what to feed my laminitic horse- advice needed please

B

bumblelion

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 March 2008
Messages
1,962
Visit site
My new horse is in early stages of laminitis ( bruised soles/ red White line). He is extremely overweight also. He was out on 3 months paddock rest due to arthritis. The vet told me to feed him a slice of soaked hay in am and one in pm. He is also on a handful of dengie good doer chaff with a scoop of seaweed and cortaflex. The vet said to basically starve him but this does seem extreme, he's a big boy too at 17hh.

Obviously the vets know what they're doing but a few people have said to me that he needs more hay and to feed him a larger amount of chaff such as happy hoof so he gets his nutrients. I'm unsure now what to think and worry he'll get malnutrtion! Anyone got any experience in this field? I'd really appreciate some advice, thanks
 
You really must feed him nothing. If you feel he needs more bulk and fiber then feed more soaked hay before feeding anything else. Bare in mind this is not a horse in maintenance this is a horse with laminitis.

If you need information on laminitis and what you can do there is the laminitis trust website http://www.laminitis.org/
 
I so agree with TheFarrier. I wish your horse well, I lost one pony to Cushings related laminitis several years ago, and now my big boy has got too fat.

He came out of the winter too well and is a bit footy...and a secondary fetlock swelling on one leg. I suspect a bit chicken and egg.

I am feeding him two sections of hay a day and two handfuls of chaff....he is 16.1 warmblood. As advised by my vet.
 
the worst thing you can do is starve your horse or pony! You will end up with worse probs than before. You can restrict his grazing, few hours a day with a muzzle on, give him 2 secs of soaked hay when u bring him in at night and hifilite it fine, a scoop of that with some chopped up celery to help him chew it, water it down to and buy a topspec anti lam, it is fab, but pls do not starve the hrose
 
Laminetics need good nutrition to recover from the illness. I would get him on a good broad spectrum supplement such as Top Spec Anti-lam and feed him hay that is soaked for 12 hours to soak out the majority of the sugars. If he is on box rest two slices of hay a day sounds alarmingly small amount.... definately question a vet who instructs you to starve a laminetic horse or pony - they could end up with hyperlipeamia (spelling?) or colic - or could try to eat wood or their bed (I have known a horse who was on box rest with laminitis eat her shavings as she was so starving - she very nearly died of colic).

Top Spec have a fantastic helpline and they will talk you through a good diet for your horse. Also the Laminitis Clinic are excellent have a good read of their website. They would also not recommend starving the laminetic.

Good luck.
 
I would never starve a laminitic, it could cause hyperlipidemia, which is caused by the body going into negative energy mode and mobilising lipids (fats) which rush into the liver, this is a really really serious metabolic disease that a horse can die from.

You need to get an idea of your horse's weight and you need to feed 1.5% of his bodyweight per day - he will need nutrients to recover from the lammi........
feed him soaked hay - soak this for minimum of 12 hours this will keep the bulk but reduce calories, he needs bulk to keep the gut moving to help prevent ulcers or colic. Then i would add a really good vit/min supplement like topspec antilam or farriers formula. I would also seek a second opinion from the vet's.
 
I'm sorry but if your vet thinks that is an adequate diet for a Laminitic he is sadly out of date with its treatment and management. I would suggest you read the Laminitis Clinic website and then call their helpline on Monday.

In the meantime you need to keep your horse stabled - really needs to stay off the grass for now. You are right that your horse need smore to eat - it is really important that he has enough fibre to keep his gut moving. It must be soaked hay - for a minimum of 30 minutes and not longer than an hour. My mare follows their diet (is lami) and daily has 12lbs of soaked hay, 2kgs of Happy Hoof, 4 pints of soaked speedibeet and Formula 4 Feet. She is only 15 h and has lost weight and now maintains her weight on that much feed all year round - she is a cob and you can just see her ribs. Please give you rfeed more hay until you can speak to the Laminitis Clinic as if he doesn't get enough and have enough gut movement his lami will get worse.
 
I would change your vet!!!!!
Any vet who says starve a laminitic seriously is out of touch and basically ignorant.
When my 14,1hh was on box rest with laminitis ( six years ago now) he had one section am; one at lunchtime, one tea time and two before I went to bed. Fed lots of hifi lite with a balancer plus speedi-beet.
He didn't lose weight until I started working him again. But that was not my priority at the time, it was getting him pain free and sound.
 
Upon the good advice from this forum's users, I phoned Lami Clinic yesterday about my mare. They charge £1/minute but they talk fast!
wink.gif


Anyway, I will agree that the advice on there is up to date and probably the best you're going to get. Give them a phone.

A horse in maintenance requires 2% of his body weight in feed. A horse that's dieting about 1.5% to 1.75%. Get a tape to figure out the weight and weigh every thing. I'm having the same problem myself with my mare - but she's not terribly overweight, I'd say she's just about right. She's a Welsh Cob, very large and on the long side - she's 15.1hh and is 530kg. I'm giving her 10kg of feed a day. I'm going to monitor it very closely as I think that with her length she's going to look a bit too lean. However, we can manage a few kilo off as I can't feel her ribs as easily as the Fat Score chart would suggest we should.
 
i would keep him in 2 slices of 24hr soaked hay am and 2 slices pm i would put him on hi fi light he is on seaweed so he will be getting his vits and mins i would put him on nettle coz that will get rid of the toxins in his body and put him on hawthrone coz tht will help blood and circulation get to the lammi!
 
Our welshie has just developed lami despite all our best efforts.

We have a fab vet and her advice was exactly the same as the lami clinic. Pony is on hi fi lite and hay. Vet says feed little and often with small gaps of time between haynets.

I agree with other comments on here, the worst thing ever is to starve a lami
 
I feed
to my VERY ir/cushing lami pony

Hifi lite

Formula4 feet - topspec anti lam made her worse but every horse is different as i no alot of people with lami ponys that do well on the topspec.

Magnesium (equine america) - This has been the BIGGEST help for my girl its stopped her gettiing lami were nothing else as helped. dont think she could live without it as she deteriates really badly if not on it.

Seaweed and Rosehip - for antioxidants and increase circulation


we have tryed pergolide just didnt agree with her so she had to come off of it from the side affects she was getting. I tryed restricted grazing she cant even handle 1/2 an hour out without pulses, she hates a muzzle just stands at the gate running up and down the fence trying to rub it off just worked herself up to much. so she is now in a bark paddock i have made and has adlib soaked hay below 10NSC (natural sugar content) get hay anaylised and make sure hay is below 10nsc dengie do it.

my biggest thing like i say has got to have been the magnesium as she sometimes got pulsy on this diet and i have tryed lots of diffrent things, but as soon as i added the mag we havent had a pulsy day since TOUCHING WOOD RAPIDLY

she had rotation in both front feet in 07 and had it in all four feet she was very lucky to pull threw as vet wanted o put her down she is retired as will come up foot sore if trotted when being ridden bus trots and canters happily in her paddock. a good farrier is a MUST also

good luck
 
forgot to add also has msm for joints as they cant have glocosamine (sp?) which is in most joint supplements .

I saok hay for 4 hours then rinse it off before i give it to her to get the horrible smell of soaked hay off of it.

my girl is 19 she 12.1 and has three-four secsions a day is never with out hay.

when she had her lami i thim=nk the thing tha really pulled her around was pernamax its reduces inflammtion as soon as i put her on it she was less sore she was on box rest the whole time she had it.

please pm if you need help
 
Totally agree with advice on NOT starving the poor beast. If my pony gets footy I do restrict his grass and I give a feed of HiFi Lite with chopped veg., brewers yeast, garlic, linseed oil and Epsom salts (small amounts of all the additives) twice a day and decent hay - as much as he needs to keep him chewing most of the day. I still let him have some grazing time with a muzzle every day as I don't think you should ever change a horse's diet suddenly. I also give him a treat ball with titbits in to keep him active if I'm stabling him. He usually gets over the footiness within a couple of days. and I gradually re-introduce the grazing. I have never needed a vet for this. Let me know if you want the exact proportions I feed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top