Lame, fat pony?? please read!!?

Question

my pony is over weight. i got her last week. and now she is lame. what exercise can i give her while she is lame. she is being box rested untill she is better?? please i need your help!

thanks :)

Answer 1

i would have a vet come down immediately! she may be foundering. is she rocking back slightly to keep weight off her front hooves? founder is very serious and if not treated it could cause permanent damage and a lot of pain for your pony. it is very common in ponies, especially fat ones : ) good luck

http://home.mcn.net/~kerryo/founder.htm

Signs and Symptoms

Of course the most obvious sign is that the horse is lame. This is not a typical lameness where the horse is nodding his head and limping on one foot. Laminitis almost always affects both front feet at once, and very rarely, all four. In early stages, the horse will try to shift his weight from one foot to another as if he can't decide which foot hurts worse. The pain becomes more severe, and the horse will try to shift his weight backward by stretching his front feet forward and almost squatting on his hind legs. If all four feet are affected, the horse may be in a more exaggerated sitting position, trying to stay on the bulbs of the heels, or the horse may lie down and refuse to get up. The main symptom to watch for is lameness in both front feet at the same time.

Other signs that an owner can check are a definite warmth to the outside of the foot, a strong digital pulse, and a heart rate over 50 (normal heart rates range from 30-40). When the vet arrives he'll also check the horse's temperature, and use hoof testers to try and determine if the pain is localized anywhere on the foot. With laminitis, a horse will test positive with hoof testers over the entire foot, not in any one particular place. Once the vet has diagnosed the horse with laminitis, the cause of the laminitis will be discussed.

EDIT:

if its not founder and its a hind leg it could possibly be something silly like a stone bruise or an abscess? my horse had an abscess in his hind hoof once he was in so much pain he walked around on 3 legs till it finally popped. and i was giving him bute. i felt so bad for him. i had to pack his hoof with sugardine (a mix of sugar and iodine) to help draw it out then a baby diaper, vet wrap and duck tape. i also soaked it in warm water and epsom salt. the farrier told me it was caused by dirt getting into his white line and causing irritation. when was the last time your pony had her feet trimmed?

Edit:

if it is an abscess you usually don't know its there until it pops. other than lameness there is sometimes swelling. but not always so its very hard to diagnose, hoof testers can usually find the ones brewing in the sole but my boy had his up high so it popped out his coronary band. it was so gross!

Answer 2

I agree with Azeri, the first thing you need to do is get a vet to look at her. It is very important to know the cause of lameness before excercising her. How do you know she is lame? Is it a limp, or is she standing wierd and lifting up her feet (kind of looks like her stomach is cramping too) or her front feet thrust out forward? If this is the case, she might have laminitis, which is can be caused by overweight ponies eating too much grass/grain, and you should call the vet immediatley to lesson the chances of her lameness becoming permanent. Once you know the cause, the vet will offer some suggestions to treat her lameness. You should cut back her diet, and only feed her hay. The majority of ponies don't need any grain anyway. She will begin losing weight when her feed is cut back slightly. To find out the amount of hay she needs, visit  http://www.effem-equine.com/Waltham%20-%...  to determine how much she weighs. Find 2% of her weight, and begin feeding her this much. If  she doesn't appear to lose any weight over a week or two, give her less. Continue until you can feel her ribs, but not see them when she is standing still. If she can walk comfortably, begin leading her around on 10 minute walks twice a day. Increase by a few minutes each day until she is a healthy weight and 100% sound. You might also try stretching her in her stall (like equine yoga!) to loosen up her muscles. Visit  http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/he...  to learn how or look for the book 'Practical Horse Massage: Techniques for loosening and stretching' by Renate Ettl. If she is sound and healthy by now, you can return to riding her. Just remember to watch her diet closely, and don't allow her to graze lush green grass for more than an hour a day, and to introduce her to it slowly. I hope this helps, and have fun with your new pony! :)

Answer 3

when my pony was lame (she was also relatively fat) we kept her in a very small paddock as it was too small for her to do anything more than about 2 strides of trot but she could still walk around. i also grazed her in hand daily and her leg was hosed down twice daily. so i would recommend grazing her in hand as this is quite non strenuous.

there are quite a few causes for lameness:

the horse could be suffering from an injury (my friends horse was buted and they didn't realise until about a week into their ownership of the pony)

the horse may have concussed its hoof which could have happened whilst in the field

i personally do not think that your pony's weight is making her lame, you do not say how much she weighs, my pony weighed nothing short of 635kg before i owned him and he was never lame (he stands at 14.2hh and within two weeks of hacking and schooling he had lost 100kg).  

i stand by my first theory which is that your horse may have had an injury which was covered up by the people who sold her. you do need to get a vet out before it gets worse as my friends horse had to have a major operation so you will be saving the vets bills if you have her checked over by a fully qualified vet.

Answer 4

If she is a fat pony, I would like to know how the Vet trainee ruled out laminitis.  Call a veterinarian and have them actually examine your pony, I would be shocked if there is no other mechanical problem and she doesn't have laminitis / founder.  I see it all the time in my practice and until you get a diagnosis you can't make a plan top correct the lameness.

Answer 5

Call the vet and do what s/he says.

Answer 6

I agree, you need to find out why she is lame.  Really the only work you can do with her is hand walking.  Being overweight does cause alot of stress on the animals joints that could possibly make her lame.  But you have to know what the problem is to be able to fix it.  If she just got shod, it could be she has a hot nail in her foot.  An abcess, bruising, there are so many things that can make a horse lame.  The best to do is have the vet check her to determine the problem.  As for a feed to help her lose weight read below.

The name fo the feed is WellSolve W/C (stands for weight control) It is specifically designed for the overweight horse or if you wish to maintain the current weight it works great for that too. This feed is proven to help a horse lose weight, as long as it is fed properly. In their tests the data showed that the control group (the ones who did not recieve the W/C and a regular diet of hay and grains adjusted to restrict calories.) really did not lose much weight. (Well, the exception in the data is when there was a freak snow storm around week 3 where all the horses weight dropped significantly.) The second group who were on the W/C feed with no exercise did lose weight slow and steadly. The last group who were fed the W/C and worked regularly (really worked, not just 20 mins of a hack.) dropped more weight then all three. For about the first 3 weeks all the horses lost about the same amount of weight. But, after the 3 weeks is where the weight loss differed. The control group continued to lose a slow and steady rate. The group being feed the W/C with no exercise lost more then the first group. An average of about 50 pounds. The last group lost an average of 90 pounds who were being worked at 90 minutes a week and working up to 180 minutes. The trials were over 6 week periods.

Now as I have had to mention to just about every person who I design feeding programs for, YOU MUST FEED BY WEIGHT AND NOT SCOOPS.

Some great key points about this feed:

-Contains ideal levels of digestible energy to help manage caloric intake and weight control while maintaining a healthy body condition.

-Its an extruded pellet so that you can still give full scoops of the desired weight to be fed. Because the air is puffed into the pellet it weighs less resulting in you being about to feed full scoops. This helps with the idea that when you reduce feed sometimes you feel like youre starving your horse with only a 1/2 or 1/3 a scoops. You dont feed like youre starving your horse with such a small amount of another feed like oats.

-Its highly palatable and horses love the taste.

-There are less then 15% soluble carbohydrates (sugar and starch). Instead, it’s formulated with fermentable fibers and other low calorie nutrient sources.

-No molasses, no grains, no added fats

-Veterinarian researched

The link below is the page with much more detailed information.

http://www.wellsolveequine.com/default.a...

Answer 7

You need to find out why she's lame before you even think about trying ot exercise her.

ADD:  I'd have a vet out ASAP, as ponies are particulary prone to laminitis (founder), which you may already know.  A fat pony is a prime candidate for a series of metabolic disorders which may culminate in founder.  EMS is a sydrome related to insuline resistance.  Some indications are obesity, crest neck, lethargy.  I strongly suggest you have your pony  checked.  Also, it's very important that ponies not be fed sweet feed or any feed that's high in NSCs (simple sugars) as this can tip the scales in terms of a horse or pony who is genetically predisposed to EMS, which many ponies are.   I'd find out what the previous owner was feeding her - - hopefully not grain.  Also, at this point grass would be off limits until a vet checks her out.

If the lameness proves to be something other than laminitis, the vet should be able to tell you how long she needs box rest, and what else you should do, other than limit her caloric intake.  E.G.  cold hosing, soaking, poulticing, bute, handwalking.  It totally depends on why she's lame.

EDIT:  Ok, so it's not laminitis, is her HR leg - - what did the vet say?  How old is the pony?  Is there heat anywhere?  If there's heat, then cold hose it 2-3 x a day for 20 minutes.  You didn't ask for advice on treating the lameness from us - - but it's hard to tell you what we'd do for exercising a fat lame pony.  If the vet ok's it, handwalking would be the most I'd do, and walking is USUALLY better for any injury than standing around in a box, as it increases blood flow.  If its a very badly damaged tendon or ligament, though, you'll want to limie movement somewhat.  So, again, I think you need to ask your vet or the previous owner/vet/friend what she suggests.   Glad it's not founder!

PPS - the other poster's mention of an abscess is another first rule-out to check, as well.  How lame is she, and again, is there heat anywhere up on the leg?  With an abscess, the lameness is usually immediate and very sore (scale of 0-5 like 4 or 5), and the farrier may have trouble finding it.  The abscess, that is.

PPPS It kind of sounds like a ligament/tendon issue with the hock/stifle if she started to drag the leg.  Yeah, the vet would be the one to answer this.  I'd just hand graze her a little or handwalk her to ger her out of her box until the vet comes, as long as she's quiet to handle.  Could well be arthritic changes in the joints.  Best of luck to you.

Answer 8

You have to know the cause of her lameness t know what limits she has on exercise.

Answer 9

You need to have a vet check her. It sounds like she could have foundered. Keep her confined to a stall, and do not let her out to graze. Cut her feed in half and give her a small amount of hay. But do get the vet. If she is foundered she is in pain. The vet can give her some banamine.  

Answer 10

Was she lame when you bought her?

If not it sounds to me like she has a big problem and her previous owner could have given her some sort of pain killer (ie bute) so that she could be sold sound!! When the bute/painkiller wears off then the lameness shows.

I've heard many, many stories of people being ripped off like this.

Get her checked ouy by a vet and see what they think about blood testing her to find out, this needs to be done ASAP as the drugs won't show up on blood tests for long!

I really hope this is not the case and she gets better soon.