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pottamus

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My lad went in this morning for a suspected abscess and the vet has just rang to say he has no abscess after xrays, it shows he has laminitis in one foot! I am absolutely mortified and ashamed of myself for letting this happen despite him being on all year round restricted grazing and hay and exercised every day.
He has 12 degrees rotation sideways in one foot, which apparently is better than it being a downwards rotation...not that that is any comfort to me. They have the farrier there and will decide what to do about shoes, trimming, a heartbar etc and come back to me.
What the hell do you do with a welshie on the same grazing of half an acre of nibble bare grass and hay all year round????????!!!!!!!!
What on earth do you all do....I have to find something to ensure this does not happen again but have no idea what when I rent the paddock and can do nothing 'permanent' as ideally I would stick in a woodchip area and keep him on that and hay all year if I could.
I am sure this happens to many people but I am so pi***ed off with myself and sorry for my poor lad it is untrue.
 
It sounds like you did all you could to prevent it happening, so don't beat yourself up about it too much.
The only thing I can suggest is no hay!
Oh, does he wear any rugs over winter? If so, reduce/remove them so he looses more weight (not too much though!) over winter, so that come summer, he has more wiggle room to put some on.
 
Oh dear! What an absolute pain in the wotsits when you have done everything you can to try and avoid laminitis
frown.gif
Any chance you could split the field with some electric fencing?
 
Do you already soak his hay? If not soaking it for 12 hours would help him by reducing the sugar intake.

There are also supplements such as Founderguard (from vet only) or others that you can buy over the counter. I have a pony on founderguard and it has helped.
 
I would agree about looking for other reasons too - particularly as he only has it in one foot.

Sending healing thoughts!
 
it might be concussion - I agree with the others.

I feed my little lami pony hay soaked for 12 hrs in a very small haynet (designed for haylage) and also let her pick at straw as well so she doesnt starve.

Also cut down the half an acre to even smaller or turn out just when dark or not at all when grass has had lots of sun and rain on it.

Its hard work keeping a laminitic pony - I sympathise - and dont beat your self up over it, it sounds like you have done everything you can.
 
as it is only one foot and presuming he doesnt look like a barrel, i would think it is either a mechanical laminitis or concussion related, or a foot balance issue that has gone undetected til now! age? any sign of cushings? good luck. foot balance is so crucial and often hard to achieve! get your farrier and vet to talk to one another! or even better get all 3 of you together to discuss progress! unless your vet has a really good remedial farrier who is prepared to take you on for the long term.
 
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