Recovering Lamanitic-when to let back on grass?

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karenjj

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Hi all, my mare has been on box rest for 2 weeks and yesterday I let her out in a bare paddock with hay for the day for the first time since her box rest. She was completely sound (no longer on bute) kicking and jumping around (she wouldn't even walk 2 weeks ago). Today again I let her on the bare paddock and she was fine, I was wondering when any of you with similar cases let your lami's back out on a strip of grass? I have another horse as well and he has grazed down the other paddock but I read that shorter grass is more dangerous? So I'm wondering if I should let her out on the longer grass but strip graze it? Thanks
 
I hope you get a few responses,as I am in the same position as you. Have never really dealt with lammy but new mare developed it 3 weeks after I brought her. She is a stress head,and really upset by the change in home,coupled with fact the weather changed and I got caught out. Its now 3 wks since she had it,caught it early and appears no bone rotation.Touch wood. She is off bute,and out in bare paddock.Went out after 10 days due to the extreme heat and my wood stables being like an oven.
However,I keep being advised to keep her on that,and feed soaked hay while the weather is so changeable. She is trashing it with all the rain . Equally,my grass is very rich,and I am concerned that it will be too much even if i strip graze and get our other mare on it over night to keep it down.
I would also love to know when we could start to exercise,as my farrier reckons not till 6 weeks have elapsed. He is excellent,ad more than happy to do what he says,but interested to know what others do.
 
Mine was on box rest for 8 weeks and then let out on poor grazing for ten minutes a day for a few days and increased it very gradually. It seemed to take forever ( was about two months ) but eventually was able to be out 24/7 on a small paddock which was strip grazed

I don't have the pony anymore but have kept in touch and he hasn't had an attack since and that was 6 years ago.

I treat both my ponies as if they had Laminitis ( they never have ) but I'm very cautious and keep them on a track system moving posts by a foot first thing in the morning.
 
My mare had laminitis a year ago, she couldn't tolerate more than 2 hours a day on any type of grazing until the very middle of winter where she managed about 4 hours or so without any pulses but she's back down to 2 hours now .. :(
Very difficult to judge so I would just take it slow, my vet reccomended 20 mins a day for a few days and gradually increasing it in a small pen and to keep a very close eye on pulses etc but different with every horse
 
They are all different. The gelding that was struck down with it last week made an extremely quick recovery and is completely sound with no pulses after 4 days. He will go out on the grass for an hour a day in 3 days time. It was an unbelievably fast recovery as he was like a cat on hot bricks last thursday. My mare who has Cushings got lami for the first time at Christmas. She was box rested for three weeks and did not go on grass again until the end of April because I was using the all weather turnout rather than the paddocks for all horses. She seemed fine on the grass and the prascend and so I let her out 24/7. This coincided with a massive growth spurt of the grass and she came in with pulses. But all I did was build her a small pen inside the paddock and she stays in it from 8 am until 4 pm and then goes back out in the field. This has kept her sound. I will do the same with the gelding once we establish how much grass he can cope with.
 
I agree with the responses so far.AND Dont be tempted to give in...as they can make you feel so guilty etc.

I would either put out at night and bring in during day, on your well grazed paddock and just give literally a few inches of grass ie electric fencing. I mean ie 4 yards length x 6 inches deep etc and supplement with hay and plain old mineral block(one of those salt lick types not the molassed).

But take it very slowly. Its good for them to be walking around once the pain etc has gone as it keeps the circulation going in the foot. Watch the rain and warm weather we have had etc. But you sound as if you know to take it easy and slowly.

You could grazing muzzle if out on paddock at some stage. You are right short baby grass is not good.

Good luck hopefully you caught it early and once they have this they are always susceptible to it.
 
My mare had a severe case (a great degree of both rotation and sinking, no stabilisation until about 8 weeks after symptoms began, a great degree of pain in the interim) and was on total box rest, feet padded up, for four months.

Since being fitted with Imprint shoes she's been able to be turned out in an electric fenced paddock that's maybe 10m x 10m, initially with a grazing muzzle on and now it's bare is back on measured amounts of horsehage and low starch/sugar/high fibre feeds with medication three times a day.

As she is very likely to have metabolic syndrome (all tests came back within normal limits but she is a classic case) it's unlikely she will turned out freely on grass ever again - the risk is just too great. She will be muzzled or in a bare paddock and fed only on things with a known sugar content. If we are lucky I might be able to ride her before the year is out and, if I can possibly help it, she will never wear metal shoes again.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that you should never take anything for granted with laminitis - tread carefully, don't rush to turn out, examine your feed and routines, don't presume that your horse can cope with free grass 24/7.
 
I wouldn't put them back on grass for another couple of weeks yet, bare paddock with a slice of well soaked hay for me I'm afraid. Whenever you decide to let them back on the grass check their pulses at least twice a day for quite a while, any sign of a raised pulse and get them off it fast. Use the time they are off grass to get to know what is a normal pulse for them so that you can recognise any change immediately.

We haven't had an attack for several years now but I am obsessive about pulses, to the point that I can tell the slightest change in any of our 14. Most of ours are not prone to it but I still keep a check at least daily so that I can act if there is any sign.
 
After 10 weeks box rest over Autumn to Xmas & a further 6 wks exercise but no grass. I finally turned my lami boy out with a dinky rugs muzzle. He now has about 5 hrs grass per day with muzzle on. I check him for soundness everyday & the slightest hint of a potter & he's off grass again for 2 days.
 
I would avoid the grass for a while yet, I'm sorry. And when you do put him out, use a grazing muzzle, small paddock, and limited time out. I would also fill horse up on healthy hooves or similar before he goes out.

It's such a horrible disease, hope you cope ok xx
 
Mine had 3 weeks box rest due to a mild case. I wasn't sure when to put out so arranged the vet and farrier at the same time. Vet said fine to go out in a muzzle as long as muzzle stayed on ALL the time and he was obviously able to eat a bit and drink. Farrier actually said that as the ground is soft at the moment it offers a certain amount of frog support anyway so it's actually a good thing to have the horse out as long as the foot is bare and trimmed first. Plus whilst out the horse is getting exercise and stimulating the blood flow to the feet.

SO horse has been out for the past 3 weeks, I check pulses etc and can bring in if necessary. At the moment the farrier said foot is stabilised, it's just recovering. We cannot have horse shod until he shows NO sign of pain in the coronet band - farrier showed me what to do, just press with your thumb in this area - if horse flinches there is still inflammation there. So I checked my horse yesterday and he shows slight pain there... so it's just a matter of waiting.

I was going to ask whether I should restrict grazing even more to speed things up!!! Though that would mean traipsing horse over tarmac and stones to do so, and putting him in a field with some horses that bully him!!!

ANyway my point is, if in doubt, ask your farrier or your vet or both!!!!
 
We've got a poor Lammie Shetland who is now out of two weeks box rest, he has been allowed back onto grass for 1-2 hours per day on advice from vet and farrier and had been fine no problems at all, the time he becomes particularly sore is after having his feet done but apart from that back to normal. Good luck with yours x.
 
My Lami was on on box rest for 10 months, but was sound after 6 but as he had it very very bad vet wanted him back into full work and fit as a fiddle before he would be back on grass, but first we hand grazed him starting with ten minutes then going up 10 minutes every week, once we got to 30 minutes that was when we turnted him out on a very bare paddock, now he is out for 6/7 hours a day and as long as he is ridden (and he takes his Metformin:rolleyes:) he can cope with that......of course when its frosty/snowy he doesnt go out at all.

xx
 
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