Do you think this has something to do with the winter laminitis? I’ve never had him tested for minerals. But his hay is not high in iron. But why just in very cold weather?
I have looked at the ecirhorse site. That’s where I got the idea to try APF. He is probably IR, has foundered once, but doesn’t have Cushings. I just had him tested for that.
I don’t know if it has anything to do with winter laminitis but it certainly kept my horse from recovering when he foundered from dex. It took us a little while to figure it out.
We tested our well water and ended up putting on an iron filter for the barn and cutting out absolutely anything (other than hay) that had iron in it, multivitamin etc.
I don’t know if most “feeds” have added iron. I haven’t looked at any for years. I just feed hay pellets, cubes and some rice bran and beet pulp.
^^^I only feed hay and I have it tested. I don’t think what he eats is causing this. His feet aren’t inflamed as in what we generally think of as laminitis. I think it really has to do with the damage to the circulation in his feet that was caused by his previous founder. Supposedly, this won’t cause any more damage to his feet. What I don’t understand is why it’s happening now. and not before. He was foundered 11 years ago.
I have one that foundered 10 yrs. previously and no more problems at all until he mysteriously started the winter
laminitis. I haven’t found any sure fire cure except warm weather. We’re in Florida and once it starts getting below
mid 40’s, it starts. BOT wraps, blanketing and keeping him as warm as possible doesn’t stop it. You have my sympathies.
I’m currently dealing with a laminitic horse. I started her on 10 ml APF Plus/day about 8 weeks ago and I’m just now seeing results. I will be interested if there is any change in her insulin resistance – testing for that later this month.
^^^I’d be interested in your results also.
Oh no! I’ve been thinking about taking him to FL for a few months next winter. How far south do I have to go?
The heat patches are the human kind. I’ve ordered from Amazon - Sunny Bay, 15 heat pads, 3.5 x 5 inch and locally Thermacare or the generic CVS brand. I stick them on the front of the hoof and put socks over them. They overlap on the hair, no problem to remove them.
Probably Wellington or Sarasota would work. Ocala can get cold. I’m just north of Orlando and we had several
cold freezes here. Now they’re saying our Feb. will break all records for warmest ever. So it’s hard to tell.
I’m so glad other people are taking the time to realize the cold does affect these poor laminitic guys! When I had my pony, there wasn’t nearly so much to read about. I pretty much guessed it was due to the lack of circulation, and strongly suspected there might be something similar to diabetic neuropathy going on.
I used to polo wrap as far down as I could, and then throw BOT bell boots over. My guy also was small enough that a BOT back pad (tied with some twine) would fit him as a blanket.
Good luck, and I hope you can give yours some relief from the winter! Banamine was always helpful for mine, when warranted.
I will report back. (It is entirely possible that my mare would have shown improvement for any number of reasons after 8 weeks, so it will be interesting to see if her glucose response has changed at all.)
Thanks.
I was thinking around Fort Meyers. But it may be counter productive. He isn’t a great traveler.
Thanks. I have some but not that brand. I may try them even though they’re a lot smaller than that.
Thanks for this thread…my laminitic prone mini has been really sore this year…we’ve had a very cold winter even for Michigan. He’s been stalled and blanketed. I did try the polos but I am not sure they helped him. He’s in good spirits, eating, etc. just very footsore. He cast himself 6 weeks ago and hurt his bad hip on top of all this - he is a rescue and had been hit by a car before i owned him - so I am fighting that soreness, too. Besides footsore, he does not seem to be in any pain - when he does have an episode he foams at the mouth in paint (weird, right?) and only did that when this all first started. It will be interesting to see what happens next week when we have a warmup in the 50’s!
^^^Poor guy! I don’t know if you could find boots small enough for him, but they seem to make some difference. I left them off my horse for a day and he was exponentially worse at the end of the day. I padded them too and memory foam pads about two inches thick seem to have the best results. I change them out daily and they return to shape overnight.
Uckele has some interesting herbal products for laminitic horses including Jiaogulan and Arginine= Laminox.
Has anyone used Laminox?
I wonder if these horses prone to winter episodes would need the herbals ALL year round or ONLY in winter??
there is some evidence that some of these herbals work to dilate blood vessels in damaged hooves.
BTABBY, in post#55 has ordered Jiaogulan and is going to let us know if it helps.
Mare underwent the Karo syrup glucose test and the results are back. Her numbers are improved, but still two times as high as they should be. She has also undergone a major diet change, so I am reluctant to attribute her improvement to APF. Nonetheless, I bought a stink load of it, and will continue with it.
Thanks, twelvegates for the update. I haven’t started the APF with my horse yet. I’m trying to figure out how to get him to eat it. Any suggestions?
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