I got a panic phonecall yesterday from the lady who i share a field with saying could i come and have a look at her pony as she was really worried about him. He is a 19 year old new forest pony and is usually a bit of a hooligan but when she brought him in to ride he was trembling all over, quite tucked up. sweating and doing lots of licking/chewing - not a happy boy at all. My first thought was colic but when i got up there and had a look at him his feet were very hot, bounding digital pulse and shifting weight from foot to foot, there's no doubt he has laminitis We rang the vet who seems optimistic that having caught it straight away he should be ok in a couple of days and with any luck he can go back out by the weekend. At the moment hes on box rest with soaked hay and danilon twice a day but he isn't a good patient and keeps trying to climb out or kick the door down so we're hoping he makes a swift recovery.
Our yard owner kept saying "it can't be laminitis, its only january" but it just goes to show that it can happen at any time. The ironic thing is that my friends little pony has been dropping a lot of weight and she was really worried about how thin he is whereas my mare is carrying too much weight and is on a diet yet they share the same field so out of the two of them you'd think my mare would be the more likely to get lami! The only thing I can think of is the gelding has been having some haylage over night when my mare comes in and maybe that was enough to trigger it off. the worrying thing is that we've got to get through the spring flush yet
Our yard owner kept saying "it can't be laminitis, its only january" but it just goes to show that it can happen at any time. The ironic thing is that my friends little pony has been dropping a lot of weight and she was really worried about how thin he is whereas my mare is carrying too much weight and is on a diet yet they share the same field so out of the two of them you'd think my mare would be the more likely to get lami! The only thing I can think of is the gelding has been having some haylage over night when my mare comes in and maybe that was enough to trigger it off. the worrying thing is that we've got to get through the spring flush yet