Bl**dy Laminitis

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PC Steele

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:mad:My 17hh ID x has got laminitis!!!! I have never had a horse with this before :eek: He has to have pads on for two weeks then to the vets for x rays vet thinks it has been caused by hard ground, he is not fat and grazing isn't lush. Would appreciate any advice from people who have experience in looking after a laminitic horse:(
 
Box rest. Soak hay. No apples, definately no carrots, no hard feed.

Make sure they get enough soaked hay to keep the gut moving...... don't want impaction too.

Deep bedding, if only bed half the stable, rubber mat the rest.

Be patient!
 
It is just the worst thing :(.
Caring for my laminitic was like riding a roller coaster.

Just when I thought he was doing well, he'd take a turn for the worse.

My lad was bedded on deep shavings and didn't leave his stable for 8 weeks. He had soaked hay but I spread it over lots of little nets to try and keep him occupied.

The worst time was when he got a foot abcess and I thought that was the end. Thankfully, my fab farrier and vet worked together to get him right and I was able to ride him again.

I hope your lad isn't too bad and he makes a good recovery .... all I would say, is don't rush it.
 
My 12hh pony is now 20 and we play the laminitis lottery every year. He is not fat and is managed on a starvation paddock all year round. He hasn't had it for a couple of years and we thought we were managing well this year but the tiny bit of rain we had last week made the grass in his starvation paddock grow and within two days he was off his feet. I brought him into the stable with a deep straw bed and put him on half a bute a day (my vet is quite happy with me managing him as I've had 16 years experience of it with him). He has a big bucket of hi fi lite with just a few pony nuts twice a day and access to walk out of his stable onto a bare patch of ground. The first day he hardly came out of the stable but now he's managing to wander round a little. Another couple of days and he should be back to normal. I can't feed him hay as he has a dust allergy and I can't feed him haylage as it is too rich for him. We find this is the best regime that works for him. When he has fully recovered we will gradually give him a tiny section more of his starvation paddock (which is barely a third of an acre) but will probably not exceed half of it just in case. We have other ponies in it at the moment eating it off so there is no excess grass on it when we start to give him a little more room.
 
Thanks
I am devastated feel like I haven't been looking after him properly:( He is 18 yrs old. Hope this isnt the end dont think I can cope:(:(
 
Don't feel bad, there was an article in Horse and Hound recently which said that a number of factors had recently been discovered to be responsible for laminitis, eg soil composition etc. It's unfortunate but not the end of the world. It is distressing to see, I feel bad when my pony gets it but my vet agrees that there is nothing else I can do - his first episode we believe was brought on by hard ground too but it seems that he now can't tolerate spring grass at all.
 
Please don't blame yourself, I did this and it doesn't help. It's horrible and I really wish your lad all the best.

My mare, 16.1hh warmblood x had laminitis last March, she was stabled for 5months only coming out to be x-rayed. Like the poster said above it was like a roller coaster ride, I read everything I could and had a really good farrier and vet. I am riding her again but her management has all changed.

I bought matting and put down a deep bed of shavings, weighed and soaked her hay put it in a double net so it would last longer. I would go to the yard at regular intervals to hang haynets. I also fed her 1scoop of Happy Hoof am and pm on the advice of the laminitis trust and the vet, this was so she got some nutrients.
 
PC Steele said:
Thanks
I am devastated feel like I haven't been looking after him properly:( He is 18 yrs old. Hope this isnt the end dont think I can cope:(:(
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((hugs)) if you don't mind. It's a dreadful condition but hopefully and ime it's not the end. :)

I second the soaked hay and deep bed. I'd rinse the hay too and soak for a minimum of one hour preferably 12 hours. I'd also make a full bed of non edible conformable surface such as shavings minimum four inches deep. I wouldn't bed on straw in case he eats it.
You can contact Jackie Taylor here, she supplies diet sheets as well as advice for horses with metabolic issues. http://www.metabolichorse.co.uk/
 
Really don't blame urself its such a pain my pony has it at the moment i have been so strict with her as always... strip graze regular work watch her weight etc,etc then two weeks ago i clocked her a little foot sore and as i thought it had caught us i was soo annoyed both her father and full brother suffer with it so have always been so carefull even vet said she couldnt beleave it with my managment of her..its a long haul but as others have said be patient and all will be fine..Good luck
 
Your horse is at a vulnerable age for metabolic changes. There is probably nothing you could have done to prevent this.

As has been said, a deep supportive bed and good veterinary care will get you through this..
 
Thanks everyone

He is my ex police horse and although they are looked after impecably they spend 24/7 in the stable:( He has been semi retired now for three years and has been in field 24/7. He now absolutely loathes being in he is also very attached to his best friend a 27 yr old ex showjumper who is currently stabled aswell due to a bad reaction to a fly bite!!! However his mate will be going out soon which is going to be an absolute nightmare. He has started weaving which cannot be good for his feet?? Anti weave grill on order:) it is very very early days but if he has to be in he will be very unhappy. Is it possible for a laminitic horse to live out 24/7 ever again??
 
The secret will be in future to keep the weight of your horse down so that you can see his haunches and ribs.
While he has Laminitis keep him on a very deep bed and feed him one slice of one hour soaked hay every 4 hours.
Laminitis can be caused by so many different things such as Cushings Disease, an infection, stress, concushion on hard ground or surfaces, emerging encysted red worms etc.
 
PC Steele said:
Thanks everyone
Is it possible for a laminitic horse to live out 24/7 ever again??
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I'm not sure as every horse is different. My mare's management has completely changed, she used to be out 24/7 from March to October. This year I give her 1scoop Happy Hoof and a 5pm soaked hay net, she eats this as I muck out, then I ride her. About 11ish she is turned out with a muzzle and comes in about 5-6ish, she has her tea and her soaked hay and is in the stable until the next day. I might let her out longer mid July but at the moment I take things day by day.
 
PeterNatt said:
The secret will be in future to keep the weight of your horse down so that you can see his haunches and ribs.
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Thats not strictly true to be fair. Its an older horse, who in all likelyhood may have the onset of cushings....something weight will have little influence over. OP has already stated horse is not fat, nor on good grazing.
I would be asking the vet to test for cushings. If its positive the quicker treatment starts, the better the long term outcome for these animals is.
Nice deep bed all the way to the door, hay thats soaked for a minimun of twelve hours, though 24 is better with a water change half way through.
I assume the vet left you some painkillers for him.
Was he your horse in service? Lovely to think he has stayed with you all this time!
 
My much loved retired horse has also got laminitis this year despite having been extra careful and bringing him in during the day since mid March.

He is currently in during the day and in the sand school overnight - he is completely miserable if he is in 24/ 7. Although not as bad he is not completely sound.

I always said that if I couldn't give him a good quality of life I would have him put down. But actually making that decision is so difficult when he is a much loved 'pet'. So I really sympathize with your situation.
 
Ditto getting him tested for Cushings. My mare was 19 when she suddenly went down with laminitis. She wasn't over weight and wasn't out on lush grass. It was a very long haul getting her sound and it only really started getting better after she was tested for cushings and went onto Pergolide.

Like yours mine hates being stabled and is a weaver/box walker when stressed, which is hardly ideal. My vet agreed that my school would be fine as an alternative to stabling. Its a lovely soft supportive surface and she felt she was still 'out' so wasn't stressed. Might be worth asking your vet if you have a school.
 
I hark on about this a lot, but soak the hay for 12 hours, preferably with a water change half way through. This gets rid of the fructans and will turn the water a deep brown. You can then, with your vets advice, give him ad lib hay to keep him occupied and ensure gut movement. I would also bed on deep shavings right up to the door, as that is supposed to be the most cushioning, and consider feeding a pre and pro biotic with vits and minerals, the biotics to support return to normal for his gut, the vits etc as soaking the hay for so long will remove them. I believe pink powder contains all of these, but you will need something safe to mix it with, like unmollassd hay or straw chaff.
 
Agree with Naturally, 1 or 2 hours of soaking wasn't enough for my girl, despite what the vet said. 12 hours was the key
 
We have 3 that have suffered badly in the past, OH 16.3 and my 2 ponies, horse and 1 pony were fat, the other pony had concussion laminitis, brought on by hard ground. All three have lived out 24/7 for the last 2 years and we haven't had another attack in any of them since that first time (OH horse had it for several years, he hasn't had it at all in the 4 years we have been together). A deep shavings bed is best as when the pads come off the shavings support the foot. The ground is particularly hard up here at the moment, if yours is the same then that could have caused it, especially if he has been hooning around. There is absolutely nothing you could have done about that so don't be blaming yourself!

I know nothing about cushings (other than it is often present with Laminitis in older horses) as have never had any experience of a horse with it but those on here know what they are talking about so would recommend you have that test done just to know exactly what you are dealing with. When you horse' friend goes out would it be possible for you to build him an outdoor, stable sized pen alongside him, to stop him getting stressed, having said that, they do soon get used to being in even if they never really like it!

Good luck with him, it really isn't the end of the world and at least it can be managed, get into the habit of checking his pulses at least once a day as this can often indicate that something is not quite right and give you the heads up. If you start with that now, whilst they are 'up' and then learn how he 'feels' when they are normal it just becomes part of the daily check.
 
Naturally said:
I hark on about this a lot, but soak the hay for 12 hours, preferably with a water change half way through. This gets rid of the fructans and will turn the water a deep brown. You can then, with your vets advice, give him ad lib hay to keep him occupied and ensure gut movement. I would also bed on deep shavings right up to the door, as that is supposed to be the most cushioning, and consider feeding a pre and pro biotic with vits and minerals, the biotics to support return to normal for his gut, the vits etc as soaking the hay for so long will remove them. I believe pink powder contains all of these, but you will need something safe to mix it with, like unmollassd hay or straw chaff.
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Ditto this.

When Little Lad had his worst bout, he was on box rest for three months.

Day hay was soaked all night, night hay soaked all day (12 hours). Hay was ad lib. He lost a lot of weight in those three months. He had Bute every day, so had a handful of Happy Hoof to mix it in, plus Milk Thistle to try and help his liver against the possible Bute damage.

The bed must be deep shavings over the entire stable floor. The idea is that the way the shavings lie/form is what provides support to the soul of the foot. We've done it both with padding out the feet and with just the shavings.

Hope it goes well with your lad.
 
My pony is prone to laminitis. In 10 years he's had 3 bouts, 1 severe and 2 fairly mild. He's just getting over the last one now. For the 1st time he had ex rays as part of treatment and it was awful to see he had some rotation of the pedal bone (even though he appears sound) so he now has special shoes.

For the first few weeks he was confined to a deep bedded box (luckily a big box) with soaked hay, then we added some Hi Fi Light with a bit of Fibre Beet as a daily feed. Then after about 3 weeks he started going out in a small starvation pen which another horse had eaten down. He's now up to being out about 8 hours a day. We're about 6 weeks in with him at the moment, and his lami was caught well early, he was only a bit footy not even stancing.

Normally, he can take free grazing in late autumn and winter but from early spring to early autumn he must be restricted-he has the most amazing fencing because he kept jumping out.

Traditionally during winter he has been unrugged, but I am thinking of clipping him this year and then using a light or medium weight rug on him to see if we can keep more weight off him.
 
That sucks. Concussive laminitis is awful, my very first pony got this type we think when he was only a 6yo. He had it bad and was unsound for about 18 months, my parents spent a fortune on corrective shoeing etc. What really depressed him was the box rest, so we fenced off a hardcored yard right outside his stable (which we were going to do anyway) - instantly perked him up as he could go into his stable as and when he pleased. Id seriously recommend doing this if you can so they have some outside space (not on grass obviously), if they're depressed they aren't going to recoperate quickly IMO. On a good note, our pony came right eventually, and we kept lami at bay since, he even went on to do some pony BSJA for a while and he's still with me aged 25!! So even when its really really bad, there is a chance they can come right.
 
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