Shoes back on after Laminitis

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Meeko

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Hi all.

My mare had stress related laminitis, she was on box rest for 2 weeks, came out sound, turned her out for 20 mins per day muzzled, after 3 days of doing this she was a little lame due to running around so I put her back on box rest for 3 days. She is now just walking out in hand and has been sound for 7 days. She is sore when walking on the graveled areas of the yard but other than that she is ok.

She has always been shod and will be getting re shod, im just not sure when the best time will be to get her shoes back on. My vet suggested around 1-2 weeks after she was sound.

I know a lot of people will tell me to keep her bare foot, but there must be someone out there whos horse has had laminitis and then re shod them. All the FB groups im looking on are all against shoes.

thanks all :)
 
The problem with shoeing horses that have had laminitis, is that there will be some separation of the hoof wall and so shoes will only stress that weak connection as all the weight of the horse is concentrated on the wall. I am not against shoeing horses, although I tend to keep them barefoot if at all possible, I realise there are some circumstances where shoeing is the most practical thing to do. But when a horse has had laminitis, I would wait until a new well connected hoof has grown down and there have not been any further attacks before shoeing again.
 
Meeko said:
how long would you recommend?
Click to expand...

In a couple of weeks you will probably see a 'ring' begin to appear under the coronet band. This marks the laminitic episode. You will probably notice that there will be a steeper hoof angle above this line and this marks the new well connected hoof. Personally I would wait until this gets to the bottom of the hoof before shoeing the horse. It will be quite a wait though, could be six months or more. If however you are sure that the white line has not been compromised and is just as tight as before, then you can shoe earlier, so long as the laminitis has resolved itself. But I would still wait around 4 weeks.
 
For the exact same reasons wagtail gave I wouldn't be re-shoeing.a laminitic horse until the whole new foot has grown through, which is about 6months. The damaged part of the foot is the wall so putting shoes on and loading the horses weight 100% onto the wall (as opposed to splitting the weight evenly between wall frog and sole) is just silly.

In the meantime look into boots to use. If you get the right pair then they've very easy. But, like saddle fitting, you need to get the best fit and model for the horse for them to work.
 
A decent farrier won't shoe a horse that has had laminitis until he/she is certain it's not going to make them worse. My farrier wouldn't shoe mine for a few months once he was field sound.
 
It seems to me that you have a long period to keep pony barefoot, so best to try try boots, add minerals [pro earth/others] and you may find things work out. You will find the feet are sensitive to any changes, and while this is annoying, it gives you a warning signal so you can immediately pop in to stable or change grazing , so preventing full on laminitis episode.
Have you got her on minerals, hi fibre, soaked forage diet at the moment, it is vital the hoof growth is as strong and as rapid as it is possible. Micronised linseed will help, and salt.
I would walk in hand on smooth tarmac as much as you can, provided she is happy to do so, this stimulates the hoof, but there is no point if she can only land toe first, you are aiming for heel first landing and a relaxed stride.
I found boots easy to use, though in fact I hardly ever used them.
There are special pads for laminitics.
There are fb sites for barefoot fanatics :)
 
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Bonkers2 said:
It seems to me that you have a long period to keep pony barefoot, so best to try try boots, add minerals [pro earth/others] and you may find things work out. You will find the feet are sensitive to any changes, and while this is annoying, it gives you a warning signal so you can immediately pop in to stable or change grazing , so preventing full on laminitis episode.
Have you got her on minerals, hi fibre, soaked forage diet at the moment, it is vital the hoof growth is as strong and as rapid as it is possible. Micronised linseed will help, and salt.
I would walk in hand on smooth tarmac as much as you can, provided she is happy to do so, this stimulates the hoof, but there is no point if she can only land toe first, you are aiming for heel first landing and a relaxed stride.
I found boots easy to use, though in fact I hardly ever used them.
There are special pads for laminitics.
There are fb sites for barefoot fanatics :)
Click to expand...

I agree healthy heel first landing is what you are aiming for. However, in the case of laminitis, the horse is likely to land heel first as it is the toe which is the most painful. So this muddies the water somewhat.
 
Another who would wait, it's frustrating I know. Could you invest in some hoof boots? Having her barefoot in the upcoming months will actually be very useful as you will see the early signs of laminitis much, much earlier and can bring her in before any damage is done.
 
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