New Horse

Well ive picked up my grey stallion and he great,love his temperment he maybe small but he perfectly formed.

But how does my luck go of late,not good. Well tonight he hopping lame on front and hind. No heat or swelling so im hoping he playing to much in field and pulled muscles. But just great huh.

Just when i get him going,he worked great on lunge yesterday.

Girl Girl,, We are going to have to send you some luck! Turn a Horse shoe with Open side Up, and put it above each stall!

The poor stallion has laminitis,not happy

How, WHY???

oh i dont know,all i can guess is where we have had some real nice weather then little rain that the grass had another lush growth. Must be a record for anyone, buy a horse saturday laminitis on a Tuesday. I personally reckon he has had it before as it all seems very odd.

If i had known i would have taken procautions.

did you have a pre-purchase vet check??

and if not, well I would have to guess that this was something on its way for a while, or atleast a pre-existing condition. What type of laminitis did your vet say he suspected your boy has?

How hard did you lunge him? also I am not familiar with your purchase.. how old is he?

If it is a grass situation, your best bet is to follow this routine -

1. get him off the grass, and into a small paddock
2. Buy some construction styrofoam, cut it to fit his feet and duct tape them on.
3. talk with your vet about bute for the first few days
4. talk with your vet about x-rays (if you haven't already gotten them)
5. If it is grass founder, Soak his hay for atleast 3 hours prior to feeding him to remove excess sugars, and NO grain.


If there is damage shown in the x-rays, you will need to look into getting some special shoes on him for support, as well as his angles for foot care will need to be changed according to rotation (if there is any).

I don't know if you have dealt with laminitis or founder before, But I certainly have. Its a long hard twisty road, and sometimes you're lucky and they recover, and sometimes your not.

With you saying you lunged him the day prior.... what comes to mind is that possibly the footing was hard enough and he was not used to work?? that he has road founder. That is if you have him on grass and so did his previous owners... I would certainly want to know which one caused the laminitis attack, as treatment and severity is different.

Spring and fall are the most likely times for laminitis attacks. In spring the grass is getting richer and richer, and in the fall the grass stores sugar in the day and at night goes dormant so it does not use that sugar. Also it is stressed from the cold... this is often what causes problems.

Check this website out :0) www.safergrass.org

Ive never dealt with Laminitis was even lucky with our shetland pony as were so careful.

Basically he was in a bare paddock when we got him but she has said since i spoke to her about this that he goes out on the grass with the mares. There was lots of the green stuff there. She also fed him hard feed and hay everyday.

When we got him we put him out in a field with hardly any grass but had haylage instead of hay but no hard feed as i felt he was little fat.

i worked him on the monday ridden wise and he was fine,on the tuesday i lunged him on soft ground,wednesday hopping lame.

Called vet who did the pincher test and he said he has mild laminitis,also has slight digital pulse.

Is now on box rest with bute and antibiotics.getting fed just hay now with some lamigard supplement.He also wearing magnet therapy boots to help circulation.

He also hasnt any shoes on.

Vet said he not needing xrays as yet which is just aswell,he insured but falls into the 14 day period when you just take a policy out.

Husband building me some smaller fields and a pen,so i can really limit his intake of grass but allow freedom.He loves playing with our gelding

I dont know if our Haylage is the same as yours but here you have to really watch it. Hope the poor guy gets better soon

shazgeoff wrote:

Ive never dealt with Laminitis was even lucky with our shetland pony as were so careful.

Basically he was in a bare paddock when we got him but she has said since i spoke to her about this that he goes out on the grass with the mares. There was lots of the green stuff there. She also fed him hard feed and hay everyday.

When we got him we put him out in a field with hardly any grass but had haylage instead of hay but no hard feed as i felt he was little fat.

i worked him on the monday ridden wise and he was fine,on the tuesday i lunged him on soft ground,wednesday hopping lame.

Called vet who did the pincher test and he said he has mild laminitis,also has slight digital pulse.

Is now on box rest with bute and antibiotics.getting fed just hay now with some lamigard supplement.He also wearing magnet therapy boots to help circulation.

He also hasnt any shoes on.

Vet said he not needing xrays as yet which is just aswell,he insured but falls into the 14 day period when you just take a policy out.

Husband building me some smaller fields and a pen,so i can really limit his intake of grass but allow freedom.He loves playing with our gelding

I am on the fence whether or not it was the haylage that did it, or the work load. But I am certainly leaning towards the feed. You say he's a small guy, how long was his haul to your place?

Also, has he ever had haylage? (I assume this is like our sileage we feed to our cattle). If it is basically almost composted hay with high sugars, I would say illiminate that out of his diet.

You don't mess around with founder, NO grass, NO grain, period. Also, I would demand that I have x-rays done to see if there is even a little rotation so you can plan your course of action. Also I would ditch the antibiotics, that is not neccesary... bute is a pain killer and anti inflammatory. Also I would look into Omega Alpha products as they are purely natural and not hard on the stomache as bute and others.

Also, You want to be watching for signs of heat along the coronary band, signifying there is stress, watch for sinking as well. I would also get stryofoam pads on him ASAP to help make him more comfortable, And the magnetic boots are a superb idea! Sweating his legs also may help some with circulation.

also, a digital pulse can be found on non laminitic horses, if you're looking for it touch it lightly with one finger on each side, and make sure he hasn't been walking for atleast 5-10 minutes, as the motion will make the pulse rise.

I took on a mare that was toes curled foundered, at 14 HH (on her tip toes!) she was a whopping 1300lbs when she arrived at my house, could barely walk etc. I put her directly in a dry lot, soaked her grass hay (grass hay actually contains the most sugar, and founder and diabetes walk hand in hand most times), and her extra roughage was carefully sorted oat straw. No grain, just the soaked hay, picked through straw and fresh water.

She had terrible rotation, with her worst foot being the RF (Most horses will generally have the front feet affected and not the back, and usually more affected on one foot than the other.. You will see them do a rocked back stance as they try to take the weight off their front feet). It took me over a year with a special farrier/excellent hoof vet to get her back to normal, however she did have a lot of sinking so was still tender at times (leaving her with very little sole at the time). After a certain point, she managed on a small pasture with a bunch of sheep and goats only getting nibbles of grass to sustain her which was not enough to give her another laminitic attack. She was only able to stay on this lot as it was grazed by the sheep/goats and she would have to walk the whole pasture everyday to get what she needed as well as had the same straw as roughage.

Then she had another attack after being 2 years founder free, in the fall time (this was a chronically laminitic horse who they said I wouldnt be able to keep up with her most likely weekly attacks). The grass changed and that was enough for her have another attack and have her coffin bone pierce through her sole. I tried for another few months to save her and get the coffin bone covered in sole, but to no avail. Her spirit died on me (she hated the farrier because she related foot work to pain, and would always bite her... but when she stopped even trying, I knew it was time), so in sept 07 I had her humanely euthanized.


feel free to PM me with any questions. I totally know how you feel. Very scary situation, but its always better to get at it right aways, than try to back peddle getting rotation under control.

Your little guy is in my thoughts, as well as you and your family.

It ate my post regarding haylage. I have always been told not to feed it. Too many risks. From what I understand it is basically silage, but made from different crops.

The old timers, in the spring of the year when the grass pops up and is sooo plentyful, call it water grass founder. I think you and your vet are on top of this and he will be fine. After the vet clears him, He just needs, short turn outs, building your time out slowely. Soon then after he can be out all the time. BUT until then, get him on LOW protein hay, keep those feet cool and Im crossing my fingers for you.

since your giving bute and antibiotics, you might want to give him some yogert as well. Helps with the effects of both. And its cheap.

UM, sounds like they sold you a lame horse... He did not get that way in the last week.. I have been off a while and may have missed something..

Bluejay wrote:

UM, sounds like they sold you a lame horse... He did not get that way in the last week.. I have been off a while and may have missed something..

Yep, maybe the meds wore off..

Dont think i was. The lady who sold him to me i know her well. She really wouldnt do that. Had farrier out today and he also dont think its laminitis,he wants to keep an eye out for him just in case it a deep rooted abcess. He back home in a pen now,was hiring a stable as i dont have stables. Moving lots better.

Im also having a massage therapist and back person out today to check him over as for all we know he could have pulled something or fell over.

Im just not convinced its lami as he hasnt ever put weight on his heels,he very much wants to keep weight off the heels and put weight on his toes.

all guess work but vet coming back out to check him this week.

A horse has a very destink walk when they have this. They put their back feet up under them. You can't miss it.. And, know right away what it is.. They are trying to keep the weight off of the feet.. Same with founder..

Bluejay wrote:

A horse has a very destink walk when they have this. They put their back feet up under them. You can't miss it.. And, know right away what it is.. They are trying to keep the weight off of the feet.. Same with founder..

Actually contraire to what is normal, a horse with laminitis in both front AND back feet will NOT stand like that. They stand as if they have abcesses/broken legs. A horse with only front feet afflicted will have the typical laminitic stance, one with all 4 or even a front and back will not.

Quote :

Actually contraire to what is normal, a horse with laminitis in both front AND back feet will NOT stand like that. They stand as if they have abcesses/broken legs. A horse with only front feet afflicted will have the typical laminitic stance, one with all 4 or even a front and back will not.

Yes they will, Back feet way up under them and front feet reaching out front. Like they are going to sit down. Now I dont know what you have seen in the form of laminitis, but this has been the norm for me and several TB barns. As well as a case right now that a friend of mine has going on. In all 4. However if only in the front feet, I have seen them stand almost buckled over, in the ankles.

UM, I guess after all these years I still have no clue what I am talking about... Good to know and when another horse of mine walks like that I can be assured it's no big deal.... They do this to get the weight off the feet.. Mine may have just been practicing walking WEIRD...I'ver personaly had two of them do this.. And, I learned from a seasoned cow girl the first time it happened what was going on.. She was right on according to the vet..

An abcess will cause a limp. And, yes I have had a few of those and know how to treat them as well..

This is not an attack on Merikle. But, you are way off on that one. Not just a little but totally off..

JJJ, tell your friend to get those feet padded up...

I didn't say that foundered horses *don't* stand like that, I said when back AND front feet are effected thats when they stand differently than the normal laminitic stance. Because now they are not trying to take weight off the front feet, they are trying to figure out how to get weight off front AND back feet. Most often that results in a lot of laying down.

I was not trying to say you didn't know what you were talking about bluejay.

the typical founder stance is most often reserved for horses with front feet effected. This is the "typical laminitic stance" because a large majority of laminitis cases only effect the horses front feet. When it does effect the back feet as well, it is no longer typical, and they *do* stand differently as putting most weight on the hind legs would cause almost as much pain as weight on the fronts.

Quote :

I said when back AND front feet are effected thats when they stand differently than the normal laminitic stance.

Heres a really good example.



Another

Triple J Quarter Horses wrote:

Quote :

I said when back AND front feet are effected thats when they stand differently than the normal laminitic stance.

Heres a really good example.

Can you repost this picture? I would like to see it?

Sorry Dont know what happened.

Triple J Quarter Horses wrote:

Quote :

I said when back AND front feet are effected thats when they stand differently than the normal laminitic stance.

Heres a really good example.



Another

yup a great example of a typical laminitic horse, with only its FRONT feet affected.

ouch those horses look in lots of pain.

My boy wasnt like this at all,he still lame but getting lots better. He out in field and happy playing with our gelding. Reckon another couple of weeks and he will be sound,woohoo

Quote :

yup a great example of a typical laminitic horse, with only its FRONT feet affected.

No the bay was affected on all 4