Those with laminitics

My little 21 year old pony had a very sudden but mild attack of lami in October which came completely out of the blue. Luckily he was allowed out of box rest after 3 days and into a small bare paddock for the next 3 weeks with 3 small meals of soaked hay a day. Our vet strongly believes around 80% of lami cases are due to some underlying issue and my pony's blood results came back as cushings, which were a huge surprise as he had none of the 'classic' cushings symptoms until the vet pointed out his eyes were filled with fat above. He was put onto pergolide and I weaned him back out into the field by an hour everyday as there was hardly any grass left.

He now gets treated as a lami pony so though he doesn't approve much of the big cut back in carrots, apples and oh so nice sugary treats, he was a star in accepting having to wear his muzzle. He lives out 24/7 and when he is put into any green, lush fields he wears a muzzle 24/7. I think when you start taking muzzles on and off when they live out/get turned out is when problems arise because as demonstrated by my cob, as soon as the muzzle is unclipped he gorged himself to the point he was almost relieved to have the muzzle back on!As the vet said, you will be amazed at how much they can still eat with muzzles and the amount of grass that is sat at the bottom of it that I pull out every morning showed this to me! He came out of his muzzle permenantly first week of December as the fields are now just a whole lot of mud, however as soon as the Spring shoots start coming through the muzzle will return:D
 
Feed mine soaked hay but no more than 10 minutes, especially in winter when you need the nutrients, also feed Hi Fi light and a balancer. Could also give speedy beet which is approved by Laminitis trust or Kwik beet.
 
jacmac - why do you only soak for 10 mns? I've been reading a few different articles and most of them state at least 6 hours soaking for some of the sugars to be leached out.
 
i was thinking when i am allowed to turn my horse back out once he is over this stress lami i am going to fence off a tiny square in the field and put down grass mats that way he cant gorge too much and it will also act as a bit of a cushion for his feet to start with and i will also put his muzzle on

one thing i do want to know is when they say max of 4 hrs grazing etc - i take it its ok to split this up - ie 1hr in morning then back in for a bit out again lunchtime in again out afternoon in again out evening in again this would work better for mine as he hates being stuck in for long?
 
LMR I soak hay for 10 mins, just because I need to reduce dust spores. In winter my lad needs the calories from hay so don't need to soak for longer otherwise there will be no goodness in the hay at all. In spring/summer depending on the condition score of my horse I may change this. I think it is important to adapt your feeding etc. according to time of year and weight/condition of your horse.
 
she has had a small flare up

I am guessing it was the haylage mauve one, she has had it for a few weeks as her protein levels dropped so need to get her to eat as she went off her feed. She was eating her hay and 1 haylage at night. I think on tues night the section was slightly thicker than normal .I think this did it
or the cold snap
So now using haylage up on others and gone back to just hay soaked at least 12 hrs and rinsing before feeding .
weird cos haylage before was ok not taking risk now .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top