Help, baffled by Laminitis Advice

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Hi
I have a shetland who has previously had low grade laminitis, which I am keen to keep an eye on and prevent happening again. Unfortunately I work full time and cannot bring in and out of the paddock every 4 hours as many suggest. It also stresses her out being away from the others for any length of time and this could contribute to laminitis.

I am reading conflicting advice all the time about the management of laminitis and my head's spinning.
1/Graze in a sparce paddock vs don't allow them to graze in a sparce paddock as new shoots contain the most sugar.

2/Strip graze vs don't let them have any grass (soaked hay only)

3/ Keep them in and feed hay vs Put them out for exercise.

:confused:

Any advice for a busy horseowner would be gratefully accepted.

P.S. I'm concerned that sparce or restricted grazing, might not provide all the nutrients she needs, so what if any supplements/vitamins should I be giving.

Many thanks
 
The best thing you can do is speak to the laminitis trust. There are so many conflicting views on HHO as to how to manage\prevent laminitis that it will just send your head into a spin!!! :D

Better off speaking to the experts direct IMHO!!
 
Yup, Laminitis Trust are good :)

We've managed a laminitic pony by:

Trying him in an electric fenced pen, which he got out of three times (despite us attaching poles to poles to increase the height, and criss-crossing the tape!), then he started hedge hopping (impressive heights for a 13hh pony), so we kept him in for a day and a night and turned out for a day and a night, and that worked for him.

Now he's on two and a half acres with one other pony, the grass is not lush, but as there is plenty of space it's not stressed, so we don't have a grass sugar issue, so saying, all this rain and we're keeping an eye on the quantity.

No sugars. No stress. This is one chilled pony lol.
 
Speak to the Laminitis Trust.

Re the conflicting advice, my Section A would be crippled by either of the latter two regimes outlined by Mrs M which obviously work for her pony and for many others. However mine is managed fine in a smallish area that has previously been heavily grazed. She's been with us for 10 years now and only has trouble if she's allowed out on decent grass for a matter of a very few hours. She is however kept so you can see her ribs and comment from others has caused her new loaners to think that she needed more grass and to put on weight. She's now stabled 23 hours a day with minimal hay and in a starvation paddock the other hour to get over suspected laminitis. Apparently, according to the loaners "knowledgeable friends", the regime I had her on was cruel. Personally I think that preventing laminitis successfully for years by restricting grazing not turnout is far less cruel than allowing the pony to get laminitis and then restricting grazing AND turnout. Bitter, moi? Well I'm bitterly upset for the pony who loves being able to get out and about and didn't deserve the pain.

However, the Laminitis Trust will no doubt have some good advice as to what would suit your pony best and fit in with what you are physically able to manager.
 
I too work all day and have a pony who's had laminitis in the past. I have enlisted a friendly neighbour to help me while I'm out - is there anyone you could ask to help you?

Would your pony wear a grazing muzzle? This will reduce the amount of grass she can eat, maybe she could wear this while you are at work?

As far as vitamins & minerals go, mine is on a permanent diet and I give him a low calorie feed balancer as I was worried about him not getting enough vitamins.
 
From what I can gather, it is a case of individual arrangements suiting individual horses.

My horse has had lami in the past, about 3 times. Now, he goes out on a field with a medium coverage of grass, for a few hours, with maybe the odd day in off the grass. He gets exercised 6 times a week. He has haylage, but is fed Happy Hoof. Touch wood, this seems to suit him, although other laminitics on our yard are fed only soaked hay and turned out all day on a bare paddock, which suits them.

I would echo the advice to contact the Laminitis Trust. The other person who has been so helpful to me in my management of my horse is an independent nutritionist called Clare MacLeod. She would also be able to advise you regarding supplements, although you may find a general multi-vitamin like Equivite should be all you need.
 
I manage by keeping my pony in a small bare paddock during the day. At night he is in a stable and he has a small section of hay. He hates soaked hay and just refuses to eat it. He wears a muzzle when he goes out on a normal field and this allows him to do plenty of walking, but he eats through a hole the size of a 10p piece. He gets a supplement called Formula4Feet which is a good all round vit/min supplement but targets the laminitic animals and also horses who grow poor quality hoof.
 
Hi OP,
I manage my LGL prone pony by keeping him in a sparse paddock, supplementing with one slice hay per pony, per day. The paddock is about 1.5 acres (between 2 x 12hh), gets partial sun (some of it doesn't see sun until late afternoon!) and has trees overhanging, so he has sweet chestnut and a little beech, plus the usual nettles/thistles. Both ponies get one feed per day of Veteran Vitality mixed with a handful of Hi-Fi Lite and a 50ml scoop of Brewers Yeast, supplemented with haylage balancer as I divide one stubbs scoop of dry VV between 6 feeds. A bit of an overkill with supplements, perhaps, but he's full of beans and his feet remain unshod, so I'm reluctant to remove any of them!!

He's only ever had one LGL attack and was footy the year after, but after two summers on this regime (ok, this is the second summer!), his insulin resistance signs have reduced, he looks like a little thoroughbred (and behaves like one!!) and is full of vitality.
 
My late lami prone mare was kept pretty much as big red's above , out with a muzzle through the day , on a small bare patch , but i'd also give one cake of last years hay and a little chaff with formula4 feet which is good stuff for vits/mins and all the other things that mop up free radicals and toxins in the blood. An old wise horse lady that i know also gives a tablespoon of epsom salts once a week to clear out the system and reduce heat in the blood??? she swears by this and i have to say none of her champion show type ponies have suffered.
 
Thanks for suggestions
She grazes on an overgrazed paddock at present about 1 acre for 2xshetlands and 1 cob. She runs around plenty and showing no signs of lameness.
If I give happy hoof on top of her grazing once a day, do you think it will increase her weight?
 
In general, equines need trickle feeding, so this is one issue, keeping things moving.
We know sugars / fructans are a big culprit in laminitics, so keeping them off anything like lush green grass is imperative, this occurs particularly in spring and again in autumn.
In general most horses and ponies in the UK are kept in good to obese condition; with lamintics it is best to keep weight down to a degree, as the more weight they have to put on their feet the worse things get.
Vitamins and minerals are needed for various reasons, and you may have to feed extra in a molasses free chaff as it is possible that you will have to feed less concentrates than recommended.
Feedmark do a sugar free supplement .. ant-lam or some such.
In the wild, horses and ponies would "collect" vits and mins free ranging for miles over plains and moorlands with herbs and bushes.
With elderly horses in particular, you have to make sure they can chew ie. teeth rasped.
The farrier play an important role as he is expert in identifying changes in feet, also if possible consider taking off shoes, and exercising at a walk to get the circulation in the feet and legs working at an optimum.

Here is one example of an extreme but successful regime for a Shetland:
Kept on a very large fenced off area [a farmyard] with concrete and with bark, fed little piles of soaked [hi fibre low sugars] hay at the barked areas, which are spread out to encourage exercise.
Second example [three ponies with expertise in breaking out]
In at night with soaked hay nets, enough hay to keep them going from five pm to 7 pm then another net at 9 pm. bedded on deep shavings, fed a meal of Fast Fibre at 8.00 am then turned out in to their starvation paddock for the rest of the day, water buckets kept at furthest distance from the hedge back where they tend to graze. Well fenced with electric fence.
 
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Happy Hoof should be fine fed in the quantities recommended on the bag - or even a little bit less if you want to be sure! It is approved by the Laminitis Trust.

I went on a Laminitis Awareness day at the Royal Vet College and it was fab. With regard to the grazing on sparse grass debate, it has all got a bit muddled with what is correct but one thing they said is that the worst advice they ever gave was to NOT graze on bare fields because the grass was more stressed and therefore more sugar. People then turned out in normal fields believing them to be better, and there was a huge increase in the number of laminitic cases that year.

So although short grass may indeed have more sugar on a percentage basis, they can't actually get very much of it, so they are still getting much less sugar than if they were on normal grass. Hope that clears up q.1.

Sugar levels rise gradually from dawn and drop gradually once the sun goes down, so nighttime grazing would be lowest sugar, but if they are out from say 8pm untl 8am that is still 12 hours of solid grass. I turn my not so fat lamis out all night, and my very prone slim gelding (he has EMS) goes out in the morning as early as I can, and bring him in around lunchtime.

So you could either turn out as late as you can and bring in during the day, or strip graze and leave out all day if your paddock is bare enough. To get it barer, turn them all out for a few days on one area, then use that as the lami paddock/strip.

I believe in quality of life and although keeping a pony in would minimise its risk more effectively, I question whether that is a fair way to keep a pony. I prefer to keep trying different turnout regimes until one works for me and the pony.
 
MrsD123 said:
In general, equines need trickle feeding, so this is one issue, keeping things moving.
We know sugars / fructans are a big culprit in laminitics, so keeping them off anything like lush green grass is imperative, this occurs particularly in spring and again in autumn.
In general most horses and ponies in the UK are kept in good to obese condition; with lamintics it is best to keep weight down to a degree, as the more weight they have to put on their feet the worse things get.
Vitamins and minerals are needed for various reasons, and you may have to feed extra in a molasses free chaff as it is possible that you will have to feed less concentrates than recommended.
In the wild, horses and ponies would "collect" vits and mins free ranging for miles over plains and moorlands with herbs and bushes.
With elderly horses in particular, you have to make sure they can chew ie. teeth rasped.
The farrier play an important role as he is expert in identifying changes in feet, also if possible consider taking off shoes, and exercising at a walk to get the circulation in the feet and legs working at an optimum.

Here is one example of an extreme but successful regime for a Shetland:
Kept on a very large fenced off area [a farmyard] with concrete and with bark, fed little piles of soaked [hi fibre low sugars] hay at the barked areas, which are spread out to encourage exercise.
Second example [three ponies with expertise in breaking out]
In at night with soaked hay nets, enough hay to keep them going from five pm to 7 pm then another net at 9 pm. bedded on deep shavings, fed a meal of Fast Fibre at 8.00 am then turned out in to their starvation paddock for the rest of the day, water buckets kept at furthest distance from the hedge back where they tend to graze. Well fenced with electric fence.
Click to expand...

Totallly agree with this advice...dont starve but give basic hay small amounts/trickle feed. Keep off the growing grass and grass etc if poss basically ie on a very bare paddock if need be. But hay in small quatities at regular intervals is fine. Stable double net small holed hay net.If you are working put a small quantity of hay in morning and then at night.
 
Thanks Llewellyn
I find the quantities of happy hoof are too precise for my regime.
it either refers to feeding alongside weighed forage or 4 hours grazing, which I'm not doing as any strict regime. So it's a guestimate at present I'm afraid.
I'm giving 2 handfuls at night and keeping an eye on her weight. She is out all the time in a sloping paddock so hopefully with lots of exercise for her muscles. Her hooves are checked regularly by farrier every 6 weeks or so when I have my cob shod, and they appear in good condition at present, but seem prone to splaying.

Her coat hasn't shed as quickly this year either and she still has some winter coat on.

They have lamicare licks in the field which contain magnesium among other vits so I;m hoping they are not nutritionally compromised.

Thanks for all the advice, just need reassurance that I'm not being too cruel or too kind.

:rolleyes:
 
My LGL prone mare's management changes through the year. When the grass comes through (well before the grass comes through properly) she's muzzled during the day and out at night unmuzzled. Then when the paddock gets too sparse for muzzling she's out without muzzle. If there's no more growth / no more rain that's it for her for the summer, if she's in she has a small amount of hay, soaked if it's good hay, and unsoaked if it's "poor" or really old hay.

This year we've had a lot of rain over the last few weeks which has caused the previously sun scorched field to grow again, however the grass isn't long enough for her to be muzzled. So she's out during the day and in at night at the moment. If it gets really hot during the day I'll switch that around to being in at day and out at night.

She goes out with my other mare, who's not LGL prone at all which is why they're in overnight as that suits the other mare better. My life can be a bit complicated having 2 such different mares to manage in one field !

This year I've been feeding cinammon and have found it really helps her to avoid any footy episodes. I've also switched feeds and she's fed a handful of dried grass and Thunderbrook Equine's base mix. Both are barefoot.
 
It definitely seems to be to go cautiously and try to figure out what is right for each horse.

If LL has to be in for any length of time, he has ad lib hay, but it's been soaked for twelve hours. He lost weight when he was on that regime (three months box rest for the worst laminitis bout). Also had Happy Hoof for his vits and Bute.

I hope you (OP) finds the right route for your lad; laminitis is so horrible :(
 
My mare had laminitis last year, I rang the Laminitis Trust and they gave good advice.

My mare shares a heavily grazed paddock with a cob, I did worry about this but 'cross fingers' everything seems to be ok at the moment. I was advised to weigh my mare and to give her 1.5 percent of her bodyweight. She has a 1scoop of Happy Hoof am and pm and her hay is weighed and soaked for 12hours. I excercise her every morning then turn her out muzzled for 5-6hours, she is then stabled at night with her soaked hay. This routine seems to work for her really well.
 
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