skinny laminitic dilemma

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rforsyth1984

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My horse (14 yr old, 15.1 arab gelding) has had laminitis in the past.

At the moment, he is turned out for 12 hours a day in the week, and about 8 hours a day at the weekend. He has a muzzle on Mon - Fri, ad lib haylage at night and has 2 feeds a day of ultimate balancer, alfa beet and corn oil. Ridden 5 days a week, schooling, jumping, hacking for 40 mins - 2 hours a day (mostly around an hour)

All summer he has been on the slim side (can just see ribs), and looking at him today I think he might have lost a bit more weight.

The field is around 3 acres, with 7 horses on (another joining them next week). The grass is short, yellowy in places, and weedy (buttercups etc).

I was wondering if I should start turning out without the muzzle... he could really do with a little bit more weight on him, certainly dont want him losing any more.

This picture was taken about 5 weeks ago - there is less grass now, horse is about the same condition, maybe slightly thinner (can faintly see a few ribs like in the photo)
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How often has he had laminitis? He looks OK (not ill) weight-wise (I know photo's can be deceptive) but if he's on ad lib haylage at night......... Ad lib means you give him more than he can eat and he leaves some? If mine were on ad-lib haylage, they would all be dead, having exploded
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When my skinny TB x showd signs of laminitis last summer , vet told me to scrap the haylege and put on soaked hay, feed happy hoof and high fibre cubes and turn out in a grazing muzzle. Though he was not turned out as much as yours. Also we have another lamanitic pony ( though through cushings ) on the yard and the vet likes her looking very lean.

He does not look skinny to me in that pic.
 
I know what a dlilemma it is and I can see where you are coming from .... if pics show ribs then in reality they show even more
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It really depends on why he had Laminitis is the first place .... was he out alot more on lush grass and fatter or for some other reason?

From what I can see you are doing a good job and it is better slim and Laminiitis free than fat and Laminitic
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the lammy was initially caused by stress - he doesnt tke well to box rest, a tendon injury meant he was in for a while and he later showed signs of having had laminitis (not detected at the time as he was lame from the tendon injury)

Lameness as a result of deep solar bruising last year resulted in x rays which identified some pedal bone rotation in one hoof.

So whilst the laminitis was not initially causes by grass or being over weight, we obviously still have to be careful, though keeping weight on him is a nightmare and he has to be turned out as much as possible to keep the stress to a minimum.

He doesnt look dreadful, but I dont want him dropping any more weight. And the blooming muzzle rubs like mad so I suppose I'm looking for any justification to remove it.
 
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He doesnt look dreadful, but I dont want him dropping any more weight. And the blooming muzzle rubs like mad so I suppose I'm looking for any justification to remove it.

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Please don't. I know exactly how you feel my 16 year old PBA looks exactly the same and is currently on box rest with solar bruising and low grade laminitis (caught early!) He climbs the walls normally but have finally found a system to keep him sane. I've made him a small pen in front of his shelter about 10' by 15' with no grass on it. He has ad lib hay but no hard feed atm and we think he should be over this quickly.

I'm kicking myself a bit as juggling a muzzle with strip grazing and let him have a little more because he'd dropped condition.

What I've done with his muzzle was to wrap the cheek straps with fybagee and stick them in place with a little duct tape. It works a treat and doesn't rub his thin skin at all.

Your horse looks healthy I promise, just lacking topline muscle which will only come from the right kind of work. The safest way to feed any laminitic, indeed any horse, is with fibre and oil so sounds like you have it about right.
 
Thanks CM, Ill try with the fybagee.

Am trying to build up the muscle, but taking a lot of time as you would expect.

Hard to get the right balance as many people only understand laminitis in terms of over weight ponies, but putting a horse on a shetland pony diet can be more dangerous than over feeding! As I found the first time he get lammy, and the vet presribed a diet of 3 slices of hay a day whilst on box rest
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I just had another thought. Will' is very, very stressy when left alone but got him a stable mirror and found it helped loads. I found it on ebay, about £35 and the best 'gimmick' I ever bought. He just stands by his 'friend' and dozes for ages.

Muscle wise I found the only way was by doing a little something with him every day but never more than about 45 mins of hacking, 30 of schooling, 15 lungeing with a pessoa. It can be done, he looked bloody fab 18 months ago (as per the sig, far left pic) but the secret was finding a yard where he was relaxed and had full time company whether he was in or out.

We've finally managed to buy our own place but now having to find a system that suits him all over again, bloody nightmare!!!
 
I think I would stop the ad lib haylage and allow him more grass. Although they are prone to it once they have had one attack, with our pony we loan out you could always tell because his neck went cresty, and we then cut down the food.
I would change to old hay too, he should put weight on without the muzzle, and soon look perfect.
Our lot are out 24/7, and I'm convinced the problems start when they get frequent changes in their feeding regime. They range from fat cobs to a mini shetland, several of whom you would say were prime lami candidates, the ms even has ad lib access to good haylage all winter!
 
Feed a feed high in oil for calories rather than cereals. I'd phone a feed company for help to be honest as a lot of opinions differ and can be confusing, you don't want to end up doing the wrong thing. I know how you feel though. My mare developed laminitis after a MASSIVE paddy on the road, concussive, and she's very slim, perfect weight now and never had it since with a careful feeding and grazing regime.
 
i give my stressy TBx lamantic mare alfa a oil and topspec comprehnsive.
shes looking well-can just see ribs and easily feel them all,although she would look better with abit more over her back/bum-but then she is 18 now and semi retired so her topline isnt what it used to be.
shes out unmuzzled and been fine.she got lami last year(first time,shes 18) from fertilised grazing-she wore a muzzle for about 3months and got soaked hay.she dropped a huge amount of weight(around 90kg) and was very under weight.i gave her time off from the muzzle-over night or on cloudy/colder days and she was coping fine and put abit more on.
shes now on horse grazing and ive not had a problem.
she gets damped/soaked hay as well and they go on some longer grass over night.
her pulses only seem to get set off in the sunny weather.
i think they are all individuals
 
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