Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) is a growing welfare concern in companion and leisure horses. Characterized by insulin dysregulation and obesity, EMS dramatically increases laminitis risk and requires lifelong management.
EMS represents a welfare crisis created by modern management of animals whose genetics evolved for very different nutritional environments. Ponies and native horse breeds that survived on sparse moorland pasture now live on improved pastures with high sugar content, causing metabolic derangement and severe, recurring laminitis. Laminitis causes some of the most severe and chronic pain a horse can experience. Prevention through appropriate caloric management — restricted pasture access, low-sugar hay, regular exercise, and body weight monitoring — is far preferable to managing established EMS and its laminitic complications. This is a welfare condition almost entirely created by human management choices.