What else can I as an owner, do to help the professionals help my horse with pedal bone rotation

[FieldOrnaments]

Hello, as per a previous post of mine my mare has laminitis.
X rays have revealed slight rotation of the pedal bone in both fronts with chronic changes to one worse than the other. She is not currently severely lame, or have heat or detectable digital pulses, and her soles are very thick, which are positive signs.
The x rays have been emailed to my farrier by the vet and he is coming out first thing next week to take her toes back. She has been on box rest on a very deep bed with padding on her fronts since she became footy, getting 3kg hay soaked for 30-40 minutes twice a day in a small holed net, and low calorie chaff with magnesium oxide, boswellia and salt in. I have bute ordered for before and after the farrier and am cold hosing her feet whilst her hay soaks. The plan is to get her comfortable and no longer in 'active' (even mild) laminitis then do a glucose challenge and TRH stimulation tests as she is 'equivocal' for the less sensitive tests for both insulin resistance and PPID - although with a lot of clinical signs - then potentially trial Metformin and Pergolide depending on the results. She is overweight by about 40kg but losing slowly: the current acute episode of laminitis has not been going on since before last Friday, but I would be the first to admit that I completely took my eye off the ball and utterly failed my horse letting her get as overweight as I did.

Obviously I feel horribly guilty about it; so was wondering if anyone had any words of wisdom or 'tips and tricks' to use to help the professionals help her/us - with fervent thanks in advance for any responses. I am reading and researching everything I can; I thought I was 'good' at managing easy keeper types, but apparently not as good as I thought, so the more knowledge, the better.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Don’t feel horribly guilty. You’ve found out and are doing the best by her.

 

[Britestar]

Keep her in , no moving around outside.
Do what you're doing, it is possible to get them back.
Mine had toxic L in 2014.
Rotation in all 4 feet, worse behind than in front. We followed every instruction to the letter. I was lucky as he had a vet who is passionate about laminitis, and involved the vet school from the get go. I also had a farrier who was determined to do the best for him, which included seeing him every 3 weeks at the start.
He had endless xrays, and a variety of drugs which were reviewed weekly.
He was in for 8 months, and only left the stable twice in that time (he escaped ). He then hand walked for 4 weeks and was allowed to start in hand grazing.
At 11 months he was turned out, building up to all day.
At 18 months he was ridden again and came back to full work.
Now 8 years on he is starting to show signs that things are catching up with him, but he's 21 now.
He gets yearly xrays to check his feet and he will not be allowed to suffer.

 

[scats]

We did it slightly unconventionally with Polly because of the way she is and the fact that she was running around her box, which obviously wasn’t helping. Rotation in both (4 and 6 degrees I think?), this was last July. After 5 days in, we padded her feet up and allowed her to potter out to a paddock every night and back in during the day. Went at her own pace across the yard. Farrier then came and put heart bars on with silicone, due to the fact that she was moving around, and we carried on with that routine August and September. Vet in regular contact. Given the go ahead to return to work by vet at end of October.
She commenced walking work in November and was back doing some trot by December. Stayed in work all winter and has remained in work since, having made a full recovery. Now 1 year on. Normal shoeing resumed in the September.
I was lucky that my vet understood Polly and recognised that the box rest route wasn’t going to work for her.

 

[meleeka]

is she shod? I think regular visits from your farrier are important (I had 4 weekly trims) as is continuing the diet. I’m surprised with active laminitis and other symptoms your vet hasn’t suggested starting on Prascend anyway. If the pony has PPID then no amount of care was going to stop it. Likewise, no amount of care will cure her either if her levels are still too high.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Keep her in no moving around and test for cushings and ems and get her on the treatment if tests are positive straight away it will make all the difference.

Cushings or ems induced laminitis will not improve without the treatment learn that from experience.

You have my full sympathy laminitis is awful I lost my lovely mare to it and I will never ever go through it again, my gelding had a very weird coat this summer and I just couldn't shift that weight my vet said his coat wasn't normal so his on half a tablet a day now abs I will re test in Autumn.

 

[maya2008]

Ours improved just with farrier trim and usual protocols for laminitis. Rotation had reduced by half at the last x-rays even though she was still lame 6 weeks after onset despite soaked hay at the loaner’s yard. She came home and went onto low sugar haylage rather than soaked hay. Difference was visible within a week, and 5 weeks later she is stomping confidently around her stable, completely sound in walk on hard ground also (haven’t asked her to trot, vet can do that when he next comes!). She’s cheeky again, trying to escape and quite cheerful!

I would say though that I found out through trial and error when I was younger, that keeping lami at bay after the first episode is an interesting experience. The longer you keep them off the grass, the less likely they are to relapse.

In the end, I had to keep one of mine off the grass until the hood capsule had had enough time to regrow. That worked, and that pony spent the rest of her life happily munching grass, living out with the rest of them with no relapses. We just ensured she had plenty of exercise, scrubby grazing and low sugar haylage in winter (I have seen two now get lami from hay alone).

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Don't beat yourself up, I've lost one to laminitis in the past and last year with my old gal my vet was concerned re. the possibility of "sub-clinical laminitis".

We lost her anyway due to her trigeminal nerve headshaking; she was only 10 and it was a year almost exactly to the day now........

I watch mine like a hawk now for weight, she's a good doer and puts weight on by just looking at a blade of grass.

You may find "The Laminitis Crisis Support Group" on FB helpful.

 

[sport horse]

Please do exactly as your vet advises and in due course your farrier. They have/will have seen her. They are treating her. They are professionals who have studied for years. Please do not take advice from unkown people who have not seen the horse - they may be right but they also may be wrong.

 

[visa_bot]

Mine had a really bad bout last year. Farrier said 90% of horses would not have survived. 5 months box rest and then gradually building up. The worst thing was abscesses, but my vet and blacksmith were amazing. She was back in full work within a year. I used Jiaogulan and AAKG once the laminitis wasn’t active. Can’t say if it really helped, but it certainly did no harm and she made it. i bought from forage plus. I would research it first, but might be worth trying.

 

[FieldOrnaments]

Please do exactly as your vet advises and in due course your farrier. They have/will have seen her. They are treating her. They are professionals who have studied for years. Please do not take advice from unkown people who have not seen the horse - they may be right but they also may be wrong.

With all due respect, where have I said I will disregard professional advice? I entitled this thread "how can I help the professionals help my horse" - precisely because that is what I want to know. I have no intention of NOT listening to the professionals, certainly not in favour of a bunch of nobodies on the internet.

 

[sport horse]

With all due respect, where have I said I will disregard professional advice? I entitled this thread "how can I help the professionals help my horse" - precisely because that is what I want to know. I have no intention of NOT listening to the professionals, certainly not in favour of a bunch of nobodies on the internet.

Excellent - no problem then. Sadly lots of people do take advice from forums and ignore the professsionals.