Living with laminitis

[VixieTrix]

Hi,

I am a great lurker but not much of a poster so i apologize for suddenly wanting advice!

I won't get into the nitty gritty as I am still processing and get upset :*( Basically the Gingernut has mild cushings, pedal bone rotation and on / off lami. He's had vets visits, X rays, been on Prascend for two weeks now and has now started corrective shoeing.
He's still on box rest for the time being and we're kind of at a stall just now seeing how he goes

I am basically hoping for some advice for the long term (i'm staying positive!!) I'd really like to know how you guys all deal with general day to day life summer and winter and just all the little bits and bobs if anyone has time!!

We have been together 19 years and I just want to make him as happy and comfortable as I can as he is my precious princess

Ponio is 25, a welsh C x Arab x who knows!! His weight is fine but he just needs to avoid the sugars!

sorry to depress your Thursday!

Any help is greatly appreciated x x

 

[Wagtail]

So sorry you are dealing with this. However he has done really well to get to 25 before this has hit him. My mare got it aged just 17 and I battled for 2 years to save her, finally losing the battle. However, some horses are much more lucky and hopefully Blue is one of them. The thing that worked best with my mare and her companion (another laminitic) was to muzzle her during the day out in the field and then to bring her into the sand turnout at night with soaked hay. If you don't have a sand turn out then a stable or small pen built with electric fencing will do. Some people build a track system in their fields.

 

[dotty9999]

I'm another serial lurker but just thought I'd comment as this all sounds very familiar!
I'm in a similar position with my old boy who was diagnosed with lami and cushings last August. He has always had problems with lami on and off over the years but it seemed to be under control - he's at a good weight, has a well managed diet so it all came as a bit of a shock when it came back after a few years without it. Anyway, 7 months or so down the line things are looking up - he's on one Prascend a day and his bloods are back within the normal range - he went through a picky phase when he started on the medication where he refused to eat and I couldn't get the tablets (or anything else!) into him - but we perservered and he has completely regained his appetite and is a much happier horse!
Remedial shoeing has all been completed and I've started walking him again which has been interesting as he seems to have turned into a spooky, nappy youngster instead of my 22 year old arthritic horse! I've had him for almost 20 years and the only thing holding him back is his arthritis, he seems to be managing really well with the cushings now that he is over the lami and I just need to find a balance between enough turnout to keep his sore joints moving and not giving him too much grass - especially when he's notoriously difficult to catch! I did try a grazing muzzle on him in summer but he absolutely hated it to the point where he was impossible to catch at nights if he thought it was going on so have had to manage with strip grazing or bringing him in for spells at the summer which he seems happier with.

Good luck and hopefully your boy will be on the mend very soon!

 

[3OldPonies]

Hi Vixitrix. It sounds like you are doing all the right things. Don't be too downhearted about the cushings, like Wagtail said you've done well to get him this far without a brush with the dratted disease. One of my chaps has it, and has also had bouts of lami in the past as well, not sure if they were related as he was a lot younger than he is now. He's 27 now and was about 17 when he had lami and I hadn't had the test for cushings done back then in fact not sure it even existed, certainly no one suggested it. My boy is now fully retired as he has lost muscle tone in his back and I don't think at his age it is fair to try to get him back to work. Even if retirement is the route you go down, you could still have years left with your pony yet, you just need to get a grip on his diet and grazing - do what works best for you and stuff anyone else's opinion apart from the vet's.