Anyone keep a laminitic out 24/7? I do!

Wooleysmum

Wooleysmum

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Just wondered! Wooley is having a great time at his new home. Out 24/7, no hay, no feed, no additIves, just strip grazed, non fertilised, non lush paddock with 2 other boys. No doubt he will come down with it again, but, boy, is he having a ball! Another world from constant stabling, nightmare cow grass and loneliness!! He is calm, easy to hack being a horse again. I KNOW I will pay for this!!
 
I kept a laminitic out 24/7 last summer, she just couldn't deal with the stabling. She spent 2 weeks in a stable sized field pen next to her girlfriends then we started strip grazing in a nicely chomped down field. She was sound within 3 days and back in light work 2 months later!
 
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Just wondered! Wooley is having a great time at his new home. Out 24/7, no hay, no feed, no additIves, just strip grazed, non fertilised, non lush paddock with 2 other boys. No doubt he will come down with it again, but, boy, is he having a ball! Another world from constant stabling, nightmare cow grass and loneliness!! He is calm, easy to hack being a horse again. I KNOW I will pay for this!!

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Wow sorry but i find that comment of "no doubt he will get it again" a bit hard to digest.
Im sorry but i would much rather my pony have a muzzle on and out for 8 hours than run the risk of getting it again.
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Been there with the muzzle and he still got it in his other yard( cow grass place) I am being pessimistic, he will be fine! He is in a new world now! He was on a farm and now is at a proper livery yard run by someone who knows how to manage the field well. The grass is too short for the muzzle and he would be demented.
 
Yes I have she has a piece of filed fenced off round her field house, which is mostly mud & roots, but has lots of soaked hay to eat. this has worked well for the past 5 years or so.
 
Sorry..... I understand your horse may become a little crazy when stabled... but the way u phrase it its like u know he will get laminitis again... why would you put your horse through pain? You do know what laminitis eventually does?
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i find its better to keep them stress free mine freaked when i put grazing muzzle on kept at it for a week and threw it out, he was so stressed and weak

So now he gets stripped grazing hacked or lunged once a day and weekends off when he came to me i had farrier out who said he was borderline to gettin lami hed been clear for 2 yrs prior, kpt him in school for 4 weeks on hay then put him back out in sparse field, farrier came back and checked sad he shud be ok to go out on grass just watch his weight, so now he gets nohard feed unless we rode then it was a handful of happyhoof u can see the difference in his pics

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I have 2 lami's out 24/7 in a whole field all year round, there fine! its just a case of finding what the individual horse can cope with. One of them has never had a bout since ive owned him, only discovered he had it when an x-ray for something else within the feet highlighted that he had laminitic changes too. And the other is weird, can cope with grassy fields, spring, autumn no problems, July however, you do have to be careful, but right now, hes in a field that isnt bald (but will be by the time his danger zone comes) he hates being stabled, so will only do this if he goes down, and he doesnt keep grazing muzzles on so thats no a choice, however again in the whole time ive owned him he has only had one bout, which is when i discovered he had suffered reguarly in the past!
 
There was an article somewhere (I think it was on the D&H website?) about the change in the makeup of the grass at different times of the year, and how laminitics can cope with the grass......though they were saying that June was the worst month? Interesting though. If only they could find a definitive answer.
 
You are doing the right thing to strip graze and exercise. Stabling at night can be helpful as he'd be eating hay not grass, but avoid a starvation paddock as my dartmoor got sand colic from eating the sandy roots. Try Homeopathic remedy Belladonna 30c from Nelsons as a preventative and at the first signs, warm feet and increased pulse. If you need to fertilise use a slow release fertiliser like paddock royale not dear old 20-10-10. Also thrashed rye grass is a good substitute for hay and is supposed to have little or no feed value, so it could be fed during a bout of laminitis while the horse is stabled.
I had a pony at school livery that got laminitis due to change of feed to a veteran feed, change of work level from 8 hrs a week to 0 and out 24/7 in May after heavy warm rain having previously been stabled at night. Following a careful regime with no sudden grazing or feed changes he never got laminitis once when he came home with me. Having had laminitis once is not a life sentence and my old fellow lived to 30.
I think horses need to be out with others and grazing for their mental welfare. Just stay watchful and check his feet every night.
Good luck
 
I thought my laminitic would be alright out in the winter 24/7 on not fantastic grass.
Wrong, the frost caused laminitis, according to the vet.
I graze her on a bareish paddock with tiny feed of 16+ as she is hard to keep weight on. Has diahrea on hay, hi fi lite etc. She is an old girl with cushings and on pergolide. I watch her like a hawk and if she has to be in for any time I feed soaked alfalfa cubes.

Bit of a nightmare really and would love to keep her out 24/7 but have to vary things according to her weight and grass throughout the year.

I love her to bits and she is a sweety.

Jane
 
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Just wondered! Wooley is having a great time at his new home. Out 24/7, no hay, no feed, no additIves, just strip grazed, non fertilised, non lush paddock with 2 other boys. No doubt he will come down with it again, but, boy, is he having a ball! Another world from constant stabling, nightmare cow grass and loneliness!! He is calm, easy to hack being a horse again. I KNOW I will pay for this!!

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umm, you won't pay for it (other than in vet's bill perhaps) but the poor horse will. at the very least have him in, or in a starvation paddock, in the mornings when the fructans in the grass are highest, for your horse's sake.
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out with some grass overnight and in a starvation paddock during the day is a good plan.
 
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