laminitis in january

jamsinthecat

New Member
Sep 2, 2005
150
0
0
50
the sunny Isle of Wight!
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:eek: 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:eek:
 
With his age and such sudden onset I too would get the vet to do blood work. If it turns out it was just for peace of mind it is still much better knowing as then you can deal with it much better. Poor horse. The weather has been weird lately, what with it being frosty, then wet and mild etc. But even so better to see if there are any underlying issues as if there is and it is left unnoticed it'll be hell come the spring :( Hope he makes a speedy recovery!
 
Ask the vet to check for cushings! Has he any other symptoms? Such as drinking & weeing a lot, cresty neck, pot belly?

the vet asked about this but i don't think its likely, there is nothing of him really - definately no crest or pot belly. can't say about the drinking/weeing because he lives out with an automatic drinking trough in the field.

I agree with the others about getting bloodwork and if he was mine i wouldn't hesitate. the thing is that he's on loan and his actual owner seems reluctant to incur any vets bills, she is happy to treat it as lami and see how he goes which puts my friend in a bit of an awkward situation- she can't really go against the owner even though she might like to.
 
Laminitis in January is most often cause by cushings & can be very resistant to treatment unless other measures are taken. Soak the hay as you are doing & no feed or treats with sugar in them, including apples or carrots. Keep a look out for other symptoms.
Not all cushings horses have all the symptoms. eg: my pony has a long coat which only goes curly in the rain.
 
my farrier says that lammi is quite common at this thime of year as the grass is 'stressed' and then produces more sugar x
 
after mine randomly came down with it in december, nothing surprises me any more :eek: (mine didnt have cushings though and wasn't even living out ....). hope the pony gets better soon :)

Julia
x
 
drums is prone to being a bit lammi. i dont do months and seasons anymore, i dont know about you lot but we dont have them anymore in west somerset!!!

For the last few days it has been 14.5 degrees (very mild) showers and a bit of sunshine, it is january but the daffodills are coming out and the horses are not eating hay in the field - today it is March or April - i wonder which month it will be tommorow

in the spring/summer/autum, i measure the grass rate by cutting my own grass at home and seeing how fast it grows (farrier gave me this tip and it makes me cut the grass at home now all of the time) :)
 
well on the farriers behalf of it you want to make sure he trims the foot back a fair bit nd put natural ballance shoes on, this may look ugly but it helps to cure the problem along with the other things like wet hay, keep off grass ect...
 
newrider.com