Losing weight, laminitis, getting back into work

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sugar_plumb

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Hi everyone.

I hope you can help me.

My miniature pony had mild laminitis at the beginning of June. It was diagnosed by a vet. Had xray & there was no rotation just his heels were too high. He was put on Bute for a week & has not come sound. The farrier has seen xrays & has been & trimmed his feet as per recommendation from the vet.

I now need to get him to lose some weight. He is having 3 small pony small holed hay nets a day that have been soaked for an hour each before feeding & have been taking him for little walks. I am also keeping him kept on the yard with access to his stable with a deep shavings bed.

He was having 150g of spillers lite & lean balancer & 200g of spillers happy hoof molasses free chaff at night. I have since stopped giving him this after the course of Bute.

I’d like to up how exercise a little more. I.e start talking him on walks & possibly start lunging to aid his weight loss.

Am I doing it too soon? This is the first time of dealing with a pony with laminitis so any advice would be so helpful.

Thank you very much in advance
 
Personally I wouldn't exercise until he is sound. Continue to restrict grazing/food intake. Do it slowly, and once he is happy to walk you can start exercising him.
 
If he's not sound I wouldn't be exercising.
My mare had lami at the beginning of May. We caught it very early. She was not allowed out of her stable for 2 weeks. She was sound at the end of this time. I started of with 5 mins in hand grazing and increased it over a couple of weeks. She is now back in light work. She has 1.5 percent of her body weight total feed. So far she has lost nearly 50 kilos
 
A long shot I know but if you have access to a swimming facility it is one of the best non weight bearing exercise for post lamanitics. It really kick starts their metabolism and gives you a good base to start working them again.
 
laminitic ponies should not be alowed to move until 30 days after they are sound off drugs restriced movement is almost as important as restricted food maybe more so in large bodied small footed ones like hairies
 
sugar_plumb said:
Sorry was meant to add that he is sound
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how long has he been sound with no drugs that is when the 30 days confinement with a view to future movement starts so if it was into June he was acute and several days or weeks unsound then he should not be out of his box and still be on a deep bed
 
He seen a vet on the 5th June he went lame on the 1st June. Vet prescribed a week of bute which he had & was sound after that & has been sound since. I spoke to his vet on the 12th of June & she told me to put him in a small scratch/ bare area.
 
Ideally you want the same length of time sound as they were lame/on bute.

My guy was 15 weeks in total un sound due to rotation and went sound then had more lameness due to seromas. He’s been sound and off bute 16weeks and he just go the all clear and go ahead this week to be brought back in to work gradually.
 
I have had 2 Laminitics-one Cushings and one EMS-regarding the hay soaking an hour is not long enough.For a Laminitis or for just trying to lose weight it needs to be minimum 3/4 hours and then sprayed off to remove any sugars from where it’s been sitting in the water before feeding.Small,regular Nets is the way to go but they do need to be soaked for longer than an hour.As long as your pony has been sound for a week or two after coming off pain relief you should be fine to start upping the exercise but gently.You need to watch the ground being hard or treading on anything hard as any type of concussion can bring the Laminitis back on-can take a year for the foot to totally recover and sadly once they have had it once-they will always have more chance of it re occurring.Only you can really judge how much is too much by how the pony is after exercise.Its a very difficult balance.
 
windand rain said:
how long has he been sound with no drugs that is when the 30 days confinement with a view to future movement starts so if it was into June he was acute and several days or weeks unsound then he should not be out of his box and still be on a deep bed
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W&R can you explain your reasoning and where you get this advice from? I've had two lamitic cases myself and known of several others, most with vet input. All were turned out on dry lot and/or exercised as soon as they came sound. All recovered as expected.

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Robert Eustace and several other expert vets
http://www.bvec.co.uk/faqs/laminitis/
Laminitis trust
several others but it was a lecture by Eustace that set it in stone as the reasoning is irrefutable
I should add tha Shetlands and minis are a special case as they must be fed and fed well while still losing weight, drastic cuts in food intake can kill them
 
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It says 30 days after the pony is moving freely round the box. All the cases I know did that long before they would be classed as sound. That advice fits with what I've seen.


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Thats the point 30 days after the pony is movng freely off drugs around the box. As I said the Lecture was most influential as the reasoning is irrefutable. If you want those reasons I am happy to enlighten you but its a bit patronising for me to explain if you already know
 
ycbm said:
It says 30 days after the pony is moving freely round the box. All the cases I know did that long before they would be classed as sound. That advice fits with what I've seen.


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Sorry a bit late to this. Same with my horse. He is moving freely round the box and looks sound, will whizz round and pivot on his feet with no problem - he's been like that from the start. Take him out on the concrete and it's a different story. This is eight weeks now and both vet and farrier do think a bit of moving around will do him good as he is older and a bit arthritic (but not bad enough to normally give him Danilon). X-Rays were fine as far as the laminitis but did show he has some arthritis in his pedal bone on one front foot - the one he is worse on. I'm torn over what to do though as it's against everything I have read to turn him out and he is a big horse which makes matters worse.
 
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