Laminitus help please!

[Hollyhorse]

What is laminitus?! I’ve been told by an equine podiatrist that it’s not actually the dramatic rotation of the pedal bone in the foot as I’d always thought, but is actually simple inflammation in the hoof. This makes sense considering my horse’s situation but what can I do about this, make him more comfortable and speed up his recovery?
My horse is a 17.2 dressage horse who's only 5 years old. He’s been happily barefoot with the help of an equine podiatrist for a year now. He went lame about 4 weeks ago. We thought it was him being footsore as he'd had a SLIGHT trim the day before and in trot he was acting as if he was trotting on nails/hot surface so was clearly in the foot. I had a vet up last week who confirmed it was in the foot and said it was either him being footsore or navicular. Not satisfied I had a local equine podiatrist come today. She's practically positive it's not navicular and did lots of hoof testing and says he's not footsore either. She thinks it's low level laminitus. I'm very sceptical as he's not fat, standing on his heels, reluctant to move, with a cresty neck. However it does make sense as he's clearly sore in his foot and if it's not the actual surface as we first thought it makes sense that it's below the surface. The plan of action is to walk him in hand for 10-15 minutes every day in horse boots with pads in.
Is there anything else I can be doing? Does anyone have any views? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I feel at a slight loss! Many thanks

 

[Bossanova]

Firstly, I'd trust your vet over anyone else and if you want to get it properly diagnosed then you may have to have further tests done.
Laminitis is a general term for inflammation and pain in the foot, if allowed to progress you can get rotation of the pedal bone etc but low grade lami probs wont cause any lasting damage.

 

[spaniel]

Get back in touch with your vet.
A podiatrist is NOT qualified or legally allowed to diagnose a medical condition in your horse and I would certainly not take his/her view as gospel.

 

[squirtlysmum]

Laminitis is inflammation of the small laminae in the foot, very painful for our four legged friends who's feet can't swell outwards like ours, it would only be in relatively severe cases that horses stand on heels etc, it's really bad when the pedal bone rotates and worse case scenario actually pokes out of the sole. It can be caused by a variety of problems ranging from high protein diets, rich grass to mares not cleansing properly following foaling.
If you know how to feel for a digital pulse ie on either side of the fetlock, the give away for any foot inflammation is the pulse will be stronger or racing if there is inflammation, infection etc. It could also be an abcess lurking which in some cases can take a while to surface properly.
See your vet or have a chat to your farrier if due shoes soon.
Good luck

 

[Baggybreeches]

Ditto Spaniel on the legal/qualified stance of the person you use. Laminitis can also be caused by stress, any changes in routine or enviroment, even the odd weather could trigger an episode.

 

[sojeph]

If he has been lame for 4 weeks then I doubt he's footsore TBH. I agree with others, in that you really need to get your vet out to make further investigations. Laminitis BTW is not always about being overweight and cresty necks, it can be caused by other things too. If this person is correct and it is laminitis then you also need to get the vet out to confirm this.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

People associate laminitis with a cresty neck, overweight, standing on their heels etc that you have mentioned but as has been said by other posters it can be caused by other things. Stress certainly & also trauma to the foot. We had one on our yard that developed laminitis following standing on a sharp stone. Your vet should be able to give you the answer...if he can't then get out the senior partner who should have more experience.

 

[Doublethyme]

I've posted on your navicular thread Hollyhorse - low grade laminitis is not universally recognised by vets, but it does exist and is well worth investigation.

I also don't agree with vets know best - mostly they do, but don't be blinkered against other advice. Is your trimmer a qualified KC La Pierre Equine Podiatrist or just calls themselves an EP? If a KC EP, I would follow their advice, contrary to popular opinion on here, they do know their stuff, but please check they hold recognised qualifications and are registered on either the American KC site (http://www.equinepodiatry.net/) or the UK Association (http://www.aepauk.org/).

 

[Doublethyme]

Another point is that there needs some distinction between Low Grade Laminitis and Laminitis as is commonly recognised.

It is now thought that many horses suffer LGL, but the signs are so small, particularly in shod horses, that it cannot be diagnosed or recognised. Diet is a huge factor and often these horses turn out to be insulin resistant or have other metabolic issues. I am no way an expert on this subject, just learnt the hard way with my mare, but the information is out there - the EE forum I posted on my other thread is an excellent place to start and also there is a Metabolic Horse Group on Yahoo which has loads of information and some really experienced people on there.

Hope this helps, its difficult over the net and I am not disagreeing with the others above who say get your vet back out to discuss, but be open to the fact that they may well not recognise LGL as a disease at all.

 

[Hollyhorse]

[ QUOTE ]
I also don't agree with vets know best - mostly they do, but don't be blinkered against other advice. Is your trimmer a qualified KC La Pierre Equine Podiatrist or just calls themselves an EP? If a KC EP, I would follow their advice, contrary to popular opinion on here, they do know their stuff, but please check they hold recognised qualifications and are registered on either the American KC site (http://www.equinepodiatry.net/) or the UK Association (http://www.aepauk.org/).

[/ QUOTE ]

Doublethyme - Yes she is a KC EP. We know this for definite as although we haven't used her before she was recommended by our old EP (only changed as moved house!) and she was a KC EP, and then my mum did a couse last summer in Wales with KC himself. We actually got her contacts from the website.
Your post has been really helpful. My head's been a bit all over the place, not knowing what to believe but everything the EP said did make sense, I was only sceptical because of lack of knowledge about laminitis. Am hopefully doing a detox and then using supplements from a top equine nutritionalist so will hopefully help as well. Am considering having nerve-blocks to make sure it's in the foot and then xrays just to be sure it's nothing else. What do you think? It would all be on insurance. Or do you think I should follow the EP's advice, use the nutritionalist and walk him in boots with pads for 10-15 mins a day and see what happens? She said we should see results in about 2 weeks. If nothing's changed I could have xrays done then. What do you think?
PS- the EP did say it was low grade laminitis rather than full blown laminitis. Is it normal for a horse suffering from low grade laminitis to be very lame?
Many thanks!

 

[spaniel]

What you need to do FIRST is get a diagnosis......

 

[Doublethyme]

Personally I would maybe hold off on x-rays etc until you can see if the diet changes work, however, I would also maybe get your vet back out and discuss with him what your EP has said. Particularly from an insurance point of view, this is sensible. I would also consider stabling (unless you are already doing this) full time and cutting out everything except soaked hay for a few days - if its LGL you should see some improvement.

As for the degree of lameness. My mare was generally footy for a while, but nothing major - we put it down to early transition stuff, ie she was fine on soft ground, slightly shorter striding, but not unsound on flat concrete and footy over uneven ground. However, she then suddenly went pretty lame on one front foot just as Spring was coming. I immediately stabled her, cut out all hard feed/haylage etc and just put her on soaked hay and Top Spec Balancer. I didn't get the vet out, as I was strongly confident that it was some degree of laminitis and my EP was due out the next day and he confirmed this.

I kept her in for a few days on soaked hay and she improved immediately, I then gradually re-introduced turnout (muzzled) and different feeds. She has never since then had another proper lame episode. I monitor her pulses twice daily and over the summer we had some episodes of increased pulses and the very very slighest of gait change, which I immediately took as warning signs and restricted her grazing.

I have also over the last six months continued to look into diet/supplements and now "touch wood" seem to have pretty much cracked it with her and she is storming, no sign of footiness at all and her pulses stay pretty much down. Obviously I will be watching closely for the Spring.

The EE forum is an excellent resource and also there is a closed forum for people who follow the HPT method, which is a useful source of information and can be found on the AEPUK site. Contact Jackie Taylor on the EE forum, she runs a company called Metabolic Horse and is a huge resource on information on Metabolic issues.

Good luck and hope things improve for you.

 

[aran]

Laminitis can be caused by many different factors (diet, concussion etc). It is not just a disease of the foot - this is just where we see the symptoms. The pedal bone rotates in severe lami as you get separation of the lamini which hold it in place therefore allowing it to rotate. If you think it is laminitis then I would be very careful with her. I'd want to confirm the diagnosis asap as you could make things worse by 'trying' different cures without knowing what your treating. by all means detox and change her diet if you wish but i'd do it in conjunction with your vet (drastic changes to diets can be very damaging to your horse if not done carefully over time).
Also - a word of warning. If your horse does have a serious condition which you do not treat properly and your horse gets worse you can be held responsible for its suffering. The case of a horse with severe lami that was treated with alternative therapies and Strassers trimming which had to be put down as medical intervention from the RSPCA happened too late highlights this. The owner didnt consult a vet as she was told that the Strasser lady was more trained to deal with foot problems than vets - she ended up under arrest for cruelty.

 

[Dougie]

i would speak to vet again. laminitis cant be ruled out BUT if it is the cause of lameness there are several things which would concern me,

a) the size of horse....17.2hh dont often get laminitis

b)the fact he is overwieght

c)the fact there is no real change external (i.e feed wise)

d) what is causing the laminitis, toxins? steriods?

 

[Hollyhorse]

Actually if anything's he's underweight - DEFINITELY not over-weight!

 

[Dougie]

sorry meant to put NOT

 

[Hollyhorse]

Oh that makes sense! Thanks, am planning to contact the vet for a 'chat' on monday. Interestingly the only thing that would fit is that I took him home for 3 weeks over christmas where he was in a much bigger field with fewer horses with a lot more grass, and it was toward the end of this period that he became lame...maybe it was richer grass than we realised? He also changes from his meals here (chaff, pasture nuts) to alfa-a and pasture mix. This is how we normally do it when he goes home but maybe the combination of everything didn't help?

 

[aran]

changing feed and forage at the same time can definately set off a laminitic attack. Horses can and do get laminitis - outside the UK it is not considered as a pony disease at all. you definately dont need a small, fat pony to get laminitis.

 

[Dougie]

that could possibly be the trigger, did you tell your vet about the move? i would defo phone vet for a chat on monday as lami sounds like it could be the cause.

let us know how you get on

dougie xx