What to do after laminitis ..

holt889

holt889

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So old pony diagnosed with cushings and lami ... Thankfully spotted it early so not too severe... On cets advice He's on pracend daily and was on deep bed and box rest for 3 weeks.. Has gradually come off the bute and is sound and is now in larger barn with bedding and a small wood chipped area and is sound. Obviously on soaked hay and has top spec anti lami. The vet is talking to me tomorrow about where to go from hear but I would be interested to hear what you all do as there seem to be some many rights and wrongs with lami and everyone says something different !!
Oh he still has shoes on as were put on a week before I noticed he wasn't quite right in himself.
 
My mare had acute laminitis last year and was on box rest for roughly the same time as yours :)
She then started going out in a pen for a hour a day so long as she didn't get any pulse/heat. Gradually over the next few weeks it went up to a couple of hours a day in her pen and about 3 months after she was out in main field again for the winter for up to 5 hours a day.
Bute and sedalin was slowly eased off over that time.
She was lunged almost everyday after about 3 months as the box rest had given her a slipping stifle so I think that helped and her weight has stayed down.

I'm also doing a diary for the vet because we think she has cushings :( its been about 9 months since her lami attack and she's still not totally right!
Good luck, I think apart from colic it's one of the worst things owners have to go though!
 
See what the vet says and I would if horse is happy carry on with what you are doing.Would not turn out onto grass at all unless its really poor grazing and I would fence off a tiny area. I would just keep haying him via net and make sure he can move around as keeping circulation going is good etc. Sounds like you are doing it right.

If caught early it can be treated really fast(stating obvious). Plus if horse is ok in barn etc and not climbing walls I would just take it slowly etc.

Re shoes if you have a good farrier that you trust completely I would seek their advice. Usually I would take shoes off but does sound like you caught it in time?
 
Just follow your vets advice, I have a shettie who developed mild lami but on further investigation it was down to cushings. I eventually built him is very own paddock, he does have nibbles of grass in there. But he mainly survives on hay and a small bucket a day to get his meds in him. Luckily he has not had another case of lami in over 3 years, I did this on the advice of my vet and it seems to be working. Good luck
 
I've no experience of a laminitic with shoes so I think you should agree a plan with your vet and farrier and go by your horses response to whatever that plan is. Be prepared to change tack if needed. Best of luck. x
 
Thanks for all your thoughts. Will carry on with what is working at present and see what vet says tomorrow. As shoes were just put on vet thought it best not to cause him any more trauma by taking them off but will see what she says about it now. He is lucky to have a large barn to wander about in an a large stable sized area of wood chip to go out on to see his best friend out in the field. He is 26 and was fit as a fiddle upto a month ago when it happened and is a very slender build so it's going to be a battle keeping weight on rather than off !!
 
Get him off the Topspec anti lam stuff asap

TopSpec Anti Lam Pellets

Ingredients:
High fibre oat by product
Grass meal
Linseed Expeller
Vitamin mineral premix
Unmolassed beet pulp
Cane molasses
Calcium carbonate
Dicalcium phosphate
Wheatfeed
Sodium chloride
Magnesium oxide

Contains oat by product, grass meal and MOLASSES :eek::eek::eek:

If you wanted to add something to help Id be looking at this

http://www.naturalhorsesupplies.co.uk/p/product/0910201140-Herbal+Lami+Support+900g++%A31499/

All natural herbs which the horse would choose to eat himself if available.

Exercise is key, pads if necessary but once hes not in acute pain it does help. Obviously weight needs to be low - track around his field so less grazing but moving all the time?
 
Dont trust vets, feed sales reps or farriers etc where feed is concerned. Trust your eyes when you READ the feed labels.

Steer clear of mollasses/molglo/grass meal/ grains

Soaked then RINSED hay. Does he NEED a bucket feed with his weight? If hes over weight then no.

Grazing muzzle? Track system for exercise etc :)
 
Laminitis is a horrible disease and one thing is for sure, you will get many conflicting views on the way to treat it. The problem is, if they need medication, you need to give them something in a bucket, or you end up syringing the stuff into their mouths. These days vets are all obsessive about Metformin, try giving 20 tablets to a pony without him having it in a bucket.

They do need more than just soaked hay, which only provides fibre, these ponies are ill and their feet need to repair, they won't do that without the right combination of vitamins and minerals and proteins.

I wish you luck with your pony.
 
AGHHHHH what conflicting advice your getting from everyone. You know your own horse and Im sure you will be able to tell better than anyone how he is getting on day to day. My mare had extreme lamanitis 4 years ago before i got her and then very mild in Nov when she got diagnosed cushings. She is on Precend 1mg every day. I also tried the chaste berry herbs as they had such good reviews but my fussy mare wouldnt touch her dinner with it in. Yes despite having cushings and onset lamanitis she was still being fed, vet said its necessary for her to keep vitamin and mineral levels so she has been getting safe and sound over the winter she also had soaked hay. Now she is in a small sectioned off paddock about half the size of a tennis court and she gets it moved out if needed every week by one outer fence post she also has a grazing muzzle that she gets on in summer months.I feel its important for her to be constantly moving her legs while grazing as a horse naturally would I found when she was stood in for long periods her feet would get really hot and her legs would swell, i know most people say keep them in but i found that after the initial recovery period she did much better being put out on very heavily grazed paddocks. She currently has no shoes on although i kept them on for 3 months after she got diagnosed. She was so badly depressed and listless after diagnosis that i was considering getting her PTS as it was awful seeing her like that. I kept with it and 8 weeks after starting pergolide i started noticing a difference now she is running sbout everywhere. Vet and farrier cant believe how great she looks coming out of the winter Im so happy with her and i trekked her out for half hour last week and am going to start building her back up again now the excessive sweating etc has subsided. I would be careful how much lunging you do or get your horse checked for diabetes/insulin resistance as if you have your horse doing lots of exercising it can be detrimental if they have this although its good for the lamanitis not for the cushings. Once your horse has been medicated for a couple of months and seems to be improved and doing well then you can attempt returning to previous routine. I do know of people with cushings horses that remain in full work etc but been diagnosed without the lamanitic symptoms. Be aware that you could do everything possible to try and prevent lamanitis and if cushings is there they can still get it as its a hormonal imbalance. The worse time of year for cushing related lamanitis is oct/nov brought on by the shortening in daylight hours in a strange way i find my mare much better in spring summer as i can concentrate on grass intake feeding etc and not worry so much about the hormone. I hope you get on good with your horse and Im sure you will do whats best for your own horse as everyones case is different and as varied as everyones opinions haha.
 
Laminitic horses definitely need a good balanced diet. Adequate and appropriate levels of vitamins and minerals etc. What they don't need is high starch and sugar levels along with preservatives, poor quality and unnecessary 'fillers' etc. that can stress their systems.
 
Go with what your horse responseds the most too. Our boy had very bad lami last year spent 9 months box rest with pads at first then imprints now is on heart bars. He was also diagnosed with ems so has happy hoof morning and night with 15 metformin in each on 5lbs of hay a night and is out 6 hours a day on a bare paddock. Im starting to soak hay again now as the grass is coming through no matter how bare the paddock. He is coming back into to work again after having abit of time of due to an un-lami related problem but he is looking great.

What works for one horse wont work for all.

Xx
 
A friend got a horse on loan who turned out to have laminitis. Once he was comfortable to be shod the farrier put "bank robbers" on him. I had never come across this before but he said he preferred them to heart bars as they take the pressure off the toe. The improvement was immediate and he was walking aswell as when he first arrived. He also stressed the importance of exercise.
 
My Sec A is just recovering from a bout of Lami last month, he is barefoot and basically a field ornament at the moment.
I only had him on box rest for 3 days on bute then he went out in a fenced off mud area (dry) in the field with a small hay & straw net as he was climbing the walls in the stable 24/7. He was much happier in his mud patch and i firmly believe he wouldn't have recovered as quickly on box rest.
I think exercise is important for healing & circulation, so when possible i will always turn out in a small paddock instead of box rest - he just doesn't cope with it.

I also found out another livery was feeding him carrots every night when i wasn't there - grrr :mad:. Anyway that was soon stopped as soon as i found out :mad:

He had fast fibre just to get his bute and mag ox in at night and just hay & straw otherwise.

Now he gets his mud paddock extended every week to include a little bit of grazing & all is going well, but he still has a net of hay & straw as there is barely any grass in his piece.
He has a long strip around one side of the field - so he has to walk & exercise to get his nibbles of grass too.
 
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Count Oggy said:
A friend got a horse on loan who turned out to have laminitis. Once he was comfortable to be shod the farrier put "bank robbers" on him.
Click to expand...
I had never heard the term "bank robbers" before so googled and it seems this means reverse shoes. It that correct?
 
Thanks for all your comments... I like to hear from others about their experiences and about other info out there. I appreciate the comments about food .... Got the anti lam as vet said it was ok but admit I didn't read the label until now ... Does actually say it contains no cereals but doesn't have a full list of ingredients on bag so will look on their website. I guess pony is unusual as he is very slender and it was a way of getting him to eat and get vits and minerals as on the parcend he went off everything for a while. He has improved no end and is looking more like a 3 yr old than 26 yr old so we must be on the road to recovery now! But I know it's early days and we're just going to take it slowly so as he deserves to be back doing the things he loves cos he is a priceless pony !
 
Simple Systems are brilliant with advice and help and all pure forage no additives. Have a llok on the website. They also have balancers / supplements one called metaslim for ponies with metabolic problems etc.
 
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