why is my horse getting lamer!!??

[SVMel]

Sorry tennessee I must have posted at the same time as you. That's very interesting. She, even now, stands 4 square when she's eating. I know what you mean by standing with legs split, but she doesn't really do this

The vet who has been dealing with her is on holiday and isn't booked to see her until a week on wednesday but I'm going to call and talk to one of the other vets tomorrow. Can't just let her get worse

Ah well, was just a stab in the dark anyway. Did you speak to the vets yesterday? What did they say?? xxxx

 

[0ldmare]

Vet coming this morning to do another lot of x-rays. One week ago when they did the last ones she had zero rotation in 1 foot and the tiniest amount in the other, this time I'm braced for bad news She's barely able to move this morning

I've switched her to a new feed D&H Safe and Sound and am now soaking the hay too, but nothing seems to be helping.

Without wishing to sound overly melodramatic I feel like I'm presiding over the slow and painful death of my horse. She's gone from almost sound to completely beggared.

Sorry to be so defeatist, but its how I feel

 

[coss]

I hope you get some answers this morning. Hopefully something treatable..

 

[Janesomerset]

Hope your mare is improving and the vet gives you some answers today. I've been in the same situation and it's horrible, but don't despair just yet! xx

 

[TGM]

I hope things don't turn out to be as bad as you fear. It may be worth asking your vet whether it would be a good idea to test your horse for Cushings or Equine Metabolic Syndrome to see if there is an underlying cause for the laminitis.

 

[0ldmare]

Thanks guys, I'm like a cat on a hot tin roof waiting for the vet!

TGM I did ask the vet about testing for Cushings, but they said we need to get the foot issue stabilised first. Apparently you can get a false result if its done while the horse is so lame

 

[LucyPriory]

TGM thanks for the info re feed, I will call D&H tomorrow and check it out with them. If necessary I certainly dont mind changing

Lucypriory - thanks and sorry the feet were mucky. I tried to clean them but she nearly sat down so I decided a quick snap would have to do! As I say she was due for the farrier and he was prebooked to come 3 days after she went lame so it never happened. I think they are quite shocking and kick myself for going with the new farrier (my old v v v v good one is long term sick). The thrush seemed to have happened quite recently - the rest is a combination of poor foot conformation - she always tends to go long in the toe and back on her heels - plus not very competent farrier I think

If your horse is going long in the toe - it is not her conformation that is doing it. It will be either dietary related, work related or poor trimming or a mix of the lot. Usually dietary though. The heels in the photo are contracted, thrushy and need trimming properly.

If you can get your horse to stand in one of those rubber skips, try putting her feet in a solution of salty water. This will help resolve the thrush so at least she has some foot to stand on. Obviously you can only do this when she can actually stand.

Re the diet, I am sorry, so sorry to sound like a miserable old git, but I have consistently found that for 'metabolic' type horses that the supposedly safe lami products are anything but. I have actually seen an 'ok' horse go laminitic on a laminitic safe product. Do not believe the marketing.

If you have to feed a 'bucket' feed for example to put minerals/vits into, use Kwik Beet, and not much of it.

The hay needs to be soaked for 12 hours and then rinsed through thoroughly. It may take time to get your horse used to this. Some peeps soak for 24 hours, depending on how desperate it gets.

And finally I am so sorry to hear your horse is still poorly and possibly getting worse. As a priority sort the feed.

 

[SirenaXVI]

Don't despair OM, it can only be good that you have removed the mix, no cereal at all should pass her lips! Lots of low quality fibre, old hay is good, however, in some cases even old hay is too rich and should be soaked. Safe and Sound is a good product but don't forget, to get her full quota of vits/mins she needs to be fed the recommended amount and she needs her vit/mins more than ever at the moment. It may also be worth feeding her a probiotic to help settle her hindgut and keep it in good working order Protexin is imho the best one as it is protected and more of it will get into the hindgut.

Good luck, I am sending lots of healing vibes

Edited to add: I agree with LucyPriory - what people don't seem to realise is that The Laminitis Trust is a commercial concern.

 

[0ldmare]

Thanks for your input, and no you dont sound like a miserable old git LucyPriory - I can see you have more foot knowledge than me!

Shes been turned out 24/7 for the last 5 months and not been fed anything at all (other than an extra strong mint twice a day ), she's not been ridden/worked for over a year as she's retired (ringbone giving slight unsoundness in anything other than walk - in the 'bad' foot). I always put her propensity to having long toe/down at heel as being just her, but I'm no foot expert thats for sure. She has over long sloping pasterns which dont help either. My original Blacksmith used to get her feet looking quite good, the new one doesnt (I now have a replacement farrier lined up!)

If she will let me I'll definitely try the salt water for her thrush

I've got to give her something to have the Danillon and ACP in so hopefully the Safe and Sound will not be too bad for her

The hay is old - August cut last year - but I'm soaking it too (albeit for 12 hours not 24)

 

[lochpearl]

sorry you are having these problems Oldmare, just to say my large lad had a mild case of lami this year, so much so we had to put off operating on his stifles for a few weeks. I then fed him safe and sound with a low cal balancer and fingers crossed he seems good. It was all gone within 2 weeks from start to finish and then he had his op. I would definitely push the vets though as this seems to be getting worse and seems more complicated than straight forward lami. Oh and I also soak my hay for 8 hours too. Hope she is ok, lots of hugs coming your way xx

 

[0ldmare]

Vet came and did x-rays and the good news is that the pedal bone has still only rotated a v small amount and not dropped at all. Other foot is still good. The vet took bloods to test her for cushings. (The result will be back in 48 hours). Also put new pads on her feet to give them support

Not that she said it, but I get the feeling the vet is not quite sure why the horse is in so much pain.

I dont know where its got us, but am at least relieved that the pedal bone situation isnt much different from last week

 

[TGM]

Good to hear that no further progression of rotation. Does she seem equally lame on both front feet? Has the vet ruled out the possibility of any abscesses forming as a sequel to the laminitis? (Which obvious might explain the amount of pain she is in.)

I think you said you were changing farriers - has the new farrier seen her since the laminitic attack or is she so sore that you think she would not cope with being trimmed at this time?

 

[0ldmare]

Hi TGM, she started off only being lame in one front foot but now she's lame in both (I would imagine, at least in part, because she was putting most of her weight on the good one).

Wouldnt an abscess show up on the x-ray?

No the new farrier hasnt seen her as she's way too sore to do anything to at the moment (she needed a pain killer injection on top of the danillon just so they could do the x-rays) - shes really immobile and lies down most of the time.

 

[touchstone]

If it is any consolation we had a pony who was very similar when he developed laminitis. He was stabled and uncomfortable for about five weeks, we found that giving unsoaked hay or allowing movement, even a plod around his tiny turnout area, would cause his pulses to come up. All we could feed was a tiny bit of moistened hifi lite to get his vit supplement and meds in and we added magnesium oxide too. He made a full recovery, but took a long time.

The Safe and Sound will be far better than a mix, and if you've only just started soaking hay then it may take a while for you to see any benefit from it, sometimes they seem to pick up in a matter of days and other times they can take weeks.

Here's hoping that your horse is more comfortable soon, the one thing I've learned with laminitis is to take each day at a time as it can get very wearing when it drags on, but for some horses that seems to be the way it goes.

 

[Kallibear]

Poor girl.

The fact your stupid previous farrier chopped off all her soles is worrying and may have caused her to abcess in both feet, even at this later date. It would also explain why she got better then worse - it common with abcess when they burst but don't drain then refill even worse. And sole abcess won't show well on xray unless they did palmer planter veiws (i.e from the underside) - they can be invisible from sideon views.

Within reason however the cause of the pain doesn't really matter right now as the treatment is the same: Restricted movement and padding her feet up. If you pad up with a nappy it'll make it a poultice too. Covers all eventualites and causes. A very strict lami diet won't do her any harm either.

First thing I'd be doing is getting her a laminitic trim because if she does have lami then those long toes will be excurtiatingly painful for her, levering the very sore laminina up with every stride. The long heels won't help either, rocking her forwards onto her toes. Shortening the heels a little and making her toes very short, with a high breakover will help dramatically.

This is the trim our very laminitic (far more damage than your horse) shetlandX had and it made him so so much comfier.

Then it'd be a pair of hoof boots. Get a pair of trainer-type boots (cavallo simple boots are by far the easiest to put on and off) a size too big and buy a pack of cheap nappies and a gardener's kneeling pad. Chop the pad to fit to bottom of the boots, wrap her feet in a nappy then a little vet wrap and have her in her boots 24/7 for a while.

Once she's all better I'd then be looking into sorting out those feet properly - I know they're due a trim but regardless they are poor quality with undrrun heels, long toes, poor quality frogs and bad flaring.