Vet thinks pony has laminitis. What do I do?

[minidriver]

My vet is coming tomorrow to examine the pony and confirm. This diagnosis is based on a verbal description and video I sent

My pony came up lame this morning. She’s a shetland cross (unknown background) approximately 16ish years old per the dentist. She was laying down in her stall this morning when I went to feed and didn’t get up to get her morning hay. I went and fed my other horse and by the time I had come back she was standing but didn’t want to walk to the other side of the stall to get her hay.

I had her walk around on a lead to get a closer look at how she was moving. It seems to be only in her right front leg that she is lame. She has not been exercised recently due to sub zero temperatures in my area; also she lives in my back yard so I have to consider if the footing outside is safe to work her on. She eats hay and only enough grain for her supplements, I have a small supplement scoop for her grain that is probably about 2 tablespoons of grain. She gets Triple Crown Senior, Remission, and the same supplement scoop full of TC Naturals Ground Flax (formerly Omega Max, I believe) I ordered some SmartLamina and SmartMetaboLean pellets from SmartPak today because they had great reviews, but I’m not sure if this will be helpful or not. I’m going to speak with my vet about it tomorrow at her appointment but I figured it can’t hurt. What else can I be doing to help her? Were there subtle signs of this that I missed?

[Elouise]

I am not a Vet, but these are my thoughts. And it can’t hurt if it’s something else.
Keep in stall (no movement whatsoever),ice their feet up to their fetlocks for 20 minutes at a time a few times before the Vet comes (use fortex feed buckets, feet in, snow or ice and add water so that water is icey cold). NO grain or supplements. Wet/soak hay to remove any sugars in it.

Check out websites such as http://www.ahf-laminitis.org/p/laminitis.html. This is the Animal Health Foundation and pretty much all they do is study laminitis. Good luck. (They have a page that goes over the signs and what to do.)

[Scribbler]

Ice and Bute to get the inflammation down. Cut out all grain products. Fluffy bedding or a foam pad taped to foot. Is the foot hot? That is one sign

You need to get the inflammation of the laminitis attack down ASAP. Then you need to xray and see how much damage was done. Then you can start to have thatbadressed by a good farrier. Also have horse tested for Cushing’s and manage thatbif needed.

Then get your hay tested. If the hay is high NSC it can trigger laminitis. Also if the pony is overweight that’s problem.

There are lots of excellent websites on this topic.

[walkinthewalk]

Here’s another article that talks about cold weather laminitis:

https://horsenetwork.com/2017/12/cold-weather-laminitis/

please update ate after the vet visit.

[JB]

@minidriver

It seems to be only in her right front leg that she is lame.

It would be very unusual to be metabolically laminitic in just 1 front foot. But, it could be that both are, but something that that RF makes it hurt worse.

If it truly is only the one leg, I’d suspect abscess before laminitis. But then again, we don’t have the video, so…

Hopefully that’s all it is. Keep her in a deeply bedded stall, tape some thick styrofoam to both feet, ice them as best you can, and let us know how the vet visit goes.

[JBD]

I’m not sure I’d ice the hoof when it’s so cold outside. We know that my gelding has poor circulation due to prior laminitis (he had a MRI). He acted a little sore when the weather got colder but seems to be more comfortable after spending the nights in BOT standing wraps and hoof socks. I even used a thermacare heat patch a couple nights.

Hope it’s something minor.

[luvmyhackney]

Strange its in one foot. Bed very deep. You can also pack the bottom of the foot with Magic Cushion or some type of foam and ice. Soak hay or use soaked hay cubes that have been drained. No other feed what so ever. Please give the pony Bute or Equinoxx to get the inflammation down.

[S1969]

@JB

It would be very unusual to be metabolically laminitic in just 1 front foot. But, it could be that both are, but something that that RF makes it hurt worse.

If it truly is only the one leg, I’d suspect abscess before laminitis. But then again, we don’t have the video, so…

Hopefully that’s all it is. Keep her in a deeply bedded stall, tape some thick styrofoam to both feet, ice them as best you can, and let us know how the vet visit goes.

Agree. Having a metabolic pony and mini I watch them closely and have seen mild laminitis. It’s never in one foot only. That said, some metabolic horses are more prone to abscesses.

My mini was lame with an abscess a few weeks ago; when my farrier examined her she had a tiny puncture right near her white line. Could have been from anything - old piece of a horseshoe nail or wire found somewhere in the pasture or stuck in the ice somewhere…? It was very small but he could see it by trimming around the area a little bit. She’s totally fine now.

Good luck.

[minidriver]

Thank you all for your responses. I appreciate it very much. The vet is coming out today to examine her. She was already in a deeply bedded stall but I have added more shavings to be safe. I cannot feel heat in any hoof, front or back. I felt for a digital pulse and did not feel one prior to having her move a bit for the video sent to vet. After moving her around at the walk/trot for the video I could feel one in the lower right leg, not as much in the left but she has a lot of leg hair so it is hard to feel anything. She picks up the right foot with no problem but is reluctant to pick up her right front foot, which makes me feel like it is painful for her to put all of her weight on the right front. I will try to post the video I sent to the vet but I am on mobile and not sure if I can do that from here.
follow up questions for everyone:

How does one go about finding someone who will test the hay? I have never done this before. Up until I bought my house last year my horses were boarded out and the barn provided hay. This is my second year purchasing my own hay. I live in Northeast Connecticut.

At the moment I am limited in my ability to soak the hay. When it is above freezing, I always do. My other horse has respiratory issues so I do steam the hay when I can’t soak. As I mentioned before, the horses live in my backyard. Soaking the hay in these temperatures is near impossible as I do not have a heated barn. The water ends up starting to freeze before the hay is finished soaking. I know the steam does nothing for removing sugars. I can bring out hot water and continue to soak if necessary, which is what I did this morning, but I’m wondering if there is a bagged alternative I could use when it gets very cold like this. I have given them both lucerine farms hi-fiber in the past.

[S1969]

Relax. It’s very possible that it’s not laminitis. Wait to see what the vet says, and then decide what to do. I’m still betting on abscess based on this description (which I think you mis-wrote, about which leg she will pick up and which she will not).

If she had laminitis I think she would be relatively unwilling to pick up either front leg. But with an abscess, it would make sense that she is especially unwilling to pick up the one that would put extra weight on the painful foot.

[trubandloki]

My thought was reading the OP was similar to what others have posted, sure sounds like an abscess.

To answer the question in the title of the OP I would do whatever my vet told me to do while I wait.

Edit to add: I am looking forward to the update after the vet has been there.
Jingles for your pony.

[Abbie.S]

Add me onto the ??? laminitis bandwagon. Unilateral presentation is very, very odd given how laminitis works. I’d suspect either a severe bruise (perhaps from stepping on a frozen fecal ball) or an abscess that’s brewing.

OP, you also didn’t mention that pony even has a history of laminitis. That’s not to say that a perfectly healthy animal with no metabolic history cannot develop on, but it would add another layer of skepticism onto a diagnosis of laminitis if the pony mare all the sudden has unilateral lameness with no heat in the foot, no discernable digital pulse and no history of metabolic problems.

[ryansgirl]

I’m surprised at how many people think laminitis can’t happen in just one foot. Well it can and does happen. Ask me how I know.

My OTTB mare developed laminitis in one front foot. She came up lame which was odd as she’s never off at all. Took her to the hospital where I worked at the time and had the head surgeon/owner examine her. Xrays confirmed laminitis with a decent amount of rotation. Yes ONE foot only. Other front foot was perfectly normal. We did test her for metabolic issues and she tested positive for Cushings and borderline IR. She’s on Prascend now and eats low NSC everything. All under control thankfully.

OP - you can try Triple Crown Safe Starch forage. Its low in NSC and that’s what you want. Beats soaking hay in the winter! Hopefully it’s just a simple abscess.

[JB]

We didn’t say it can’t happen in just one foot, just that it’s pretty rare. The OP doesn’t even have any mention of a history of laminitis or insulin resistance.

When you hear hoofbeats, think horse, not zebra

When a horse is suddenly lame in one foot, think abscess, not laminitis.

@minidriver www.equi-analytical.com is a good place to have hay tested. All the info on getting samples is on their site.

[sdlbredfan]

This group will help you and your pony!
https://www.ecirhorse.org/

[Sugarwells]

Update? Jingles for the pony.

[S1969]

@JB

We didn’t say it can’t happen in just one foot, just that it’s pretty rare. The OP doesn’t even have any mention of a history of laminitis or insulin resistance.

When you hear hoofbeats, think horse, not zebra

When a horse is suddenly lame in one foot, think abscess, not laminitis.

Yes, and I would actually question the one-leg laminitis in a metabolic horse. Just because they are metabolic doesn’t mean the dx has to be laminitis - my metabolic mini with a tiny puncture is a perfect example.

There could be many reasons why a metabolic horse experiences laminitis in one hoof and not the other - or, experiences more pain in one foot than the other. It actually might be that both feet are inflamed, but one is more so than the other. E.g. laminitis often shows up after a trim - it was there before, but the trim made it more pronounced.

I am not sure why metabolic laminitis would only present in one foot if there wasn’t a physical/mechanical reason.

[Palm_Beach]

@JB

It would be very unusual to be metabolically laminitic in just 1 front foot. But, it could be that both are, but something that that RF makes it hurt worse.

If it truly is only the one leg, I’d suspect abscess before laminitis. But then again, we don’t have the video, so…

Hopefully that’s all it is. Keep her in a deeply bedded stall, tape some thick styrofoam to both feet, ice them as best you can, and let us know how the vet visit goes.

This. And are you sure she needs the senior feed? Most ponies do just fine with hay/limited grass and a vit/min supp.

[trubandloki]

@minidriver how did it go with the vet? How is your pony doing? Jingles!

[minidriver]

@S1969

E.g. laminitis often shows up after a trim - it was there before, but the trim made it more pronounced.

^This - one of the questions the vet asked was when the symptoms started vs. when her last trim was. The symptoms appeared after a trim, and my pony acted up for the trim where she is normally perfect.

Thank you all so much for all of the responses and support; I really appreciate it. Sorry we were slow on the response, it’s been a bit of a hectic weekend. The vet still thinks laminitis. We’ve started treating her and she is already doing better. She’s on meds and I’m soaking her hay, which is a fun challenge in the winter. He advised me not to ice her feet due to the cold temperatures. I cut out the senior feed and she’s only getting her supplements now (SmartMetabolean, SmartLamina, Remission, and Vit/min supplement). She has no previous history of laminitis that we know of, but our knowledge of her past is unfortunately limited as she was pulled from an auction.

Thank you for the information about bagged hay and where to get hay tested, I will definitely be looking into that!