Post Laminitus I'm after advice(Tia are you there??)or anyone!!

darkangel1243

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AS you may or may not know my horse suffered acute Laminitus attack in July 2007.
She has made a full recovery the vets are very pleased with her no rotation in any of her feet and she is out now of at least 8-10 hours a day.
So my problem is how to build her back up any suggestions.... She has at least 1 whole slab of haylege (very heavy)a night 1 plastic scoop of Hifi lite and 1 scoop of low cal mix and the same for breakfast.

Any suggestions /advice on the feeding issue I'm scared to up it in case it pushes her over the edge.
She is a 16.2 TBxID has always been well built but not fat.
Here are a couple of photos to show you....

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After my little mare having severe lami too, I was advised mot to give her haylage - but not sure how right this is - anyhow, i dont give it her i just give ad-lib hay that bin soaked for 48hours.

I was also advised to keep starchy/sugary foods down. Which i do.

Hope this helps (even a little)

LB xx
 
Thanks.
She was on 2 year old soaked hay for the entire box rest and after until the haylage arrived at the end of September.
This is the 1st time she has ever had haylage the vets have OKed it as it is dryer than the normal.The farmer who supplies it calls it his gone wrong for horses haylage!! so fingers crossed so far so good.
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Hi, our sec d mare developed acute lami approx 18 months ago (stress lami). As advised by the vet we 'stripped' a lot of weight off her. Dietary wise we kept her on haylage but small nets three times a day (much smaller than she was used to). We fed her just a handful of happy hoof with a measure of Formula 4 Feet supplement-along with bute.
Initially she had x rays which showed some pedal bone rotation in one foot.
18 months later she has been totally sound for approx 14 months and the pedal bone has settled. We feed her on the same now but larger nets, the haylage increased with her work, the heed has increased to a scoop of happy hoof with the Formula 4 Feet.
To be honest we monitored her weight , feed and workload on a daily basis. I don't think there is a set rule as each horse varies from one to another. We do still ration her grass, especially in spring and autumn.
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all the best.
 
I'm so pleased to read this DA
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.

You are dealing with a different type of horse to mine therefore your girl will require a different feed regime than my little Cloud. For Cloud, all we gave her was ad-lib Dengie Hi-fi Lite and a small cup of Farriers Formula every day.

The important thing to get into laminitic horses is fibre; the more fibre the better, however you have to be very careful in which manner this fibre is given. Your old haylage will bulk her out and should give adequate fibre to her diet, however the other nutrients needed to bring her back up to weight will need to be carefully thought out. To be honest, in your situation I think I would contact a feed manufacturer or the Laminitis Trust to try to manage a decent feed system specifically designed for your girl.

Best of luck - so pleased for you and her.
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Contact Simplesystem and see what they suggest. Had exact same prob with W getting condition back on him safely but we did it with fibre in the form of alfalfa, unmolassed sugarbeet and oil basically.
 
Thanks,for the advice she wasn't over weight when she got it stress Lami too.
Its just hard to see her pointy my vet said she looked good....For a race horse ha ha will follow up the advice on here and contact some feed manufactures and see what they say.

Good luck for you to.
 
Thanks Tia that means alot
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I really pleased with her we are hacking out just at weekends for 30-45 mins don't want to over do it as she has lost quite a bit of muscle as well as fat.I'm lunging /long reining twice a week for 10 mins max the rest of the time she is in the field grazing but grass is minimal at the mo don't want to put her back in the good pasture (ever LOL!!)I just want to wait a bit longer after the event.

I know Cloud and Cass weren't the same but I value your opinion(strange as have never met
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).Does she look as bad as I think she does!!! or is it that over protect mum coming out again.
I shall call Laminitus trust tomorrow for advice and or feed manufacturers.

Thanks again
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Dol had a severe lami attack a couple of years ago, but this was stress laminitus, and earlier this year had a bad attack of lami.
She was on rich haylage, was only working a couple of times a week, was going out in the field and was on winergy!
It got to the point where i was certain we were going to lose her, she couldnt even walk out of her stable, (this happened almost overnight, from being a bit pottery in the morning, to being crippled by tea time).
We were told to take her off haylage, it is too rich, get her weight down, (she wasnt fat but had a little too much podge ontop of her muscle) and take her off the winergy. She is now on 1 scoop of High Fibre Nuts day and night and hay, still goes out in the field and is totally happy.

I would suggest putting on hay if you begin to see her turn again, and looking at putting her on the nuts.
The thing to do is take what you feed and what you do one day at a time, and if you notice the changes again, then alter it.
Hope she continues to make a speedy recovery back to her old self.
I for one am not looking forward to the spring grass.
x
 
Cmpletely agree with tia with this one!!I think i would be inclined to get in touch with vets and nutritionists with this one,she looks poor but(in some cases not a bad thing),you can build up slowly,the sugar beet of today is actually produced with the lammi prone neds in mind(speedy beet especially)!!!However we cannot predict the weather in this country and i think that contributes to alot of unsuspected cases arising!What you are advised is to NOT starve them!!!(this usually leads to anemia etc!Contact your vet!!!
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I'm pretty much in the same boat, my mare is 30 and has Cushings. Luckily there was no rotation although she did colic quite spectacularly a couple of weeks later with the stress of it all (thought I was going to lose her)

She has never been thin, it has always been a constant battle to keep her at anything like a sensible weight, however, since the laminitis she has dropped weight. Initially I was pleased, the diet was working and she was able to spend some time outside. Now, a few months down the line she is still losing the weight, I dare not put her in a new field in case she gets laminitis again (my grass is way too good and still growing) and was at a loss as to what to feed her for the same reason.

I had a look at the Laminitis Trust site and they recommend a range of feeds including Dengie Alpha Beet, which I have just started to give her ...... will be keeping a very close eye on her and see how it goes.
 
I have the same problem. A TB of mine got toxic lami about 3 months ago, and has just got the all clear to start work.
I asked one of the vets at Bristol Uni what he would feed a laminitis prone racehorse and he gave me a Baileys pamphlet. They say that the No 4 conditioning nuts are fine for laminitics doing a bit of work.
However, once he gets onto just a bit more work I am stuffed - the protein level in them are pathetic.
Anyone any ideas?
 
Have you thought about giving her something like Dengie Alfa Beet - it is a Laminitis Trust approved feed, but is also conditioning. As others have said you want to concentrate on fibre sources so things like high fibre cubes, Spiller's Happy Hoof, some alfafa based feeds (check the molasses content), unmollassed beet. You could give her a large tub of Happy Hoof in the stable overnight as well as her haylage - most horses find it more palatable than Hi Fi Lite so will eat more of it.

You could also try feeding her some oil in her diet - this is a useful way to get calories in without using cereals - but just double check that with a nutritionist first.

The main thing to avoid with a laminitic are soluble carbohydrates (sugars and starches) so avoid highly molassed foods, ryegrass hay/haylage (especially early cut) and cereals.
 
We've found hay rather than haylage, and simple systems have kept our little one looking good and lami free - would recommend it as they can have a more substantial amount of feed. We top it up with happy hoof as well as it is bulkier and more convenient to buy!!
 
i had the same problem as my 17yo ISH mare got lami this year (old yard i was at had fertilised the fields and didnt tell me!!) for the first time.

she had box rest/box walking for about a month and no rotation on her xrays.

she also lost loads of weight!she is usually a really good doer as well, but it seemed to knock her back with the stress and pain and with her advancing years she didnt bounce back as well as i would have hoped.

i feed her on hay, soaked if it looked too good.i dare not feed haylage to her now.

she also gets hifi or fibre p with a cup of oil

and antilam twice a day.

i also fed her bran in the summer as she was muzzled during sunny days and was looking for more fibre/something to make her feel full and it seemed to satisfy her and mak her fuller without setting off the lami.
she had 1.5 scoops soaked with 2 scoops of the chop(hifi and fibre p)

and speedi beet now its colder.

shes now out without the muzzle 24/7

i check her pulses once or twice a day, am borderline paranoid!

here are some before and after pics-
she just had NO backside AT all.
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after one week
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after a 3 weeks
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5 weeks
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and a few weeks ago
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you can still just see her ribs and feel them, but shes got a nice rounded bottom and a neck again and isnt shiverin at the slighest breeze!

i took it really slowly with her and kept a paranoid eye on her pulses.being slightly too slim is better than being over good esp for a laminitic
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I have the same problem as you.

My boy got colic a week after I bought him in the summer and as a result developed lami in both front feet. 6 weeks of total box rest then a month with just grazing in hand meant that he lost all condition and a lot of weight. Now the weather is getting colder he was starting to look quite ribby and pointy around his pelvic area.

I rang D&H and explained my situation and they recommended their High Fibre Nuts and Alfalfa along with the Fibrebeet and supplements I was already feeding. At just over a week I can see a difference already.

Good luck with your girl. It is difficult dealing with a laminitic but it is better for them to be too thin than too fat.
 
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