4 hot feet and a bounding pulse

C

Christmas Crumpet

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Horses are never easy!!
Quick sum up - horse had shoes pulled last Monday and seemed quite happy. We'd started our in hand walking and were looking forwards. Until yesterday - I wasn't quite happy with him on his walk, got back and 2 feet were warm and he had a pulse I could feel quite easily. Kept him in and went to work.

Got back and his feet were all warm and all had a pulse. Gave him a bute and another 2 bales of bedding. Last thing before bed I checked him and all feet were hot and pulses very strong. So went to bed in a serious grump. He seemed OK in himself but a bit reluctant to pick up feet.

This morning feet are all normal and I can only just feel a pulse so normal I guess. Picks them up fine.

He will stay in for as long as necessary but where do I go from here? An hours turnout at night with his muzzle on to start with? Just goes to show how much shoes mask things I guess!!
 
Limit his grass. I would keep him off it until he is completely better then gradually increase but with the majority of his forage being hay. Is there anywhere you can turn him out without grass?
 
We have a concrete yard he can walk about in but no bare paddock. The fields have just been rolled and harrowed so barely any grass in them. I rather foolishly turned him out in our 1/3 acre paddock which has a bit more grass in and clearly that was enough to do this to him!! And that was with a grazing muzzle on.
 
Is it normal with laminitis for the feet to go from hot with pulses to cold with minimal pulses to hot again with bounding pulses in the space of 24 hours? Horse has been in the stable on a deep bed since yesterday morning - nothing has changed. 2 year old hay being soaked for 12 hours.

Just spoke to vet who said it was a bit odd. He's coming at 8 am tomorrow so hopefully will know a bit more then but curious to know if anyone else has anything to share!!!
 
I have read that foot temperature is very unreliable as a symptom of laminitis. The reluctance to pick feet up and bounding pulses would ring alarm bells with me.
 
What was the reason for taking his shoes off? When a horse of mine developed laminitis, I took advice from the Laminitis Trust, they say that heat in the feet is not significant, pulses are but could also indicate an abscess. I let my mare stand outside her box each morning while I mucked out, they advised against this and so I mucked out around her and kept her stabled in deep litter. My mare would not eat soaked hay and they told me it was not essential to soak it.

I would wait and see what your vet says. I hope all goes well.
 
I took his shoes off as he doesn't have the best feet and also because he is on holiday. I wanted to give him a chance to start growing the feet he should have so was starting walking him out in hand quietly.

He has been muzzled when out and is on 12 hour soaked hay.

It just seems strange that there has been such a difference in his feet in 24 hours. I am treating it as though he has laminitis as it's the safest thing to do. He quite happily picked up his feet for me to clean them earlier when I got home from work.

I've never had one with laminitis before so this is a first - or should I say one without shoes where I'm sure it might be!!!
 
I would get him some boots and pads - if he has been shod for some considerable time he will have been walking on the hoof walls, with nothing except the laminae to support the pedal bone. Presumably he was trimmed when his shoes came off and suddenly he is walking on walls, soles and frogs that aren't up to the job because they haven't been conditioned to be thick and fibrous. If he now has "subclinical laminitis" i.e. too slight to present acute pain, it probably means the laminae aren't up to the job of supporting that pedal bone and need help. It is all here http://www.thelaminitissite.org/laminitis.html, well worth reading. Were there pulses in all four feet?

Lol -HP- beat me to it :)
 
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carolineb said:
Horses are never easy!!
Quick sum up - horse had shoes pulled last Monday and seemed quite happy. We'd started our in hand walking and were looking forwards. Until yesterday - I wasn't quite happy with him on his walk, got back and 2 feet were warm and he had a pulse I could feel quite easily. Kept him in and went to work.

Got back and his feet were all warm and all had a pulse. Gave him a bute and another 2 bales of bedding. Last thing before bed I checked him and all feet were hot and pulses very strong. So went to bed in a serious grump. He seemed OK in himself but a bit reluctant to pick up feet.

This morning feet are all normal and I can only just feel a pulse so normal I guess. Picks them up fine.

He will stay in for as long as necessary but where do I go from here? An hours turnout at night with his muzzle on to start with? Just goes to show how much shoes mask things I guess!!
Click to expand...
I lost my mare of a lifetime to Lami

My ponies are at risk and we turned out 9am and brought in 1pm strip grazed them daily moving fence up 2 ft every 2 -3 day. Now after colic the other day the vet advised we move the strip 1 ft every day and leave out all day. So far so good, soak hay 24 hrs and speak to vet about feeding

All the links advice and help I got from here and elsewhere is all here for anyone to view in case it helps http://horse-care-and-advice.weebly.com/l.html
 
Vet has just been and says he can't see any sign of laminitis. Feet are cold again, no pulses, legs cold, no reaction to hoof testers (and he really pressed them hard!!), horse walking and trotting fine on the hard and turning in a tight circle on the concrete. Seems very strange. He has asked me to check him once I get home from work and if feet hot again and pulses easily felt then he will come out again. Horse hasn't had bute for 24 hours and has been in on a deep bed and soaked hay in a double net.

Vet thought it could have been a very minor flare up after day out on better grass and that his feet might be coming back to life after shoes pulled but didn't think signs would have gone that quickly. It is all rather strange. The horse has been in on a deep bed for 48 hours so why on earth the change during the day with feet compared to the night? I know the air temperature is colder at night but surely it can't have had that much of an effect?
 
The vet will be coming back later if there is heat and pulses again in the legs. It just seems very strange that there is such a difference first thing in the morning with cold feet and no pulses to evening time when everything is hot again and the horse hasn't even moved out of his stable. If he does have laminitis and inflammation in the foot, surely the heat and pulses would be constant?
 
When I took Jams' shoes off, we had boiling feet on and off - no discernible pulses, though. No reaction to hoof testers. Feet hot in the morning, cold in the evening. It went on for a few days. And still does occasionally. She's going through a bit of a footy period (we are in that 6 - 8 weeks period after shoes off) and again, feet warm in the morning. She's stabled over night with soaked haylage. I've continued to walk her as she's not crippled and by the end of the walk, feet are cool all over and she's moving freely.

I think it's their feet waking up. I've put boots back on her in the field and she seems to be finding things a bit better for doing so.
 
can you fence off a patch and put some other horses on it so they can graze it down!! I wouldn't risk putting him back out if there is lush grass as he sounds like he was affected quite quickly! keep him in, give him some soaked hay until you can put him on bare patch!
 
Kezzabell2 said:
can you fence off a patch and put some other horses on it so they can graze it down!! I wouldn't risk putting him back out if there is lush grass as he sounds like he was affected quite quickly! keep him in, give him some soaked hay until you can put him on bare patch!
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You can borrow my 2 anytime, they have already eaten their way through their holiday field!

I cannot promise however that the Moose would not gallop about!
 
Kezzabell2 said:
can you fence off a patch and put some other horses on it so they can graze it down!! I wouldn't risk putting him back out if there is lush grass as he sounds like he was affected quite quickly! keep him in, give him some soaked hay until you can put him on bare patch!
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Unfortunately he is at home on his own and OH not keen to borrow anything from next-door. Nor is he being very forthcoming about me using sheep in the paddock at the house simply because his dogs which are kennelled go mental all day if they can see sheep!! However, OH has said he will mow the offending paddock flat to the boards but that I can turn horse out in the newly rolled and harrowed field which is more brown than green and I will section off a 20 x 20 m patch for him to go out on. He will go out with a muzzle on overnight and in during the day with soaked, double netted hay. I will keep him in for a few more days just to make sure even if nothing looks suspicious this evening.
 
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