sorry lots of questions recently - hay rations and heat in feet?

[Jericho]

Apologies in advance - I am asking lots of questions at the moment as both my horses seem to think they have given me an easy time over the last few months and have decided to give me soemthing to worry about.

I am try to get my 12yr old 15.1hh mare to loose some weight. She has been out on grass 24/7 and has a handful of topspec topchop lite and some very watery speedibeet in once a day to put her vits in but with recent surge in grass (she is on about 2 acres of poor and short grazing with another pony ) and not much work due to school holidays and 3 weeks holiday whilst we were away, she has gone up on the weigh tape from 511kg to 532kg. Ideally I would like her much near the 500kg mark.

A day or so ago she looked a little footy, hot in the feet and coronary band , particularly on right one, so susepecting laminits I have stabled her on shavings, and soaked hay for over 48 hrs and she looks absolutely fine now although I am going to keep her in for another 24hrs off the grass completely and on soft ground etc just in case.

So the next challenge is for her to lose weight. The thing is I measured the hay and 7.5kg (1.5% of 500kg - diet rations) is only about 3 sections which just doesnt seem enough to last her all day even if split into 3 haynets, as she eats a section of hay which is double netted haynet in an hour. I could keep her out in a dust field all the time so she would have plenty of space to wander about but the soaked hay would be her only intake. I am however assuming that because the hay that has been soaked for 24hrs looses most of its nutritional value I could give her a bit more, maybe some straw too? Have I got that right?

Once the lami issue has gone away, I will try and increase workload a bit more.

Also a question about heat in hoof walls..... as said when I first noticed she had more heat in one hoof wall than the other although pulses werent too bad. I am checking the hoof wall and pulses regularly. Pulses are fine, she is walking absolutely fine but sometimes the hoof walls seem very cool and then much warmer without any change in circumstances? Why would this be?? Also if she did have lami would the feet cool down completely at any point during an acute attack??

Many thanks to anyone who can take the time to answer yet another one of my many questions at the moment!!!

 

[guido16]

I would not put her back out on the grass in 24hrs. She has shown obvious signs of lami so keep her off the grass totally.

I would only be giving her 7.5kg of hay. no more no less. If you are worried about her not eating for 6 hours then give her it in smaller amounts, more often.
Get her off the speedibeet aswell, she doesnt need it, especially since she isnt being exercised. You can give her the vits that she needs without any feed.

I am afraid you are just going to have to be very harsh on the pony and yourself.

Good luck

 

[Honey08]

Our pony was like that last year, and I wasn't sure if it was lami - it was! She wasn't overly fat, and didn't have much heat or pulse in her feet, but a few weeks later it was raging. I didn't last year, but with hindsight I would defintely contact the vet now to ask advice, better to know and treat properly than to wait for it to get worse to be sure..

If its possible, split her haynets up - give one am, one in the afternoon, and a slightly larger one at night. Keep soaking them. I know it doesn't sound a lot, but its just to keep the gut working really. I would definately knock off the sugarbeet and feed - change to alfa lite laminitus chaff to mix your vits in - it won't be as tasty for her, but it will help, whereas the sugar won't... I'd check with the vet to confirm whether it is or isn't lami before I decided whether to turn her out or not.

Hope its not!x

 

[thatsmygirl]

To start with you seem very clued up with what your doing anyway.
A handfull off topspec topchop lite to mix vits/mins in will do no harm and would not stop this as he needs to get his nutrition from somewhere. I would mix with water myself but speedibeet is approved by the laminitic trust and if you are only giving a tiny bit it will not hurt at all. I would not change to alfa lite as this could put on more weight than the topchop lite will.
The hay if soaked for long periods ( 12 hrs) has all the nutrition pulled out so you can feed more. Which is what I do with my I.R pony who needs very carefull monitioning. Ring the laminitic help line who are brill and will help a lot. Double haynets etc will help.
I also would not turn out until the vet has seem him but you have done all the right things, seen the signs,acted right and could have provented your horse getting very bad so well done.
When he can go back out can you muzzle for part day?
I think you said your horse was a mare but iv called him he boy all the way through. Sorry

 

[Lotty]

My mare has had lami and I put her on a diet 1.5% of her bodyweight and she has lost the extra weight. I give her 20lbs (9.1kg), of soaked hay in double nets and she has 1 scoop of Happy Hoof morning and night - she is 16.1hh. I go down at set times to hang the nets so she only has to go a few hours without. For the last couple of weeks she has been going out for a couple of hours with her muzzle on.

I contacted the laminitc trust, they are a great help.