Paranoid about laminitis

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Emma_H

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Am I alone in being completely paranoid about laminitis?

My current horse has no history but my last one had two bouts, one mild one acute and I really hope I never see it again.

I know any horse, any size, any age, any breed can get it so just because my current horse doesn't have history of it doesn't mean he won't get it, he's a very good doer so I'm limiting the time he has on the grass.

I couldn't sleep last night worrying about it

I feel like a freak as no one seems to worry as much as I do, not outwardly anyway! I just want to know there are other people like me out there :(
 
I worry too as mine is also a Good Doer. Do you add extra magnesium to you horse's feed? I found this can help.

I had one pony that I regarded as on the brink, but he was only a companion pony and so never ridden or exercised. I managed to keep him sound and laminitis free, apart from one scare when my horse was elsewhere and he was out grazing alone, until he contracted Cushings last autumn. The vet reassured me and said it was the cushings that had brought on the laminitis, not my management.

Mostly they came in at night and I was quite hard on the pony, only giving a small amount of soaked hat, although he could nibble his straw bed. If there were out 24/7 I fenced off a small corner of the field and made that into an outdoor stable, so again he was confined with a small amount of hay only and a very well nibbled patch of grass. I tried a grazing mask but he was an expert at getting it off.

As for the horse, I watch his weight, and hope that he has enough exercise. He is on a very low sugar/starch diet.
 
I am the same as mine has cushings ..I just try and manage her carefully by soaking hay, don't feed anything with molasses or added sugar,manage grazing and keep an eye on her weight....you are right it is a big worry....
 
Yes people do worry about this as much as you. Me, for one :).

It's such hard work. I have two good doers and have them each on almost bare earth the size of my living room ...... and I have four acres of lush lush grazing ! They only get soaked hay in small amounts and half an hour a day on the grass, split between morning and evening and time in the ménage to stretch their legs. They are lunged and ridden daily. Today they had a treat .... extra quarter of an hour with their grazing masks on ! It's hard work indeed because the weight creeps on and it's hard to see it until suddenly you see fat pads which almost seem to have appeared overnight. As an owner, it makes you feel guilty, but I read somewhere that lami is as painful as having your fingers caught in the car door and once they have it, they are prone to it ....
 
Yeah i am paranoid too! Had to leave my mare in the care of friends/family for a while (i was very ill) and of course the weight crept on and she ended up with acute laminitis in all 4 feet :(
Took a long time to get her through it and she spent the best part of a year only having a few hours a day out, she's back to being out all day now but wears a muzzle and is exercised alot but i still stress and check for pulses alot ...
 
Another paranoid here. Strip grazed all 3 last summer, but still in Sept the conny ended up with a stretched white line / pain nailing her shoe on. Farrier said mild lami. She's been in all day on soaked hay & out at night since. Muzzled now the grass is growing.
YO & other liveries range between calling me mad / cruel.
Farrier is the only 1 on my side as she's now happy having shoes nailed on & white line back to normal.
 
Aannnd me too :) There are way more people out there who worry than you think, mine also has PPID and have to watch him like a hawk, esp at this time of year, just keep doing what you're doing...
 
Yep i am always worrying. My TB X had an acute attack about 3 years ago totally out the blue. He is in the summer fields during the day with his mask on and in at nights which i will sonn swap to out at nights and in during the day untill horses graze the field down. I try and keep him on the lean side but im sick of the bitchy comments of him wearing a grazing mask!
 
yup, constantly watching bruce with an eagle eye.

He's currently on a mega bare winter paddock but will have to move to summer bit toon to rest the winter part..................its been mown down to nothing and he will be muzzled so only able to nibble tiny bits not grab mouthfuls.

we have worked SO hard to get him on the skinny side going in to spring and he looks great now, ribs and hips visible, no fat just a bit of a slack belly really.

desperately trying to find him a sharer to hack 3/4 times a week but no joy so far :(
 
What's your grazing/feeding/exercise regime OP???

The first thing you can do is have a look at the sugar content of any hard feed and/or chaff-mixtures you're using. I was horrified when I discovered how much sugar there is in the stuff that is supposed to be "foot friendly" and/or approved by the "Laminitis" charity. Dengie Hi Fi is supposed to be "safe for laminitics" BUT do have a look at their sugar content and you will horrified!!! This was pointed out to me by an expert who has a laminitic horse herself.

Apparently the Laminitis charity (the name escapes me!) pay the feed companies to "use" their name to sell the products. Shameful :(

Also, if feeding say, soaking it takes out a lot of the sugar content.

Plus use of a "Greenguard" muzzle, or even better, strip grazing. And not forgetting regular exercise regime!

Yep agree sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.......... anyone who's ever had a lammi horse will know how it has to be :(
 
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Dengie hi fi molasses free has lowest sugar/starch content.
A lot of 'laminitis friendly' feeds are higher in sugar and starch, its not just the sugar you have to watch out for.
 
Yep, I'm also paranoid about laminitis. With a mini shettie who loves to eat and a welshxNF who loves to eat and has cushings - give me one good reason not to be paranoid?

It's all about the management, and it's taken me a long time to learn, and even know it doesn't always feel right. In fact I bored the pants off the vet yesterday at annual vacs time questioning and querying feeds for the one with cushings. It's such a fine line when they get older even she agreed that getting a balance isn't easy.
 
Yes I really worry as one of mine has insulin resistance I must check her digital pulse 3 or 4 times a day i definately suffer from 'plod' ,paranoid laminitic owners disease.
 
It may seem like paranoia to someone who has not seen their horse in agony during a bout of laminitis. But to those of us who have it is completely understandable.

Watching the pain and distress suffered by my boy when he had laminitis made me take stock of how I keep/feed my other horses too. My whole outlook (on feeding especially) has changed completely. It's all high fibre, low starch/sugar diets now even for the ones that are showing - and they are looking fantastic. It makes me wonder why I ever thought that they needed anything else.
 
My exercise routine isn't as much as it should be, I admit but now the lighter evenings are here I'm getting out more and trying to lunge him most mornings for about 20 minutes, I only fed hay and dengie mollasses free over winter to get a general supplement into him, had a lightweight sheet to keep him dry over winter as he was clipped.

Thanks everyone, I don't feel so alone now. I want to cry with worry sometimes.
 
Yep same here. It gets wearing constantly trying to justify the muzzle, overnight hay soaking etc to other people.

We're trying something different this year that seems to be going well so far. We've taken the fence down in the corner of the starvation paddock and made a track down the hill and back up through the woods. We've put 6 ponies out there and they're constantly on the move browsing for things to eat and pushing each other round the track. Hopefully the increased exercise will keep them more trim.
 
I'm also paranoid about it. I have one TB and a native (never had a native before - always TBs so not having to feed a horse up is all new to me!) and they graze in the same field. The native doesn't go out without a muzzle (although she is excellent at getting them off!) has soaked hay at night when she is in and is exercised every day. She is overweight, but providing she keeps the muzzle on when she is out, she is losing weight slowly and doing ok.
 
I used to be a prolific worrier! So bad it got to the point where I would worry if everything was going too well! Ridiculous. The thing about worry is it doesn't change anything and once you realise that, you should be a lot less stressed. The thing with lammi is, all you can do is make sure your horse is not overfed, is exercised regularly and has his feet done regularly. Laminitis is like cancer, some horses have a predisposition to it and no matter what you do management wise, some are going to get it anyway sadly. The scary thing about it is, it can be brought on by many things, not just being overweight but as I said, worrying about it won't change it. If you know your management is as good as it can be, then IF your horse still gets an attack, it's unlikely to be your fault. I have several natives, all of which have had one attack at some point but I am proud to say I have now kept them lammi free for the last five years so whatever I am doing, it's working! If any of them got it now, my conscience will be clear as I know I am doing everything possible to prevent it. Just enjoy your horse and don't allow worry to spoil it.
 
The thing about Laminitis is that once it has happend ,the damage is done,and reoccurrance is likely. Look after a horse well ,and it is highly unlikely that they will develop laminitis. Keep them lean, do not jar the hooves too much (but equelly they do need some pavement pounding.Bashing showjump poles is a NO N|O|. Some folk say leaving overreach boots off makes them carefull . I have a different opinion which would be immediately censored by HHO. You could feed a horse prettywell anything if you work them enough. Mollasses , its nothing special if your horse is working. Problem is that few people now know what is hard work for a horse. I would consider a BE novice event to be barely medium work.
 
I am too. Forever checking his feet, pulses, weigh taping and looking at the laminitis ap! Since my YO has built me a post and rail paddock for him with hardly any grass I sleep a lot sounder. It has a gate in one end so he has access to a strip grazed section. It's also double electric fenced so he can't jump out. Last year I muzzled him but he's helpful field mate kept removing it.
 
Me too. Fingers crossed, have had little first hand experience of it, but am always managing them as if they were prone to it.

I will be allowing my cob and my mare access to another mini paddock, about 40m x20m. It looks pretty bare. I ran the garden lawnmower over it today, just to be on the safe side, and picked up a 150L barrow load of clippings from it!

My two would have stripped it down in a day. That's a frightening amount of spring grass on an apparently bare paddock.
 
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