Suncat
Well-Known Member
Hello H&H Hive Mind – I’m hoping you can throw out some suggestions to help me in my search…
My horse has always had significant metabolic symptoms, which have been managed by diet, environment and exercise. But we’ve not been able to get to a cause, and therefore answer the question – is there a change of management or a treatment that could really help him?
Horse is an 11yr old part-bred PRE, bred in uk. He carries weight very easily, classic fat pads and gets puffy eyes, etc on grass. Very low level rumbling laminitis detectable (ie off and on foot sensitivity, pulses and foot warmth) almost all the time. His feet are only ever consistently cold in the very dead of winter. He's got small feet for his size, so I think that makes thing a bit worse. He's barefoot, very good and regular EP trims working to xrays and hand in hand with his Vet. Outside of the winter (late Nov – any hint of spring) he kept 24/7 on a track, with minimal grass exposure, on a mix of soaked hay, hay and feed straw. Minimal feed, just to get in a mix of lami focussed herbal supplements, magnesium, oily herbs, general supplement, devils claw (for anti-inflammatory) etc. He’s never had any prescribed medication for these symptoms. In winter he’s out on grass daytime, in at night on hay/straw. We’ve tried all sorts of supplements over the years, from major brands, to holistic to Ron fields… no measurable benefits seen. The supplements he’s on now are the ones that seem to help somewhat and are lower cost/impact. We’ve just started to try Acetyl suplement, but too early to tell if that’s helping. Also having our winter hay analysed, should have that detail soon.
Here’s the unusual bit - He’s had ACTH tests over the years, most recently last month – all absolutely normal. We’ve also completed a glucose test recently (ie, few hours of starvation, dose of sugar syrup and then blood test 90min later) – also as normal as you can get. Vet is surprised as we really thought one of these tests would show a reaction that matches his classic symptoms – she has referred his case to a specialist to look at next steps. But I’d like to be as informed and ready as I can be!
My over-riding feeling is that I’m missing something. If the classic tests are so normal – is there something else (other than the typical sugar interaction) that is his trigger? When I don’t know that, how can we treat it/avoid it?
This has come to a head as he’s now got arthritic changes in his front coffin joints – we (Vet, Eq Podiatrist, McTimoney pro are working closely, they are awesome) think a contributing factor is his posture (camped under) caused by the lami discomfort. Exercise is so critical in keeping him metabolically healthy but now I’ve got to be really careful with him to. Though.. he’s come back sound and outside of the school the vet has signed him off to normal work – but I am really worried about breaking him… that said his posture is improving noticeably with body work, in hand and gentle ridden pole work. So that’s good
So thank you for getting this far!! Where should we look next for his metabolic issue?
My horse has always had significant metabolic symptoms, which have been managed by diet, environment and exercise. But we’ve not been able to get to a cause, and therefore answer the question – is there a change of management or a treatment that could really help him?
Horse is an 11yr old part-bred PRE, bred in uk. He carries weight very easily, classic fat pads and gets puffy eyes, etc on grass. Very low level rumbling laminitis detectable (ie off and on foot sensitivity, pulses and foot warmth) almost all the time. His feet are only ever consistently cold in the very dead of winter. He's got small feet for his size, so I think that makes thing a bit worse. He's barefoot, very good and regular EP trims working to xrays and hand in hand with his Vet. Outside of the winter (late Nov – any hint of spring) he kept 24/7 on a track, with minimal grass exposure, on a mix of soaked hay, hay and feed straw. Minimal feed, just to get in a mix of lami focussed herbal supplements, magnesium, oily herbs, general supplement, devils claw (for anti-inflammatory) etc. He’s never had any prescribed medication for these symptoms. In winter he’s out on grass daytime, in at night on hay/straw. We’ve tried all sorts of supplements over the years, from major brands, to holistic to Ron fields… no measurable benefits seen. The supplements he’s on now are the ones that seem to help somewhat and are lower cost/impact. We’ve just started to try Acetyl suplement, but too early to tell if that’s helping. Also having our winter hay analysed, should have that detail soon.
Here’s the unusual bit - He’s had ACTH tests over the years, most recently last month – all absolutely normal. We’ve also completed a glucose test recently (ie, few hours of starvation, dose of sugar syrup and then blood test 90min later) – also as normal as you can get. Vet is surprised as we really thought one of these tests would show a reaction that matches his classic symptoms – she has referred his case to a specialist to look at next steps. But I’d like to be as informed and ready as I can be!
My over-riding feeling is that I’m missing something. If the classic tests are so normal – is there something else (other than the typical sugar interaction) that is his trigger? When I don’t know that, how can we treat it/avoid it?
This has come to a head as he’s now got arthritic changes in his front coffin joints – we (Vet, Eq Podiatrist, McTimoney pro are working closely, they are awesome) think a contributing factor is his posture (camped under) caused by the lami discomfort. Exercise is so critical in keeping him metabolically healthy but now I’ve got to be really careful with him to. Though.. he’s come back sound and outside of the school the vet has signed him off to normal work – but I am really worried about breaking him… that said his posture is improving noticeably with body work, in hand and gentle ridden pole work. So that’s good
So thank you for getting this far!! Where should we look next for his metabolic issue?
