Hope your fatties are on lami watch!

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

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The grass in our area has gone from pale green, almost white to a deep deep green in the last 24 hours. Vet at the yard today said she had only treated lamanitic horses in the past 2 days. Its even affecting some 16hh's in our local area.

Just be extra vigilant - its a god awful disease - so if in doubt get em off the grass for a day or so
 
mine - inc 16.3 -are in every night just to get them of the grass - constant lami watch with little lass - jesus that horse survives on fresh air lol - but hey what you say is serious and to be noted by all :) xx
 
Yep, ours are always on lami watch and action taken with any changes in pulses, crests etc! I know immediately if something is amiss as I check both pulses and crests at least once a day and usually twice so recognise the slightest change in 'feel'. Our really susceptible ones are on starvation paddocks most of the year with hay to compensate.
 
Can i ask what you look for on the horses crests? Is it just a bulking out you're looking at or something specific.

dumb question but how do you check your horses pulses?

sorry for sounding thick but just interested
 
God, my little monster is getting cresty, constantly feeling the poor things feet for heat too.
She will be going on starvation strip soon.
 
fidgeuk said:
Can i ask what you look for on the horses crests? Is it just a bulking out you're looking at or something specific.

dumb question but how do you check your horses pulses?

sorry for sounding thick but just interested
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I check for how soft/hard they are, in the ponies they are usually soft, one gelding who was cut late has a brilliant crest but it is soft when he is healthy, if he is having too much grass then it starts to feel harder, if it feels really hard then chances are he has LGL! We don't allow this to happen. I check pulses just above the fetlock, where it begins to curve out (make sure you use your middle finger as it has no pulse), on the inside of the leg just backwards slightly from the centre and I check them on all 4 legs. Some are easy to find all the time, some are hard so if I find them easily then I know to take action with them. You need to get to know your horse and how it feels normally so that you can tell when it is 'wrong', by checking daily I know how they feel, what is right and what is possibly a problem. When there is a major problem the pulse tends to 'bound', feeling really strong and faster than normal, if this happened I would immediately remove them from any grass at all.
 
Our cob got lami last week :(
She literally went ok tofat in about a week despite doing more work. The weather here is warm and wet, you can literally see the grass growing! She has spent the last few days in doors and has just moved onto as tiny strip. Not used to dealing with lami! All my other horses are fit TBx's. She was trotting about this evening so obvs a lot happier, glad we managed to catch it early.
 
My fatties are confined to the track where there has been no grass seen for months! They look wistfully over the fence. I have assured them they would not like Laminitis but I'm not sure they believe me :) The other fields here have, as you said, changed from dry parched brown nothingness to lush green carpet over the last few days.
 
appylass said:
My fatties are confined to the track where there has been no grass seen for months! They look wistfully over the fence. I have assured them they would not like Laminitis but I'm not sure they believe me :) The other fields here have, as you said, changed from dry parched brown nothingness to lush green carpet over the last few days.
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LOL, ours are the same, they truly believe that laminitis is the better option if it means they can pig out on Dr Green, The worst thing is their paddocks are next to a hay field and the leccy fence stops them getting anywhere near it!
 
My mare is constantly on lami watch as she had an attack last year, she's a warmblood x 16.1hh and a good doer.

I stable her at night with soaked hay and she is turned out for 5-6hours muzzled. I'm what you would call paranoid.
 
The Spooky Pony has been spending days in Pony Jail (the starvation paddock), and nights in the field with his friends, for several weeks now. He's not happy about this, since he's currently the only one in Pony Jail. He tried to bite me this morning when I took him down there, which is very unusual for him, and well reflects his irritation with the situtation. :mad:

I do feel bad about not being able to explain to him why this has to happen...
 
We don't have lush green grass yet but I have been watching for laminitis for weeks now anyway and treating both as potential cases. I will be even more vigilant now that we finally got some rain yesterday.
 
Yes, mine is in during the day ATM with soaked hay and out at night with his muzzle on. He has escaped a couple of times onto the better grass (he and his friend aren't on much) but at least he's been muzzled so won't have been able to get much of the other stuff.
 
I have a 16.2 Dutch Warmblood.
She has never had lammi as far as I am aware (only had her since September) but she was FAT when I bought her, and I got worried and put her on a diet in January because I swore her neck was slightly cresty.. Good hayledge or what eh!
I am constantly on the look out for lammi. She is fed Hi fi lite (a small handful to get her garlic in!!) and I soak her hayledge in a bin for 24hrs then rinse it. She is in at night and will be all summer.
Paranoid is not the word but prevention is better than a cure!!
 
My Non-Fatty is on Lami watch - they don't need to be fat to be sensitive to sugar !!

She is muzzled and just out at night, I am going to have to put some electric fencing up for her soon as much as she hates me !!
 
Our farrier has said there have been a few cases in the last 3/4 weeks. The grass has shot away in the past month, with the heat and rain. Despite this there are a couple on the yard whose ponies came out of the winter like butterballs. They are prime lami candidates but owners show no sense of urgency at getting them off the grass.
These two women LOVE their ponies and get into hysterics if they get a scratch but come up with every excuse as to why their ponies need to be out. They know they are overweight and cresty. :(
 
*touch wood* Fany has never had Lami but she is in from 5pm ish until 8am ish in the morning with a token armful of hay. I am trying to keep her weight down and if she was out all night she would just eat and eat. Luckily the field she is in doesn't have masses of grass.

FDC
 
Chellebean said:
Yep mine is in during the day and out at night when the sugars are lower :)
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If only this were true... since finding out that day or night make very little difference in fructans/sugars he's muzzled 14hrs a day then stabled/worked.
 
Chestnut mare said:
Do u think muzzling during day then muzzle off at night causes them to gorge when the muzzle is off?
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There was a study by the lami trust that said they did.. then Dengie did an identical test and found that they obviously ate more but no more than before the muzzle was introduced... it's a good question.

However, muzzles do not starve a horse/pony - it limits intake by 70% (according to Dengie test). 30% is more than a laminitic would recieve stabled on soaked/limited hay.

Strictly speaking it is trickle feeding at it's finest:D

Here it is...

http://www.dengie.com/pages/feed-advice/article-library/efficacy-of-grazing-muzzles.php
 
Beware relying on pulse taking too much. My horse had winter laminitis and one outbreak since. Two different veterinary practices were involved, and neither vet could find an abnormal pulse on either occasion. It depends on how your horse preents, I think.
 
Rose Folly said:
Beware relying on pulse taking too much. My horse had winter laminitis and one outbreak since. Two different veterinary practices were involved, and neither vet could find an abnormal pulse on either occasion. It depends on how your horse preents, I think.
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Agree, this is why I do it daily and use other checks too, I would see the slightest signs immediately because I know them so well. We haven't had an incident since I started monitoring them obsessively touch wood!
 
My tubby is on constant LGL watch as he is also barefoot.

He had be fine going out and night and in all day, but the recent showers have meant the grass has gone wild and he came in footy and fat this week.....literally piled it on in a few days...and a huge gassy belly.

I have invested in a greenguard muzzle which he will wear in the field at night and soaked hay in the day. No feed apart from supplements and charcoal....which I am doubling.
 
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Poor buggers have been confined to the smaller field since the start of May. Got there yesterday to find that they've started their usual trick of undoing the gate, so they're tied in again, until October, I guess!

I look out for a few signs of LGL:

Crest becoming hard and upright (he always has one, but it flops when healthy)
Slight puffiness, like windgalls, or puffy coronet band
Hot feet
A pulse (it's impossible to feel when he's healthy - to me, anyway!!)
Not trotting up for his grub/chasing Chloe away (means he's footy before he's 'ridden' footy, if that makes sense!).

Forgot to say, they've been getting hay in the small field, as there's hardly any grass. Ribs still feelable, which means *so far* I'm winning!!!
 
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