Low-grade laminitis - experiences anyone?

[bazzarider]

Been told today that our two have this - they have to stay in for several months - we were told that it would be best to keep them in until the spring grass has gone and we're into summer.

 

[Yann]

Who made the diagnosis and what were the symptoms? As far as I'm aware LGL isn't an officially recognised condition but it is something that people with unshod horses in particular are well aware of as a phenomenon when previously comfortable horses go footsore as a result of dietary problems.

I think sometimes the spring grass can just be the straw breaking the camels back rather than the problem itself if there's something else in the diet which is an issue. If it is LGL rather than the initial symptoms of the real thing then there might be other options, such as cutting out potential problem feeds, supplementing magnesium, using a grazing muzzle, or best of all plain old hard work.

 

[Bebe]

I personally think that LGL is the buzz word of the moment and may be being over-used by some people.

What are the symptoms? Who made the diagnosis?

I certainly wouldn't be box resting my horse for several months on the say so of anyone other than a vet.

If the horses are simply footsore at the moment, then by all means restrict grazing, address diet and exercise as these are all sensible precautions to take.

If the horses are all out lame and they haven't seen a vet yet then I'd recommend that you call yours out.

 

[puzzles]

have a chat with your vet (and whoever made the diagnosis if it was a different person), and seek a secondopinion - because vets don't always know best.
it's about finding out all you can and then selecting the bits you really need.
low grade the laminitis may be, but i'm willing to bet your ponies don't care how 'low grade' it is, all they care about is how they hurt.
good luck and chin up, chix.
xx

 

[Rowena]

I personally think that LGL is the buzz word of the moment and may be being over-used by some people.

What are the symptoms?

If the horses are all out lame and they haven't seen a vet yet then I'd recommend that you call yours out.

Many years before LGL became 'a buzz-word' my THB gelding had yearly recurrences of being chronically footsore at springtime.

The symptoms are firstly digestive, with a distended belly. Pottery to downright footsore on the feet, with a reluctance to go forward even in the walk. Constantly seeks sweet food (I imagine due to blood sugar levels having gone loopy).
Irritability and intolerance toward everyone and everything in general (seeming to have become sour).

The problem with the Veterinary approach in my experience is that unless a condition had become officially recognized, it tends to be overlooked. In the past Vets would recommend all manor of shoeing solutions (none of which worked) and things like bute which did not address the cause at all).

After doing a little research to better educate myself and take responsibility, I have been able to reduce a lot of the symptoms (and this spring I hope to eliminate even more of them).
But the right diet together with certain mineral supplementation is key, and restricting access to spring grass is probably the most important detail of all.

 

[taffy's mum]

lgl never heard of it

If anyone has read my latest posts i have a very seriously laminitic horse and even at his worst (which meant 5 grown men helping me lift him in from the field) has not been in for months. The start of the dreaded lam is when his feet get really hot and his neck gets really solid.
Dont understand lgl and what stage that will be but as long as you restrict them either with a grazing muzzle during the day and out at night without it or bring them in during the day and out at night you should be fine. If you have them in during the day feed them soaked hay as this takes out the goodness but starvation is NOT good for them.
Hope this helps...

 

[Bebe]

But the right diet together with certain mineral supplementation is key, and restricting access to spring grass is probably the most important detail of all.

I agree, and I'm currently stabling my mare overnight to keep her off the grass because 24/7 turnout makes her go a bit footy. Muzzling her isn't an option at present as the grass is far too short (but plentiful due to the acreage) for it to be a viable option and yard policy prevents strip grazing or creating a dirt paddock.

However, keeping a horse off grass 24/7 for months on end is a serious undertaking and for most people on livery yards it more than likely means stabling. I do not think that 24/7 stabling is something that should be undertaken lightly and I would not do it to my horse on anything less than veterinary advice (and even then I'd research other options unless it was for something like a broken bone or serious tendon injury).

The horses mental health, as well as physical, has to be considered. Also, removing grass from the horses diet without knowing how or why it's causing the horse to be footsore or laminitic is treating the symptoms, not addressing the underlying problem.

 

[Rowena]

yes I agree (that 24/7 stabling is a no-no).
Here's how I managed apart from the first step of attention to the diet.

I would allow a certain time out at pasture, broken into short spells throughout the day, IF the symptoms are not obviously aggravated by this (no follow-up digital pulse, or distended belly for eg).

Then I would intersperse some short walks (or better still if the horse is sound enough to ride) as exercise definitely counters much of the LGL effects, but obviously this can only happen IF the horse is comfy enough on his feet. I choose kind terrain to ride on and make sure there is plenty of active walking involved.

Then when the horse is returned to his stable, his need for movement and metabolic/blood circulation has been satisfied and a well soaked hay-net becomes a welcome new part of his routine.

 

[Bronya]

Out of curiosity, having read the replies with interest (my horse has lami at the moment), for a working owner, and a field full of rich grass, how would they manage this? Presumably the grass set it off, and the owner can't turn out for short periods etc because they are at work. If they have been advised to keep the horses off grass, then surely that means there's nowhere else to put them?

 

[Bebe]

If they have been advised to keep the horses off grass, then surely that means there's nowhere else to put them?

It can be very difficult.

I'm quite lucky as whilst I'm on a yard that only really offers turnout (on huge acreage, it's great for the horses wellbeing) or stabling, there's also the option to have the yard owners bring in, turn out, etc as required for a small charge.

So, when my mare came in very, very footsore (primarily behind which is unusual), I did the following:

Week 1 - box rest with ad-lib soaked hay until digital pulses had disappeared and horse was comfortable walking on smooth, flat surfaces. At this point I introduced in-hand grazing for 20 mins, once a day to start and by day 7 twice a day. Vet came at this stage as she had a back problem complicating matters, I wanted to rule out other causes of lameness.

Week 2 - turn out at 6am, yard staff brought in at around 10am. In-hand walking in the evening with hoof boots all round for 10-15 mins.

Week 3 - turn out at 6am, yard staff bring in at 12pm. Same routine in evening.

Week 4 - turnout at 6am, yard staff bring in at 2-3pm.

Throughout I checked digital pulses with a view to returning to the previous weeks routine if they returned.

My mare is now out from 6am to 6pm and is currently sound, though I did try to turn her back out 24/7 and she came in a bit footsore so she'll be in overnight for the foreseeable future. I do plan to turn her out 24/7 at some point but she will have to be muzzled during the day and at present the grass is too short to make this viable for her.

I soak my hay for an hour or longer if possible. Bucket feed consists of 100g unmolassed sugar beet (this is dry weight), 500g Baileys Lo-Cal, 20g CalMag (but MagOx is in order in case it makes a difference), Cortaflex and 2 tsp salt.
As of yesterday she's been cleared to be brought back into work after having had almost 4 months off due to back and foot problems so she'll be worked initially for 15-20 mins in walk, alternating between ridden and long-reining. I'm hoping that the addition of work will sort out the remaining niggles as I've never experienced these problems before and the only difference is that she's been out of work and as a result is carrying a touch more weight than I'd like.

If it wasn't for my yard owners being available to do turnout/bringing in as required I'd have been well and truly stuck and I'm not sure how I'd have managed.

 

[taffy's mum]

Out of curiosity, having read the replies with interest (my horse has lami at the moment), for a working owner, and a field full of rich grass, how would they manage this? Presumably the grass set it off, and the owner can't turn out for short periods etc because they are at work. If they have been advised to keep the horses off grass, then surely that means there's nowhere else to put them?

I understand how you feel as i am a working owner with a badly laminitic horse. Reading the replies it seems lots of people are leaving their horse out to graze during the day which i have always found a bad thing to do. I understand every horse is different but as the grass is at its worst when the sun is on it i have always left Taffy in during the day. Obviously if he is sore on his feet and his neck is starting to roll i will bring him in for a few days 24 hours with plently of bedding, water and soaked hay just to give him a break.

My routine goes like this:

Get up in the mornng and bring him in around 7.30 giving him 1 and a bit leaves of pre soaked hay. He stands in until i get home at around 6.30 pm where i give him codliver oil, equidermis for his mudrash, and some Happy hoof with a liitle water to make moist. He then gets turned out with no muzzle on. I am lucky that the grass is quite short though so can get away with putting him out.

I have had Taffy for over 6 years though and we have tried lots of different routines before we found one that works.

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

 

[Bebe]

I understand how you feel as i am a working owner with a badly laminitic horse. Reading the replies it seems lots of people are leaving their horse out to graze during the day which i have always found a bad thing to do.

I think it depends on the horse, the time of year, type of grazing, etc. I'll be switching my mare from out during the day to out at night, in during day once the weather hots up but at the moment she's fine with being out during the day.