Laminitis - the warning signs?

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sophiebailey

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Reading the warning threads about Lami has got me thinking; other than checking for a digital pulse (which I don't know how to do!) I don't really know of any other lami 'indicators'!

Wondering if some of you lovely people could advise me what I should be looking for? I have a 21yo Cob who is quite podgy at the moment (not obese, just got a little pot belly) just moved onto 2.5 acres of grazing last weekend. He has one scoop of chaff (molasses free) to take his Danilon with. He is ridden 2 or 3 times a week (gentle hacking due to his arthritis) Is he a high risk candidate?

Any advice on how best to take a digital pulse through thick feathers would also be appreciated!!

As I currently don't have any stables (under construction!) A Lami attack would be a disaster at the moment!

Thank you :-)
 
Is he high risk? Well, firstly has he ever had an attack before? If so, then yes he is a high risk.

He's podgy - he's a high risk, especially if the pot belly is accompanied by a cresty neck or fat pads on his quarters.

I would be restricting his grazing right from now and even further when the spring flush hits.

I wouldn't be waiting for the warning signs, I'd be taking action now.
 
2.5 acres is way too much for an already overweight horse, I have 4 on 4 acres atm and the've been there since October.

In a few weeks they will get moved onto a track system which is grazed into a quarter of an acre paddock!! that will last them until October again

Muzzle, split the 2.5 acres into three, put a track around so he has to walk around. Is he pottery when walking? Feed magnesium too. My grass is shooting up.

Once you have the stables built, stable during the day and turn out at night.
 
My mare suffered one acute laminate attack and one of the symptoms that I didn't recognise til afterwards was her breathing heavily on a hack even tho we had only trotted a short way. If your mare ever does this, treat her like its laminitis. My mare did it on one hack and again on a second hack a few days later and during the second hack her lameness kicked in. I too would restrict the grazing. ESP at start of spring when every blade is a sugar bomb.
 
What is track grazing? Is it a system of electric fencing that goes round in a kind of pathway? If so, how wide / long do you make the track?

OMG breathing heavily is a warning sign? :eek: I thought just yesterday "why is my mare huffing and puffing when we've hardly done anything?" :eek: Eek, eek, haylage ration will be slashed today and frantic exercise will take place from now on.

I do know how to take a digital pulse and so far, nothing, touch wood but I'll be taking immediate drastic action anyway.
 
Warning signs:-

Hard crest
Filled sockets above the eyes
Filled legs
Warm hooves
Raised digital pulse (you need to learn how to do this - google it)
Change in personality
Slowed gait
Flat soles
Breathing changes too

My advice in your situation would be to either introduce your horse gradually to all that grass in restricted smaller paddocks - although this defeats the object of keeping a horse moving to prevent colic and get exercise so you could try a track system. OR use a muzzle during the spring months.

Muzzles are not cruel. Allowing your horse to get laminitis IS!
 
flat soles is something my mare had pre lami. She had always been barefoot (which was partly why we caught the first acute attack rather than it being masked by shoes and it only becoming apparent once she had had it at a low level for a while as chronic lami - OP if your horse is shod you need to be ultra ultra alert for any lami signs as the shoes will mask some of the symptoms).

She always had flat shallow feet and sole and was trimmed by a farrier as my old horse was shod by him (he is also now unshod).

I thought that was the nature of her confirmation/breed/just the way it was.

I wish I had known this ISNT true! After a few months of being gently trimmed post lami by a UKNHCP trimmer she not only has lots of concavity to help absorb shocks in her hooves, she is also landing heel first again absorbing shocks much better and not making her toes sore by landing toe first.
 
lachlanandmarcus said:
My mare suffered one acute laminate attack and one of the symptoms that I didn't recognise til afterwards was her breathing heavily on a hack even tho we had only trotted a short way. If your mare ever does this, treat her like its laminitis. My mare did it on one hack and again on a second hack a few days later and during the second hack her lameness kicked in. I too would restrict the grazing. ESP at start of spring when every blade is a sugar bomb.
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I agree. My mare's respiration goes really heavy when she is starting and during an attack. That was the first thing I noticed when she had her first ever attack. It was another 3 weeks before she was diagnosed :(

Laminitis does not have to be really painful. Low grade lami can present just with the horse being sluggish.

Some, but not all lami cases have heat in the feet.

You may not only get a bounding digital pulse, but a raised pulse too at other points. My mare does not show a huge amount of pain but her pulse is raised to over 60 during an attack.

Stance. You may not see the classic laminitis stance as this only happens when the attack is really severe and advanced. But you may notice your horse may shift its weight from foot to foot more often than usual, or point a toe. If there is pain in the hind feet, the horse may stand with them further forward under itself than usual.
 
Thanks everyone, super helpful!!

He's never had lami before and has always lived out 24/7 over the spring/summer. He's shod on the front + barefoot on the back.

He is sometimes pottery, but he has arthritis in both hocks and one knee joint, so its usually on cold mornings you see him looking a bit stiff. Will keep an eye out for the other signs though, to make sure it's not a lami indicator.

There's currently two horses on 2.5 acres un restricted, but once my electric fencing tape arrives off eBay I'll be splitting the field to strip graze it.

Thanks for v helpful inputs :)
 
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