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Smoldering Laminitis?
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Gina Keesling
Let's talk about this... what does it look like? Is the horse tender to
hoof testers? Heat in the feet? I had a myriad of vets out last year over Allie's problem - everybody looked at the feet first. They looked healthy - no heat - no response to testers - no head bobbing on the straightaway - no gimping in turns. The more concussive the footing, the slower she went - but we could NOT get anything that resembled a lame step no matter what we did. So feet were deemed NOT the problem. But after reading this I am not so sure... From what I have been told by barefoot gurus- Allie has more lamellar stretching than she should, although nothing remotely close to the wedge that chronically foundered feet get. My husband was a farrier for 15 years, and he says her feet are perfectly fine... So I don't know what to think. When she gets her feet trimmed, it's not unusual to see pinkish spots in the wall/laminae area (she has white feet). What's up with that? Gina -- Gina Keesling, owner Farriers' Greeting Cards Unique products for the equine professional HoofPrints Art for the equine and canine enthusiast http://www.hoofprints.com 800-741-5054 |
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blue6631 <rubyivireo@...>
--- In EquineCushings@..., Gina Keesling <gina@...> wrote:
lamellarFrom what I have been told by barefoot gurus- Allie has more stretching than she should, although nothing remotely close to thewedge that chronically foundered feet get. >My horse was stoic coming up to her foundering. All through the winter I told my farrier her white line was stretching - not much though 2/16th of an inch maybe. He said that white line disease in our area was somewhat normal!!! I wormed her one spring day and bam next day she came up lame. I called my farrier out and he thought she then had a shoulder injury. Put her on pasture for a few days then both feet went lame!!! She had small fat pads on her rump and behind shoulders - was told Canadians are a bit chunky by many people. The white line though was the sign I got before the diagnosis. From what I understand a stretched white line is increasingly becoming part of the pathology of laminitis. Pete Remey has an excellent article on the connection on his website.>
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blue6631 <rubyivireo@...>
I'd like to add Gina, that on the day the vet arrived she had no heat
in her feet and did not respond to the hoof testers either. Mind you her hooves are solid as a rock and 1/2 inch thick. The vet proceeded to carve a piece of her sole away and then did the hoof test on her -wish there were explatives on this site to show emotion!!! She did have a very faint digital pulse though. -There were very few obvious signs except stretched white line - which came after she had develped small fat pads, until it was full blown founder. michelle o |
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Gina Keesling
michelle said:
I called my farrier out and he thought she then had a shoulder injury. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= hmmm. I have several hundred dollars in chiropractic treatments for both shoulder and sacro iliac problems. Maybe those weren't the real problem - but compensatory from trying to protect sore feet? I did a quick search on Smoldering Laminitis - and just came up with a few sites that described much of what I have - but not good diagnosing and/or treatment strategies. I have several really good up-to-date veterinary lameness texts on the shelf - I will see what's in there. So if you give bute to a horse with this problem, do they improve? Gina -- Gina Keesling, owner Farriers' Greeting Cards Unique products for the equine professional HoofPrints Art for the equine and canine enthusiast http://www.hoofprints.com 800-741-5054 |
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blue6631 <rubyivireo@...>
--- In EquineCushings@..., Gina Keesling <gina@...> wrote:
anything else if it's laminitis. Put her on the emergency diet here -Gina. You could do an experiment that may tell you quicker than no harm done, and if she improves over the next week or two you will have your answer. michlle o
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Gina Keesling
michelle said:
> > Gina. You could do an experiment that may tell you quicker than anything else if it's laminitis. Put her on the emergency diet here - no harm done, and if she improves over the next week or two you will have your answer. -=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=--==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I have been soaking hay for a while now. We had alfalfa mix that was over a year old (I thought it was less rich - but in reading a recent post with a study from safergrass.org, I see the numbers say that is not the case) I feed Nutrena Lite Balance (all I can get in this area) at half the recommended rate. We baled our own grass hay this time - and I am waiting for a hay corer that I ordered to show up so I can get proper samples off to be tested. So right now I am feeding a combo of soaked mixed hay and grass hay (which was way overripe when we cut it, and got rained on twice before baling - so I am hoping it's going to test really low in NSC) The only thing I am doing "wrong" is I let them have about 2 hours of access to pasture a day. I feed grass hay at about 3 pm, then they go out on pasture at 5 pm, then come in about 7. I know this is the wrong time of day for grass sugar content, but it's the best I can do with my schedule. Since they've had the hay, they don't seem to gobble as fast - as I notice them wandering around a bit more than they do when they think they are starving. We sprayed this pasture for broadleaf (clover) and that is about 70 percent contained at this point. We had a drought last year. My horses were a mess. Around frost time, one had a bout with laminitis that was bad enough that he spent a great deal of time lying down. Fortunately cold water soaks helped him greatly and he recovered with no apparent lasting damage to his feet. Allie was just generally off - and I had given up on ever riding her again. Spring came, and new grass grew - and it was like I had new horses, they felt so much better! At that point, diet got put under the microscope and I started trying to educate myself - and I started doing the things I described above. Both lost weight and seem to be feeling much better, but not perfect. Ironically, both of them have distinct changes in the new hoof growth that is visible. And it is not smooth and shiny like what's below - it's actually kind of crusty and scaly looking. It's the exact amount of growth since spring - when I made all the changes for what I thought was the better. What's up with that? Hair coats look great, energy level is good, etc. And Allie, who ALWAYS turns quite roan every summer, has retained her chestnut color for the first time since I have owned her. I swear, I never knew I had to have a PhD in science and chemistry to own horses! LOL I am so glad for this group. Gina -- Gina Keesling, owner Farriers' Greeting Cards Unique products for the equine professional HoofPrints Art for the equine and canine enthusiast http://www.hoofprints.c |
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