laminitis in summer

[Deleted]

At the end of september i got given a 16yr old Welsh (i know not a dales dont tell Beau) and he's had laminitis in the past and when farrier came to trim today he said he's still got slight laminitis there but nothing to worry about at mo, i know how to manage a laminic but i was just woundering how different people deal with it, at the mo he's in a muddy (arnt they all) field with soaked hay during day, soaked hay when he comes in at night and just a handful of healthy hoof to feel loved as everyone around him has feed

[harveydales]

It sounds like you are managing him well and in a similar way to me. Have a look through some of the pinned Laminitis threads on here and web sites like Jackie Taylor's "Metabolic Horse" Yahoo Group.

What makes your farrier say he still has slight laminitis? If it because he is slightly footy/sensitive or has stronger than normal digital pulses or is it because there were slight signs of blood on the sole when he was trimmed? If the latter it would be an indication of an older laminitis attack rather than having it now.

With Quest I try and check his digital pulses daily in the summer and, now that he is EMS Cushings also through the winter. Quest gets the same field/stable and hay regime as your horse - including the very muddy field.

I do give him a good quality balancer which seems to be important for laminitics. I used to use Topspec Antilam but am feeding Formula4Feet at the moment (coz got a good deal on it). No hard feed of course - he was getting a bit of Dengie Hi Fi Senior but is on a bit of Winergy Equilibrium Senior (which is very low starch) at the moment as a friend is an agent and I can get it cheap.

I did have a go feeding Magox which many people swear by for Laminitics but couldn't get Quest to eat it so gave up. I was giving him Vitex as he is now EMS/Cushings. The vet has put him on Pergolide now so no need for Vitex. He has a big salt lick in his stable (Rockies red is his favourite) and he uses this a lot.

Obviously I'm careful about the sort of grazing he gets and I don't turn him out at all if the ground is frozen hard. I have turned him out on slightly frosted grass with no ill effects although I know you're not supposed to do this. In summer he is on very small, bare paddock which, again, I know you are not supposed to do but it works well for Quest.

Good luck with your boy - sounds like you're well on top of things and hopefully will be able to avoid further lami attacks.

[Deleted]

yes there was signs of blood on the sole, the farrier did say it was nothing to worry about and because its on a white foot when he trimmed it showed up, (no blood when trimmed) and said if he had a black foot you wouldnt of even noticed it, he not footy or sensitive atal even after being trimmed

Being slightly thick how do you check there digital pulse? i drive laminitic ponies and keeping them in work seems to help them keep weight off, there just a square patch of no grass and hay, the farrier told me its the grass that grows that immediatly eat because patch bald that is most dangerous to them??

Where tommy is at moment his in a livery yard with everything bigger then 14.2 so being only 12HH (being nice to him) they all going out in biggish fields in the summer, some grazed through winter but i dont think there is a huge ammount of goodness in it, should i still stable in summer? whens the best time to turn out? i might be able to move him to the driving ponies yard and work him in summer so wouldnt be a problem.