Frost = horse in

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pottamus

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Does anyone else have to keep their laminitis prone horse in because of the frost?? Following a bout of laminitis in Aug/Sept my vet has advised me that for this winter I need to keep my horse off frosted grass...which I have no problem with at the moment as we have only had one frost and it is due to warm up and rain for the rest of the week.
It is going to be tricky though when the frost sets in every day as I do not really want him in day and night endlessly. I work full time an hours drive away so putting him out once the frost has thawed is not an option...what does everyone else do? Perhaps I will have to find someone and pay them to turn him out at lunch? I am not on a yard but a private field you see...any other ingenious ideas?
 
Frost is no problem for us as we have no grass! No rain in August & Sept meant that our winter paddock only grew an inch or two and that has now gone. So its hay hay hay for my guys. Have you not got a patch you can graze bare and turn out on on frosty days?
 
You are absolutely right to keep him in when there is frost on the ground. It is an extremely dangerous time
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If you can find someone reliable to turn him out later for you that would be ideal.

I take it he is doing well?
 
Yes, he was given the all clear some weeks back and I have been strip grazing him in the day and slowly increasing the amount of grass he has under vet instructions. He is in at night every night for the forseeable future. Touch wood...he is doing well and is due to have his aluminium heartbars replaced with steel so I can start taking him out for short walks up the lane...again...on vet instruction.
 
So sorry to hijack the post, but what if turn-out is restricted - ie a couple of hours a day, 3 times a week? Is that also dangerous?
 
Can you make a small turnout area in front of his stable at all? That way he could stay in, but still be free to amble about if he chooses? As well as the sugars being a problem,a friends laminitc struggles when it's frosty because the hard ground makes him "footy" due to the pedal bone rotation.So, they have now done a small electric fence wandering area infront of their stable for the pony, which seems to help.
 
Sugar levels (fructuns) are increased therefore very bad for those lammi one's.

I found it difficult at one yard when it was frosty as the YO didnt give a stuff about the horses, just so long as she got her damn money each month, there was a sick paddock in the yard but if you had a lammi horse it was useless full of rubble and thick sucking mud, no grass but still...and we werent allowed to turn out without asking her...she was drunk most of the time, I had to ask someone to turn Merls out when the frost had gone but just for a couple of hours as the field he was in was very lush grass and we couldnt split it and it was only merl and a little welsh a that was muzzled....I left this place quick too...he also had a nasty bout of lammi there....

You really have to be so so carefull....
 
I can't remember the exact science behind it, but frosty grass has significantly higher fructans than it would normally have hence being even worse for laminitics
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Is there any way you can make a grass free turnout area outside his stable for frosty days? Either a mud/dirt area or wood chip/sand perhaps?
I have mine on a track which has been worn to mud/dirt with just very sparce nibblings of grass so don't need to worry about my laminitic...well no more than usual anyway.
 
When the conditions are frosty and sunny, fructans produced by photosynthesis are stored in the plant because the temperature is too low for growth. Fructan levels will depend on a number of factors and are difficult to predict accurately, so for laminitics it's probably not worth taking the risk. At least mine will stay in on such days.

For those who want to know more about fructan levels see the link below.


http://www.johnthevet.com/fructans.php
 
My laminitic gets put into the yard with hay so she can wander around, as others have suggested. She also has a micro-paddock for Spring and frosty mornings.
 
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