Wow I feel like a guest to this sad party. Sadly I too am becoming very familiar with this horrible disease. My beloved broodmare sadly delivered a still born foal just over two months (foal perfectly delivered but presented back feet first…not a breech/red bag delivery) Nothing could be done for the foal as she probably died during the backwards delivery. Anyway…an hour to remove that beautiful filly (broke my heart) and my mare seemed just fine. The foal and the placenta were delivered together and intact. The placenta was considered premature seperation…before birth. There were two Vet’s in attendance. Somehow the mare delivered a severe uterine infection…pretty common in difficult births I am told and 10 hours later was also showing severe laminitis in both front feet. So here I am…no foal, a mare that barely survived the uterine infection and now battling laminitis. I have had my fill of ice boots, Soft ride custom boots, deep bedded stalls and round the clock meds. My credit card bill is HUGE in vet bills and I am only into this for 2 months now. I have been told at least 6 months complete stall rest, special shoes for the rest of her life and the overall prognosis is “guarded” at best. Thankfully you guys have given me some hope…its been a very long summer so far.
Definitely some good endings out there. Of the 3 I’ve seen (and treated), 2 recovered quickly and have been in regular work for multiple years since, and continue to do well. The other is a pet now, but he’s foundered multiple times, so different than simply laminitis.
[QUOTE=cherham;8231094]
Wow I feel like a guest to this sad party. Sadly I too am becoming very familiar with this horrible disease. My beloved broodmare sadly delivered a still born foal just over two months (foal perfectly delivered but presented back feet first…not a breech/red bag delivery) Nothing could be done for the foal as she probably died during the backwards delivery. Anyway…an hour to remove that beautiful filly (broke my heart) and my mare seemed just fine. The foal and the placenta were delivered together and intact. The placenta was considered premature seperation…before birth. There were two Vet’s in attendance. Somehow the mare delivered a severe uterine infection…pretty common in difficult births I am told and 10 hours later was also showing severe laminitis in both front feet. So here I am…no foal, a mare that barely survived the uterine infection and now battling laminitis. I have had my fill of ice boots, Soft ride custom boots, deep bedded stalls and round the clock meds. My credit card bill is HUGE in vet bills and I am only into this for 2 months now. I have been told at least 6 months complete stall rest, special shoes for the rest of her life and the overall prognosis is “guarded” at best. Thankfully you guys have given me some hope…its been a very long summer so far.[/QUOTE]
I’m sorry you are going through this. Having just experienced something similar, I know firsthand how horrible and draining it is in every way. Hoping that your mare improves.
My 25 year old metabolic mare survived 2 bouts of laminitis and founder (sinking and rotation). A big part of the problem was mechanical…years of not being able to find a farrier to trim her properly, leaving her with too much heel and toe and central sulcus thrush. I absolutely don’t recommend doing this if you have any other option…but I had to bite the bullet and learn to trim her myself. Since I’d gone through all the local farriers. When I started trimming her, she wore a size 2 EasyBoot…today she’s a 00!
I didn’t make the decision to go the boots & barefoot route lightly, but it was the right one for her (old horse, doesn’t adjust to new stuff well, never shod). The one plus is that it allowed for frequent tiny adjustments to her trim, which helped a lot. She was in a 16x6 pen attached to a stall at first, since she freaks out in a stall. Once she recovered enough to get around well, she graduated to a dry lot w/ 3/8" pea gravel and a run in. The pea gravel is really great for healing hooves.
The last farrier wanted to put shoes on her and completely ignore the thrush (even though the poor horse groaned when I touched her frog!). With a combo of very frequent trims (every day, every week, every 2 weeks and now every 4 weeks), boots and better treatment of her metabolic issues, she’s now completely sound almost a year after her last bout of laminitis.
She’s not ridden, since she has some other issues. She is completely sound to free lunge, though. Her hooves also look virtually normal (sole concavity is back and the angles look good). I do plan to x-ray her when finances allow, but things look awesome from what I can see. And its pretty remarkable since she doesn’t have great circulation anymore due to her severe IR.
Well, I can tell you that my mare has come back from 3 episodes - all in winter…after the last one, where the comment was made “horses who come in like this don’t usually go home” she was 100%, jumping 3’ again (horse doesn’t have good form, so that is the safety limit…) and happy as can be after I started her back in Spring.
However, she had an actual grass related issue in Mid-May. This one, not sure. I just started riding again and she just seem quite right. This time, I have not x-rayed. Horse has reached her limit of what I am spending on anything but good shoeing. I know that’s not popular statement these days, so it is what it is. I have $$$$ in xrays and vet and tests for IR and all that up to this point, and I just said no more. Every time we have thought she rotated and she never did. This time, I think she may have. Which may mean she won’t be back.
That said, I personally am not wired to deal with a laminitic horse and the extra care and the not ever really knowing if you have a sound horse. For one, her triggers are varied enough that I am really beginning to think “they” really don’t know what causes it for sure or what to do about it, exactly.
FWIW, the last time this winter, honestly, I thought she’d have to put down. However, there was NO white line spreading or sign of anything…very odd. She had all the top 10 signs of pain at a scale of 10.
This spring, from the grass? She looked “a little off” and honestly, had I not had the history with her, I would have though abcess, sore from running etc. She wasn’t even really lame, trotted sound on pavement when I brought her for a reset…well, the condition of her white line was stomach turning and I still do have guilt - very WIDE spreading, and pus, and bleeding. Again, though, compared to the winter, when I so close to putting her down, and so were the vets, and she was clearly distressed and had to be on lots of pain stuff and meds and it was an hourly watch thing…
Well, this time, again, you really couldn’t tell, and that’s when it all seems to have gone bad.
So, I guess what I am saying is, as others have, you have to see how your horse handles it.
I’m curious as to the treatment for laminitis those who have gone before are doing or have done. My one mare in 2010 was strictly mechanical and once she grew her foot out no issues (no rotation), her recovery was pretty unremarkable.
My older mare this summer (first episode at end of June) has been a head scratcher, still pretty sore LF, looks like mild boney column rotation no boney column rotation RF just capsular rotation. No abscesses yet (though feel like LF will) not totally happy in Soft Rides (2010 mare was happy happy in them) trying to decide how to help her, vet wants to put ultimate wedges on farrier say no way don’t do it. I want to try styrofoam instead of the soft ride boots she is in. Not much digital pulse at this time, trying to wean her off of standing wraps but her hind legs were trying to fill this morning. 100+ heat index is not helping I am sure!!
I put my mare on Heiro and dry lotted her for the first three months. I didn’t do anything with her feet. She already had a good, tight barefoot trim. I think I used bute the first two weeks or so. I resumed turnout, with a muzzle, after three months, starting slowly and building up to 12-14 hours. That is still her schedule - out only with a muzzle, dry lotted without. She’s a good weight now and has normal insulin levels, but I’m not taking any chances. She is sound.
