR with a pill

Metformin (for humans and horses) can help regulate glucose temporarily, but it won’t fix the core problem. Why? Because IR isn’t about low insulin - it’s about too much sugar in the system for too long.

The true solution is:

• remove excess sugar
• stop feeding inflammatory ingredients
• support the gut
• rebalance the hormones
• restore mineral deficiencies
• increase gentle movement

In short? You can’t medicate your way out of a dietary disease - IR is the root, EMS is the symptom, and laminitis is the consequence.

Once insulin spirals, everything spirals, but here’s the good news – when we change the diet, open the detox pathways, support the hindgut, balance the mineral chemistry, reduce inflammation, and help the body hear its hormone signals again…

The whole metabolic system can settle.

I’ve seen it in hundreds of horses, including our Murf, Cookie and MacAttack. Each of whom had their own metabolic journey; each of whom came back into balance.

If insulin is the metabolic spark, then leptin is the hunger switch – and in EMS horses, that switch is jammed firmly on “starving.” 

Leptin resistance is one of the least talked-about pieces of the EMS puzzle

Yet it explains so much of what owners struggle with. The feed-mugging, the pacing, the frantic foraging, the constant “hoovering” of hay, the never-quite-full behaviour, the weight gain on fresh air, the stubborn crests and fat pads… 

None of this is bad behaviour – it’s also not greed, or lack of willpower. And it’s certainly not owners overfeeding or “spoiling” them. It’s pure, hard biology running the show.

Leptin is the hormone produced by fat cells – that crest, those pads behind the shoulder, the lumps over the tailhead. Its job is beautifully simple: it tells the brain that the body has plenty of energy stored and can stop eating now. In a healthy horse, leptin rises after eating, the message reaches the brain, the appetite dials down, and the metabolism carries on humming along steadily. Elegant, efficient – and completely unproblematic.

But in an insulin-resistant horse, this beautiful feedback loop collapses. Insulin resistance and leptin resistance travel together – and as Dr Kellon summarises it perfectly in one line: “All IR horses have leptin resistance.”

The problem isn’t that these horses don’t produce leptin

They do. In fact, fat pads produce a lot of it. The issue is that chronic inflammation and continually elevated insulin block the signal from reaching the brain. The leptin message is sent, but it never gets delivered.

So the brain interprets the silence as starvation.

And when any body – human or horse – believes it’s starving, it switches instantly into survival mode. 

Hunger rises, and metabolism slows. The system clings to fat rather than releasing it. The horse becomes obsessed with finding food, constantly scanning, pacing, mugging, and it’s not because they’re just “greedy” as so many people say – it’s because, biologically, they literally believe their life depends on it. It's a biological reaction to sugar and carbs, and willpower won't work here.

It’s the same reason why a human (me) can still inhale a box of Maltesers without blinking (despite being a Marmite lover whose world doesn’t include chocolate – we don’t even keep sugar in the house). 

That surge of dopamine, the sugar-driven chemistry… it hijacks my brain completely, so much so that I want to do it all again the next day! Our poor EMS horses experience this same internal tug-of-war – just without the chocolate wrappers.

And then ghrelin steps into the spotlight

If leptin is the “stop eating now” messenger, ghrelin is the “snacks, please” hormone. 

It rises before meals, falls afterwards, and spikes dramatically when calories are restricted or when the horse is stressed or inflamed. Which, of course, describes the perfect metabolic storm.

It’s why an EMS horse so often ends up with a hormonal profile that looks like this:

• high leptin (but ignored)
• high ghrelin (very loud)
• high insulin (busily storing fat)
• high cortisol (stress driving the whole cycle)
• low metabolic flexibility (nothing can adjust easily)

A biochemical circus – and poor horse is right at the centre of it.

Crests and fat pads don’t behave like ordinary fat

They behave like hormone organs – that “adipose tissue” produces an entire cocktail of signalling chemicals, including:

• leptin
• inflammatory cytokines
• adipokines
• metabolism-slowing hormones
• hormones that worsen insulin resistance
• hormones that heighten hunger

So here’s a new mantra for all of us:

“A cresty horse isn’t just a chunky horse; a cresty horse is an endocrine horse, and that hard crest is a glowing metabolic warning light.”

This is also why “dieting” - or starving an EMS horse slim - by restricting their hay, backfires so spectacularly. The moment forage is restricted:

• ghrelin skyrockets (panic hunger)
• cortisol surges (stress hormone)
• insulin rises even further
• metabolism grinds down
• the body clings to fat pads
• hyperlipidaemia risk increases (especially in ponies, and dare we say it, life threatening)
• laminitis risk escalates
• crest and fat pads stay put
• behaviour deteriorates

Owners think they’re solving the problem, when in reality they’re pouring petrol on the fire. Remember - you’re not fighting fat – you’re fighting hormones.

Modern feeds don’t help either

Anything sweet-tasting – even when labelled “low sugar” or “safe for laminitics” – tricks the metabolic system. 

Taste buds detect sweetness, the brain anticipates glucose, insulin surges, hunger increases, and the leptin resistance deepens. 

Those high-fructose feeds, full of grains, wheatfeed fillers, molassed beet, processed ingredients, alongside now established obesity, inflammation, and the cortisol-driven chronic stress - all worsen the underlying chemistry.

But – there’s good news - leptin resistance can be recalibrated

It doesn’t happen overnight, but when we quieten ghrelin, improve leptin signalling, stabilise insulin, soften the crest, reduce inflammation, and support the gut and liver, everything begins to shift. 

Appetite normalises, mood settles, fat pads reduce, movement improves, laminitis risk eases. And… the horse finally feels “full” for the first time in months, if not years.

And yes… there is one particular amino acid that plays a starring role here – Acetyl L-Carnitine - which links us perfectly to another section below.

In short?

You can’t support an EMS horse effectively without understanding - and working with - their hunger circuitry. Leptin resistance is the reason weight won’t budge, crests stay hard, grass is irresistible, and hay restriction is so dangerous.

Work with the hormones – not against them – and everything changes.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the feed room – the modern feed industry

If there’s anywhere metabolic horses quietly lose their balance, it’s in the feedroom among the shiny bags and comforting marketing slogans. And really, who can blame owners? 

When the labels say things like “low sugar,” “laminitic safe,” “high fibre,” “slow-release energy,” or “suitable for EMS horses,” it feels reassuring, like someone has done the thinking for us.

And no surprise that we want to feel reassured, because typically, our native horses are predisposed to this metabolic dis-ease because they have such a good survival mechanism – their systems are evolved to survive on what us humans call ‘fresh air’. 

However, give them a few acres of growing, neon-green leafy grass blades and they simply can't utilise the high glucose they're consuming from the grass, as an energy fuel to stay healthy.

Yet behind many of these labels sit ingredients that quietly nudge metabolic horses deeper into inflammation, deeper into hunger dysregulation, and deeper into insulin resistance. Most people never see it coming, because the bags all look so trustworthy. 

So let's pull the curtain back on the big three culprits: beet, haylage, and those feedbags we see in every feed merchant - processed feeds.

Beet pulp – the metabolic Trojan horse hiding in plain sight

Beet is everywhere these days. It sneaks into “healthy” mashes, winter warmers, laminitic blends, balancers, conditioning feeds… you name it. The trouble is, even when it’s called “non-molassed” and “low sugar,” beet pulp still contains a surprising amount of residual sugar – unmolassed around 7%, and significantly more – up to 25% if molassed. You’ll rarely see this spelt out clearly on a label.

But what really matters here isn’t just the sugar - it’s the sweetness.

Even if the chemical analysis claims otherwise, beet tastes sweet. To the horse, sweet taste means sugar is coming, and so the metabolism reacts instantly. Insulin rises in anticipation, hunger increases, and metabolism slows. Cravings spark to life like dry tinder - none of this is psychological – it’s chemical conditioning.

And.. beet is addictive for metabolic horses. They’re drawn to it because it gives them that sweet-hit, which lights up their dopamine pathways, and reinforces the very cycle we’re trying to calm. 

I know owners feed it with the best intentions… but for an EMS horse, beet is often the quiet saboteur in the corner.

Haylage – soft, smells so great, but an unexpected metabolic landmine

Haylage is one of those feeds that has somehow gathered a halo around it. It’s marketed as soft, helpful for fussiness, good for sensitive tummies, sometimes  even “low-sugar”, so some bags have the “safe for laminitics” slogan as well.

But once you understand the biology, you’ll realise why haylage is only perfect for cattle, and absolutely not for horses.

Haylage ferments via lactic-acid-producing bacteria. These bacteria thrive in a cow’s gut – and even our human gut – but in a horse’s hindgut they behave like little anarchists. 

They drop the pH to acidic (as low as 1.3), create gut-splitting gas so pressurised that they actually cause the gut to bloat, and rapidly destabilise the delicate fibre-fermenting ecosystem that horses rely on. 

From there, things unravel quickly: hindgut acidosis, microbial die-off, gut permeability, endotoxin leakage, immune overexcitement, laminae inflammation… and suddenly a horse who has been a bit gassy and loose for months becomes horribly uncomfortable and footy overnight.

This is why so many owners see bloating, gassiness, grumpiness, colic tendencies or spring/summer flare-ups – and never realise that the innocent-looking haylage bale was at the centre of it all.

Processed feeds – when modern manufacturing meets an ancient digestive system

This one is a less edgy conversation, because nearly every owner reaches for a bag of feed with love and care in their heart. But the truth is, modern commercial feeds bear almost no resemblance to what the equine gut evolved to process. 

Horses are fibre-fermenters – their entire hindgut ecosystem is built around breaking down cellulose fibre – found in long grass stems, rich in structure and low in sugars.

Now compare that with what you often find inside a typical pelleted feed: 

- wheatfeed, oatfeed, beet pulp, soya in so many forms, molasses, oils, cereal by-products, industrial binders, artificial flavours... 

And many of these ingredients are by-products of other industries, often treated with chemicals, and metabolically jarring for horses who are already struggling.

Why sweet taste itself is the metabolic trigger

Even when these feeds are labelled “low sugar,” they very often taste sweet. And as we know by now, sweet taste alone ignites insulin. 

That single anticipatory signal is enough to send an EMS horse deeper into leptin resistance, deeper into hunger dysregulation, and deeper into the cycle of fat storage and metabolic slowdown.

A feedbowl full of these processed ingredients puts strain on every part of our horse’s  system – the small intestine, the liver, the hindgut, the hormones, and the nervous system. It’s simply too much work for a metabolism already fighting to stay balanced.

One of the trickiest misunderstandings in the EMS landscape is the idea that a feed labelled “low sugar” must be safe. But the body doesn’t care what the label says – it cares about sensory input, with a sweet taste enough to trigger:

• an insulin surge
• a drop in metabolic flexibility
• stronger cravings
• increased hunger
• and that all-too-familiar metabolic slowdown.

The brain doesn’t need sugar to be present – it only needs to think it is by the taste.

Why restricting hay or “dieting” a metabolic horse backfires so painfully

Seems logical I know – fewer calories must surely mean weight loss. 

But - for an EMS horse, restricted forage feels like famine. 

The metabolic alarms go off instantly - ghrelin shoots up, cortisol rises, insulin spikes, and the metabolism slams on the brakes. The body clings to every molecule of fat, the crest hardens, the fat pads remain, and emotionally, the horse spirals into panic.

It’s survival physiology.

The feeding principles that actually support an EMS horse

Once you understand the biology, the feeding rules become blissfully simple.

A metabolic horse - well, any horse -needs:

• steady access to fibre, so species-appropriate ad-lib meadow hay (long stemmy grass, dried)
• an equally species-appropriate feedbowl supplement carrier – i.e. meadow hay in either a cob, pellet, nut, or flake form
• balanced minerals
• omega-3 from linseed
• careful neon-green grass management

... and a world free of beet, haylage, sweet feeds, or processed fillers.

In short? 

Modern feeds create modern metabolic disease.

Beet, haylage and processed feeds don’t just feed the horse – they feed the dysregulation. 

They destabilise the gut, increase insulin release, block leptin, thicken crests, inflame fat pads, heighten grass sensitivity, and keep metabolic horses trapped in a cycle they can’t escape alone.

I promise you your EMS horse isn’t being greedy or difficult – it's their environment.

Once you remove the metabolic disruptors, the whole body finally gets a chance to reset – and that’s when everything begins to change.

When the feed, the gut, the hormones and the environment have all gone sideways, owners often reach this point feeling utterly defeated.

They’ve weighed hay, soaked hay, restricted hay. They’ve tried “laminitic-safe” feeds, balancers, mashes, supplements that promised miracles… and still the pulses throb, the crest stays firm, the fat pads remain, and nothing seems to shift.

The good news?

There is a way forward – a calm, structured, species-appropriate foundation that brings the whole metabolic system back into balance.

No gimmicks, no starvation, no ultra-processed feeds pretending to be forage – just biology returning to what it recognises.

Let’s walk through the pillars clearly and simply.

Species-appropriate forage – the heart of the solution

Horses evolved to wander over low-sugar, fibrous, stemmy grasses, nibbling almost continuously while travelling mile after mile. They browsed herbs, shrubs, leaves and barks – a wonderfully varied roughage diet – all while moving steadily across the landscape. That rhythm of stemmy fibre, slow trickle-feeding, continuous gut activity and gentle movement is exactly what the equine metabolism was built for.

So when we support an EMS horse, we’re not reinventing anything – we’re guiding them back into the feeding pattern their biology understands.

That means hay, not haylage. Meadow hay is your saviour here – haylage is not. Why? Meadow hay mirrors the fibre-based forage their hindgut thrives on; haylage disrupts the biome and fuels inflammation.

And crucially, forage must be ad-lib. Restricting hay makes everything worse. It spikes cortisol, raises insulin, worsens leptin resistance, heightens anxiety and can even push ponies into hyperlipidaemia. This is a long-standing EquiNatural mantra, and the ECIR Group put it perfectly:

“Do not starve an IR horse. Ever.”

If there’s one number worth remembering, it’s the ECIR guideline - ESC (simple sugars) + starch should total 10-percent or less. Most meadow hays sit comfortably within that range – and choosing meadow hay over ryegrass haylage is a far bigger win than any lab certificate.

Micronutrient correction – a non-negotiable 

UK forage is notoriously lacking in the minerals metabolic horses rely on most – copper, zinc, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids. 

When these are deficient in the diet, hormone signalling falters, detoxification slows, insulin sensitivity dips, inflammation simmers, hooves weaken, and appetite regulation becomes almost impossible.

This is why micronutrient balancing is non-negotiable.

It’s also why EquiVita came into existence – our Kelso’s hooves taught me those lessons long before the product was born. And for horses off grass, VitaComplete provides the full micronutrient scaffolding they need.

When the mineral base is right, the whole metabolism finally gets a chance to exhale.

Remove all inflammatory, gut-disruptive feeds

Beet, haylage, wheatfeed, soya, cereal by-products, molasses, oils, sweeteners, chemical binders – you name it... All pull the metabolic system off balance. It doesn’t matter how reassuring the front of the bag looks – the hindgut always has the final say, and a stressed hindgut will unravel metabolic stability every time.

Movement – the metabolic reset button

EMS horses don’t need schooling sessions, lunge programmes, or fitness bootcamps. What their biology needs is far simpler – simple, consistent movement.

Movement increases insulin sensitivity, reduces cortisol, supports lymph flow, improves liver function, enriches the microbiome and helps fat pads shift naturally - a steady yet energising walk is highly underrated!

Often, a horse living on a track system with hay stations moves more in a day than a stabled horse ridden three times a week. Movement doesn’t burn calories so much as restore metabolic communication.

Manage stress – because stress drives insulin higher

We tend to think of stress as emotional, but for an EMS horse it’s profoundly biochemical – cortisol rises → insulin rises → fat storage rises. And suddenly the metabolic picture slides backwards.

Stress can come from restricted forage, unpredictable routines, stabling, herd tensions, pain, boredom, travel or isolation. A predictable environment, steady forage access, gentle movement and emotional safety all help calm the hormones that keep EMS horses stuck.

Grass management – realistic, compassionate and pressure-free

Grass itself isn’t the villain – horses evolved to eat it. 

Modern grass, however – fertilised, rye-heavy, fast-growing and sugar-rich – is simply too potent for many metabolic horses.

This doesn’t mean EMS horses must live on moonscapes. It means we set boundaries that work with their biology: 

• track systems
• careful strip-grazing
• routine turnout windows
• grazing muzzles where appropriate
• avoiding frosty mornings and growth flushes...

You can’t supplement your way out of unsuitable grazing, but you can plan around it. Diet and environment remain the treatment – the supplements are the scaffolding that help everything hold steady.

• Low ESC + starch hay
• Balanced minerals
• No grain
• No processed feeds
• Remove pasture until stable
• Reintroduce grass only when insulin sits safely
• Test insulin at appropriate times – never during pain, stress or dietary upheaval, and as for that fasting-insulin test - fasting a horse will stress them quicker than a cresty cob can spot you carrying the feed scoop...

Pain management – the overlooked metabolic trigger

Pain raises cortisol, and cortisol raises insulin. This alone can push a horse already teetering on a metabolic edge into dangerous territory.

Dr Kellon and others have shown that horses in pain – whether laminitic, colicky, wounded or orthopaedic – often demonstrate elevated insulin, ACTH and cortisol; not because their EMS suddenly worsened, but because pain itself is a metabolic stressor.

Testing during pain will always distort results - a comfortable horse is a safer horse – emotionally and metabolically.

In short?

An EMS horse doesn’t need restriction (aka punishment) – it needs a lifestyle that honours their evolution.

When the foundations are right – forage, minerals, gut safety, movement, stress reduction and grass awareness – everything begins to shift:

• hunger softens
• the crest relaxes
• the feet stabilise
• the gut calms
• movement flows
• insulin steadies
• leptin starts making sense again
• fat pads melt
• laminitis risk falls
• the horse’s whole demeanour softens

Foundation first. Supplement support next. Ta-Dah!

If there’s one supplement that has earned its place in the metabolic conversation, it’s Acetyl L-Carnitine – or Alcar. 

Over the years, working with my own metabolic horses, I discovered that Alcar offered a level of support I hadn’t expected. Of all the tools I tried, it was the one that made me stop and think, “Well… that’s interesting.”

Anyone living with an EMS horse knows how impossibly stubborn the crest can be. You can improve gut comfort, settle pulses, support the gut, lighten fat pads, even improve behaviour and movement – but the crest? That hardened, hormonal ridge at the top of the neck clings on like its life depends on it. And in a way, biologically, it does.

A crest isn’t just “fat.” It behaves like an endocrine organ. Adipose tissue produces leptin, inflammatory cytokines, adipokines – an entire cocktail of hormonal signals that keep the horse stuck in hunger, slow metabolism and fat preservation. It doesn’t merely reflect metabolic imbalance; it drives it.

This is where Alcar steps in.

Alcar supports healthy leptin signalling – and leptin is the hormone meant to say, “We’re full now; you can stop eating.” In EMS horses, that message never reaches the brain. The signal is blocked, distorted or completely lost. The horse genuinely feels starving, even with plenty of weight on their body.

I first came across Alcar years ago (2014) through an old piece of research exploring its relationship with leptin. Then came a forum post from an owner sharing how her horse’s crest softened dramatically after several months of supplementation. It wasn’t a clinical trial – it was a real horse, living a real life, showing real changes. It was enough for me to try it, and the results I saw were striking.

Crests softened, appetite became less frantic - the whole metabolic picture seemed to become… calmer.

With Murphy in particular, the shift was extraordinary – his crest, solid for years, softened within weeks and never returned. Cookie’s took a little longer - around 6-months, but she had Cushing’s as well so that may have been a factor.

This is why Alcar has remained part of my metabolic toolkit ever since, because it supports one of the most overlooked aspects of EMS: leptin resistance. When leptin signalling improves, the changes ripple outward:

• appetite becomes ‘normal’
• the crest becomes less hormonally active
• fat pads begin to lose their dominance
• metabolic flexibility improves
• mood becomes steadier and less food-driven
• insulin stops swinging so wildly
• and a bonus - movement loosens and becomes freer – Murf went from short choppy strides to swinging his hips like Elvis!

Alcar doesn’t replace the foundations – forage, minerals, gut support, movement, grass management – but it complements them beautifully. For many horses, especially those with stubborn crests or intense hunger behaviours, it helps the metabolic system hear itself again.

And once that communication is restored, the whole metabolic picture can finally start to shift in the right direction.

By the time most owners reach this point, they’re usually feeling a mix of relief – finally it  makes sense – and overwhelm – but where on earth do I begin?

So let me simplify it for you.

Over the years, working with my own metabolic horses and hundreds of clients, we’ve refined a clear, functional-style framework that supports the gut, liver and hormones back into balance. It’s not about quick fixes or symptom blocking - it’s simply about giving the body the conditions it needs to recalibrate.

Here’s the step-by-step we use for every EMS horse we support, including our own, who were able to spend the last years of their lives on grass 24/7, with Murf reaching the grand old age of 31.

Step One – Detox: Clearing the metabolic cobwebs

Before we build anything, we clear the rubble.

Most EMS horses are carrying metabolic “debris” – a combination of gut dysbiosis, lactic-acid overload, toxin backup, sluggish detox pathways, liver strain, immune over-activation and the general inflammatory buzz that pulls hormones out of balance. If we try to support the metabolic system without clearing this first layer, everything becomes harder.

This is where OptimaCARE comes in. It’s your metabolic reset button: gentle, thorough and designed to help the horse clear out inflammatory waste, settle – and stabilise - an irritated hindgut, reduce immune overactivity, support the liver and, and reopen detox pathways that have been running on fumes for far too long. It lays the groundwork for everything that follows.

A quick but important note —

*** If your horse is currently laminitic or in acute pain, don’t detox just yet. Pain pushes insulin and cortisol higher, and detoxing during that time places extra demand on a system that’s already shouting for mercy. Wait until your horse has been walking comfortably for a fortnight.

Step Two – Fix the feedbowl: removing the hidden disruptors

This is where the real transformation begins – genuinely, about eighty percent of it.

Most metabolic horses are eating something that keeps their system inflamed or hormonally confused, even when the owner thinks they’re doing everything “right”. 

We see this every week: lovely people feeding “low sugar” or “laminitic-safe” mixes without realising the hidden ingredients quietly fuelling the problem.

So check the ingredients on your feedbag, because the following has to go:

• haylage – swap it out for quality meadow hay
• beet (molassed or unmolassed)
• wheatfeed, oatfeed, soya in any form
• molasses
• cereal by-products
• oil additions
• anything that tastes sweet
• “digestible fibre” mystery mashes

These feeds are notorious for driving insulin spikes, worsening leptin resistance, irritating the hindgut, causing microbial die-off and loading the system with more inflammation.

Once those are gone, the feedbowl becomes beautifully simple:

• ad-lib meadow hay
• a grass forage-based feedbowl (Agrobs is my personal favourite)
• and absolutely nothing sweet-tasting

Step Three – Balanced minerals: replacing the missing nuts and bolts

One of the great metabolic saboteurs in the UK is our forage. It’s consistently missing the minerals an EMS horse needs most – copper, zinc, magnesium, and omega-3s.

Without these micronutrients, the horse can’t regulate hormones properly, detoxification slows down, inflammation rises, hooves weaken, appetite becomes chaotic and insulin sensitivity quietly declines. This is why mineral balancing is non-negotiable.

Our VitaComplete provides everything missing from a hay diet – including Omega-3 from linseed and your daily salt allowance.

Correcting minerals was one of the biggest game-changers for my own horses – Murf’s hooves, temperament and metabolic stability all shifted once the groundwork was right.

Step Four – Direct metabolic support

Once the detox and mineral base is in place, this is where the herbal work really starts to shine.

MetaTonic

Our flagship metabolic blend, created originally for Murf in and refined over the years with every EMS horse we’ve supported. It helps the body manage blood glucose, calm inflammatory pathways, support the gut-liver axis, settle metabolic stress, and cope with modern grass. Feed from early spring until the grass stops growing – many owners choose to feed year-round.

DuoBute

Your daily anti-inflammatory support layer. If hooves feel warm, if pulses rise, if the grass is flush-y, if your horse is sore or inflamed – DuoBute sits quietly and consistently in the background lowering the inflammatory load. That alone steadies insulin and protects the laminae.

Acetyl L-Carnitine (Alcar)

We talked about Alcar in the leptin accordion – it’s one of my secret weapons for softening crests, reducing fat-pad hormone output, easing food anxiety, supporting clearer metabolic signalling. and improving overall comfort and movement. I’ve fed it since 2014 and still wouldn’t be without it.

Step Five – MetaCOMBO: simplifying everything into one blend

Because EMS management can feel overwhelming, we eventually created MetaCOMBO, which brings the three metabolic pillars – MetaTonic, DuoBute and Alcar – into one simple blend.

One scoop, one feedbowl – and on subscription if you want it.

It supports blood glucose, calms inflammation, steadies the gut–liver axis, supports leptin signalling and appetite regulation, and helps crest and fat-pad reduction. Most importantly, it makes life easier for owners who are already carrying the emotional weight of managing a metabolic horse.

Step Six – Gut adjuncts for deeper support

Not every EMS horse needs these, but when they do, they’re invaluable.

BiomeTonic

I used it often with MacAttack. A couple of weeks every few months – particularly around grass flushes – can help keep the hindgut environment friendlier for the fibre-fermenting microbes we want, and far less appealing for the pathogens we don’t.

WildFed Prebiotics

Horses evolved to browse, and no question – prebiotic roughage diversity matters.

A handful of WildFed thrown over the hay or into the feedbowl gives the microbiome the mixed plant fibres it thrives on – leaves, roots, barks, mossy bits – all of which enrich hindgut resilience.

Step Seven – Salt: the forgotten metabolic nutrient

Salt is one of the easiest things to overlook and one of the most important for metabolic horses. It’s essential for hydration, nerve conduction, digestive function and metabolic signalling.

The rule of thumb is 4g per 100 kg bodyweight, and double that in hot weather or sweatier work. VitaComplete includes 10g per day, which certainly helps keep things simple.

Step Eight – Pain and testing considerations

Pain is a metabolic disruptor. It raises cortisol, which raises insulin – and suddenly a horse already on a metabolic tightrope becomes even more vulnerable.

A 2020 German study confirmed that acute pain causes markedly elevated cortisol and insulin resistance, so, if we test insulin or ACTH when a horse is sore, stressed, colicky or laminitic, the numbers become almost meaningless.

The horse needs to be comfortable before we interpret any metabolic labs. Even the stress of the vet’s car arriving can spike readings in some horses – so never blame yourself if you see a strange result.

In short?

Supporting an EMS horse naturally is a process – but a beautifully effective one.

The six-part framework I use:

1. Detox the system
2. Fix the feedbowl
3. Balance the minerals
4. Add targeted herbal interventions
5. Layer in gut and comfort support

…has helped my own herd, and hundreds of client horses since.

When we support the gut–liver–hormone axis as one connected system, the whole horse finally gets the chance to heal.