Montyforever
Well-Known Member
I've noticed there's been lots of threads about laminitis reacently and it's been a year since my mare had it so I thought it might be helpful if everyone shared what they went through and everything since to give the people with horses suffering now some advice?
Right I'll start
I always kept a very close eye on my little mare as I was told before I took her on that she had already had a bout of mild laminitis. I lunged her regularly tried to keep her weight down and didn't put her on any good grass and she stayed lami free for over 2 years.
Then unfortunately in 2010 my anxietey got really bad and I ended up becoming agorophobic but for a while she still had her sharer exercising her until her sharer bought her own horse and moved
My mum was still looking after her as she's in with her mare but didn't have the time to exercise her so she got fat. I got very ill and didn't see her again until I came out of hospital in 2011 and even then I was just popping up as I couldn't stand for long and crutches and mud don't really mix! A few months later she was moved into another field and the extra weight and sudden flush of grass resulted in acute lamintis
Unfortunately being the awkward pony she is it was a bank holiday evening (she had colic on a bank holiday too
) and the vets told us to just make her comfortable and they would come out first thing but I wouldn't do that again, did not sleep that night at all!
The vet came out the next morning and she just looked awful, poor mare could barely walk and was obviously in a lot of pain and breathing very heavily and sweating but she wasn't rocking back. The vets diagnosis was laminitis in 3 feet but one front was particularly bad but no rotations yet and if we stuck to her instructions we should avoid that. Her advice was sedaline, danilon, only hay that had been soaked for 12 hours at least and Hifi light for the medicine. Not leaving her stable until she came back out in 2 weeks to check and a bed of shavings thick and to the door. Those 2 weeks were agony. So do horrible to watch your pony in that much pain even though you are doing all you can, she's a stressy mare and normally would be charging around her stable after one day but she just stood there looking so depressed it was horrible the only plus was she actually ate her feed! Normally feed with anything unusual in it is left. She slowly started to eat a bit more hay and everyday after the first week she was looking more comfortable after the 2 weeks the vet came back, she was walking slower than her normal march still but a million times better than the first day. Vet said in a couple of days she could go out in a pen for an hour but no more until she was ready and to keep an eye on pulses etc but she didn't need X-rays! 
I was over the moon at this point I think anyone who saw my mare on the first day she had laminitis wouldn't be putting bets on for a good outcome ..
So for a good month she was kept on the same box rest routine but with an hour a day out. She lost a ton of weight which she still hasn't put back on but I'm happy I can just see her ribs now. Slowly we built up to 2 hours in the pen, then 3 but started having pulses at 4 hours during the autumn. Over the winter she was back in the main field for upto 5 hours a day. But when spring came back around we were back down to 2 hours and that's what she's still on now. But 100% sound, happy bouncing off the walls prancy pony
I don't think her turnout will ever be all day again, possibly not even half a day as she just cannot cope with the grass now. I'm very lucky to have another horse to keep in with her to keep her calm and settled.
All in all it has been a painful, scary, expensive and life changing experiance for both of us. She will never be the easy welshie companion pony but she's got a home for life
Please please please remember prevention is so much better than cure!
Let's hear your stories then
Right I'll start
I always kept a very close eye on my little mare as I was told before I took her on that she had already had a bout of mild laminitis. I lunged her regularly tried to keep her weight down and didn't put her on any good grass and she stayed lami free for over 2 years.
Then unfortunately in 2010 my anxietey got really bad and I ended up becoming agorophobic but for a while she still had her sharer exercising her until her sharer bought her own horse and moved
My mum was still looking after her as she's in with her mare but didn't have the time to exercise her so she got fat. I got very ill and didn't see her again until I came out of hospital in 2011 and even then I was just popping up as I couldn't stand for long and crutches and mud don't really mix! A few months later she was moved into another field and the extra weight and sudden flush of grass resulted in acute lamintis
Unfortunately being the awkward pony she is it was a bank holiday evening (she had colic on a bank holiday too
) and the vets told us to just make her comfortable and they would come out first thing but I wouldn't do that again, did not sleep that night at all! The vet came out the next morning and she just looked awful, poor mare could barely walk and was obviously in a lot of pain and breathing very heavily and sweating but she wasn't rocking back. The vets diagnosis was laminitis in 3 feet but one front was particularly bad but no rotations yet and if we stuck to her instructions we should avoid that. Her advice was sedaline, danilon, only hay that had been soaked for 12 hours at least and Hifi light for the medicine. Not leaving her stable until she came back out in 2 weeks to check and a bed of shavings thick and to the door. Those 2 weeks were agony. So do horrible to watch your pony in that much pain even though you are doing all you can, she's a stressy mare and normally would be charging around her stable after one day but she just stood there looking so depressed it was horrible
the only plus was she actually ate her feed! Normally feed with anything unusual in it is left. She slowly started to eat a bit more hay and everyday after the first week she was looking more comfortable after the 2 weeks the vet came back, she was walking slower than her normal march still but a million times better than the first day. Vet said in a couple of days she could go out in a pen for an hour but no more until she was ready and to keep an eye on pulses etc but she didn't need X-rays! I was over the moon at this point I think anyone who saw my mare on the first day she had laminitis wouldn't be putting bets on for a good outcome .. So for a good month she was kept on the same box rest routine but with an hour a day out. She lost a ton of weight which she still hasn't put back on but I'm happy I can just see her ribs now. Slowly we built up to 2 hours in the pen, then 3 but started having pulses at 4 hours during the autumn. Over the winter she was back in the main field for upto 5 hours a day. But when spring came back around we were back down to 2 hours and that's what she's still on now. But 100% sound, happy bouncing off the walls prancy pony
I don't think her turnout will ever be all day again, possibly not even half a day as she just cannot cope with the grass now. I'm very lucky to have another horse to keep in with her to keep her calm and settled.
All in all it has been a painful, scary, expensive and life changing experiance for both of us. She will never be the easy welshie companion pony but she's got a home for life
Please please please remember prevention is so much better than cure!
Let's hear your stories then