Life after laminitus

D

dizz4

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 May 2009
Messages
166
Visit site
Life after Laminitus.... my daughters pony a 14 hand welsh cob mare got laminitus last year and had 10 degree rotation in both front feet, she is well now and sound but would like to know what can be expected from her in the way of work after this, she is only ridden once a week and taken to the occasional shows to do a ridden class or an in hand class.... would it be unfair to ask the pony to do showjumping even though she appears sound...?

Please could other people let me know of their experiences after laminitus....

Dizz4

this picture was taken before laminitus and she is much slimmer now and in much better shape, she was far too fat before....

picture.php
 
As she isn't doing any work as such, It would be very unfair to take her showjumping :( she probably isn't fit enough for a start.

No reason why she shouldn't be in more work, just build it up slowly. My pony was good as new ( and still is) five years after an attack of laminitis.

Keep her on the slim side and she should be fine, and or get a sharer to rider her
 
I have a friend who's pony got Laminitus. The laminitus was very bad and severe, she had heart bars put on her feet and had just short of a years box rest. In which time she lost alot of weight. However now she is sound :D She is doing everything which a normal pony does! She hacks schools and jumps as if there was nothing wrong with her. I don't think there is any reason why you shouldn't be doing more with your pony if you want to. In my opinion its essential to keep the weight off of them so the more work the better really. Just have to introduce it gradually.
 
AngieandBen said:
As she isn't doing any work as such, It would be very unfair to take her showjumping :( she probably isn't fit enough for a start.

No reason why she shouldn't be in more work, just build it up slowly. My pony was good as new ( and still is) five years after an attack of laminitis.

Keep her on the slim side and she should be fine, and or get a sharer to rider her
Click to expand...

would love to get a sharer to ride her or others, my cob could also do with some exercise in the week but it is not easy to find someone reliable and experienced enough... Anyone in the Gawcott area of Bucks who wants to exercise some lovely cobs... please get in touch...

cheers....
 
My mare has a 5 degree rotation in each foot - and like yours, she is now perfectly sound. She is worked 5 or 6 days a week and does everything she did beforehand. The only thing I'm careful about is working her on hard ground. It's far better that she works hard all the time she's not in pain as hopefully this will reduce her weight and thus risk of another bout.
 
When Lucy had Lami she had rotation in all four feet :eek: I can't remember the degree of rotation as it was all abit of a blur to be honest the veys took one look at her and asked if i had the number for the Kennels :(. I gave Lucy a chance to fight and fight she did. That was about 8 years ago now and up untill recently she was showing, dressageing, jumping, Hunting every week and doing endurance rides of upto and inclu 80km :D She has had to stop now due to another illness :( But being laminitic couldn't stop her. Obviously i had to be a bit more careful about diet and trotting/jumping on hard ground but i think all the work she was doing helped prevent further attacks.
Good luck with her she looks lovely. :)
 
Touch wood my mare has been back in normal work since laminitis with mild rotation in 2008 and she had flat feet!
 
My 14.2hh mare has had laminitis 3 times in the 13 years she's been at the yard (2 times since I've had her). She's 15 now and is still a total diva! :p
She has just recovered from her 3rd period of lami (so annoying as she is never fed high sugar foods, has limited turn out, ridden every day, not overweight etc) and was on box rest for 8 weeks - the vet declared her sound last week and said with heart bars on (to cover his back more than anything) she can start to go out and be ridden. :)
So, we have been putting her out for an hour (with a muzzle - just to make sure!) and she is being ridden for 20 minutes a day (only round the estate near us). She seems to be going fine, but is not quite back to her normal self yet.
Last time she had lami, it was not as bad and within 10 days she was being ridden again. The following summer, we did ridden showing, riding club pony, clear round etc...so she could still jump like a trooper (not that she often did at shows! :()
However with this time being so severe, we have decided not to do ridden showing this summer - maybe a few in-hands when she is fitter and she probably won't jump until next year.
I think your daughter's pony would probably benefit from being ridden more and increased fitness levels if you want to showjump :) as regards the lami, it shouldn't pose a problem, so long as she's going sound at home.
Good luck!
 
Last edited:
dizz4 - Thank you so much for posting this.

My mare was diagnosed with laminitis at the end of March, she has been stabled for 9weeks and we have just had a minor setback.

She is due more x-rays tomorrow as she's just had her 3rd set of Imprint Shoes fitted. She has responded to treatment fine but last week she started to look quite lame in her stable. As she's a big horse I was thinking the worst and have been in a right state today x
 
They can return to normal work as long as it is gradual and any signs of relapse are treated as an emergency. The hard work is maintaining the weight control. The thinner the better and I fully appreciate the difficulty of doing this for an animal on strict boxrest then a limited exercise programme. Shame that lovely pony was allowed to get so overweight in the first place as laminitis is a very high price to pay and sometimes leads to the ultimate one.
 
My lad had laminitis last year and some of earlier this year. He is a Welsh D and had rotation of 12 egrees in one front with heartbars on etc. He has been back in work (short hacks in walk on the lanes) for 6 weeks now and is doing really well so far. I am taking it slowly, keeping to walk and increasing the amount of hacks he does in a week by one extra per week. I will not be introducing any trot work for a while yet to be on the safe side but I am probably being over cautious.
I see no reason why my lad or any horse cannot go back to doing the job they did previously if monitored daily for signs of flare ups and taken very slowly and throughly to ensure they are fit and well to do the work at each stage.
As others have said, it is keeping the weight off that is the challenge more than anything. My lad used to be out 24/7 and this is the compromise he has to make as he will be stabled at night indeffinately now in order to keep his weight in check and ensure his guts cope with any grass he eats etc.
 
brighteyes said:
They can return to normal work as long as it is gradual and any signs of relapse are treated as an emergency. The hard work is maintaining the weight control. The thinner the better and I fully appreciate the difficulty of doing this for an animal on strict boxrest then a limited exercise programme. Shame that lovely pony was allowed to get so overweight in the first place as laminitis is a very high price to pay and sometimes leads to the ultimate one.
Click to expand...

I know we let her get far too fat and we are very ashamed of ourselves and she is now on very strict rations and has lost loads of weight, she is doing well and fairly springing along in the sand school.... We would probably only jump her in the sand school for the foreseeable and not on hard ground at all, she is genuinly a lovely pony with the nicest nature I have come across in a long time, so patient and quiet you don't even know she is in the stable most of the time....

thanks for all comments, they are all appreciated...
 
Lotty said:
dizz4 - Thank you so much for posting this.

My mare was diagnosed with laminitis at the end of March, she has been stabled for 9weeks and we have just had a minor setback.

She is due more x-rays tomorrow as she's just had her 3rd set of Imprint Shoes fitted. She has responded to treatment fine but last week she started to look quite lame in her stable. As she's a big horse I was thinking the worst and have been in a right state today x
Click to expand...

My heart goes out to you, it is absolutely heartbreaking but they are making progress in understanding this terrifying condition all the time and wish you well with your mares recovery.... May I make a suggestion, we were recommend Co-enzyme Q10 tablets to reduce the toxins in the body, we gave our pony 100 mg a day for about 3 months and this may have made a difference, you can find these on ebay and may just help....

All the best

Izzy
 
I was given a pony that had had laminitis recurrently for 3 yrs. He had rotation in both fronts. His previous owner had him booked in to be pts. Her vet had agreed that she was fighting a losing batle with him. My vet told me that even if I got him over the laminitis that it was unlikely he'd ever be able to be ridden again.
He was sound within the month and hasn't had laminitis since (18 months). My farrier has told me his hooves are back to square one. He is barefoot and back in work. He can do everything that he could before he had laminitis including roadwork and stoney tracks and we took him to his first show last weekend. It was just a showing class but he told us in no uncertain terms that he was no show pony....he needed a hunter trial course thankyou very much:cool::D
My vet came to jab him the other day and was very surprised to find him in work but very pleased.

I would say that as long as you've had the ok from your farrier/vet then go for it.:)
 
My oldie had lami at 21, she had 6 degree & 8 degree rotation in both forefeet. She returned to full work. She had a year in heart bar shoes & then we put her in rubber shoes. She did affiliated dressage at age 22 up to Elementary level. She worked at medium level at home. She hacked 2 or 3 times a week. But i made the decsion that i would not jump her again, as i did not want to risk the forefeet. So personally i would be cautious about jumping a pony that has had lami. But i suppose it depends what size fences you were think of as well :)
Glad a good recovery has been made :D
I'd agree that regardless she would need more work before jumping was considered.
 
AngieandBen said:
As she isn't doing any work as such, It would be very unfair to take her showjumping :( she probably isn't fit enough for a start.

No reason why she shouldn't be in more work, just build it up slowly. My pony was good as new ( and still is) five years after an attack of laminitis.

Keep her on the slim side and she should be fine, and or get a sharer to rider her
Click to expand...

We were only planning to do a little jumping in the school as it is nice and soft, daughter not ready for competitive jumping yet....

Izzy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top