LillySparrow
Well-Known Member
In 2013 my husband and I moved to the US for work and I brought my mare with. I'm now looking at returning to the UK, and bringing her with.
I'm wondering if anyone has experience in reintroducing to grass bearing in mind:
A) the barns here have no pasture (it's an urban environment so dirt paddocks for turn out, no pasture), and hay and grain only (with very limited sneaky pickings of grass through the fences during dirt paddock turnout)
B) she had an episode of laminitis in 2015 (inflammation only, no rotation at all as per xrays) and was diagnosed at that time with EMS and Cushings. She rehabbed very successfully and has had no further lami episodes and her weight is appropriate and stable. She has been on Prascend ever since and the dose has remained stable to date, which is encouraging.
I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar situation of bringing an EMS horse back from another country (one without pasture turnout) and managing the associated dietary / management issues?
Obvs with her history I plan to reintroduce to pasture very gradually and restrict grazing overall for the lami potential, but hoped maybe someone has been in this situation before and can offer advice and hopefully some encouragement / moral support? It's all feeling a little overwhelming and I'm frankly a little scared but still committed to making it work.
My other option is to retire her and leave her in the US, but I can't really bear to do that.
Thanks!
I'm wondering if anyone has experience in reintroducing to grass bearing in mind:
A) the barns here have no pasture (it's an urban environment so dirt paddocks for turn out, no pasture), and hay and grain only (with very limited sneaky pickings of grass through the fences during dirt paddock turnout)
B) she had an episode of laminitis in 2015 (inflammation only, no rotation at all as per xrays) and was diagnosed at that time with EMS and Cushings. She rehabbed very successfully and has had no further lami episodes and her weight is appropriate and stable. She has been on Prascend ever since and the dose has remained stable to date, which is encouraging.
I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar situation of bringing an EMS horse back from another country (one without pasture turnout) and managing the associated dietary / management issues?
Obvs with her history I plan to reintroduce to pasture very gradually and restrict grazing overall for the lami potential, but hoped maybe someone has been in this situation before and can offer advice and hopefully some encouragement / moral support? It's all feeling a little overwhelming and I'm frankly a little scared but still committed to making it work.
My other option is to retire her and leave her in the US, but I can't really bear to do that.
Thanks!
