My annual WORD OF WARNING PEEPS!

yep my mare is sectioned off, but now the grass is getting greener will need to make it smaller this weekend!
at 20 and 15.2h laminitis would be even worse for her. fingers, eyes and everything crossed shes only had one episode over 2 years ago and her xrays showed no changes.
she is on a strict diet as shes put weight ON over the winter living out. looks like the muzzle may be making an appearance this year....
 
Definitely not patronising at all. Assuming knowledge in other people is always dangerous. We have a newish girl on our yard with her first pony but she has worked on a yard before and is quite bolshy so comes across as knowing a lot and like she wouldnt really accept advice anyway. The other day her pony managed to get a leg stuck in his surcingle. I went to help her untangle him and noticed some mud fever on the other leg and just said in passing "Oh he's got a touch of mud fever has he?" just making conversation more than anything. To my horror she replied "Is that what it is? I thought it was just a cut."
Cue lesson in cleaning, de-scabbing, drying and applying a barrier before turning out. At the end she said "Thanks for helping me, I'm still learning so need people to point these things out to me" I resisted the urge for a group hug, but it goes to show that even people you think are ok need some advice sometimes.
 
Not patronising in the slightest. Too easy to forget the dangers of frosty mornings when you're caught up in the joy of being able to turn them out on grass after a long winter inside. My gelding is a Standardbred and I always worried about him on my last yard. The grazing there was so lush but whenever I mentioned laminitis, people would say "Oh he's not likely to come down with it, he's not the type"
Unfortunately, he did have a laminitic attack just before Christmas 2008, not through rich grazing or feeding but from toxins in his blood stream after a strangles outbreak on our yard. He'd been quarantined in his stable for a month so had been off grass completely, and not turned out on rich grass anyway since the end of September. It was a horrendous experience and not one I ever want to repeat. :( Luckily I spotted it immediately and was able to treat it quickly and he recovered from it far quicker than I thought he would.
I'm constantly monitoring his weight and condition scoring him. And feeding has been a nightmare to get right for him. Even though his laminitis was triggered by something other than food, he will always be prone to it now so I'm extra careful about what passes through his mouth.
Thanks for this post. It's a timely reminder for us all and as others have said before, if only one person takes it on board and saves a horse coming down with this awful affliction, then it's a job well done in my opinion. :)
 
A very good and timely post, especially as not everyone is aware of the danger that the frost can cause. George will be going out on the grass from Monday (they spend 3 months over winter in an old sand school with hay), he has been hand grazed for the last 2 weeks to get him used to it, and will be out with a muzzle from day 1. He is a strapping 16.3 shire x who puts on weight v easily, he has never had lami but I won't risk it, as even I know that every horse / pony can be at risk.

Thanks Nailed :)
 
true to the point post! if your horse has wintered well their is no room for expansion!" if slighltly lean then there is a small margin! it is much harder to keep a good doer than a poor doer as human nature is to feed! and we have to look at the owners! a tubby owner will want to feed! an anorexic owner wont! but in my opinion i think laminitis is an owner/carer thing a management thing! (unless a cushionoid/EMS thing again controlled by management!!)
 
It can be so difficult at this time of year knowing what to do and when to do it!

It must be really difficult for those who don't have their own land or the YO won't let them section land off :(

I started my two off a couple of days ago in their spring/summer paddock ( litterally is the size of two stables) I have now made a track that goes around the big pond at the top of the field and come back down into the little paddock that also has the water in!

Plenty of exercise and keeps them entertained more ( I have some fallen tree logs they can jump over too)

Work of genius if I say so myself lol

Good luck everyone and lets get rid of the dredded "L" word!!
 
Great post, thanks Nailed. There are a couple of horses at our yard who are susceptible to Laminitis and we are already watching out for the first signs but so far so good *crosses fingers*

I've been checking for pulses and not found any yet on Bella but as with others I'm not 100% sure I'm doing it right


Something else I'm not sure about but can youngsters go down with it? :confused: Some say yes and others I've asked say No :confused: :confused:
 
Another tip. Your horse does not have to be FAT to get laminitis. Stress and trauma are big causes of laminitis is racehorses. so it certainly doesnt have to be obese to get laminitis.

Also, if your horse is overweight, work them on softer ground or only walking on hacks with the odd trot to begin with as the trauma of road work can set the laminitis off a treat.

Insulin intolerence in elderly horses who are suspected of cushings is probabaly the second most common type of laminitis. So again, if you suspect your horse/pony of having cushing, or showing early signs of it, then keep those eyes peeled!!

Lastly, another, much less common form of laminitis is toxin induced. This is usually when horses are grazed on land that was grazed by sheeps a decade or so back. This laminitis is unfortuantly out of our hands but you can keep you eyes open for warning signs.

I am so please that this thread turned into exactly what I wanted it to be. Constructive =o)

Thankyou guys!!!

Lou x
 
I never thought laminitis could happen to my old horse ... and unfortunately it did. I wish I knew then what I know now, and if someone at that time had been "patronising" and warned me, I wish they had.

Laminitis (bar strangles perhaps) is the very worst disease that affects horses, and a lot of us (me included) thought it just happened to fat little ponies in the spring/summer. It doesn't!! Mine was affected in Autumn time just after there'd been a lot of rain and it had brought the grass out, with the autumn frosts as well, so it can happen in the autumn as well.

It may be inconvenient, it may be a sheer blimmin nuisance, or whatever, but if one poor horse out there is prevented from getting laminitis, its worthwhile I say. If you've ever had to deal with it, its a real heartbreaker and you'd never, ever want to see a horse go through it again believe me.
 
Just want to say a quick thank you for this topic. I am worried about my shetty as he got very fat last year and has wintered rather well. We are getting a muzzle as soon as pos (any recommendations?).

Other than that, I knew not a lot about laminitis and how to deal with it, what to look out dfor etc even though I've been around horses for 30 years, I've never had to deal with this, nor been on a yard where anyone has, so I have to say many thanks for all the info and tips that have come up on here. Here starts my education about it!!!! :o:D
 
RE - muzzle, the one I found stayed on my wee shette the best was the one that looks like a wee basket - only thing is, I needed to put fleece round it as it started to rub him a wee bit.
 
Great post, bumping it again.

Don't forget the other spring terror, grass sickness......have seen a friend's horse with lami, but personally experienced grass sickness.

The great thing is that if you are vigilant about lami, then you are probably protecting your horse against grass sickness too, making sure that they are not stressed, the gut is kept as stable as possible and the move out to grazing full time is gradual.

One last bit of advice, keep harrowing to a minimum; very tempting to try and get your field in tip-top condition, but disturbed ground can throw up all sorts of toxins/bacteria.

Sorry for the mini-hijack Lou, but didn't think you would mind too much - all for a good proactive/protective cause!
 
Sadly any horse can go down with Laminitis as there are so many different things that can trigger it off. It is a sensible precaution to keep the weight of a horse down and also to excercise it daily. One cause of Laminitis which many owners are unaware of are emerging encysted small red worms so always worm for them as they can not be detected in a worm count.
 
Great post Nailed

In reply to someone who asked about digital pulses.....

I feel for the digital pulse in the back of the pastern; if there is a pulse there, you can sometimes feel it more strongly on one side or the other which can be a handy pointer when searching for an abscess in the foot.
You shouldn't usually be able to feel it at all unless there is a problem in the foot or possibly after exercise
The pulse you feel either side of the fetlock will be there all the time
 
Just out of interest on the causes of laminitis, I (unfortunately) had to deal with laminitis in a 18 year old horse who had never had it before but then started having successive attacks for no good reason. He had had melanomas all his life and by this stage he had very large lumps all over the place (under the tail, beneath the jaw, etc). The vet said it was the melanomas that were causing the lami. Unfortunately at the time I didn't ask for more details of how melanomas caused lami as we were looking to PTS and it was a very sad time.
 
my shetty is already muzzled, fortunately he hasnt ever had it (lord knows how, he was beyond obese when we bought him :( ) but im still very cautious.

mums boy has come though winter slim and trim and is still on the rough winter field, but as soon as he moves over, he will be muzzled and only turned out for a few hours initially.

cant be too careful.
 
Rowreach said:
As a couple of people have already said, skinny equines get laminitis too, so don't be fooled into thinking it is just fat ponies.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. My 16.1 horse was skinny when she was diagnosed after intermittent lameness.

If only I'd been more aware of digital pulses at the time maybe I could have spotted it sooner. I now check her pulse daily and am on the alert ALL the year round.

One positive thing has come out of it: so many people felt my horse's pulse in order to know what to look for and to recognise it in their own. If your horse has a pulse, use it to teach others please :)
 
I am testing out grazing muzzles this week - YO has lent me some to try, before the move into a new field next week. OMG, all that work I've put into his feet over the winter, as when I got him they hadn't been tended to for a very long time...

I've been reading the back posts on grazing muzzles, and it looks like a huge muzzle puzzle :D sm x
 
The stupid girl who shares my yard thinks she's doing right by turning out her lami pony at night and bringing it in during the day--- the whole frost thing has passed her by. I give up!

This is the same person who said about my horses sarcoids, 'she's such a bad owner, why the hell doesn't she just get them cut off'1?!?!?!?!?. Rant over!
 
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