Lami or paranoid mum

[poppets]

We have 2 shetlands who have just joined us (day 4 although ive had horses before). Neither have a known history of lami but who really knows... I've just been out with them and all 8 hooves are warm, not hot and no pulse. All the same temp on both ponies.

Am I being a paranoid mum? Surely it would differ between ponies? They are on good grazing but a lot of it is weeds so they do have to work around that for their food...

Sending Mr out in a bit with his IR thermometer to take some readings.

 

[SantaVera]

Are they pottery or standing still for long periods of time? If they are walking normally then I would suggest that they are ok. Better to be a paranoid mum than be otherwise and risk things going wrong IMO. Personally I think I'd be ringing the vet who can visit and take a blood sample, for your own peace of mind as well as the ponies health.

 

[poppets]

Happily still bimbling round the field behind us. No evidence of them shifting weight. I am so hoping it is just from them having been stood in the sun before I caught them.

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

Warm hooves is normal if they've been stood in the sun. I personally would 100% not have unknown Shetland ponies out on anything approaching "good grazing" though! Especially considering recent rain. Do you have any flexibly to strip graze at least?

 

[poppets]

We checked them again last night and temperatures were no higher than 20 degrees. I'm wondering if it's my cold hands that make it feel warmer. Been again this morning and checked and no warmer so suspect that's their normal.
The grazing while good, is a small area. We couldn't make it any smaller incase of arguments. They get on brilliantly so we are going to pop another fence up tonight across the middle and strip them back out to the original fence. Unfortunately sometimes you have to work with what you have and we have done our best to weigh up the risks. There is another acre for them to graze eventually. I keep catching him gazing longingly at it... but it will be the depths of winter before they are in that field.

 

[meleeka]

We checked them again last night and temperatures were no higher than 20 degrees. I'm wondering if it's my cold hands that make it feel warmer. Been again this morning and checked and no warmer so suspect that's their normal.
The grazing while good, is a small area. We couldn't make it any smaller incase of arguments. They get on brilliantly so we are going to pop another fence up tonight across the middle and strip them back out to the original fence. Unfortunately sometimes you have to work with what you have and we have done our best to weigh up the risks. There is another acre for them to graze eventually. I keep catching him gazing longingly at it... but it will be the depths of winter before they are in that field.

Well done for keeping them in so far, hopefully your success continues!

 

[Widgeon]

If you're worried you could talk to the vet about blood testing to check insulin etc? That would give you some indication of how much pre-existing risk of lami they may have.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Good grazing isn't usually full of weeds. It sounds as if you just need to get used to what is normal for your ponies, whilst keeping a close eye and taking all sensible precautions.

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

We checked them again last night and temperatures were no higher than 20 degrees. I'm wondering if it's my cold hands that make it feel warmer. Been again this morning and checked and no warmer so suspect that's their normal.
The grazing while good, is a small area. We couldn't make it any smaller incase of arguments. They get on brilliantly so we are going to pop another fence up tonight across the middle and strip them back out to the original fence. Unfortunately sometimes you have to work with what you have and we have done our best to weigh up the risks. There is another acre for them to graze eventually. I keep catching him gazing longingly at it... but it will be the depths of winter before they are in that field.

That all sounds very sensible- we all have to work with what we've got!

Once you get used to them, and you get good at recognising their normal fluctuations in hoof temperature, and feeling for pulses every day then you'll know how careful you need to be. Also, when you get the farrier up they're really good at spotting signs of historical "irregularities" in the hoof (my farrier doesn't like my ponies having any grass at all, whereas I just can't bear having them cold and miserable on a muddy patch all winter. And when I've tried to fudge the truth slightly he's pointed at the hoof and said "I can see right there that you let them on the grass in December again"! But my ponies are old now, so I think it's a quality vs quantity of life balance in our case. They've not had any laminitis symptoms whatsoever for over two years. I'm just over explaining myself here because, the internet) This can also give you a bit of a heads up as whether they seem particularly grass sensitive.