Robin and Kurt graze May 1, 2016. The heat and humidity of 2016 nearly killed these two laminitic horses.

Post reviewed Sept. 13, 2026. Heat remains the biggest problem for my current laminitic horse. When I see extreme heat in the forecast, even in March, I set up his air coolers and fire up his fans to make sure I give him as much relief as possible.

There are many theories as to what is driving the insulin-resistant form of laminitis to record highs. The answer may be rising temperatures.

Researchers from The Netherlands published a study in March 2017 linking human diabetes to increased outdoor temperatures.

The researchers concluded that a 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature could account for more than 100,000 new diabetes cases in humans per year in the U.S. alone. The study appeared in the open access journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care.

Laminitis is on the rise throughout the world, according to many sources. Equine veterinarians repeatedly have chosen laminitis as their biggest challenge on surveys. And an annual U.K. equine survey estimated in 2016 that laminitis ranked second in equine illnesses in the country, behind lameness in general, and accounted for 6.8 percent of illness.

The insulin form of laminitis far outpaces other forms of the disease.

The Netherlands study authors took note of recent data showing that patients with type 2 diabetes who were exposed to moderate cold for only 10 days improved insulin sensitivity. They attributed this improvement to cold exposure activating brown adipose tissue, which combusts large amount of lipids to generate heat.

The researchers described their study as the first to assess the association of outdoor temperature with diabetes incidence and the prevalence of raised fasting blood glucose on a national and global level. They used 14-year longitudinal state-level data from the U.S. and showed the overall diabetes incidence rate is higher in warmer years. For each 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature, they found an overall increase in diabetes incidence of 0.314 per 1,000.

The rest of this post initially described how the weather was getting warmer. Ten years later, the weather has definitely gotten warmer. Enough said.