Care of the laminitic horse? Help?

Question

My TB suffered a bout of mild laminitis this winter gone, no signs of pedal rotation etc. on his x rays. However, he is not a particualry good doer (typical TB, worries off the weight) and I'm wondering about how best to care for him this summer with the grass etc.? I'm used to caring for your typical laminitics (fat ponies!) but unsure about how to go about preventing him from relapsing. He suffered his last bout after a terrible summer (out on loan) and too much haylage (he was box rested) in the winter. He has all year turnout, living out in summer and in on a night in the winter. He has mild artheritis and has to be stabled when cold, he does feel the cold in the field when he is bored in the winter. So...any advice on what best to feed him and how to treat him re: turnout.

Answer 1

I would talk to my vet but...i have had a horse similar too this and its hard,

i would:

-keep his sugar low (soak hay, no oats or sweet feed, no treats)

-get a farrier to check out his feet, we had to have the fronts cut off our mare, and maybe get o-ring shoes.

-keep him off lush green grass

-grass has more sugar in the afternoon and night than in the morning so turn him out then and bring him back in

This is all i can think of, but it seems that he foundered due to poor management, and as long as it doesn't happen again he should be fine! good luck

Answer 2

The laminitis is cause by excess sugar which then gets digested in the wrong part of the gut, causing a build up of toxins, causeing the laminitis, therefor the key to managing a laminitic is to restrict the sugar intake. This does not mean starving the horse.

For turnout, provided you have somewhere with very little grass then turnout as the horse prefers. It's not a problem to stable in the winter and most tb's need to be stabled to keep their weight good.

The best way to keep weight on a tb is to feed lots and lots of hay! Don't use haylage as it has a very high sugar content - exactly what you don't want. If your horse is very fussy and won't eat hay, try soaking it. Only do this for about 20mins otherwise it loses it's nutritional value. If he still won't eat it then you can get pellets that you soak as a grass replacement, but carefully check the sugar levels on that! When you have him turned out use the barest piece of field you can and put hay out for him to eat instead.

For hard feed do not use sugar beet, but try a fibre and oil based feed with very low starch and sugar. I don't know where you are, but in the uk Spillers do a conditioning feed that is chaff based, Winergy Equilibrium feed is excellent as it's all oil and fibre - practically no sugar or starch. Basically read the ingredients and analysis as this will give you a good idea of what is safe to feed and what's not.

With regard to the arthritis it kinda sounds like you're doing everything right there. Because of that you want him in a large area so he moves around a lot and doesn't stiffen up.

Hope this helps. Good luck with him.

Answer 3

Really you should get professional help on this one - either your vet, the nutritionist at your feed company or the laminitis trust, I'll put the link at the bottom.

In the meantime, do feed plenty of fibre - hay if you can get it and Alfa as this provides lots of nutrients in a way which is easy to digest, unmolassed sugar beet as well. Don't use haylage as it is acid and I think not recommended for laminitics. The oil is OK, but these days we are recommended to feed a vegetable-based oil. I would also check on the suitability of the devil's claw as it is not always recommended.

Maybe the laminitis was stress induced rather than anything to do with grass, but get the professionals to help and save yourself the grief of further attacks.

www.laminitisclinic.org

Answer 4

you don't say how old he is...the arthritis would be helped with Cosequin with MSM fed to him. My 30 yr. old does great on it...and, if he is older he could be getting cushings. I would give him good dried hay, very little grass management, maybe an hour or so a day. He could also use a probiotic and pelleted feed. This combination would give him some weight. Weight is needed for cold weather.Stabling in the cold, he could use a winter blanket and put a turnout blanket on him when he goes out in the winter, but he shouldnt be out in bad weather in the winter, just a couple of hours.

Answer 5

Since his laminitis was not related to being overweight, and it doesn't sound like he has been diagnosed with insulin resistence?...I would go with Senior feed (I use Purina) and supplement with rice bran if he needs more fat in his diet than the senior provides.  Nighttime grass is better than daytime grass if carbohydrates are a concern...but if he's not insulin resistent, it shouldn't matter.  Keeping him off grass for periods each day is an option, or use of a grazing muzzle to limit his grass intake.  My easy keeper insulin resistent horse wears one part of the time.

I also have a hard keeper with insulin resistence and he has full access to pasture with no problem...neither has ever had laminitis so far, so it's a little different, although both are more at risk.  

I think your guy will do best being able to go out 24/7 if that is possible, even in winter (with a run-in of course).  If you keep his weight up, he will be less likely to chill.  By keeping him in at night, he is more likely to chill when he goes out.  My horses are in their twenties and do best being on 24/7 turnout.

Our run-in is 36 feet long and enclosed an each end, creating 3 sided walls at the ends and 16 feet open at the center to run in.  We rubber mat the ends for their comfort..they have heated water in it all winter and fans in summer.

I've probably told you more than you need to know...but I think it all plays into preventing the laminitis from recurring.

Answer 6

I have a 24yr old mare who had her first attack of Laminitis last year, which after testing showed she had Cushings and is Insulin Resistant.  She also has Arthritis in her hocks.  She lost a load of weight from the Cushings, going from a condition score of 3.5 down to a score of 1.5

Once she became sound, I contacted all the feed companies and tried all the various feeds, and found the best diet to help with gaining weight slowly was Saracens Show Improver Pencils, Equi Jewel, Dengie Hifi Lite, Speedi Beet and hay.

Saracens gave a very detailed analysis which I am happy to say she has now come back to weight, but still showing ribs.  I have to restrict turnout to 2 hours a day.

I would suggest you contact as many feed companies as possible, they are all expert nutrionalists and along with your vets advise should find a suitable diet for your boy.

I would stay away from haylage this gave my Sect D cob an attack two years ago.  He has been sound now for 14 months after pedal rotation in both front feet.