ekkk mild signs of laminitis

[Maddison's girl]

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c392/maddison07/Mules019.jpg:( Had the farrier out today and he said Snowy had a bruised sole and mild signs of laminitis. He said I should watch him on the amount of grass he has and hard food he has. To be honest Snowy is not in a lovely lush field the grass is ok but not huge amounts of it. He only has a handful of Alpha lite so I can get his supplements into him.

What to do???

The problem is that in the winter Snowys weight drops quite badly. Hes not over weight now if anything could possibly do with a little more meat on him. If I stable him in the winter he gets stressy and has loose droppings and loses more weight that way.

He had one night on lush green grass when his field was topped, would this have been enough to cause mild signs of laminitis?

[carrieh]

It could do I think. I would highly recommend Laminitis Prone Supplement which I give to my pony whenever I feel he may be susceptible to laminitis. But it can be given during an attack of laminitis and apparently gives great results then too. I have a couple of friends who have used it and their horses have recovered from laminitis very quickly.

http://www.globalherbs.co.uk/horse/2004_pages/jointmusclehoof_2.htm#Laminitis%20Prone%20Supplement

[Sarah M]

dont know, but my horse gets laminitas if i dont watch what he eats or has to much grass. but for the moment he is okay.(touch wood!):o :o :cool: i give him 1 scoop of happy hoof and 1 scoop of bran and now and again a 1/4 of pony nuts. that way he has a perfect weight size in summer.
but like you sed your pony loses in the summer so maybe you could put a few fattening things in to make him keep a bit more weight.
im no expert but i hope this helps you!!!!!!!! :) lv saz :D

o yeah he has not had it for a while id say for a good 3months. p.s. i also give him an 1hrs work out every other day!! (but thats just me!) xx

[doris]

If he is prone to laminitis, then one night could well tip him over the top. It's not the amount of time a pony is out at grass, it is also the amount of grass they hog into them whilst out, and most could eat for England.
The average horse/pony can eat approx. 1lb of grass per hour, so you can see how it might mount up in an 8 hour night for instance.
My own pony had a bad attack 2 years ago (not her first) and since then has lived very happily in a bare area with a shelter and about 2 hours turnout per day. Each attempt to introduce 24/7 turnout has ended with laminitis. I feed Happyhoof, HiFi Lite and Speedibeet. She has ad lib hay and this hay has never caused a problem. Her supplement is Formular 4 Feet.
Another very good feed that many people rate is Simply Systems.
Hope this helps.

[Maddison's girl]

thanks for all the advice. I dont really know if Snowy has had it before. He has lived with us now for about 18 months and hasnt had anything in this time.

He has been off work for a few weeks for one reason and another. Maybe this hasnt helped :confused:

[JackieC]

hope snowy is making a good recovery, i can only say that when you top a field you should not let horses back on for a couple of weeks, this can lead to colic and possible laminitis.

[MelanieD]

One night of lush grass would unfortunatly be plenty to cause laminitis. One of mine got it after a few hours stuffing her face where she shouldn't have been.

Magnesium oxide added to feeds helps a lot of laminitics. Speedibeet is very useful for feeding them. Ideal for hiding supplements in in summer, can feed lots of it if weight gain needed and it's lots of fibre without too much sugar. Plenty of horses are fine on alfalfa but both of mine don't have it anymore, have more trouble with feet while feeding that than build up mix!

It would be a good idea to learn how to check digital pulses. Small ponies are often not anywhere near as lame as big horses are with laminitis so it's much harder to spot.