Laminitis advice please

[whymewhyme]

I've read so much online but I want to hear from real people who have experience dealing with a laminitis prone horses/ponies.

How do you manage your laminitic?
Should I be soaking hay?
How much time out?

Thanks!

We're just giving this a bump for you, OP.

Hello. My laminitic is out at night in during the day, turned out on a track round the periphery of the field. I soak his hay for approx 6 hours then drain well. I also monitor him closely for fat pads which he conveniently develops under his brown bits just behind his withers (he's skewbald)so easy to be consistent , and make sure he stays on the lean side.

He's very lean not your classic laminitic pony, he's also in in the day and out at night but it seems too much for him! Hi

Mine is out during the day on a steep hilly paddock, he won’t eat soaked by at all so just has a small amount on an evening in a trickle net.
The biggest help has been a green guard muzzle

Mine wouldn't wear a muzzle so went out overnight on a bald paddock and stayed in with soaked hay in the day. If you're soaking hay always rinse it before feeding.
She was pretty skinny so getting a Cushings diagnosis was very helpful.
I had her shoes off - I found shoes can numb feet so they can mask early symptoms. With shoes she's get bad and have rotation with her first signs then spend six weeks on box rest. Without shoes I could spot it before she was actually lame (unlevel on a tight turn) and fix it in two days.
Make sure you know what's in your hard feed - happy good certainly used to contain molasses and gave my pony lami.
There's a good app that tells you grazing risk based on weather so you can decide when to turn out.

Mine is out during the day and in at night as sugars are higher in the grass overnight. I try to get as much hay into him during the night. As soon as he shows any signs I bandage his hooves with supports which seems to help.

Have you seen the laminitis app that warns you about sugar levels in grass in your area?

No I havnt, I will look!

I would test for EMS. My little pony is a lean little slip of a thing but due to the ems he will always be prone to laminitis due to the severity of his isulin resistance.

Management-wise mine comes in during the day and is out on poor hill grazing with a herd overnight and muzzled, depending on time of year he may also have to be medicated with metformin.
I don't usually soak hay as I bulk buy for the year I get the batch tested for sugar level.
Feed a clean diet - no oatfeed,wheatfeed,soya, NIS, molasses, preservatives. I feed chopped oat straw, mineral powder, micronised linseed, salt and a small amount of thunderbrooks ulsa-x mash to make it palatable.
Keep them exercised as much as you can and trimmed regularly.
Keep an eye on teeth if using a green guard, as often they will wear down before the plastic of the muzzle.

I think you need to speak to an equine vet

Thanks he's doing really well, I am managing it atm but soaking hay and keeping him in a bare paddock with the odd hour out in the big field with a muzzle on!

Natives here - Mine come off grass entirely and go on ad lib unfertilised meadow hay while the grass flushes. Then they go back out 24/7 onto older, stemmy grass . They don't ever get feed and are not rugged and allowed to lose weight in winter. Track systems work really well too.

Just had experience of my first lami pony this year. Bit scary I know but he was a fat welsh Sec B and we’ve only had him for a year. When he came down with it, immediately got blood tests and xrays. Turns out he had EMS but thankfully no rotation.

On vets advice, put him on full stable rest for 6 weeks with greedy feeder nets and a scoop of Dengie lite (nothing in that, so cant really overfeed) and a few supplements.
He was on Metformin (18 tabs a day!) and Bute.
Eight weeks on he’s sound, off the meds and is raring to go. No hard feed now and is out grazing for about 7- 8 hours a day. I alternate days with a grazing muzzle to maintain his new slim physique!

My vet keeps saying exercise, exercise, exercise. I’m now lunging him hard to get him back to full fitness. He’s far too fresh for my young daughter to ride him otherwise but his fitness has increased immensely. He’s 17 :)

I have to say also that getting that excess weight off an obese pony is the best thing you can do for them. Not only for their health, but energy levels and their general happiness. Not unlike us I guess!

Also must add, he was barefoot so we had his front feet shod. Not Heart bars, just regular shoes to give him extra support.

Have you had him tested for cushings?
Mines now medicated for cushings and has been so much better.

He still gets lamininitis when it rains or when it's cold or some other random event happens.

He has a completely bald patch of the field fenced off and partly woodchipped for comfort. He goes in there during the day with unsoaked hay, he won't eat soaked hay and at night he goes out with the others in a slightly less bare paddock. You need lots of hay lol
He has a pair of cavallo hoof boots with gel pads. They make an amazing difference when he's sore.

In winter he comes in at night and goes out onto a strip grazed field in the day. He's actually worse through winter than the summer. He wears his hoof boots in the field any time it's really cold, because if his feet are exposed to the cold it sets off the laminitis again. Anytime I suspect sore feet he goes in the woodchip area.
He recovers far quicker when he can potter around than he does being kept in.

He only gets fed hay and a handful of molasses free chaff.
It's a good job I love him because he's very expensive and high maintenance in his old age.

Ohh and i forgot to mention mine is barefoot. I have asked the farrier about shoes but he says all shoes would achieve is to mask the problem for longer and so advised against them. If he needs more support and padding after a trim the farrier puts some putty in his feet that falls off about a week later. And I just use hoof boots whenever he needs them.

My EMS lami prone NF gelding is in during the day with soaked hay and out at night on a very sparse small paddock with a mare who beats him to any grass. He is on DIY livery at a yard with quite limited grazing on old pastureland (not previously arable potentially fertilised land). The other ponies graze fields before mine go into them on rotation.

He is exercised around 5 times per week - this has really been the key to getting weight off and keeping him laminitis free this year. He does a mix of hacking, schooling, lunging or ground work.

He has metformin in his morning and evening feeds. Last summer he was on 30 per day and now 16 split across both feeds. He weighs at least 70kgs less than he did when we got him 1 year ago. Vet said it is likely he will need a low dosage of metformin forever but I'm reducing gradually as I get to know him better and his triggers.

He has heart bar shoes on in front (no hind shoes) to give him more stability and corrective shoeing has helped with the angles within his feet. He isn't balanced on long toes now.

But it's hard to keep him active and not be lazy - taking a lot of work. I think lethargy is a side effect but could be he is plain lazy and greedy.

Also he is prone to colic which can be related to Laminitis but I'm still learning.

There is a v good FB group called Equine Metabolic Syndrome friendly chit chat.

Good luck!