laminitis help

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Maxwell83

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Hi,
Need some advice about my daughters pony, hes 10.1 and has been coming back into work for the past three months after being out of action for ninemonths with laminitis. He has had the all clear by the vet and farrier and all is going really well. He currently has an hours turn out with a muzzle on every other day and gets lunged for five mins and then my daughter rides the other days. He has his hay soaked and has 1 1/2 slices morning and night. He is at a perfect weight now and looks really well, but i think if he loses anymore he'll look poor. So i wonder what all you guys with ponies who have had or still got lami are feeding to maintain their weight. Also, i feel he needs a bit more umph when daughter rides as after hes done a few mins trotting with her hes completely jiggered, is there anything i can feed him to help him out a little or is this too risky.
Thanks in advance
 
My mare had laminitis last year and she was out of action and stabled for 5months. I calculate her feed and hay according to her weight and exercise, like you, she is the right weight now and I wouldn't want her to loose anymore. At the moment I feed 1.5 to 2% of her bodyweight.

Her routine is 1sccop Happy Hoof morning and night, I weigh and soak all her hay and she has a net in the morning whilst I muck out. I then ride her then she is turned out for 5hours with a muzzle on. When she comes in on the night, she has her tea then the rest of her hay.
 
Maxwell, what do you mean by he is jiggered, is he blowing and nostrils flared, sides heaving? If the answer is yes, I would suspect he hasn't recovered from the laminitis. He may not be bobbing his head, as in lame because both/all feet could be equally sore.
Just because his weight is just right doesn't necessarily mean he is not at risk of lami.
Did the vet test him for Cushings? Some can get it as young as under 10 and they don't have to have a shaggy coat either. Is he getting any grass at the moment?
I don't want to be a spoilsport but would be very sure he is completely sound before you do any more riding or trotting.
 
He will have lost a lot of fitness in 9 months so he may well just be struggling with the workload. You should be able to give him more hay to keep his weight right, if it is soaked to get the sugars out of it.
My lad (Welsh D) was out of work for 9 months with laminitis too and I took things really slowly when returning to work - my vet advised no lunging at all for at least 6 months as he needed to re-grow his hooves and lunging can put additional strain on 'weaker' feet...just a thought.
I did not trot my lad for 4 months either and when I did introduce it, I did short amounts (a few strides) and worked it up over several months.
You may just be trying to do too much too soon perhaps? I dont mean that in a horrible way...but with laminitis I always feel you are better being really slow with the aftercare and ensuring it does not come back again by doing too much too soon.
 
He may be jiggered because he's not getting enough to eat, and is defficient in something.
I would get him onto a decent balancer or chaff recommended by the Laminitic trust. My shettie was on Dodson and Horrell safe and sound.
He's not getting much and any goodness is being soaked away alongside the sugars.
I would be tempted to try and get him out daily too, and ease up on the work in the meantime.
 
Hi my lami pony also started to look slightly poor after putting him on his diet of soaked hay, I have started giving him NAF's Pink Powder as both a probiotic and vitamin supplement and it has helped a lot. I think there is more risk of them missing essential nutrients when having to make serious restrictions on grazing and this could be the reason for his lack of energy. The reason I used Pink Powder was that it proved a great pick me up for my oldie when she started to lose condition due to age.
 
Just an update on Safe & Sound, just seen a thread saying it's got molasses in it... It's lovely stuff but I clearly hadn't read the ingredients. Top spec lami guard is another one you could try. Although agree with previous post too.....
 
Feeds off the lami trust are not always ideal... Mostly molasses!

Dengie and ollichaff do a molasses free chaff, my peference being mollichaff one or use something like speedi beet.

I would use a feed with nothing in and add a vit supp as is mentioned above his access to variety of plants is grossly restricted
 
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