Recurrent laminitis

[Newuser75]

I'm wondering if people can help me. I have a cob who had mild laminitis about 7 years ago but has been fine ever since.

In the last year she has had gastric ulcers, surgery on both hind suspensories and treatment for sacroiliac disease.

When she first went back out after the initial box rest so got laminitis. Back on box rest then out in Small, well grazed paddock for an hour. A few weeks later laminitic again (only mildly each time as we caught it very quickly).

Back off grass in a hardstanding area for a month. Reintroduced to grass for half an hour at a time. Then increased gradually over about 2 months up to 2 hours with muzzle.

Reduced grazing time back to an hour when we finally got some rain as thought grass would be shooting through. She is now showing as uncomfortable on her feet again!

She has been tested for ems and Cushing a, both negative. She is now being ridden about 4 times a week at walk and trot which is increasing as she is building up strength and fitness.

What am I missing? Why does she seem unable to be at grass and is there anything I can do?

I will be ringing vet again tomorrow morning but he is at a bit of a loss too.

The key to soaking hay is to rinse thoroughly after soaking with fresh clean water. You need to rinse until the water from the haynet runs clear. There is so much conflicting advice about length of time to soak for and there are hygiene implications in this heat BUT you need to soak long enough to reduce fructans, not just sugar, if you want weight loss.
I would get your hay tested and that should guide you as to the length of time to soak for.

Great news she's barefoot! You could always start with a grass track that's relatively cheap to set up and see how you get on?

I could set up a track with electric fencing but wouldn't there still be too much grass if she can't even stand an hour or so a day? I know they walk more on a track though.

Just a thought but could you borrow some sheep to eat off most of the grass on the track and the grass in the centre of the track? That way you could keep on moving them around. Added bonus of them eating the grasses that horses won't touch.
Then you could look at putting an all weather surface down (cost permitting) so that there will be zero grass at all. There are some amazing track livery yards on Facebook so have a look and get some ideas.

Graze the track down really short and put the others out on it first. I have my 2 on a track and there is just naturally very little grass because they eat it and walk on it. Neither of mine are grass restricted, but I used the track to encourage movement and natural herd behaviour.

I kept my two lami-prone horses (one with Cushing's, one with Cushing's and EMS) on a track for several years, reversing the usual UK practices by feeding hay/haylage only in the summer, and letting them into the long, stalky grass over the winter (and not supplementing with additional forage), so that they came out of the winter very much on the thin side. In addition, I worked on overseeding the grass with a more horse-friendly mix, incorporating less sweet varieties and other plants such as palatable wildflowers. I was able to source summer forage that had been tested at less than 10%, and managed to feed it free choice. This worked well for them, and was quite low maintenance for me (I have an injury, and a job, that makes wrestling with soaked hay nets unfeasible). The yard owners were quite amenable, as it was simple to maintain and, other than the track being worn, was fairly easy on the land.

Once you get the laminitis and the weight under control, you may find that your horse is able to tolerate more grass again: I certainly found that with my two, if they came into spring quite skinny, then they had a much easier time in the summer.

In an ideal world and with loads of spare cash, I'd probably try to implement an "Equicentral" system, which is a type of variation on cell grazing that incorporates a common hard standing area as feeding central and "loafing area". But that setup requires greater control over the layout of the land, as well as resources to do a complete overhaul of the grass species etc., and quite a bit of time to get it right.

Ignore my ignorance but when you mention a track are you putting an electric fence up in a field to fence off a strip of grass then using that? We’ve really been strict with ours the last few weeks and had them in a lot more but they’re then eating more soaked hay and I don’t know if this is better or worse. The other problem we now have is the only field with short enough grass for them is now growing more and more as they’re out less and less. We’re going to have to get some of the other horses to eat it down but it’s hard to do when we’ll then have nowhere to turn them out 🙈

Also is poo-picking the field relevant do you think? We’ve noticed how green the grass has got over the last few weeks, presumably due to the nice weather. We have tried to poo pick it as often as possible but as it’s a small field for three of them it does build up quite quickly. Could this be adding to the problem? It literally looks like it’s been fertilised with how quick the really green grass is coming in but it hasn’t

A track is like a strip that is fenced off around a field. In a circle or could be a straight line. I have set up a track around our bare paddock but my horse still isn't allowed out on any grass yet. The grass is growing crazily fast! We poo pick every day so not sure that has anything to do with it.

This years grass is like super grass compared to previous years. We've one that came down with laminitis after 20 mins in a field after rider fell off and took some time to catch him. Having said that it was just the final straw as he'd become over weight and cresty with being on a bare small paddock for a few hours a day. He'd managed to get back out for short times by the end of the dry spell as our grass was pretty much scorched. Since the rain he can have no grass at all. I'd digest maybe crating some hard standing/all weather track as standing in isn't ideal ether. You really want them moving as much as possible and being shut in not great for ulcers either

I believe the soaking water becomes toxic to the environment

I'm not sure about that - we use it to water the plants on our garden area to avoid waste and they are really thriving

The problem with ‘bare’ paddocks at the moment is what ever tiny bit of grass coming up out of the ground is more full of sugar than longer older grass would be. So it looks like there is nothing there when in reality what (little)pony is eating is very high in sugars. Sometimes older longer grass with mixed grasses and no fertilizer is less harmful than bare paddocks. Saying all this it is the time of year too and you’ll probably find come august/ September things will settle down again. Best of luck

@MustIthough this is very true and makes a lot of sense

@Newuser75 thanks, any time we’ve done it with electric fencing we’ve just fenced off a smaller section of the field but a track could be a good idea to keep them moving more. We have one crazy one who I can imagine would try his absolute best to get tangled in the fence or manage to break it 🙄

Yes it's such a nightmare though isn't it? As if they are in a bare paddock they are eating the sugary grass but not as much, if they are on the old, tall grass it's less sugary but they will be eating much more of it! I hope it will settle down come autumn as she can't keep getting laminitis every month or so. I see huge, fat horses everywhere and they are fine. Mine is (according to the vet) maybe about 20kg over where he would like her, can easily feel ribs etc. it's unfair!

Ah they do like to get into trouble!!

We have tried doing a track around the edge of the field, but it seems to drive the ponies crazy to see the long grass in the middle that they can't ever have. No matter how many strands of electric, and how high the shock from the energiser, they eventually break through to the middle. If they have a small bare paddock and are given a tiny amount of grass to strip graze twice a day they accept it.