Laminitis (and trip to Sweden)

[Skise]

I had a "I hate owning animals" -moment a while ago when my friend called and said she thinks my horse is not well. The horses were on pasture and it was probably two weeks since I had visited them last. So I went to check on her and yes, she had laminitis.

Actually the stable owner had noticed the symptoms already about 5 days earlier and instead of calling me he had just told my friend to keep an eye on my horse. Which she did and called me as soon as Fjó was in so much pain she totally refused to walk. :mad:

I think she has gotten through the worst, but it still takes time to see how well she recovers. It might have helped if I could have started treating her a few days earlier. Instead she went on eating all the grass that caused the laminitis in the first place. Now she will probably have a looong summer holiday although I'm having a bit trouble with that too. She's very nervous when she's alone, not good for her hooves that she is constantly running around. And putting her with others on pasture has it's difficulties too, because she shouldn't eat much. Now she is on the pasture with a muzzle but I noticed on Monday that it's rubbing her lips raw when she tries so hard to eat through it...

Next week I'm going to Sweden for a "mountain riding camp" as they call it. On Icelandics of course, it's years since I last rode anything else. Some lessons and then shorter and longer riding trips in the mountains. Should be fun, I'll post some pictures when I have them:D

 

[perma-grin]

Wow sorry to hear about the lamintis. Has she always done that on grass? I would have been stressing about her going down and colic. Hope she's better soon! No fun to have a sick partner during trail season. I started dressage lessons with a new trainer at a new barn. Chrome has never had mirrors before, at first he spooked but now he almost saunters past the mirrors admiring himself! :ROTF: It is pretty comical!!!LOL!

 

[missyd]

Hope your horse is well ok again!!! I can remember when I had my 3 horses .... every spring when I let them out on the grass .... will there be a colic laminitis or another nasty condition???

 

[Skise]

Today I rode Fjó for the first time. Only 15 minutes walk on soft surface but anyway Fjó has always before done well on grass, no problems whatsoever. But I know her mother has had problems with laminitis too.

The riding camp was fun. The other three people were a "never been on a horse before", a "ridden once before" and a "did modern pentathlon 25 years ago". But they were surprisingly good and didn't slow down our mountain trips. And because they were not very interested in riding lessons I got private lessons while they took an extra trip in the mountains. So it worked very well.

 

[Skise]

Fjó is still recovering with 15-30 mins of walking 3-4 times/week. I was already certain the only thing she'll be good for is dog food but I'm starting to be more hopeful again...

Some pics from Sweden

 

[SkiPT]

laminitis

Skise, such a shame for your horses to get laminitis. both of mine got it one summer about 5 years ago when I let them both get fat acting like lawn mowers. It finally hit me that their feet were killing them. They were on limited movement and no riding for 9 months. My Peruvian grows a lot of hoof fast and she came through it the quickest. My Arab grows hoof slowly and he took the longest. Curiously, after I knew his feet were okay and he still wasn't moving right, I had to do special Physical Therapy/massage touch therapy on his front shoulder muscles because he was so tight from standing around. That fixed him up.
It was a cloudy coldish day today but I went out midday for a short ride with my friend, Katy. Funn to be out in a brown wintery but no snow landscape here in the Rocky Mountain foothills. skiPT

 

[Bumblebee]

Skiese - you're a vet aren't you? Have you looked in to barefoot? The reason I ask is that so many vets I come across are really against this but there is real evidence to suggest that correct trimming and natural wear of the hoof (rather than shoes) can help alleviate pain and pressure of a constricted or "angulated" coffin (?) bone. My EP (Equine Podiatrist) trained with Hiltrud Strasser (horse vet) in Germany - she has a so-so reputation as she can be very unforgiving - e.g., "The raise will be EXACTLY 3mm at this point" and of course each horse is different - he learned from her but doesn't go exactly by her "rules" - for one thing, she's not very "customer orientated"! He practices in Holland, Belgium, Germany and Norway.

Another advantage of barefoot of course is no slipping when riding in the snow.

The Houston Mounted Police are amongst those who are professionally, full-time, 100% barefoot.

Although I'm wondering if your horse already is given the breed.