Gem

[greydales]

Gem has proper lami in her two fronts, some pulses in her rears but they haven't developed into lami thankfully. She's currently stabled on a bed of shavings, and is being a really good girl about it. Luckily she has sheep next door for company!

She can't move very well and is on sedalin and bute and when she gets more comfortable I can cut the dosage down. She can go onto the yard when she can move around better, and then be gradually reintroduced to small amounts of grass.

She isn't interested in the hay I put out for her although to give her due it's a bit old and not very nice! So I will have to source some better stuff for her. The vet said not to give her haylage but Horsehage do some which is suitable for laminitics, I'll look into it - has anyone fed this to a laminitic? She is eating Happy Hoof though.

She does have long hooves which are overdue for a trim (I tend to leave them longer over winter as they don't grow as much) - Gem's seem to have grown faster than the others and I wonder if this has contributed to it along with the hard ground.

Hopefully the farrier is coming tomorrow and she might feel a bit more comfortable after a trim. What a pain

[valerie n scout]

aww bless her Gill xx hope she is much better soon X

[zeldalithgow]

Oh Gill poor little Gem, do you think frog supports might help her

[Fi]

poor Gem, lami is such a nightmare. Did the vet not trim her feet to make her more comfortable? I've not used the horsehage stuff, I'm afraid.

[harveydales]

Poor Gem and poor you - I know from personal experience what a worry and how stresssful is is caring for a pony with lami.

I didn't risk even the "safer" timothy horsehage when Quest had all his lami problems. I stuck with soaked hay and hifi lite/happy hoof etc. I know it is a problem getting hold of good hay at the moment but there are plenty of alternatives around now like Fast Fibre etc. not cheap though.........

Perhaps the unusual weather conditions we've had this year along with the hard ground have contributed towords poor Gem coming down with Lami. I believe the hoofs do grow extra quick when they are starting with lami, toes more than heels hense the uneven rings. Bit of a chicken and egg situation perhaps.

You are doing all you can for her and have caught it early. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.

[zeldalithgow]

Gill, Mollichaff High Fibre and Top Spec Top Chop Lite are both unmollassed straw and alfalfa mixed, would they be any good.

Hope Gem is more comfortable this morning

[greydales]

She's still not moving very well but seems to accept her lot being stabled at the mo.

Pam, was Quest able to go out 24/7 again on grass or did you have to stable him? My thought is that I can make another small summer paddock, top it really short then keep her on it during the growing season. I'll have to think of what to do in the winter, I may even get cows to eat the field down this year before they all go back onto it!

[harveydales]

Yes, Quest did go back to being out at grass again. I think I waited about 4 to 6 weeks and then built the hours up gradually though but I didn't catch his as early as you have done with Gem. I found that Quest did better on very short "stressed" grass afterwards which is contrarary to current thinking. It is sooooo hard to know what to do for the best.

[heathera]

With laminitics our vets also put them on ACP for the first couple of weeks as it increases blood flow to the hoof and minimises damage. it also helps them cope with box rest as well

Her appetite will be down due to the pain so don't worry too much as long as she's eating enough to keep her gut moving. As the pain eases she should eat more. I also wouldn't feed haylage at all and would use hay or Happy Hoof instead.

We had Rose on a 10-12 inch deep shavings bed and kept her on total box rest until she was completely sound and then for the same time after that. The laminitis trust recommend that if they take two weeks to come sound you keep them in a for a further two weeks so the laminae can heal a little before they are stressed. it does obviously depend on the pony, if they box walk badly when in and stand calmly when out in a small yard pen then the one that keeps them stiller is the best regime.

You can also get frog supports that you tape on for when she first goes back out. We chose not to use shoes and our vets and farrier are increasingly not using them but the tape on supports instead so as to avoid damage from nails being hammered into the damaged laminae.

Rose went out again 24/7 for the first time last summer. that was 3yrs after her stress induced laminitis. She has to be much more carefully managed than the others and her feet, whilst looking great and with no rotation or separation, are more sensitive. She has to wear hoof boots on our tracks where the young Dales stomp up and down them without a second thought.

Exercise for her, on a variety of surfaces, has been key to keeping her well. We also watch her crest like a hawk, the second it starts showing any signs of filling out or becoming hard she is on straw over night in a stable and on exercise every single day, sometimes twice a day.

You may also find you need to keep Gem's feet tightly trimmed from now on. Allowing them to become longer over the winter produces more flare and stretches the white line, with dales you can get away with this to an extent as they have such good feet but it's not something I'd do. In Spring, just when the feet are at their softest after being wet all winter, this means maximum damage if they then come down with laminitis.

I really hope she shows signs of improving soon. Are you having x-rays done at all?

[Daftmare]

Personally I think box rest is the worst thing out, turnout in sand paddock with adlib hay soaked for min of 12 hours. Get those toxins flushed out of the body and also worth getting some global herbs lami prone or restore to help. I got rid of Buttons lami in 3 days this way, much to the shock of the vet!! Many Years ago the advice was to walk horses with lami. Although this would have been painful it makes sense how is the blood supposed to circulate and repair if its just sat there in the feet!

[leannwithconnie]

Gill ...sorry to read this [have had internet probs for a while ] Sue mentioned Gem this weekend....I do hope things are improving.!

[corabella]

How is Gem now? Hope she is recovering well.

[greydales]

It's a real pain - she was sound, went out with the others no probs, then I've just noticed this weekend she's really lame again in trot!! . I don't have much grass and she's been fine for ages, so don't know what's brought it on again ...

The ground is very hard, maybe that's a factor??

[leannwithconnie]

What a shame since she was doing so well...Do hope it is just bruising from hard ground and that she comes sound again.

[valerie n scout]

oh thats a shame Gill..Scout was awfully lame in his fronts for ages...never really got to the bottom of it x