@Huntin_Pony thank you for the extra explanation; Charlie’s leptin was 18 and everything else was in range so I’m really glad your ponies dropped so much!
I ordered the OB today and hopefully that will help in addition to the limited pasture and cut back hay.
@OzarksRider I’m pretty much resigning to this year being a wash.
The vet said limited pasture is ok, but I’ve been reading that it might be better to wait on that too. Does anyone have any experience/recommendations on that? We do have a round pen with sand that I could turn him out in, probably overnight even and I wonder if that would be better for his mental health than limiting it to during the day.
If you read enough on the internet, you’ll find lots of conflicting opinions about just about everything. If you think you’ve got a good veterinarian, that’s the opinion I would trust the most because he or she knows your horse and your environment. If your vet thinks limited pasture is ok, that’s what I would do.
From your description, it seems Charlie had a fairly mild case of laminitis and he just needs to lose some weight and go easy on the grass. My horse had a pretty significant laminitis attack and x-rays showed gas pockets in his hooves while he was recovering. Those had to grow out completely before I could ride him again, and that took several months. He was also about 200 pounds overweight, and it took a couple of years to get that off him. My poor guy was frustrated at being confined and restricted from all that lush grass, but he lived through it. Even through all of this, he was never completely off the grass. At first I just hand grazed him a few minutes each day. As he healed, I started to let him out in a small paddock to graze and I gradually enlarged his paddock using corral panels and allowed him gradually more time on the grass, always muzzled. My point is, if your vet says limited pasture is ok, it probably is ok. Charlie will be happier if he gets to graze, even if it’s only a little.
@OzarksRider Thats the truth!!
I think mild is the key with our case for sure; he is almost up to full daytime turnout (6 hours max) with the muzzle (and a zebra flysheet which really seems to work as well as they say they do!). He is down about 80 pounds as well after cutting back his hay to 3 flakes/ day; 1098 pounds to 1017 on the tape. Still can’t feel ribs, but are definitely moving in the right direction. We are also up to 40 mins hand walks/ground driving in his trail boots seemingly sound at the walk.
I am also really fortunate in having a retired equine vet that leases at our barn; she took a look at me hand trotting him and said he is just a hair off on the left front and should be fine to ride at the walk so that was a huge relief too. Ive not ridden him yet, but am thinking about it at the 6 week mark.
Charlie seems pretty happy with the current routine! Everyone else is on night turnout but he is content with his nighttime hay and isn’t seemingly bothered by his different schedule.
Good thing you caught things early!
If you are trying to slow down his eating - nets are a good idea, starving them often has the opposite effect.
I also had my horse on levothyroxin (the spelling could be off here) to help with the weightloss.
The ECIR group previously posted is a gold mine of information!
He’s had a portagrazer since last fall. Not much more i can do to slow him down.
Fjordboycharlie, just a suggestion. . . Maybe get x-rays of Charlie’s front feet before you start to ride again just to be sure he doesn’t have any gas pockets or rotation. Most likely everything would be fine, but the x-rays would be extra assurance. When my horse had his laminitis episode he seemed sound after 3-4 weeks, but x-rays said otherwise. Vet said no riding until gas pockets grew out.
@OzarksRider - Definitely open to that idea. We did have xrays done at the onset which was about a week after (vet availability has been bad here). Would those have shown up on the first set or could they pop up after the fact?
And just to add, xrays when taken were all good. No rotation or anything else was noted of concern other than the soles were a little thin.
Gas pockets may not show up immediately. My guy’s first x-rays didn’t show any gas pockets, but they were there after about 4 weeks, I think (can’t say for sure when they appeared because we only took x-rays when doing therapeutic shoeing). The gas pockets are an area where the laminae are not attached securely, and this needs to grow out completely before riding. If your horse’s x-rays don’t show any gas pockets after all this time, you’re probably good to go (but slowly and carefully!) From your description, it seems that Charlie had a mild case and it was caught early, so he may not have any gas pockets. Even if he does, it’s nothing to panic about; it’s just a sign to give it more time.
@OzarksRider Gotcha! Good to know, this has all been a learning experience for me and I appreciate the insight. I know I would feel better knowing we were clear and with no gas pockets before I get back on him even at the walk. We are coming up on 6 weeks now so if they are clear, that should hopefully be a good indicator.
Interesting event popped up last night; it appears Charlie had an abscess on his front left that has worked its way out through the sole! I noticed 3-4 weeks back what I thought was a spot that was just a HAIR spongy and the little hole is in that same spot. Since we only had symptoms to go off of for the laminitis route, could this have been the issue?? He was worse on the front left, but was still a bit off on the front right…and no pain from several attempts with the hoof testers which I think would be odd.
In weight loss news, we are now in the 3 digit club and looking svelte!
Oi! My oldie has an identical abscess. Hope your boy feels better soon!
@lenapesadie - We are all sound now thank goodness! There is an extremely nice retired vet that rides at my barn and she gave him the all clear after seeing him trot both directions on the lunge. I don’t know that we will ever know for sure what the issue was with this in the equation now, but Im not changing a thing with his feeding/turnout routine. He looks much better with the weight loss and with the heavy predisposition, I am not taking any chances after this.
Better safe than sorry! My farrier is fanatic about sugar. He’d love you!
I’ve been coddling this oldie along for two months thinking his thin soles were the primary cause of his ouchiness; he’s moving way better after his abscess blew out. But I’m keeping him in his boots as he’s not 
without them
One of my horses once had an abscess that kept him lame off and on for 2 months before it finally broke through, so yes it’s possible that Charlie’s abscess had been festering all this time. However, your original post said he was lame on both front feet, and that points to laminitis. Also, abscesses are a common complication of laminitis attacks. When the inflammation from the acute attack subsides the damaged tissue can become necrotic and form an abscess. If Charlie’s abscess was caused by laminitis, it’s an indication that he’s not completely healed yet even though he seems sound. X-rays could help clarify things for you.
The abscess seemingly turned out not to be one! A fellow boarders trimmer was out on Friday and took a look at Charlie’s hoof. She was of the opinion that it was just sole flaking off from new growth which we need, so hopefully that’s that.
@OzarksRider - Vet is scheduled to come out and do another set of xrays Thursday. I think if those come back as clean as the first ones we should be pretty good to getting back to some work other than walking. He is also back to being sound walking on the gravel driveway as well so fingers crossed!!
@OzarksRider - Just got a clean bill of health after a follow up lameness exam and another round of xrays! No changes on the rads from the first time around and they look like they should. The vet did think something came through that hoof that I thought was an abscess, but he is no worse for the wear and we can get back to work again. He thinks he should be good to lose another 10-20 pounds which the additional exercise should get right off so we are close there too.
Thanks again to all for the support. I am very relieved and am glad to have the peace of mind before getting back to training 
@FjordBCRF - That’s great news! Those x-rays may have seemed like overkill but laminitis is nothing to fool around with. Now you can put Charlie back to work without any nagging doubts in the back of your mind.
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