Laminitis and Winter Grazing

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rvpeary

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Hi,
My connemara came down with a mild bout of laminitis at the end of May. Was kept off grass and stabled for 3 weeks with hay soaked for min of 8 hours (16kg) per day. I gradually increased turnout using a muzzle to being out during the day and in at night.

She then became footy again at the end of Aug, farrier came out and trimmed some bruising off, went even more lame, farrier came back and fitted heart bars and is now once again sound, back in work and starting the introduction back to grass, currently having 30 mins in hand grazing. Will turn out with muzzle for an hr or so at weekend.

When she first got diagnosed she weighed (with a tape) almost 470kg and is now down to 400kg :) she is 14.3hh.

My question is: in winter will she be ok to be out during the day with her muzzle on? She really struggles to eat with it on as grass is quite short. I was thinking of starting her off out for around 3 hours and building her up to a full day? Does anyone have any ideas on this please?

Thankyou :)
 
Hello,

I recently attended a talk my Robert Eustace, who is founder of the Laminitis Trust. Awareness and prevention of this horrible condition is key. The main thing is that if you are aware of how to spot early symptoms, you can gradually by trial and error really get to know your horse or ponies tolerance levels very early on, but every individual will be different.
During winter I am still careful grazing laminitic prone animals. Frosty weather can cause problems and every pastures nutrient levels are different, so really I would say that there is no sure answer to you question.
There are supplements to help your horses metabolic system.
Sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear. However, this may be of interest to you. I wrote a blog about the talk and the reseach The Laminitis Trust have being doing, the symptoms, how they treat different types, and how certain supplements can help. [Commercial URL removed] There is some great information in it, follow the links for all else you need to know. Good Luck:)
 
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Totally agree with your second post (Rachelholman).

1. The Laminitis Trust are so helpful. My vet rates Robert Eustace very highly

2. Be doubly careful in winter. My cob mare has never had summer laminitis, but she went down with a shocking attack during the bad winter of 2010.

3. I don't muzzle her in winter, but (she is out 24/7 with barn shelter). I make sure that she has enough haylage (she is allergic to hay) to keep her interested and not so keen on the grass. This for me is easy as I keep her at home. I pop out tiny haynets every hour or two, and it has definitely cut down her interest in grazing

4. I use Laminitis-Prone, by Global Herbs. It is always difficult to tell whether something which is a preventative is working, but she has not had a laminitic attack since being on it - 2 years now.

Being very careful, and very observant, are the two best preventatives against this horrible disease.
 
Thankyou very much for your replies, I will just be very careful and watch her like a hawk, maybe start off with a muzzle and then gradually increase time without. The grass isnt great in the winter field, its about 16 achres and will have 12 horse grazing (2 out 24/7) it isnt fertilized and was grazed on by mare and foal from may until the start of this month.

She is currently on magnesium oxide and Laminitis Prone.

The farrier and the vet think that the lami was caused by an extremely short trim done by a different farrier than i normally use, hence why i havent had blood tests done.

Thankyou for your help and i will have a look at the blog :)
 
This is something im interested in too, my wee mare is currently pretty much living in and much as im keen for her to get some turn out im scared it will make her sore again........From reading the above posts, a small trashed area with a haynet hanging somewhere might be a good idea? x
 
Have you done blood tests?

After losing my horse to laminitis last summer after a very severe and very sudden attack I did LOADS of research and have too attended a few seminars and talks on it as I felt sure the vet didn't handle it properly and we should have treated it differently. My pony was also full connie, had never had an attack before, I'd had him his whole life, he was 12 years old, was fit and healthy and while in good condition was not over weight. I now realise he probably had either cushings or EMS, but my vet refused to do bloods, saying it was a 'straightforward' case of grass induced laminitis and blood tests were not necessary. I have since learned there is no such bloody thing as straight forward lammy and had we done bloods there was a 95% chance we would have found he was either cushingoid or metabolic. He may even still be here today. :mad:

I hope you can keep it at bay. xxx
 
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