Munchkinfairy
New User
Hi, I am new on here, and was hoping for some advice on the dreaded Laminitis.
My story, so far:
My mare, a 16.3 Dutch Warmblood is now about 22. She was just doing basic schooling and being hacked out, nothing too strenuous. About 2 1/2 months back she suddenly developed a crab like walk and stand, so her bum and back legs were not in line with the rest of her and she was twisting her rear left hand leg walking. It was so bad by the time the vet came, we thought she would fall over. The vet said it was possible it was either a fractured pelvis or torn ligaments, and could have been done by falling over. She was out on full box rest and put on Danillon (which lasted 2 days). She is kept out most of the time, so unfortunately she went rather mad in her stable, so we had to leave the door open and tape off a small pen so she could come out and see her friends, and she was put on ACP. A couple of weeks later we called the vet out again as she was showing signs of laminitis in the good leg, which was taking all the weight off the bad side. She was lifting her foot up and standing with it far forward. The vet that arrived was a different one from the one I had asked for, which did not help, as she said she would have like to have seen her when she was first showing an injury, hence the reason I asked for the original vet!! Anyway, there was some laminitis and she said full box rest, with a deeper bed. We explained that she could not be locked up, as previously when we tried this she had got so stressed she had a touch of colic (forgot to mention that earlier), but she said, no, full box rest and upped the does of ACP. We did as we were told, and the next morning she was wet through, she had worn her neck down to the flesh with weaving, had torn the bad rear shoe off and was completely stressed out. It was so bad, and dangerous for us, we had to walk her down to the other horses and turn her out to get her to calm down. By the evening we took her back in and kept the door open, and penned the small area off again. We called the farrier to mention the laminitis, which is due to all the weight on it, and he came the next day to fit pads and wanted to know why the vet had not recommended it. Anyway, fast forward a few more weeks, farrier back out - there is bad rotation. Another pad is put on. Another couple of weeks and the original vet is back out, and is impressed by the original injury - back to normal, and the Physio that accompanied the vet is impressed too, so they think it was probably not a fractured pelvis after all. The vet checked the laminitis after speaking with the farrier and said yes it was pretty bad, but not he end of the world. She did not want to take x-rays as she knows it has already rotated pretty badly, but admitted she should not be walking, let alone wanting to stand on her leg with it this bad, so was a bit puzzled.
My question is the vet says it is not the end of the world and has seen worse cases where a horse has returned to being ridden. My farrier says she wil never be ridden again with rotation like this. I don't know what to think - has anyone else heard of horses being ridden again once they have suffered bad rotation? I don't know who's word to take, and I know whatever advice I get, it is still a long way off yet being anywhere close to even going on a lunge. Any advice would be great, thanks for reading all of this!
My story, so far:
My mare, a 16.3 Dutch Warmblood is now about 22. She was just doing basic schooling and being hacked out, nothing too strenuous. About 2 1/2 months back she suddenly developed a crab like walk and stand, so her bum and back legs were not in line with the rest of her and she was twisting her rear left hand leg walking. It was so bad by the time the vet came, we thought she would fall over. The vet said it was possible it was either a fractured pelvis or torn ligaments, and could have been done by falling over. She was out on full box rest and put on Danillon (which lasted 2 days). She is kept out most of the time, so unfortunately she went rather mad in her stable, so we had to leave the door open and tape off a small pen so she could come out and see her friends, and she was put on ACP. A couple of weeks later we called the vet out again as she was showing signs of laminitis in the good leg, which was taking all the weight off the bad side. She was lifting her foot up and standing with it far forward. The vet that arrived was a different one from the one I had asked for, which did not help, as she said she would have like to have seen her when she was first showing an injury, hence the reason I asked for the original vet!! Anyway, there was some laminitis and she said full box rest, with a deeper bed. We explained that she could not be locked up, as previously when we tried this she had got so stressed she had a touch of colic (forgot to mention that earlier), but she said, no, full box rest and upped the does of ACP. We did as we were told, and the next morning she was wet through, she had worn her neck down to the flesh with weaving, had torn the bad rear shoe off and was completely stressed out. It was so bad, and dangerous for us, we had to walk her down to the other horses and turn her out to get her to calm down. By the evening we took her back in and kept the door open, and penned the small area off again. We called the farrier to mention the laminitis, which is due to all the weight on it, and he came the next day to fit pads and wanted to know why the vet had not recommended it. Anyway, fast forward a few more weeks, farrier back out - there is bad rotation. Another pad is put on. Another couple of weeks and the original vet is back out, and is impressed by the original injury - back to normal, and the Physio that accompanied the vet is impressed too, so they think it was probably not a fractured pelvis after all. The vet checked the laminitis after speaking with the farrier and said yes it was pretty bad, but not he end of the world. She did not want to take x-rays as she knows it has already rotated pretty badly, but admitted she should not be walking, let alone wanting to stand on her leg with it this bad, so was a bit puzzled.
My question is the vet says it is not the end of the world and has seen worse cases where a horse has returned to being ridden. My farrier says she wil never be ridden again with rotation like this. I don't know what to think - has anyone else heard of horses being ridden again once they have suffered bad rotation? I don't know who's word to take, and I know whatever advice I get, it is still a long way off yet being anywhere close to even going on a lunge. Any advice would be great, thanks for reading all of this!
