LGL - I didn't take it seriously enough, a warning

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JillA

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My horse has a problem with grass, and each year, in early summer he got "a bit footy". I reduced his grass by putting him on a small track and substituted soaked hay, job done yes? No. It seems each time the effect was accumulating and his soles were getting thinner (I did realise but didn't note the connection) which probably meant his pedal bones were sinking just a tiny bit each time.
Now it has become full blown lammi and his soles are barely containing his pedal bones, he is mm away from the point of no return. Thanks to Andrea on the FB laminitis group I got x rays done which revealed how bad the problem really is - by then the poor lad could barely walk. And he had "slippers" at the tip of his pedal bones, bony growths indicative of previous sinking.
Box rest and glue on Imprints, under the supervision of a very good vet and equally experienced farrier, who are hopeful he can be rehabilitated, with time, but the point is I should never have ignored those earlier episodes and so wish I hadn't. No wonder he wasn't forward going when I rode him, his feet, if not sore, weren't comfortable. So please, if you have recurring LGL, get x rays to find out just what is going on.
 
Andrea was really helpful for my horse and after looking at her site I too had X-Rays which showed a slight rotation in one foot. I can't get Imprints big enough for him but contrary to Andrea's advice I had shoes and pads put back onto my horse for the first time in 5 years (since his enforced retirement) as the X-Rays showed how thin his soles are and before his laminitis I was intending to bring him out of retirement and back into light work (walk only).

I first noticed he wasn't right when he didn't bounce down the field for his food. I should have picked it up a couple of days earlier though as that wasn't actually the first sign - he is a very obedient and polite horse who picks his feet up when he sees me walking towards him with a hoof pick. He didn't do that for some days beforehand and I had to insist he picked his front feet up - lesson learned for the future.

He was box rest for 4 weeks, then had front shoes on (that was a really scary thing to do) and a couple of days after that I started exercising in hand on a soft surface. He is now hacking out for up to an hour a day and turned out overnight on a small area of paddock.

Has your horse got, or could he have any other conditions such as Cushings or Insulin Resistance? I discovered that my lad has both! Vets think it was the IR that caused the laminitis as it has got better as he lost weight. I reckon he has now lost 10% of his original bodyweight which was really hard going when he was on box rest. Off topic but I had the blood test for Cushings for my other horse as I had a voucher and the vet was already there - he also has it despite not having any symptoms.

As for X-Rays, I would always have them done if I had concerns again despite the £500 it cost (gulp).

Good luck and keep us updated.
 
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Pebble101 said:
Andrea was really helpful for my horse and after looking at her site I too had X-Rays which showed a slight rotation in one foot. I can't get Imprints big enough for him but contrary to Andrea's advice I had shoes and pads put back onto my horse for the first time in 5 years (since his enforced retirement) as the X-Rays showed how thin his soles are and before his laminitis I was intending to bring him out of retirement and back into light work (walk only).

I first noticed he wasn't right when he didn't bounce down the field for his food. I should have picked it up a couple of days earlier though as that wasn't actually the first sign - he is a very obedient and polite horse who picks his feet up when he sees me walking towards him with a hoof pick. He didn't do that for some days beforehand and I had to insist he picked his front feet up - lesson learned for the future.

He was box rest for 4 weeks, then had front shoes on (that was a really scary thing to do) and a couple of days after that I started exercising in hand on a soft surface. He is now hacking out for up to an hour a day and turned out overnight on a small area of paddock.

Has your horse got, or could he have any other conditions such as Cushings or Insulin Resistance? I discovered that my lad has both! Vets think it was the IR that caused the laminitis as it has got better as he lost weight. I reckon he has now lost 10% of his original bodyweight which was really hard going when he was on box rest. Off topic but I had the blood test for Cushings for my other horse as I had a voucher and the vet was already there - he also has it despite not having any symptoms.

As for X-Rays, I would always have them done if I had concerns again despite the £500 it cost (gulp).

Good luck and keep us updated
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thanks for advice
 
I went through a similar thing with my late mare, luckily I got the ex rays done before it was irretrievable, it's pretty scary, she had remedial shoes with some kind of putty. It seemed to do the trick for her. In fact before I lost her, her feet had never been or looked better.

Both of my boys have been restricted throughout Spring and Summer, I check their feet for even the slightest heat, try to note any footiness on our (very gravelly) paths, it is a worry. Hope that your boy is soon on the path to recovery.
 
Yes, ACTH tested at 18 last September but I was suspicious so persuaded the (then) vet to let me do a Prascend trial. He is on 1mg/day and tested at 28 at the beginning of August, tested normal for IR. But the fat pads and crest have told another story sine the beginning of the year, and the laminitis is something that presented in a small way for several years. Isn't hindsight wonderful.
Thanks for the good wishes - he is an amazing horse, on pads and 2 x 2 danilon a day he has walked out of his stable to have his feet done as though northing is wrong, after barely being able to put a foot to the ground on Thursday. Onwards and upwards, it is looking mega expensive but hey! it's better than spending it on a rock n roll life style :) :)
 
Pebble101 said:
Andrea was really helpful for my horse and after looking at her site I too had X-Rays which showed a slight rotation in one foot. I can't get Imprints big enough for him but contrary to Andrea's advice I had shoes and pads put back onto my horse for the first time in 5 years (since his enforced retirement) as the X-Rays showed how thin his soles are and before his laminitis I was intending to bring him out of retirement and back into light work (walk only).

I first noticed he wasn't right when he didn't bounce down the field for his food. I should have picked it up a couple of days earlier though as that wasn't actually the first sign - he is a very obedient and polite horse who picks his feet up when he sees me walking towards him with a hoof pick. He didn't do that for some days beforehand and I had to insist he picked his front feet up - lesson learned for the future.

He was box rest for 4 weeks, then had front shoes on (that was a really scary thing to do) and a couple of days after that I started exercising in hand on a soft surface. He is now hacking out for up to an hour a day and turned out overnight on a small area of paddock.

Has your horse got, or could he have any other conditions such as Cushings or Insulin Resistance? I discovered that my lad has both! Vets think it was the IR that caused the laminitis as it has got better as he lost weight. I reckon he has now lost 10% of his original bodyweight which was really hard going when he was on box rest. Off topic but I had the blood test for Cushings for my other horse as I had a voucher and the vet was already there - he also has it despite not having any symptoms.

As for X-Rays, I would always have them done if I had concerns again despite the £500 it cost (gulp).

Good luck and keep us updated.
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I to had a similar experience my mare had cushings and ems I really struggled to keep her weight down as she had to be retired at 14 due to a tendon injury, she went down with laminitis this year for 3 months we managed to get her through it she was doing so well, she was still on box rest and it came back much worse than before she was really uncomfortable I could not see her go through it again so I had her pts it broke my heart to do it but could not see her in so much pain,

My vet also thinks it was the ems as she said it's so hard to control it without exercise and that I was doomed for that reason, some people really are quite Un aware of the seriousness of both of these conditions, a pony in the field next door to my house is so obese I am shocked his not gone down with laminitis, the young girls that own him hardly ever ride him if I happen to bump into them I think i will have to say something, I would have given anything to have been able to stick a saddle on my mare and get her out everyday she may still be alive now if that had been possible
 
Pinkvboots said:
My horse's tendon came off his hock when he was 13 so I retired him. The other did the same 18 months ago. I saw the vet who came to him initially at a lecture and it was then he told me that there was no reason I couldn't ride him in walk for as far as I liked. I had just found hoof boots big enough and was waiting for them to be delivered when he went down with the laminitis. I found the following information "When the horse exercises, glucose gets into his muscles by pathways that do not require the presence of insulin; and that effect can last as long as 24 hours. Formally exercising your insulin-resistant horse every day – approximately 20-30 minutes of moderate, non-stop exercise -- decreases the overall need for insulin"

It's really difficult for me to exercise 2 every day but I am doing my best :)
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I remember a very good horse vet at a lecture years ago saying if he had two calls, a colic and a laminitis, he would go to the laminitis first. It is less evidently distressing but it can be more critical to get to it in time, my vet today agreed and said yes, laminitis is an emergency.
 
Pebble101 said:
My horse's tendon came off his hock when he was 13 so I retired him. The other did the same 18 months ago. I saw the vet who came to him initially at a lecture and it was then he told me that there was no reason I couldn't ride him in walk for as far as I liked. I had just found hoof boots big enough and was waiting for them to be delivered when he went down with the laminitis. I found the following information "When the horse exercises, glucose gets into his muscles by pathways that do not require the presence of insulin; and that effect can last as long as 24 hours. Formally exercising your insulin-resistant horse every day – approximately 20-30 minutes of moderate, non-stop exercise -- decreases the overall need for insulin"

It's really difficult for me to exercise 2 every day but I am doing my best :)
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That's so unlucky to have two horses with the same injury and then for one to get laminitis, I had three horses up until July only one was sound was not a good year for me, I know it is very hard to motivate yourself sometimes to ride two a day and time can be an issue but at least your are aware of what can happen and you can only do your best with the time you have, I only have one to ride at the moment as one has a suspensory ligament injury and I have time on my hands if I was local to you I could have helped you out:)
 
JillA said:
My horse has a problem with grass, and each year, in early summer he got "a bit footy". I reduced his grass by putting him on a small track and substituted soaked hay, job done yes? No. It seems each time the effect was accumulating and his soles were getting thinner (I did realise but didn't note the connection) which probably meant his pedal bones were sinking just a tiny bit each time.
Now it has become full blown lammi and his soles are barely containing his pedal bones, he is mm away from the point of no return. Thanks to Andrea on the FB laminitis group I got x rays done which revealed how bad the problem really is - by then the poor lad could barely walk. And he had "slippers" at the tip of his pedal bones, bony growths indicative of previous sinking.
Box rest and glue on Imprints, under the supervision of a very good vet and equally experienced farrier, who are hopeful he can be rehabilitated, with time, but the point is I should never have ignored those earlier episodes and so wish I hadn't. No wonder he wasn't forward going when I rode him, his feet, if not sore, weren't comfortable. So please, if you have recurring LGL, get x rays to find out just what is going on.
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Can I just say that I think this is a very brave post and that you are doing a great service to others by sharing your story.

I hope things go well for you both.
 
Pinkvboots said:
That's so unlucky to have two horses with the same injury and then for one to get laminitis, I had three horses up until July only one was sound was not a good year for me, I know it is very hard to motivate yourself sometimes to ride two a day and time can be an issue but at least your are aware of what can happen and you can only do your best with the time you have, I only have one to ride at the moment as one has a suspensory ligament injury and I have time on my hands if I was local to you I could have helped you out:)
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Oops didn't make it clear, it's all the same horse with tendons off both hocks now (OH said he must have a design fault ) and then the laminitis. Probably didn't help that he is a good doer and had mainly lived out for five years and not working. The other horse is OK but although he has Cushings, nothing showing yet. In future both will have their grazing strictly managed.

I do feel for OP, I could have got my horse earlier if it I had not ignored his reluctance when picking feet out.
 
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Pebble101 said:
Oops didn't make it clear, it's all the same horse with tendons off both hocks now (OH said he must have a design fault ) and then the laminitis. Probably didn't help that he is a good doer and had mainly lived out for five years and not working. The other horse is OK but although he has Cushings, nothing showing yet. In future both will have their grazing strictly managed.

I do feel for OP, I could have got my horse earlier if it I had not ignored his reluctance when picking feet out.
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Oh right still unlucky though for both legs to go! No one is perfect it's easy to miss little things sometimes, I am sure most of us have been there I know I have.
 
Pebble101 said:
I do feel for OP, I could have got my horse earlier if it I had not ignored his reluctance when picking feet out.
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Neither you, nor OP, shoud feel bad, I once lost a 6 yr old Shire mare, who had been seen by a vet from a locally major equine practice many times over 3 months, to laminitis. I now believe that she had some form of Cushings but we never did get a diagnosis until she foundered, which the vet finally managed to recognise. My farrier blames the vet and he is usually very professional and circumspect when talking about other professionals.

I hope your both horses make a good recovery.
 
Oh my goodness! Poor horse and poor you! Please don't feel guilty though - it sounds like you were trying to manage the LGL in the way we're all advised to do.

It sounds like you have it all under control. If you're interested, I know a lot of people have success with chronic laminitis when they do a detox (well, when their horse does). If that's something you might be interested in, give Roger Hatch at Trinity Consultants a ring. He's a wealth of knowledge and experience. I think he generally recommends a course of L94, and then if you follow that up with 'Gut Restore' by Thunderbrooke, I reckon you'd see quite a difference.

Best of luck with it
 
FfionWinnie said:
Out of interest was he shod previously?
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Not for some years - he doesn't do roadwork, because of his pigeon toes (and I now think, discomfort in his feet). I did have fronts on him for a while because his soles were so sensitive he struggled walking across the yard, (planings), but then I began to realise the farrier was trimming his soles and making matters worse. For the last 18 months he has been done by an excellent trimmer while I have kept them rasped in between, and his soles were beginning to improve. But now I think he had been suffering some degree of sinking for years - wouldn't you have thought a farrier who had served his apprenticeship with the very same highly regarded remedial farrier would have wondered WHY his soles were so sensitive and thin? But he seemed to be concerned with treating the symptoms than finding the underlying cause.
So far he is coping well with box rest - he does love being stabled, he had two months of it a few years back for a nasty injury and was happy as Larry. And the Danilon and pads are doing their job well, he walks well from his night box to his day one, just waiting for the Imprints to be fitted now.
 
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