Sell/PTS or what? :(

nicolenlolly

nicolenlolly

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Please don't blast me for this, it is a genuine question.

During the summer the ponies were struck down with laminitis. Although I am told it wasn't bad, I felt awful and terribly responsible although I hadn't changed anything from the previous year.

Both ponies and cobby live out 24/7, I don't have a field shelter and although I am trying to buy the land that is next door to my house at which point I absolutely will have one, the church are proving tricky!!

So with the frosty grass through...although I tried to ensure they had hardly any grass, goose is slightly footsore. I'm so gutted.

Hubby says maybe come the spring we should try and sell them to someone who has better facilities. That would break my daugter's heart and mine, I wanted them forever, never wanted to have to get rid but is he right?

I'm crying just thinking of it, I love that little pony :(
 
Sorry to hear about your ponies. Laminitis is a horrible thing.

Agree with above. Section a small bit off and feed hay
 
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I would go along with what debsflo said. Is there any underlying problem that could be causing the laminitis. I know people keep on about this whole frosty grass thing but I have to say after having horses for about 25 years, that's horses and ponies of varying different types, I have never experienced any issues of them getting laminitis from frosty grass andone of these ponies was lami prone.

Are they barefoot - could that just be the reason (ie this one's just got a bit footsore)?

I would say, restrict the grazing and supplement with decent quality hay (not haylege).
 
I am sure you can do something, how much grazing is there? Why don't you just section it off and keep them in a smaller area so it becomes a bit bare? Any trashed bits from winter might become quite useful in the summer! So that, plus muzzles, plus more exercise... Good doers are more of a pain than you would think eh?
 
Electric fence & muzzle...
I'd also test the pony for Cushings and Equine Metabolic Syndrome - the former, if treated with Prascend makes them less prone to lami. That's the experience I've had with my Shetland.
If it's EMS, that's harder to treat as you have to be very strict in terms of a no Sugar diet.
Don't be dis-heartened, your pony is footy, which whilst serious is not a full blown attack.
Good luck, and try not to get bogged down with your only option being PTS, it is manageable 95% of the time.
 
The first thing you need to determine is why your horses are suffering from Laminitis.
There are so may things that can trigger Laminitis off such as Insulin Intolerance, Cushings Disease, Stress, Infections Concushion of the foot, Worm burden such as emerging encysted small red worm (not detected by a worm count only by a blood test) etc. If a horse is overweight then this may well contribute but is not neccesarily the cause.
You need to get a vet in to determine what the cause of the Laminitis is and then treat accordingly.
 
PeterNatt said:
The first thing you need to determine is why your horses are suffering from Laminitis.
There are so may things that can trigger Laminitis off such as Insulin Intolerance, Cushings Disease, Stress, Infections Concushion of the foot, Worm burden such as emerging encysted small red worm (not detected by a worm count only by a blood test) etc. If a horse is overweight then this may well contribute but is not neccesarily the cause.
You need to get a vet in to determine what the cause of the Laminitis is and then treat accordingly.
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and this too....
 
To be honest who in their right mind would buy a lamantic pony, it was bad enough when I bought a horse with sweet itch and I didn't know about it. If your ponies have been fine for some time and have suddenly gone backwards, could be their grass field has had a sudden spurt with the mild weather, the frost will nock the grass back and a square of hay wouldn't do them any harm. My old farrier said more horses get laminitis through starvation than rich grass.
 
Thank you :) the field is already a bog! Hopefully they will well and truly trash it ready for next year! The grass is long but there is a lot of yellow really coarse horrible stuff so I didn't worry about leaving them on it. Will tell hubby we should have hay instead. Farrier is coming tomorrow so depending upon what he says I will call vet and see what she says. All that baffles me is that this time he isn't cresty and he is sore in his fetlock too but has warmth and pulses. Yes he is barefoot-fingers crossed maybe he has twisted in field or something but once they have had lami, I guess you are just paranoid it has reared it's ugly head again!! He is walking heels first rather than toe first, on the grass it doesn't show he is lame, only on the road.
 
you just need to manage them correctly.
Go get some stable management lessons.
Ask an experienced person for advice.
Read lots if books.

You need to keep them moving but restrict grass in take but give them hay so then always have something to eat.
 
Oh, it is 6 acres of grass but very poor grass. I have put a call into the vet, the boys are due their second jabs in 10 days so I have asked if she can bring it forward and check on him at the same time. I wish I had an easier hobby, one without emotions and heartache!!!
 
Personally, I think turning a laminitic out on so much grass is asking for trouble. I have 2.5 acres and still struggle to keep it down between my two and they live out 24/7. I have to split it into four paddocks, let the big un graze a paddock down for a week or two, then move the shetland in with him. AND turn her out in a grazing muzzle during the day when the laminitis risk is higher.

The thing to bear in mind is, whilst the grass might not look great, it's probably going to be high in nutrients, growing fast and storing lots of sugar. Even if it isn't, I'd worry that with access to so much grass, they're eating more than they would on a smaller piece of land. One of mine is footy at the moment and at first we thought she'd had a lammy attack, thankfully after hooning about the drier paddock today I think she's just a little sore from having constantly wet feet but I'd firstly find out the cause of the pain, then find out what's causing it and take appropriate action. I would never put a healthy animal to sleep, especially when a little due care and attention could mean a long and healthy life for that pony.
 
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I would not want to put a healthy animal to sleep either, but if its currently having an attack of laminitis (which it sounds as if it is) then the horse is not healthy. If you don't have the facilities to treat the laminitis, (if that's what it is) then PTS because no decent knowledgable person is going to buy the horse.
 
nicolenlolly said:
Oh, it is 6 acres of grass but very poor grass. I have put a call into the vet, the boys are due their second jabs in 10 days so I have asked if she can bring it forward and check on him at the same time. I wish I had an easier hobby, one without emotions and heartache!!!
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what is very poor grass, you need to start by finding out if it's rye grass. This is very rich and really is not suitable for horses. It's why so many animals get this condition. Next start researching how to make your grazing better for the animals you keep. Many are using the track grazing system as they cannot change the grass which they restrict grazing and make the animals move a lot move, but if possible look at changing the grass to a suitable one.
 
Dont think anything is sprayed round there, the travellers are opposite and there is a yard next to me. I have tried track grazing them but they escape from it, I put up 4 foot of electric fence with 4 strands!!! Trouble mostly the cob who just walks through, if I seperated him from them, even just the other side, one of them will jump it and then cobby flattens it for the other one.
I will try it again with more hay, hubby phoned the land owner last night and asked again if we can put a mobile field shelter up...he said as long as it doesn't show from his house then ok so I will have hubby put a gate on it so I can keep them in a bit too. Thank goodness!! Putting in another offer to the church today...fingers crossed cos this would solve everything-cant change the grass where I am but could sow my own here and have a field shelter and check on them all day long and manage them so much easier!
 
Oh kellyb I meant to say, I don't have all that much grass, much of the field is a flooded bog and churned up to mud which is why I have now opened it all up, I can't rug them cos they just get out of them so I would rather let them be able to shelter under the trees in the big field which is still very wet so they will quickly destroy that too. I was told that the first frost took all the nutrients out of the grass, is that not true?
 
PeterNatt said:
The first thing you need to determine is why your horses are suffering from Laminitis.
There are so may things that can trigger Laminitis off such as Insulin Intolerance, Cushings Disease, Stress, Infections Concushion of the foot, Worm burden such as emerging encysted small red worm (not detected by a worm count only by a blood test) etc. If a horse is overweight then this may well contribute but is not neccesarily the cause.
You need to get a vet in to determine what the cause of the Laminitis is and then treat accordingly.
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um the only blood test available is the ELISA test for tapeworm (which would be useful to do anyway) - there is no blood test yet available for small encysted redworm - which are (as you say) dangerous if they emerge en masse and wont generally show up on worm counts. Hence why worm count users still have to worm for small encysted redworm in the winter.

A test is being worked on / researched but in the interim it is vital that everyone even if using worm counts also worms for small encysted at least once a year (eg wirth Equest) and also either worms for tapeworm or (preferably) gets the vet to do blood test for tapeworm to see if they need worming for that. If the horse can 'take' the double whammy of Pramox this will trest both the encysted and the tapeworm in one, but I prefer to blood test for tapeworm and use single wormers as it is less of a challenge to the horses insides.
 
Finances mainly. Nearly all the land round here is owned by the church and rented to a farmer so number of fields available is slim and yards are expensive. I have two ponies both of whom have had laminitis and a cob who doesn't stable well cos he rubs...he nearly knocked down my friends stable when he stayed over!! The ponies are ok if stabled together but hate being seperated and try to jump out but I contacted a couple of yards when they first had lami and they won't stable together. I don't want to stress them more. I will up the anti on the fencing and just really try with the church for this land next to us.
 
nicolenlolly said:
Dont think anything is sprayed round there, the travellers are opposite and there is a yard next to me. I have tried track grazing them but they escape from it, I put up 4 foot of electric fence with 4 strands!!! Trouble mostly the cob who just walks through, if I seperated him from them, even just the other side, one of them will jump it and then cobby flattens it for the other one.
I will try it again with more hay, hubby phoned the land owner last night and asked again if we can put a mobile field shelter up...he said as long as it doesn't show from his house then ok so I will have hubby put a gate on it so I can keep them in a bit too. Thank goodness!! Putting in another offer to the church today...fingers crossed cos this would solve everything-cant change the grass where I am but could sow my own here and have a field shelter and check on them all day long and manage them so much easier!
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Could you possibly get the local farmer to cut and collect the grass for you? That may help to provide a 'bald' low grass field. Just an idea.
 
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