ECEIM consensus statement on equine metabolic syndrome

Dear Editors, Durham and colleagues' 2019 consensus statement on equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) which you published in January 2019 is a much‐needed article to help promote understanding of EMS, promote evidence‐based treatment strategies, and help veterinarians give practical evidence‐based information to their horse‐owning clients. There is no mention of forage energy content in section 7.1, despite the title of the section being “dietary energy restriction,” apart from the reduction of energy intake to 64%‐94% of maintenance via reducing dry matter intake. Referring to soaking hay, limiting to a 1‐ to 2‐hour soak is recommended by the authors yet there is no good evidence that this significantly reduces NSC or energy to a level that would reduce the glycemic and insulinemic response and make the forage suitable for an EMS‐affected horse or pony.