best management for laminitis?

Bowen4Horses

Bowen4Horses

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hi y'all

a friend of mine has just found out her horse is suffering with laminitis. she is GUTTED to say the least. she's always thought her horses were very well looked after (and they would be, if they were humans!). She feeds them, rugs them, puts them on the field with the most grass. etc. they really live a fabulous life of riley. never out if it rains, feed the best foods on the market, unrestricted grazing etc.

unfortunately this has (not surprisingly) led to laminitis in her big mare. vet has been out, diagnosed, and given her basic advice.

luckily i've never had a horse with laminitis so only know about the management of it through books/HHO.

can anyone point me in the direction of a good source of info for her please - or even a previous HHO post? or perhaps a list of things to do/not do whilst horse is recovering. and perhaps prevent it in future?

vet has advised box rest. i know she should be having a big deep bed to take the strain off? and i've told her to swap from straw to wood pellets. is that the right advice?

also, very soaked hay? eg 24hr or more? in small haynets? double netted? is that right?

i know she listens to me... but really i'm not the person to ask in this situation.

:D

choccy biccies for getting this far. thank you in advance. xxx
 
Oh dear, laminitis is truly horrible, but hopefully your friend has caught it in time.

Ideally the horse needs to be stabled on a deep bed of shavings I've never used wood pellets, but would imagine they'd support the same, the bed needs to be deep and right up to the door. Hay is best soaked for 12 hours, then rinsed off and fed. I've heard that soaking for 24 hours can make it go a bit rancid. Doesn't need to be in small holed nets unless you are wanting to keep occupied longer or restricting intake because the horse is overweight, in which case restrict intake to 1.5% of bodyweight a day.
Feeding from the floor is more natural for them. A good all round supplement will be needed too, something like Top Spec Anti lam, and also adding magnesium to the feed, although that should only be something like the anti lam or molasses free chaff/fast fibre type feeds.
I'd recommend contacting Jackie JA Taaylor at www.themetabolichorse.com she'll be able to give excellent nutritional advice.
 
Sorry to hear about that, iv not had much experience of lami but its important to have a low sugar,fat,energy type of diet but feed fibre, E.g. good quality hay, hifi good doer and a few fibre cubes maybe. My retired pony is positively huge and is on a strict diet as he cant do exercise, Do use small holed nets with a second net over it. Iv been warned about lami in my pony from the farrier so he only goes out in a starvation, dust paddock with a small hay net, hes actually loosing a decent bit of weight. As somebody above has already said feeding from the floor is more natural as it promotes good wearing of the teeth. But whilst this is good i think its more important to double net the hay and restrict it, not too much etc, they are natural grazers but if they finish the net it wouldn't do any harm to wait an hour for tea or something. I hope her mare is better soon!

Could i ask how big she is, im just interested as my mare is 15.3/16 and iv been warned about my pony and although she isnt as fat like he is, its made me wander and some people have said dont worry, shes tall they are not as likely so just out of interest how tall is she as what breed or type would you say the mare is, thanks :)
 
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Any horse can get laminitis. My 16.3 cob x TB has had it. Think in terms of human couch potatoes getting obese then getting diabetes i.e. too much sugary/fatty food with little or not exercise is the main culprit in both humans and horses.
 
The laminitis trust have loads of info, and you can call them too. You have to pay for the call but its well worth it.
My very laminitic pony has Top spec anti lam (recommended by my vet) and she hasn't had an attack since she started on it, but we also do restricted turnout, soaked hay and severe weight monitoring.
ACP helps as it increases blood supply to the hoof and also they lie down more, hence taking the weight off the sore bits. The use of it is inconclusive but my vet says that ponies seem to recover quicker having ACP as well as bute. I have both and feel ponies pulse twice daily and she goes on full deep bed box rest, ACP and bute at the first sign of a raised pulse.
 
my little pony had to be pts last jan :( :( :( due to lamenitis .... tell her to monitor the pony carefully!

once they get it once the become more prone too it she needs to work out to cause
- concussion from hard ground/jumping?
- hard feed - not being digested propery - too rich?
- overwieght
- there are many more but these tend to be the main ones

box rest is sensible bedded all the way to the door and fairly deep to cusion the feet.. special glue on shoes (about £120 for a front set) pricy i know really hepled my pony
also a suppliment from australia..! (£100) a pot i think a 3 month supple is very good if you want meore detailes i can find out?

laminitis trust website is very good and shavings and wood pellets are best so they don't eat the bedding

also after recovery its best if another horse eats down a patch i a field for the pony so that they are not eating to much grass. fence of a small area... the sugars in the grass are at the lowest at night so in the summer consider turnout at night
good luck too your friend ... i hope this helps :)
 
Humble said:
Any horse can get laminitis. My 16.3 cob x TB has had it. Think in terms of human couch potatoes getting obese then getting diabetes i.e. too much sugary/fatty food with little or not exercise is the main culprit in both humans and horses.
Click to expand...

that's a good way of putting it, thankyou :) I think my mare will be fine as i usually school her 5 times a week and lunge her once. I just wish my little pony could have the same exercise lol.
 
BeckyX said:
my little pony had to be pts last jan :( :( :( due to lamenitis .... tell her to monitor the pony carefully!

once they get it once the become more prone too it she needs to work out to cause
- concussion from hard ground/jumping?
- hard feed - not being digested propery - too rich?
- overwieght
- there are many more but these tend to be the main ones
Click to expand...

i suspect it's overweightness... despite regular exercise she's a big fat overfed porker (the mare, not my friend). my friend is a 'feeder' i think. she likes to show her love with food. everytime i go round there she feeds me! x
 
Moggyinmanolos said:
It is a truly horrible disease, I have first hand experience.
The laminitis website is a great source of information, perhaps your friend can have a little look on there.

http://www.laminitis.org/
Click to expand...

thank you. she needs all the advice she can. she still has two other (fat) horses out there, so it's a case of making her realise she CAN kill with 'kindness'. x
 
clipcloppop said:
i suspect it's overweightness... despite regular exercise she's a big fat overfed porker (the mare, not my friend). my friend is a 'feeder' i think. she likes to show her love with food. everytime i go round there she feeds me! x
Click to expand...

she needs to show her love another way!! my poor little man was eating loads of chaff with one handful of mix a day!
 
My laminitics are on poor, restricted grazing and fed Fast Fibre (which is BRILLIANT) and Safe & Sound twice a day. They also have Stand-Free supplement and also get fed plenty of soaked hay (just on the ground in their paddock). They are OK with it unsoaked but I soak it because it's quite dusty and one of them coughs if it isn't soaked. I also give them Equibites.

I really think Fast Fibre is wonderful - I discovered it thanks to another HHOer and it is pellets that soak in 60 seconds (you add twice the amount of water). Great for laminitics and very easy to mix supplements into.
 
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