Laminitis advice please

mynutmeg

mynutmeg

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My cob has low grade lami - while I know quite a lot of theory I've never actually dealt with it before.
There's no heat and no pulses but she's gone very foot sore and has exploded weight wise in the last week. I've not seen her since wednesday evening till today as my sharer was doing her and she's gone from uncomfortable on big stones but otherwise sound (am working on getting her feet strong again after a bunch of time out of work for various reasons) to really quite pottery.
While there is no heat or pulses I figure explosion of weight plus foot sore equalls lami. She's put on about 30kg in a week and just exploded since I saw her going from having a crest but soft to a much bigger, hard crest, huge shoulder pads etc.
She's currently stabled on soaked hay and as much of her straw as she wants to eat (I know ideally she should be on shavings but I simply can't afford a deep, thick bed of shavings, she's got wall to wall, deep straw, plus it gives her something to munch), has bute (2 this morning, will get 1 this evening, 2 tomorrow morning etc on vet advice) and will be kept in for at least a week then very slowly re turned out with reduced time out.

The main thing I'm not sure on is when is it safe to start working her again and how much work is ok to do with her? I've always managed her weight with lots of exercise in the past but for various reasons she's not done much recently plus moving to a new yard where I didn't realise quite how rich the grass here is has caused all of this and I'd really like to get her weight under control. She's one who just diet won't really do anything for her weight, she's got to be worked as well but obviously I don't want to cause damage to the feet working her too soon (she's not shod)

Thanks for any advice on managing her :-)
 
I always waited until they were sound turned out for about a week, then gradually introduce exercise ideally on a soft surface. If pulses stay up after exercise then chances are you've overdone it and need to step back a bit. I think the laminitis site has some info on starting work again that would be worth looking at.
 
I would get her tested for ems cresty neck and abnormal fat pads can be a symptom and if she does have it she will be more prone to getting laminitis, feeding magnesium oxide in the summer can sometimes help along with soaking hay and putting her on a strict diet. I also agree that she should not be turned out until completely sound and off the bute.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if she's borderline on the EMS - we had an episode a couple of years ago where their field was fertilised and she went footy within a day or two, I think she's worse this time because it was a couple of days later being picked up because my sharer was doing her and while she's brilliant she's not really got the experience to pick up subtle things.
I've found she's similar to a type 2 diabetic (I'm a med student so get the human side of things well and tend to link stuff across), and my understanding of EMS is that it is basically type 2 diabetes in horses, in which case getting her weight down should tip her back out of the insulin resistance I think she's tipped into over the last week.

She's horrendous for crest - it's always the first place she puts weight on and the last place for her to loose it. She's on mag ox anyway as I find it helps reduce how spooky she is (feed wise she gets top chop lite chaff and blue chip lami light balancer plus forage, currently soaked for 12 hours)
 
That's right about the ems but exercise is key to keeping them out of that danger point when they are really prone to getting lami, my mare had it and she had cushings but she couldn't be ridden due to an injury and that's when it all went wrong I struggled to keep her weight down and I lost her to lami last year, I really wouldn't fertilise your fields either I also lost my first horse to lami after the fields were fertilised it basically killed her, once she is sound I would get riding it is the only thing that keeps the weight down, some vets will prescribe metformin for the ems they don't have to be on it forever it just helps shift the fat pads, laminitis is such an awful condition I have lost 2 horses with it I hope your horse recovers soon.
 
thanks for the help and advice - she's completely herself again (still on box rest) so being a bargy pain in the backside due to no turnout. Have stoppped the bute today and shall speak to the vets about when we can start doing work.
Have done research on the mag ox thing after reading on here and have added extra over what her feed has as well as sodium so shall see if that helps - she's not enjoying the soaked hay or straw option for food but her crest is softer and the weigh tape says she's lost a bit already so going the right way :-)
 
mynutmeg said:
My cob has low grade lami - while I know quite a lot of theory I've never actually dealt with it before.
There's no heat and no pulses but she's gone very foot sore and has exploded weight wise in the last week. I've not seen her since wednesday evening till today as my sharer was doing her and she's gone from uncomfortable on big stones but otherwise sound (am working on getting her feet strong again after a bunch of time out of work for various reasons) to really quite pottery.
While there is no heat or pulses I figure explosion of weight plus foot sore equalls lami. She's put on about 30kg in a week and just exploded since I saw her going from having a crest but soft to a much bigger, hard crest, huge shoulder pads etc.
She's currently stabled on soaked hay and as much of her straw as she wants to eat (I know ideally she should be on shavings but I simply can't afford a deep, thick bed of shavings, she's got wall to wall, deep straw, plus it gives her something to munch), has bute (2 this morning, will get 1 this evening, 2 tomorrow morning etc on vet advice) and will be kept in for at least a week then very slowly re turned out with reduced time out.

The main thing I'm not sure on is when is it safe to start working her again and how much work is ok to do with her? I've always managed her weight with lots of exercise in the past but for various reasons she's not done much recently plus moving to a new yard where I didn't realise quite how rich the grass here is has caused all of this and I'd really like to get her weight under control. She's one who just diet won't really do anything for her weight, she's got to be worked as well but obviously I don't want to cause damage to the feet working her too soon (she's not shod)


Somebody at our yard whose horse has been on box rest with laminitus has just bought a special thermometer which takes outside temperatures by directing beam onto area. She struggles to find digital pulses - we took temps last night & his 2 front hooves were 30 degrees, then we did my pony & hers were 11 before riding & 22 after riding. She is going to keep a chart mapping temperatures as guide for early detection - thought it was a very good idea & wondered if anybody else had thoughts on this.
hope she is okay.
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Mine had lami when he was 25, he is 37 now, after his attack I was advised to turnout in muzzle which he has been ever since, if you do keep your horse in, still give soaked hay, triple net if you have to to keep them occupied
 
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