Digital pulses?!

[sun21]

I have a 4 year old Welsh x who has been box rested for being trimmed to short by farrier (admitted by farrier) and then a potential bruise.

He’s not overweight and was in light work due to being backed slowly.
Never had any worries before the trim.

Box rested for a week due to soreness and digital pulses with soaked hay and then went back out but on limited grazing due to a flush of grass.
Came in lame in right fore one day around 2 weeks later, vet called out and said no response to hoof testers but digital pulses all round. Believed it was more likely he had thin soles and bruised himself on the stones out to the field or messing about in his field than laminitis but to treat as laminitis just in case even though the only evidence we had was digital pulses.
Which he had present the whole time since his trim and on box rest. They never really went away or down he’s got quite fine legs and can see all his veins easily. So we aren’t sure if this is normal for him or anything to be concerned about.

Another 2 weeks later vet was out to check him, he was sound and vet recommended front shoes due to thin soles he could see movement with pressure of hoof testers. Still negative to any pain with hoof testers.
Out 2-3 hours a day.

Now when I turn him out he has very very light pulses, takes a few minutes to find.
When I bring him in he nearly always has cold hooves and no pulses or again very light pulses.
When I come back in the evening to do him, 5-6 hours later he has more obvious pulses in hinds where he doesn’t have shoes.
Now could this be sub clinical laminitis or is he just a horse you can find pulses on?
Vet isn’t concerned, farrier is adamant he hasn’t had or got laminitis. No sign of it in his feet and says he’s going to have a slight raises pulse in hinds due to having thin soles. Vet is in agreement. Vet has also said because said horse can be a bit stressy stabled that the raised pulses in the stable could be because he gets stressed when I arrive and heart rate is up etc.
Which would make sense as to why he’s pulses are much better when he’s been and I bring him in, but can’t find any similar cases or evidence online to back this up.
I am not sleeping and so paranoid about laminitis.
Any opinions/advice would be great.
Thank you

 

[Britestar]

Personally I would treat as laminitis regardless.
Better to be safe than sorry.

I've just rebuilt my restricted pen, due to the grass flush. Pony has no pulses, but not risking it.

 

[sun21]

Personally I would treat as laminitis regardless.
Better to be safe than sorry.

I've just rebuilt my restricted pen, due to the grass flush. Pony has no pulses, but not risking it.

He is out on a tiny sectioned off bit of his field which has been grazed down. For max 3hours a day vet has said he could do longer but I am too worried to risk longer.
Would you carry on turning him out or keep in?
I have everyone around me telling me they don’t think it’s laminitis and making me feel like I’m going mad. I’ve lost one to laminitis years ago so I know how serious this is. Just the only thing confusing me is that when he was box rested his pulses were worse than they are now and never went down at all.
Thanks for your reply.

 

[smolmaus]

Personally I would treat as laminitis regardless.
Better to be safe than sorry.

This is always good advice.

This is a hard and strange one though, if the pony is doing "better" when turned out and stabling seems to make things worse. If pony is stressing when kept in and inflammation in the feet seems to also be worse, then keeping him in the stable might not improve "laminitis" which isn't always just caused by grass sugars. Is there any sign of him stocking up when he's stabled? If the trim was botched he could have some mild inflammation in the tendons that could be affecting pulses? I assume vet would have seen this though.

You could try boots for walking on gravel etc, they don't necessarily need to be working boots, something like the Shires temporary boots would be a cheap solution that might remove one variable of him keeping bruising his soles on the way to the field. I really feel for you, I would also be tearing my hair out with this one.

 

[Exasperated]

He is out on a tiny sectioned off bit of his field which has been grazed down. For max 3hours a day vet has said he could do longer but I am too worried to risk longer.
Would you carry on turning him out or keep in?
I have everyone around me telling me they don’t think it’s laminitis and making me feel like I’m going mad. I’ve lost one to laminitis years ago so I know how serious this is. Just the only thing confusing me is that when he was box rested his pulses were worse than they are now and never went down at all.
Thanks for your reply.

I feel very sorry for you negotiating this.
I have also had vets insisting a ( home bred, knew her inside and out) mare didn’t have laminitis, and thank goodness I insisted playing safe, because of course she did, just very early, imperceptible indicators - it’s frightening, and once they have succumbed (from whatever cause), so much more prone in future.

Several things: laminitis has other causes than overweight / too much rich food.
Stress and cortisol surge being just one, which was what actually finished this same mare off much later - a massive fireworks display for some 50th birthday - total local uproar, pets and livestock escaping everywhere, but within 36 hours she’d sunk in all four feet, whereas from the original episode, there had been no residual rotation at all. If your pony is stressing at being contained away from his pals, might explain the raised pulses, he is still very young, and youngsters happier outside with company.

Raised pulses are generally a more reliable indicator of any issue than warm hooves - I’d totally discount feeling for heat, very misleading.

But raised pulses can be caused by plenty of things other than lami! Including, box walking, zipping round the field, or getting stressed. As a rule of thumb, with my own Sec Ds, if I can even find a fetlock pulse, I would assume something wrong with that foot, but have looked after and dealt with plenty of other horses where really obvious digital pulses were the norm - you will definitely get to know what is usual for your animal.

Hoof testers, strong pinching in front of the frog and around, I used to think was fairly foolproof - but not necessarily, some are ridiculously stoic when laminitic, as experienced farriers and vets will confirm, although yours has got thin soles and therefore you would expect far more likely to respond to pinching if something suspicious going on inside the hoof capsule.

I do not believe he currently has laminitis, altho that does not mean he cannot develop it! And it doesn’t mean you should blindly rely on any vet or farrier, either.
If going to fully treat as laminitis, he needs to be confined inside, feet supported and bound, very deep bed, and kept largely immobile for weeks, with regular x rays, pain relief and very probably a lot of sedative to keep him from bouncing around and re triggering it - that is extremely stressful in itself, both for the horse and you, not to mention the expense, and genuinely sounds unnecessary at this time.

I would try and keep him outside and close to his friends as much as you can, give him plenty of hay / straw so he hasn’t just grass in his guts, and to prevent him getting ulcers, hangry or fretful for more grass and space.
Sounds like he already has a playpen, which you can keep incrementally extending to prevent him standing on bare ground / mud, and slowly integrate back in with his mates as the growing season closes.
Do use a lightweight rug if wet or cool since he won’t be able to run or exercise much in a small pen.
He would benefit from more activity outside a pen, maybe some hoof boots with Comfort Pad inner soles on the unshod feet, whether you are riding, leading, lunging whatever, but try and get back to ‘normal’ - you’ll both feel much calmer and happier.
Good luck!

 

[Beausmate]

Had you been checking his pulses before he was trimmed too short? If not, what you have now might just be normal for him. Shoes do affect the circulation in the hoof, so will feel cooler than a bare hoof and exercise will increase blood flow, so you might be able to feel the pulse more easily and the feet will be warmer.

I have a very thin-skinned TB with an easy to find pulse and a PPID cob who is very, very difficult even when she is footy. It is tricky when you don't know what is normal for that horse. I would say if your vet and farrier aren't concerned, don't worry too much about the pulse unless it changes and focus more on how the whole horse is in itself.

 

[Beausmate]

Deleted - double post.

 

[sun21]

Thank you all for your replies, I do wonder if the raised pulses could be due to the stress of being in.
I feel like I’m damned if I do damned if I don’t.
We have farrier out to the yard on Monday, I will get him to check him over again for peace of mind.
I just want to get these pulses more under control I think and I do think he’s benefitting from having small turnout daily. I’ve noticed a huge difference in him since he’s been able to go out, it’s a lot to ask a young horse to be away from his friends.

I had checked his pulses before all of this and I could feel very very light pulse but not anything that rang alarm bells. He is fine legged so easy to find where they should be.

 

[Landcruiser]

I would suspect that standing in worsened his pulses due to stress but also due to the immobility. It sounds like he's also in a small pen. I would be wanting to get this horse moving in boots with thick pads, handwalking at least once a day, and for as long as you have time to do. This will help to build sole and also increase circulation and help to drain the lymphatic system.