Laminitis and shoeing

Marnie

Marnie

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My big cob mare was struck with laminitis towards the end of June. She is 22, it is the first time she has ever had it and it was totally unexpected. She has been tested for a number of metabolic conditions but no apparent cause. She wasn't really overweight and has been on richer grass in the past.

She has been x rayed twice, first time showed a very small amount of rotation. She became more uncomfortable so I arranged to have her x rayed a second time - by the time she was x rayed, she was actually more comfortable. Rotation had increased - the vet didn't give me a %, but said it had gone from 2/10 to 4/10. The fact that she was more comfortable suggested things had stabilised.

After a period of time after the first x ray with no shoes, she is currently shod in wide webbed shoes. She is on 1 bute and 10 paracetamol twice a day, on a deep shavings bed and having 1 1/2 hours turnout in a muzzle. She occasionally missteps on turning or on hard ground but generally looks pretty sound, isn't weight shifting etc. The pain relief is being reduced.

When I spoke to the vet yesterday to check that she could have her shoes re-done, he suggested heart bars. The farrier came today and said that he could put heart bars on but he would have to make them as he wouldnt be able to buy them large enough for her feet.

Couple of questions... Can you really not buy large heart bars 'off the shelf'? My previous experience from years ago (via a friends pony) was that they had to be refitted very regularly to be effective - about every 2 weeks, is that correct? Her feet had grown quite a lot in the last 5 weeks and she had laid down a lot of sole and frog.

Part of me thinks that she is making good progress as she is at the moment and it may cause more problems to change now.

Any thoughts welcomed!
 
If she is still on box rest and not totally sound I definitely would not want shoes nailed on at all, I am shocked she has been shod already could be why there was further rotation, I am not a fan of heart bar shoes anyway and personally would avoid at all costs if it was my choice.

Laminitis feet grow much quicker than healthy feet, I would rather pad the feet while they have no shoes and just do the occasional trim while they are recovering, 2 months recovery for laminitis is not long at all I think I would be questioning some of your vets decisions.

I wouldn't be turning out either it's far too soon the x rays have proven that, she is probably still in the laminitic phase as she is still not 100% sound, once a horse is sound I would still keep the horse off grass for at least 4 weeks.
 
Sorry but I’d be requesting a Prascend trial anyway or an ACTH test which is more reliable than the standard Cushings test. Your horse has classic symptoms and it could get worse again without treatment.

I’m not a fan of heartbars either but I know plenty of people use them. Personally If I wanted to shoe I’d go for imprints which are more expensive but glue on so no trauma to the already painful hoof. In any case 6 weeks is the absolute maximum you should go between trims in a recovering laminitis. This is because the heel grows quicker than the toe so you risk putting more strain on the damaged laminae.
 
Pinkvboots said:
If she is still on box rest and not totally sound I definitely would not want shoes nailed on at all, I am shocked she has been shod already could be why there was further rotation, I am not a fan of heart bar shoes anyway and personally would avoid at all costs if it was my choice.

Laminitis feet grow much quicker than healthy feet, I would rather pad the feet while they have no shoes and just do the occasional trim while they are recovering, 2 months recovery for laminitis is not long at all I think I would be questioning some of your vets decisions.

I wouldn't be turning out either it's far too soon the x rays have proven that, she is probably still in the laminitic phase as she is still not 100% sound, once a horse is sound I would still keep the horse off grass for at least 4 weeks.
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Mine was hopping lame with rotation and shoeing was a last ditch attempt to try and save him, I think its fairly standard vet advice still.
 
Vets like to recommend heart bars as it is seen as 'treatment' where having nothing on the foot is not, in my experience I would prefer to have them barefoot as long as the feet are strong, they have thick soles and very good supportive frogs, that way they can be monitored more easily and trimmed as often as required without having to nail on shoes with the walls getting weaker all the time, heartbars do need to be replaced very frequently if they are going to help and that can be as often as every 2-3 weeks if they are growing a lot of foot, the same goes for any trimming or shoeing the more you keep on top of the growth by correct trimming the better chance of a good outcome.

As for having them specially made the few times I have had them they were made for the individual to be certain of an exact fit.

I am surprised the vets has allowed her out as she is still on a fair amount of pain relief, I would be keeping her in until she is genuinely sound on none and thought that was normal protocol for anything with rotation.
 
Hello all, thank you for the replies so far. In the 35 odd years I've had horses, this is the first time I have dealt with laminitis so it has been a learning curve and information is sometimes a bit conflicting which makes things a bit challenging at times!

She is being re-tested for Cushing's using the more sensitive test next week.

We did look at glue on shoes but it was felt that with her size, they wouldnt stay on. She has always had to be shod as she has never done well without shoes, therefore it was felt at the time the shoes would give support needed. We had tried various pads before that but they flattened, slipped or fell off. She did appear more comfortable after they were put on.

I have really struggled to get her to take pain meds despite trying different feeds, syringes etc. They are being reduced now and she is remaining pretty much sound apart from the odd misstep. She is a different horse to how she was 4 weeks ago when I thought I was going to have to make some tough decisions. I was quite surprised about the turnout, she has been in a small area very close to her stable and has only been out for the last 5 days. From comments, I wont put her out again until after x rays and she is completely off the pain relief.

Thanks again taking the time to reply.
 
Pinkvboots said:
I can't imagine it helping the trauma on an already compromised foot! I would prefer to just pad the foot I went down the heart bar route once never again.
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With my old boy, who had been unshod for years, the shoes saved him. We got the laminitis under control, EMS was under control, but he couldn't walk. The vet recommend x-rays at the hospital with a remedial farrier on site, to work with vet and x-rays. I was convinced I wouldn't bring him home.

Getting him loaded on to the lorry took forever - I had 3 helpers getting him to move from the stable to lorry - approx 100yds. Got to the hospital, x-rays done, remedial farrier (aka God) did his magic.

Horse trotted to the lorry and never looked back. That was 8 years ago, and horse is very happy in his retirement. Without shoes he would have been dead.
 
Have just replied on another thread about my horse having pads put on with frog supports. The farrier said he would not be happy taking shoes off a horse with the feet the size mine has. He was shod two weeks ago and showed no signs of pain while it was being done, just fell asleep as normal. His X-rays were fine.

In answer to one of your questions, it appears that there are quite a few things that aren't big enough for horses with big feet. My farrier was going to make a shoe if the plastic pads didn't work.
 
Fragglerock said:
Have just replied on another thread about my horse having pads put on with frog supports. The farrier said he would not be happy taking shoes off a horse with the feet the size mine has. He was shod two weeks ago and showed no signs of pain while it was being done, just fell asleep as normal. His X-rays were fine.

In answer to one of your questions, it appears that there are quite a few things that aren't big enough for horses with big feet. My farrier was going to make a shoe if the plastic pads didn't work.
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Glad it isn't just mine having similar problems with the size of feet! Mine was the same with shoeing - didn't show any sign of pain while it was being done and walked away as sound as she had been. Just hoping that x rays next week show that things have stabilised.
 
Mine had heart bars (which need to be made to fit and support the pedal bone wherever it has moved to by consulting the x rays so no, no off the shelf ones. If the farrier has no need of the x rays - dump him!!). I was never happy about nailing on to an already painful and compromised foot, so having read TLS and discussed with a good trimmer, I got boots and pads. You can get them off the shelf , boots and pads are much more humane and user friendly - speak to one of the better retailers, such as The Saddlery Shop. If you carefully measure length and width of the feet they will suggest the best type of boot and thicker pads to begin with - you can eventually use thinner and thinner pads as the bony column needs less support. As an interim measure you can tape polystyrene pads to the underside of the foot to give that support to the pedal bone.
Mine is now 100% sound unless he inadvertantly gets a little too much grass, barefoot and on Prascend. There is pretty much ALWAYS a metabolic underlying cause.
 
So we re-xrayed yesterday afternoon and the rotation hasn't got any worse so things appear to be relatively stable although she appears to be sore again particularly on her right fore. The vet did note that her soles are thin and quite soft. He suggested using Kevin Bacon hoof solution on them. Has anyone had any success with this or other products for hardening things up a bit? i do appreciate that it isn't going to suddenly thicken her sole.

Also, at the moment she is getting fibre beet and D&H Safe and Sound as after a lot of trial and error, they are the only things that she will take bute and paracetamol in. Should I be supplementing with anything else?

Thanks!
 
Paint on Keratex as a short term measure, then stimulation to develop thicker soles - with boots and pads to begin with then as he gets more comfortable on harder and harder ground. Mine had the same problem, every bl00dy farrier insisted on trimming them. He hasn't had them touched for a couple of years now and they are solid and concave. You could get some methionine from Forageplus which is the amino acid hoof protein is based on. Even better, give Forageplus a call, Sarah who owns the company was a top class trimmer and really knows her stuff www.forageplus.co.uk
 
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