I have a mini who had chronic laminitis for several years. We never put shoes on her, but we do put hoof boots on her when the ground is hard. I also found that she would founder really badly every winter (I live in a cold climate). So I started putting socks on under her boots to keep her feet warm. I also give her previcox daily during the times of year that she is prone to founder. It has been over three years since I started doing this and she hasn’t foundered once. Seeing the way she rips around the field, I’d say she’s completely sound. It takes time to find the balance, but once you find it, she may continue to be sound. Good luck!
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The only way to know what you’re dealing with is to have vet out and do X-rays & bloodwork…in the meantime I would air on side of caution and treat as if it is laminitis to be safe -stall rest/deep bedding , soaked hay , emergency diet
I did get the results of her bloodwork back and her leptin was slightly high, but insulin and everything else was pretty well within the normal range. Her X-rays show that she has a history of laminitis since the coffin bone had a tip on the end that indicates it has been chronic. So maybe she just foundered in the past and was triggered by the cold, stress, who knows.
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I just wanted to update on this thread incase anyone looks at it through the years and wants to know if an EMS/IR pony is still useful after laminitis etc.
My guy who was diagnosed with EMS in December and insulin at 92, then retested a month later at 60 and is due for his third test next week. I did have my hay analyzed and was surprised it was perfect to feed an EMS pony as it was 5.2% sugar/starch and low protein. So no soaking needed! He is only on hay cubes, a handful of Purina’s Integriti (less than 10% NSC), Omniety pellets, zinc/copper, natural E, magnesium oxide, 2 tbsp salt, kelp, 1 cup flax, probiotic and W3 oil (all balanced by Mad Barn and Dr. Kellon).
I was able to take him to his first hunter show this past weekend (he just turned 4 a few weeks ago) so we kept it nice and low in the long stirrup division (21" and no oxers). It was cold (in the 50’s) so he had some energy! But was very good and placed 1st, 2nd, 4th, 4th and 5th out of 10. Very sound, happy and forward. Even on a no grain diet. I would say he is a body score of 5 and is starting to lose a bit of weight with the work, so I do have to keep my eye on it. He is very tough to feed as he really doesn’t care much about food and will walk away from his hay cubes. He is on metformin 2 x day (20 x 500mg tabs) and is 14h and 730lb. Dr. Kellon suggested he may not need his metformin as it can make them less hungry (I do give him his meds in a syringe after he eats his hay cubes or he won’t eat anything if I give it to him before hand), I’m just waiting to hear back from my vet first.
He gets his rhino/flu IN next week as well as a blood pull to check his insulin. Hopefully we can stop the metformin if his numbers are down.
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He’s lovely! Congratulations!!!
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So awesome, thank you for sharing. My mare has been completely sound for a couple of months now and the vet has ok’ed riding so I plan to start this week. Fingers crossed!
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