Lami help

[Ginn]

Have just received a message from Mickeys owner stating that he is too thin! Imo he isn't thin - you can just see his ribs when he bends and he doesn't have the muscle tone he had earlier in the year as she has been making it increasingly difficult for us to ride him. However, going into winter I don't think it would dohim too muc harm to put on just a little more weight.

His owner wants us to turn him out 24/7!!!

Now her field is quite barren but my understanding is that its not so much the quantity of grass that is the most dangerous but the quality and autumn grass is just as harmful as spring grass - please correct me if Im wrong?

He is currently coming in at 4.30/5pm and being turned out at around 10.30/11am. When he is in he gets a tea of high fibre (lami approved) mix and a large biscuit of soaked hay which fills his haylage net. He is not allowed to waer a grazing muzzle as his woner deems it "cruel"!

So my thinking is that I could up his hay over the course of a week or 2 to around double what he is having (its last years hay so not the best quality) and add some oil and sunflower seeds to his feed, and possibly also some speedibeet if this doesn't seem sufficient? I also thought I could start lunging him a couple of times a week with side reins, alongside hacking 2 or 3 days a week to help improve his muscle tone.

Does this sound ok? He's 12hh, welsh A, weighs around 270kg and has benn lami free *touches wood very quickly* for 18 months now with mum and I looking after him.

 

[rrose]

thats sounds alright, but i would not put him out 24/7 lami heaven!!

 

[Ginn]

Well she has just left me the snottiest of voicemail:

"...My grass has no lami risk... He is my pony and I say he is to go out then thats that... I am not happy with how he is being looked after atm... He's too thin and he'll never make it through the winter like that... " etc

But we have kept a dairy of his weight and he is the same weight he's been for the last year!

What do I do?

So fcuking pissed off with her! If mum wasn't in hospital and kiri wasn't so fragile atm with that I'd phone her back and tell her exactly what I think - that she is a fcuking b!tch who doesn't give a sh!t and that perhaps she ought to feed her other 5 who all look like welfare cases and make more of an effort to look after them before she even contemplates critising us!

Fcuking, stupid woman!!!!!!!

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

How infuriating, it really does bug me that some deem muzzles cruel, what i think is cruel is risking an animals life by risking lammi, ignorance if you ask me. I would be livid if i were you too. What you have thought to do does sound good.
I would up the hay and just add some oil to his hi fi lammi approved feed, and only add speedi beet if that doesnt do anything, IMO a lammi prone horse is much better to be a touch underweight than a touch overweight, especially at a dangerous time of year with the grass and that as you have said. Good luck with him, i hope the lady stops giving you this totally uneccessary hassle.

 

[Wooleysmum]

Mine is stick thin, they have to be if they have had lami.He is a Welsh cob and still has bags of energy at 22 years old despite looking like a toast rack. He will make it through the winter, wont if he is put out all the time. That owner seems clueless. Mine has a Bestfriend muzzle on all night, in a few hours in the day and allowed to eat grass, short not long for a few hours a day. That has kept him lami free for two years. if I had him out 24/7 in grass with no muzzle he would have been dead long ago. The muzzle is a life saver. Tell her all that. Good luck. people who are ignorant are the worst to deal with. A girl here told me I was so cruel putting him in a muzzle and that he had hardly any grass. Well, her horse got it and had to be put down, mine is still roaming about.

 

[Tia]

Sorry, I am definitely not condoning her stance here, however she does have a point; the pony does belong to her. If she is just boarding at your place then she really does have the final say. If you don't do what she wants then she will just move elsewhere.

Personally I would do as she asks and just keep a very close eye on the pony - either that or start feeding more hay.

 

[Tia]

Mine is not stick thin. She has never been fat either. She is a very healthy little pony; we can feel her ribs but not see them; that is perfect. She lives out 24/7 and has been lami-free for over 2 years now, however her trigger was not grass so I have a far easier time than most.

One slight cross-wire way of thinking is that lami's need to be skinny and starved - that is just not true. A lami needs just as much feeding as any other horse - the only difference is that it needs the right feeding.

 

[PapaFrita]

[ QUOTE ]
"...My grass has no lami risk...

[/ QUOTE ]

And she knows that how??? I used to know a very stupid girl who used to look at the field and say "Grass looks ok today" and turn neddy out. He was a ribby TB and STILL managed to get Lami on NOT the greatest pasture...

 

[Ginn]

[ QUOTE ]
If she is just boarding at your place then she really does have the final say. If you don't do what she wants then she will just move elsewhere.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, she has her own yard and my sister loans the pony which is kept on her yard with her others. Sadly though I think you're righy and we have no choice but to eitehr walk away or do as she says. Considering she doesn't pay a penny or lift a finger for the pony though I feel its completely unfair that she dictates what we do with him and insists on us putting him at risk! But then if we walk away she'll kill him anyway as she doesn't like him and doesn't want him.

 

[Ginn]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"...My grass has no lami risk...

[/ QUOTE ]

And she knows that how??? I used to know a very stupid girl who used to look at the field and say "Grass looks ok today" and turn neddy out. He was a ribby TB and STILL managed to get Lami on NOT the greatest pasture...

[/ QUOTE ]

Quite! Just because her grass is well eaten imo doesn't mean its low risk - my understanding was that a lami horse can eat volumes of fibre but a few blades of rich grass and that could be all that is needed to bring on an attack. With all the rain we've been having the grass is coming through beautifully - the fact her lot eat the grass at the rate it grows doesnot mean that its safe!

 

[Tia]

Ahh, yes that is a tricky situation you are in - you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. I think I would walk away....

 

[Fairynuff]

Ive got a lami who shouldve been dead a long time ago. He had a very bad bought of lami before he came to me-his pedal bones came through the soles of his feet and he spent 4 months on his side. He was patched up and was sent to me on the promise that if he got worse hed be put down. Hes been here 6 years now and with the help of a very good blacksmith and a bit of common sense, hes fine. His feet are awful to look at but they work. He gets lots of hay and a kilo of mix with soya flour a day. His lami was caused by over feeding while he was standing still-2 months. Bye the way, hes turned out every day for 1 to 4 hours. Sadly, the pony isnt yours and youll have to do what is asked or send the pony back!Thin doesnt always mean lami free. Lepre, my lami horse is by no means thin. Mairi.

 

[sojeph]

I'd be inclined to ask her if she would be prepared to pay for any vets bills if the pony then comes down with laminitis.

 

[Ginn]

Been there - we are responsible for all vets bills!!! (Yes bloody woman managed to get mum to sign a contract and pushed her into doing it before she got a chance to talk to me!)

She has also clearly stated though that if he gets it again then he'll get the bullet!

 

[sojeph]

Awful woman

I think all you can do - as you said - is to up his workload and watch him like a hawk - good luck.

 

[baybeejay01]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd be inclined to ask her if she would be prepared to pay for any vets bills if the pony then comes down with laminitis.

[/ QUOTE ]

Definitely! Some people just shouldn't have horses! What you are intending to do re upping his hay sounds just right to me - would increase any feed gradually over the next few weeks, you can always add more if he needs it easier than you get any unwanted weight off him.

If she still insists on sticking her nose in, walk away with a clear conscience. Can you not get some evidence to prove your way of thinking ie speak to a vet, farrier or equine nutritionist and show her that you are right and she is way off?!

 

[eohippus]

If she wants to see him out 24 /7 work it strategically so she thinks he is. You could arrange for his time in and out to work the best for lami prevention, ie, bring him in a skinny paddock or stable for the afternoon when the fructons are highest.
feed him hay and hi fibre feeds with no concentrates as this will up the suger levels. work him more often and get the vet to condition score him next time he visits.
As part of the contract, I assume, that you are liable for the welbeing of the pony and if the decision to over graze is putting the pony at risk by the owner then the contract is void, you need to get her to change the contract accordingly to either saying the final decision is hers and you accept no liability if the horse suffers due to her or that she is liable for vets bills in relation to laminitis.
Failing that nod yes but ignore her.
stupid woman, needs shooting,
Dawn