Advice on laminitis, please

[Hev]

Today my horse was shod, and for the first time the farrier noticed signs of laminitis in her front feet. I know that there are text books aplenty about this affliction, but I have never personally come across it before and am quite worried.
It might help to know about her....
She is a 12 year 16.1hh Irish draught x TB and is in peak fitness. Her routine is to be ridden for a couple of hours in the morning and then turned out in the manege for a couple of hours play in the afternoons Tues, Wed, Thurs and Saturday. Friday she is turned out am, and competes show-jumping in the evening. Sunday she invariably competes and Monday is a complete 'kick her heels out' day. She is stabled on shavings at night.
All a far cry from the stereotypical fat, unfit grass-kept pony!
I have seen absolutely no change in her, and this news has come as quite a shock. My farrier (who is excellent) has put shoes on her front which are 'scooped' so that they do not put pressure on her, but he says not to worry about anything else. But I do!
The only major change to her routine in the last two years is that I have just had a long holiday (over a month) and this is the first time that she has been shod since then. Her feet were done the week I left and there was no problems. The lady who works for me has ridden her while I've been away to keep her fitness levels up.
Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Allie]

We've got two horses at the ranch that have foundered in the past. One is the stereotypical 30 year old, grass loving, minimal exercise horse. The other eat about 30 pounds of grain when some careless person left the door to the grain shed open and neglected to tell anyone what happened until he foundered days later. (what an idiot- we probably couldn't have prevernted it if she had told someone right when it happened)

Those are my only experiences with laminitis, I don't know much about it in extremely fit horses- maybe just that she gets too much grain and not enough hay? Anyways, if your farrier says not to worry about it, I wouldn't. Just watch her and make sure she doesn't get worse. If she is not lame and you couldn't tell it had happened, it is probably a very mild form.

Allie

[Catherine]

This is a definite puzzle! Suggestions that spring to mind are:

(a) dietary problems; long term use of bran in a diet without supplementation of calcium can cause lead to leaching of calcium from the system, as bran is high in phosphorus. Loss of calcium can lead to laminitis.

(b) long-term use of certain drugs (i.e. bute), but she is so active, I can't believe you have her on bute anyway!

(c) what is sometimes called trauma laminitis, which stems from too much roadwork with her feet going bang-bang-bang on the hard surface all the time; this also applies to too much work on hard or frozen ground.

(d) I have heard of two cases of laminitis relating to emotional upsets; one was when a mare lost her lifelong companion and was unconsolable; the other was a mare who had foaling difficulties.


I believe there is an excellent book by Robert Eustace, who is a guiding light in the world of laminitis, which you might try. If you start on www.horseweb.co.uk (http://www.horseweb.co.uk) and have a look there, you should find more details.

Best of luck!

[Rachel R]

I've heard of stress related cases as well. Another thing which I've found to trigger laminitis (in a horse who had had it before)was eating frozen grass, or drinking ice cold water - something to do with the temperature in the gut! Wormers containing ivermectin can also trigger atacks if the horse is prone to laminitis.
I'd give your vet a call and see what he says. I'm sure it will be fine, but do let us know how you get on,

Rachel

[Kiwismum]

Over fat horses, although the most common reason, are not the only reason a horse would get it. If it is not too bad then a couple of weeks rest might help. But I would suggest getting the vet in to confirm and settle on a treatment, based on what he reccommends.
Hope you had a good holiday.

[Hev]

Thanks all!
You really have given some great ideas. Luckily (I think!) I can cancel most out - she doesn't have bran, she is not on any drugs and apart from the odd gentle hack most of her hard work is done in the manege. Admittedly, we occasionally trot on the roads, but neither very often or for very long. I'm not aware of any change to her diet while I've been away (yes, I loved it - thank you!) and she has ad lib hay as well as hard feed.
The only thing that has got me wondering is the idea of stress. I know this sounds very egotistical - but she is very much "my" mare. We spend so much time together anyway and she was such a problem when I first got her that no-one apart from me and Steph (my employee) is allowed to touch her. She was very headshy and nervy for a long time. Even Steph has only really mucked her out before I went away, so just maybe it stressed her that I was gone. As I said, that does sound like I over-rate my importance to her, but you can guess from my description of her workload just how much time we are in each other's exclusive company.
I have invested in some Laminaze, and I hope that this will help her. It at least makes me feel that I'm doing something constructive. I do now feel scared to work her, but there is definitely no lameness or anything. I've been watching her like a hawk, and even videotaped her and scrutinised her movements!!!!
Obsessive mother or what!!!!
Anyway, thanks again.

[Zoey]

I have just had a phone call from a someone who rehomed a chronic laminitic case from us (i work for a rescue centre). There has always been strong evidence (as usual) in her hooves of the laminitis. These re-homers are very `up' on laminitis and they have tried all sorts. They bought some Lamineze (spelling) a while ago and the farrier came yesterday. he said that if he did not always treat the pony he would swear she had never had it. The new hoof growth shows no evidence of laminitis -so there's a good indication of how well it works. They called the company that made it and they said they cannot believe the amount of people that have said it is brilliant.
Oh, the other thing is - recent medical evidence from the Irish Veterinary Association has stated that in some horses laminitis can be caused by the release of histamine into the system. Therefore(if this is true) an uncommon attack of laminitis in a horse rather than a pony could be atributed to this. Just a thought!
Has your mare got any allergies that could cause her to release histamine. If not she may have developed a new allergy that is causing it.

[Hev]

Zoey -
Thanks for your reply. It is an interesting idea about the allergies, and one that I would never dismiss out of hand.
However, in my mare's instance she really is in the very best of health. If my farrier had not shown me the hoof where he had trimmed it, I would never have believed that there was anything wrong with her whatsoever.
I am so lucky that she is showing no signs of lameness or discomfort. She is not losing condition to indicate anything else wrong - she is exactly the same as she's always been. Hopefully, it is just a very mild attack.
However, with all the above said, I really do appreciate the help. Hopefully someone else reading this may have gained a few ideas.