The L-Word (Laminitis) :(

Well dangit, not what you wanted to see, but at least you do have something that makes sense, and can now move forward with the plan. I absolutely think Thyro-L in this case is a good idea to help get his insulin lower and improve that ratio to hopefully into the compensated area.

This is exactly why people can’t just test for insulin or glucose, the ratio matters, because he’s normal in both categories, slightly below mid-range for the glucose even, and still normal insulin but higher end.

5 Likes

thanks for sharing these helpful ratios. No vet has ever explained things to me this way.

2 Likes

way too many vets don’t understand how important the ratio is :frowning:

2 Likes

It’s frustrating that unless you dig on your own, the takeaway from the vet doesn’t come close to communicating the severity. Our first go around in 2021 was similar but I never got the impression/diagnosis that he IS EMS/insulin resistant vs he’s predisposed due to his breed. I chose to act like he was with dry lot/weighing hay bags/working with a nutritionist etc but clearly he needs to have tighter management with hay analysis or soaking being a MUST.

4 Likes

Ugh so sorry to hear you will have to deal with this at such a young age for Charlie. No doubt you will do right by him.
Is he moving any better/in less pain?

3 Likes

We are moving in the right direction! This was yesterday and he is moving pretty soundly on the concrete completely barefoot. He was MUCH more sensitive on the indoor footing this past Saturday (trimmer thinks his frogs are sensitive + the unevenness of the ground) so I have not asked him to try that again yet. He is moving comfortably in his Clouds in the indoor though so he’s been getting out there for a few hours every day this week. Our BM has reported that he is walking around comfortably and puffs up all macho man when he sees his girlfriend walk by LOL.

His limestone dry lot is a much longer walk and harder ground than the indoor. I turned him out there last Saturday after the trimmer was out, and he was pretty sore that Sunday into Monday, so the plan is to work him up to a full day in the indoor and then start him back outside.

He’s in great spirits though and has been seemingly having fun with target training and following me around if he feels like it in the indoor at liberty.

I also got connected with a farmer that does teff hay locally. I’d still run a hay analysis of course, but starting off with a typically lower sugar hay would make me feel better about his forage. And hopefully not having to soak anything come winter time.

6 Likes

Glad to hear he’s feeling some better!

Hope the Teff hay works out. I feed Teff and am very happy with it. Locally, some folks don’t care for it bc “air has more calories” but it works great for my easy keepers.

That great to hear. I just talked with the farmer and they are expecting to have theirs ready by mid July provided Mother Nature cooperates. Tentatively planning to get a years worth load :crossed_fingers:

Is a phone familiar with the Balance Through Movement Method? https://www.balancethroughmovementmethod.com/

My trainer passed it along for ideas of in hand work we can do, trying to decide if it’s worth $200.

2 Likes

NO

look at the traveling horse witch thread.

8 Likes

10-4!

3 Likes

It absolutely is not, the “creator” is a shyster.

5 Likes

Avoid like the plague. Total scam.

7 Likes

Starting the read through now…Ill take your words of wisdom and save my money! Thanks :grinning:

5 Likes

Just got hay results back. The first cutting he had been on wasn’t doing us any favors that’s for sure. 18%. We just got another 100 bales in of first cut (2023 I believe) which I’ll be coring today and sending out. Also have a lead on teff but that won’t be available until mid July.

In good news, Charlie has been comfortable walking without the clouds on the indoor footing. He ran around like a fool yesterday without the clouds on just fine while I was there. I didn’t feel an obvious digital pulse after so fingers crossed.

He’s following the timeline of his first time with laminitis pretty closely which is good too. This round with the cloud boots and the BEMER everyday is hopefully helping a little extra.

7 Likes

I would be soaking overnight with that high numbers. I have a mini that is on soaked hay - and my hay NSC was 5.9 in 2022 (didn’t test last year, test in the mail for this year’s hay). He gets ouchy if I don’t soak it overnight and drain. Some are very sensitive.

As far as I recall when I pursued Teff, you have to understand how much iron is in it as it tends to be high in iron which isn’t ideal. I believe from my research I figured out I needed to balance the iron with something in Alfalfa which took away the whole low calorie effect of having the teff to start. It was lovely, soft hay.
I could be wrong, but just thought I’d share. I think there might have been a thread on it here.

1 Like

MadBarn has Teff averaging 125ppm Fe.
Equi-Analytical has grass hay in general averaging 208ppm.

So, Teff actually averages quite a lot less than a typical grass hay. Do you know where you read that Teff tends to be high?

There is no balance of Fe with any other mineral. Fe is needed in a certain amount, by body weight, which is 400mg for an 1100lb horse in moderate work. There’s no balance with another mineral.

1 Like

I wonder if it was my own analysis from the individual hay. I can’t remember. It’s been 10 years since I went down that path.

Thanks for the info. That’s good to know.

2 Likes

I’m confused by your statement here. Iron should ideally be balanced 4:1:3:3 Fe:Cu:Zn:Mn. Ratios up to 10:1:3:3 are generally acceptable, but the more sensitive the horse, the more you need to try and dial it down (within reason). Unless you’re saying that there isn’t something you need to add to balance iron to increase its absorption? I agree that I don’t know how adding alfalfa would do anything to balance out a high-iron hay.

My personal experience has shown Teff hay in my region tends to have high iron. When I was shopping around a few years ago, I pulled several tests from loads of teff available to me. The lowest came back at around 175mg/lb, so not awful but still high, but several came back around 350 mg/lb. Enough that it would have been very hard to feed enough Cu and Zn to balance the diet. The numbers stayed consistent even when I asked E-A to re-run the samples just in case there was dirt contamination. Only one sample of I think 7 dropped the number after the second test. Obviously this is not a representative sample of all Teff, but it told me enough about what was available to me in Northern CA that I pursued other options.

1 Like

I’m replying to myself because I think the issue with the Teff was high iron and high phosphorus.

Anyway, sounds like it was unique to my batch and not a common issue.

2 Likes