LILY'S LAMINITIS BLOG

How to read this Blog & why I wrote it!

2009-04-27T13:43:00.006+01:00

I hope the blog set out isn't too confusing, I have tried to keep the information at the top and my blog diary entries after this - this does mean all new entries will appear under February on the right hand side!!

There is a great thread on New Rider with a few of us who are going through the whole laminitis problems. Linda summed up totally why we have the thread and really why I wrote the blog, she has agreed to let me steal it!

"I think the thing we are all agreed on is the distress that this causes, what does vary is the initial trigger, conflicting advice from professionals and non-professionals, the minefield that is control and management after the initial episode and the rollercoaster ride that you are drawn into in many cases whilst you find out what works for yours....... there are no quick answers and no miracle cures, plenty of headaches and heartaches we could all well do without - hey ho the joys of horse ownership - what is consistent is the desire to get our ponies back to health and do all we can to prevent it happening again, thats what makes me mad when you hear people describing obsese animals as up to weight or right for the breed, hopefully that conception is starting to change..... maybe if they could be involved in the aftermath of an episode they would quickly do something about it to prevent the possibility of lami becoming a reality for them and a life sentance for their ponies/horses.

Thats why I for one as part of this group welcome owners such as yourself who have experiences to share adding to this thread, from the number of views this thread has if what we are and have experienced can make just a few change how they view it then that can only be good news, at the end of the day we can only express what we have experienced and support each other on the road to recovery........."

Link to thread http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=178771&page=35

The Laminitis

2009-04-27T10:01:00.000+01:00

At the beginning of January 2009 Lily was diagnosed with laminitis, I was shocked. I knew she had excess weight and had been trying to manage it over spring and summer. She lived out 24/7 so I had to muzzle her to make sure she didn’t eat too much and she was fine. Come winter there appeared to be no grass and so I stopped worrying. She lived out in the herd and had adlib haylage (not ideal but she had lived off this the previous 2 winters and been fine), I was also riding her 3 times a week and long lining her so she was being exercised. She had no history of laminitis. I always asked the farrier to check her feet for signs and was always advised there were none.

Lily had been barefoot (shoeless) since I had had her – approximately 3 years. As I started riding her more she seemed to be becoming a little foot sore. For this reason I rested her to give her feet a chance to recover and then arranged to have front shoes put on, I assumed she was not coping with being barefoot as I had recently started riding more often. I had looked in to hoof boots but decided shoes were the easier option. Just before Christmas she was shod, she was fine that day and had walked around the block with no signs of lameness.

The next day she was lame on her front feet, I felt this was perhaps due to having shoes on and not being used to them but a day later she was no better so I arranged for the farrier to come out and remove them.

He removed them but there was no instant improvement, around this time the weather had become very cold, the fields were frozen solid and so I thought she was foot sore due to the rough rutty ground she was walking on, not once did laminitis enter my mind. I called an equine podiatrist who came out to see her the following day. I had suspected one hoof had a white line infection but I had been advised her feet were healthy only 10 weeks earlier.

The EP advised she did have white line in one foot as I suspected and also thrush, more shockingly he advised she had plenty of signs of having suffered laminitis attacks in the past! I was reeling at all of this as these were questions I had specifically asked people who did her feet for me and each time I was assured they were healthy good feet!

The EP could also feel Side Bone and thought that may be the cause of her lameness, the concussion of having shoes put on, the different pressures put on the hoof and foot by shoes combined with the hard rutty ground was probably making her feel the side bone, horses with side bone that feel it can be more lame in such conditions.

I took this advice and started on a clean up of feet programme!

Sadly her lameness did not improve and I called the vet, I arrived to meet him there and was shocked to find Lily had taken a dramatic turn for the worse and was stood in a laminitic pose and would not move. She had not been like this the day before and when calling the vet to arrange the appointment I had said it wasn’t urgent! Seeing her like that was the first time laminitis entered my head. Her lameness had been very intermittent over the days, one day she was hobbling a bit, the next slightly lame on the right front and the next galloping away not wanting to be caught showing no signs of pain!

The vet did some pincer tests and she did not respond to these but she appeared to be in so much pain that the pincers probably caused no more pain than she was already feeling. They say laminitis to a horse is like us walking on our fingernails with the nails removed. The vet gave her painkillers and I managed to walk her to the barn and she was stabled in there for a week.

Sadly Lily does not do stabling, of all the horses to have to have box rest you would not want it to be Lily, she weaves, she screams for the others, and she just worries. I can’t blame her really, I wouldn’t want to be caged up! I’d have given anything to just make her understand why she was there.

The first two days she was in the barn were not so bad as she was so poorly, she just laid down and was very miserable, her breathing was very laboured on the second day and her pulse high so I rang the vet who said I should come and pick up some Sedalin for her which will help sedate her. I gave this to her and she calmed down and she didn’t have such severe symptoms from then on.

After two days she was obviously starting to feel a little better, she was sweating up due to her anxiety, weaving and yelling I rang the vet who initially advised putting frog supports on and letting her be, the next day I rang again to ask about sedation as she was so bad and he we could keep her lightly sedated to save her stress and to try and stop her causing further damage by weaving, she rocks from one side to the other when she weaves and throws her whole weight from one foot to the next. She was sedated morning and night for the week which helped, it didn’t stop her entirely as once the sedation started to wear off she was anxious again but it did at least help.

I was then concerned in case she did manage to break the door of the barn down so my partner Paul came and helped me put round pens around the barn doors, this meant if she did get through the door she still had to get through the round pen to get to the haylage – I was very concerned that one gorge on haylage could kill her.

I was driving up to see her and do what needed doing every morning and evening but there was no one on site to keep an eye on her during the day and I spent every waking hour worrying about her! It was also a real struggle to do what needed doing with the facilities at the fields. In an ideal world I needed x-rays of Lily’s feet to know if there had been any rotation of the pedal bone, unfortunately there is no electricity so this was not an option just yet, secondly every strand of hay Lily ate needed soaking and the only tap was in the barn which Lily was being kept in and after a while the water would run out and need pumping up – this was not the only problem though! The weather was freezing still so all the water pipes and troughs were frozen, luckily the ponies had running water in the field they could drink but I ended up soaking Lily’s hay at home and carrying water for her from home too! It was not an easy task.

During this time my podiatrist was invaluable with information and reassurance for me in the panicked state I was in – I bombarded him with e-mails and questions!

A friend of mine kept her horses on a livery yard in Exeter and I arranged to go and see it on the Saturday after Lily got ill. It seemed ideal for a livery yard, indoor and outdoor school, lots of grazing and most importantly facilities for soaking hay and electricity for x-rays! I ummed and erred whether to move her for the next day but it made total sense even though financially it would be a struggle. On the Monday I rang the yard owner and asked if she would be happy for Lily to move in, she said yes but added there was no grass, I explained that was ideal as grass was the last thing I needed right now! I rang Natalie who was great and said she could move Lily Tuesday and so it was all arranged. Lily loaded perfectly and she set off to her new home, though she wasn’t happy about it and neither was her best friend Beau the Irish TB who chased the trailer!

We got to the new yard and Lily had sweated up but travelled ok. I unloaded her and immediately took her to her stable which I had prepared earlier in the morning.

Bedding is very expensive and I couldn’t risk Lily having straw bedding in case she ate it, shavings were in short supply and no where had any for under £8 a bale due to the building industry cutting back and not producing any. One shop sold bales of shredded newspaper so I bought 5 of them and 3 bales of expensive shavings and mixed it all in, a deep bed is needed with laminitis to provide support to the heel to try and take the pressure off the toe area.

The newspaper turned out to be a godsend! It was great bedding that provided the support and was not wasteful at all. I deep littered Lily to save the pennies and so would pick out the poo with gloves and a bucket morning and night and then once a week dig out the bed and get rid of the wet. I was only removing 1 barrow when I did this as the newspaper dried out and I could use the dried dirty stuff for the banks then replace what I took out with a new bale, and one bale did go a long way! In an ideal world I would muck her out properly each day twice a day but I just simply could not afford to do that with all the other extra costs I had to deal with!

Lily was not over happy about being caged in a stable in a new environment, she didn’t like her neighbour and mini reared at her a few times though they eventually learnt to put up with each other, and though she acted like she detested her the moment she was taken away Lily would panic.

I kept Lily sedated and was very relieved to have her there, it was comforting to know that whilst I was at work there were people around who could ring me if there was a problem. A few days after arrival I had such a phone call, Lily had severe signs of colic, I rang the vet and arranged to meet him up there, he thought it was a spasmodic colic probably brought on from the stress of moving and being in, he injected her to relax the gut and much to my relief she improved and there were no further occurrences.

Another livery in the same barn had a larger stable and very kindly offered to swap so Lily had a bit more room to move about, it was also right next door to another mare who was on box rest. I took her up on this offer and was everso grateful, Lily seemed much happier in the new stable, her and the new horse next door had their arguments still however both being quite dominant mares but Lily needs the company.

There were lots of ups and downs with Lily’s laminitis, I took her off the sedation once for a few days but her symptoms seemed to get slightly worse, I strongly believe stress is a huge factor in recovery and may even hinder recovery of laminitis and so I put her back on the ACP during the day to take the edge off and she seemed better. I also took her off the bute as advised by the vet but the next day she became shuffly again so she went back on to one a day. Even being at the yard did not have it’s problems, the lovely British weather continued to take it’s toll and there were days when I couldn’t get to the yard due to snow and ice, luckily my friend Janine was fantastic and fed and looked after her along with the yard owner though I was tearing my hair out not being there to monitor her!

Below are my regulr updates on how Lily is progressing as well as information I have come across and used for Lily’s management and recovery

About Laminitis

2009-04-27T10:00:00.000+01:00

As a horse owner I had obviously heard of laminitis and was very aware of it, I thought I knew quite a lot about it – turned out I didn’t! I feel a fool for not realising frosty grass is a high risk factor – the fructons in the grass freeze rather than going back down to the root and so the sugars in the grass are high throughout the day.

A basic description of laminitis is: Inflammation of the Laminae. The laminae holds the pedal bone in the foot in place therefore inflammation of the laminae weakens the support structure for the whole horse and it can no longer hold the pedal bone in the correct position, when this happens the pedal bone rotates away from the hoof wall. The worse the inflammation the less support the pedal bone has and it can become so severe that the pedal bone comes through the sole of the horses foot, sometimes cracking will appear on the sole as an indication – it is good to be cautious and keep a close eye on every change in the horses hoof, Lily had some cracking but this was nothing to do with the pedal bone the vet has assured me as her rotation is not great enough to have caused it.

Pedal Bone
So what is the pedal bone! The pedal bone is the end bone in the horse’s leg and is in the middle of the hoof, look at the John the Vet site for excellent diagrams and examples.

Pedal bone rotation
If the pedal bone rotates it is not always the end of the world, sadly sometimes it may have rotated too much and there is nothing that can be done and the horse has to be PTS, if the rotation is less severe work with a farrier or equine podiatrist can help put the foot right again, this is a very long process as it takes 8 months for a full hoof horn to grow again and it requires skilled work on behalf of the farrier & podiatrist to trim and/or shoe correctly to promote the recovery, the pedal bone has rotated and there is nothing that can be done about that but by trimming the horse’s hoof correctly the hoof can be made to grow back around the pedal bone in a way that puts everything back in to alignment.

Diagnosis

2009-04-27T09:59:00.003+01:00

Diagnosis was difficult initially as there were so many different factors that could have caused her to be lame, it took for her to be stood in a laminitic pose refusing to walk before I even considered it and even when the vet saw her and heard the history he wasn’t 100% convinced it was laminitis! She was never lame before having shoes on, only slightly foot sore when out on stony ground for this reason I did not even contemplate laminitis, looking back of course the slight foot soreness was no doubt the initial sign of laminitis, I’d just assumed she wasn’t coping with being barefoot. There had been no heat in her feet, no digital pulse and she did not react to pincer tests.

Laminitis cases, Acute Founder, Sinkers & Chronic Founder

2009-04-27T09:59:00.002+01:00

This information was passed to me via a forum, they have agreed it can be posted, I found it very useful

Laminitis cases
These show a lameness by being reluctant to move, taking the weight on their heels and shifting their weight from one foot to another, constantly. They also have bounding digital pulses. Laminitis cases uncomplicated by an underlying medical problem should be much better within a few days if given the treatments which we recommend. Nevertheless I strongly suggest that they remain confined to their stables for at least a month after they appear sound without painkillers. The reason for this is that the laminae are still inflamed and have lost some of their strength. Premature exercise can induce these cases to founder. Even mild exercise can do this; such as allowing the horse to mooch around a barn or menage. However cases which do have an underlying problem such as Cushing's disease, metabolic syndrome or those which have been given corticosteroids have a much more guarded prognosis. Some of these do not respond to treatments, continue to be lame or become more lame and have to be put down.

Acute founder cases
These show the same symptoms as laminitis cases but also have palpable depressions above their coronary bands on the affected feet. These depressions usually, but not always, first appear at the front of the coronary band. The deeper and wider the depression the worse the founder i.e. the more the pedal bone has dropped within the hoof. Accurately measuring the founder distance from X-rays gives an accurate prognosis. For example a true founder distance of 15 mm or more is bad news and I rarely attempt treatment of such cases. The depth of the supra-coronary depressions is highly correlated with the founder distance so that regular monitoring of the depressions gives an excellent idea of whether the horse is continuing to founder. All acute founder cases should be given a year's rest if they are to be achieve optimal soundness. This means at least four months box rest. Thereafter confinment to a yard or barn may be appropriate. Acute founder cases need corrective shoeing, sympathetically and regularly applied every five weeks. They may well need dorsal wall resections, specific treatments of tubbing should the develop foot abscesses and may need surgical treatments should they develop deep digital muscle contracture.

Sinkers
Sinkers do not show the same type of lameness as laminitis or acute founder cases. Sinkers are very reluctant to move. They have bounding digital pulses and sometimes stone cold feet. They do not try and stand on their heels; they stand flat footed. Sinkers have supra-coronary depressions which extend the full length of the coronary band on the affected feet. That is, from one heel all the way around the front of the coronary band and back to the other heel. Remember only 20% of sinkers can be expected to recover, again the founder distance is a significant prognostic indicator. If you are successful at treating a sinker it should be given one year of rest just like an acute founder case.

Chronic founder cases
We need to distinguish here between chronic founder cases which are lame because they have distorted feet and those which also have laminitis. The former can usually be treated successfully, at least to greatly improve their lameness by corrective foot dressing and shoeing. This involves using the principles of rasping off any long toes to restore the parallel relationship between the front of the hoof wall (or what is left of it) and the front of the pedal bone [This can be checked by taking X-rays if necessary]; and lowering the heels to restore a straight phalangeal axis. Most chronic founder cases are more comfortable if they are shod (to lift their soles off the ground) with well seated out shoes with sufficient length and width at the heels. However, be aware of the possibility of deep digital flexor contracture in chronic founder cases and emply of toe-wedge test before starting any foot dressing if there is any doubt. Additionally chronic founder cases which have lost large amounts of pedal bone mass will never be sound; there is not sufficient laminal surface area left to support the horse within its hooves. Without these two complications these cases can be improved within one or two shoeings so that they may return to ridden work. Many go into the forge lame and come out pretty sound. Chronic founder cases which are also suffering laminitis may be more complicated and have an unpredictable timescale of treatment. This is because many chronic founder cases do have underlying medical problems. If or until these can be treated little or no improvement in lameness can be expected. In addition to the usual laminitis treatments chronic founder cases need corrective foot dressing and shoeing to be done whilst the medical treatments are starting to work.

Possible Causes

2009-04-27T09:59:00.000+01:00

Overweight horse
Digestion
Concussion of the foot
Cushings Disease
Infections after foaling
I strongly believe whatever goes on inside the horse in relation to stress and toxins can result in an attack of laminitis.

All of the above can cause bad circulation, if circulation is bad the blood supply of to the foot is lessened and so the lamaniae becomes inflamed.

Laminitis could be a combination of all of the above, it may be that the horse would not suffer such bad attacks if they were not all combined – I believe this to be what brought on Lily’s attack.

I think that there are many horses out there who suffer mild laminitis that is not picked up on because the signs they show are not always obvious, I keep looking back over my time with Lily and think did I miss anything, did she show any signs previously and to be honest she probably did as I think many other horses probably do but as they are so slight they are not picked up on.

Symptoms in Lily

2009-04-27T09:58:00.001+01:00

Slight symptoms which I didn't pick up being laminitis:
Foot sore when riding on stony tracks
Intermittent lameness
Lame on fronts after shoeing

More acute symptoms once laminitis diagnosed
Digital pulse
Laboured breathing
Laying down
Standing in laminitic pose
Refusing to walk
Shuffling of feet

Possible causes in Lily - no doubt a combination of the below
Frosty grass
Haylage
Overweight
Concussion from riding
Concussion from hard frozen ground
Concussion from having shoes put on

Restricting Grass - Grazing Muzzles

2009-04-27T09:57:00.003+01:00

Part of Lily's management has obviously been to restrict her grass in take - during the initial 3 months she was on box rest and on soaked hay, she is now turned out 24/7 and so I need to ensure she isn't eating too much grass. If she was a horse that was easy to deal with I would probably stable her in the day and put her out at night during the spring and autumn (when the grass is growing) so as to avoid completely the times of day the fructons are at their highest, unfortunately as she goes crazy in a stable this has not been an option!

Another option is strip grazing and sectioning her off in areas that are well grazed and rotating them. Again this will not work for her where she is at the moment as she needs company and there is no way of sectioning the fields off so she has that! I am contemplating moving her back to the herd, if I do this is how I will manage her there and will put in a couple of Dartmoors who will be fine strip grazing themselves!

At the moment I use a Greenguard Grazing Muzzle. http://www.barnstormers.co.uk/acatalog/Muzzles.html

My normal routine is to put this on in the day and off at night - the field she is in is well grazed. When the weather has been wet and sunny I will leave it on for 24 hours or more at a time so as to restrict her during any growth spurts in the grass. She does get fed once a day with supplements to ensure she still gets the nutrients she needs.

This management has worked very well so far. Last year she had the muzzle on 24/7 throughout spring, it rubbed slightly but not too bad and this year it has not rubbed at all. I have sat and watched her to ensure she can eat and drink through it as the last thing I want is her standing there unable to eat or drink at all and then suffering from colic!

Last year before using the Greenguard I did try a Shires nylon muzzlehttp://www.saddleupinternational.co.uk/muzzle.asp

Unfortunately she would not eat or drink a thing through it and so I had to remove it. It also rubbed. However I do know of people who have used them successfully and some who have widened the hole at the bottom slightly themselves which has helped.

When using a muzzle it is very important to ensure your pony can eat and drink something through it.

I don't like using them unless I have too, I like the horse to be able to groom and communicate properly with other horses and the muzzle obviously prevents this. However they are an invaluable part of a laminitic kit!!

Frog Supports

2009-04-27T09:57:00.000+01:00

I was advised to put frog supports on to support her heels and to try and take the weight off the toe. I was also advised not to put frog supports on and that a deep bed is just as good. I had no one to show me how to put the supports on. I researched on the internet and brought some bandages, I put them on, half an hour later I took them off, I got too paranoid about putting them on incorrectly! You have to remember if done incorrectly it can cause more damage, also you are bandaging the hoof to keep the bandage in place and you have to be so careful to ensure they are tight enough to stay on but not too tight they prevent circulation – that would be disastrous in a laminitic, so instead I just had a deep bed and went out and brought even more bedding just in case what I had wasn’t deep enough!

Recovery

2009-04-27T09:56:00.002+01:00

I spent an awful lot of time googling to try and find out the recovery time for laminitis, I really struggled to pin this down – and for good reason! It varies so much from horse to horse. As far as I can tell if your horse recovers well after a rotation of the pedal bone you could be back to riding in about 8 months – that is the time it takes for a full hoof horn to grow back. However if there is continual attacks each time it will make the recovery period longer. During my research I came across someone who had their horse on bute and ACP for nearly a year, but others who had recovered in a month, though of course those that recover so quickly will not have had any/much rotation, and of course even after a slight attack extra care needs to be taken.

Lily is currently on box rest and has been since 7th January, at the moment that totals 6 weeks (it feels like much longer!). I can’t risk turning her out until fully sound in case she causes further damage when running around, which I know she will do!

She is making progress, she was on 4 sachets of bute a day initially and preferred to lie down rather than stand, she would then stand but was continually shuffling all four feet, the shuffling lessened and the bute was slowly reduced, each time it was reduced she was left on the new dose before reducing it again, she is currently on 1 sachet a day, she was tried without bute for 2 days but became very shuffly again so was put back on it.

The vet came out on 12th February and felt she was progressing well, she was relatively sound in walk but sore turning and the vet asked me to trot her and she was very lame on her right leg. I was given 2 more weeks of bute then told to call him out again.

To find out how Lily progressed to being ridden continue to read the blog, most updates about her recovery are in February

X-rays

2009-04-27T09:56:00.000+01:00

X-rays should be taken as soon as possible to detemine if there is any rotation and if there is the degree of rotation. The vet and farrier/EP need to work together using the x-rays. I hope to get x-rays done at a later date to keep check on progress, I am paranoid of further rotation too so if nothing else I'd like them for reasurrance!!

These are Lily's x-rays, you will see there is slight rotation, particularly in the right hoof

Feeding & Supplements

2009-04-27T09:55:00.005+01:00

Hay
I was advised to cut down Lily’s feed to just two slices of hay a day, preferably soaked. I did this and she lost a lot of weight, however she was very unhappy and getting considerably tucked up I believe through lack of food running through her digestive system, I upped her hay in take to two slices twice a day and when possible my friend and yard owner tried to spread it out over the day as she would eat it all in an hour (despite being soaked and in one small holed haynet inside another!). How much to feed is very confusing, some people suggest you could feed more hay if it is soaked as it is more important that the horse is less stressed and it’s digestive system is kept moving. Other people advise it is very dangerous to feed too much hay even if it is soaked – it’s very hard to know who to believe and what advice to take. Who is right? I ended up giving her 3 sections in the morning and 3 at night all soaked for 12 hours, this lasted her and helped reduce stress levels.

The hay has to be soaked so as many sugars can come out as possible. From what I researched 20 minutes is the least amount of time you should soak for. However apparently you can soak hay for too long and if it sits there for long enough the sugars can start going back in to the hay – I have no idea how true this is but it is yet another thing to be aware of just in case! I tended to soak 4 sections over night and 4 more sections during the day.

Hard feed
At the onset I was advised not to feed any hard feed other than a tiny amount to give her bute, the tiny amount should be unmollased sugarbeet. As it was Lily would not eat the bute so I was syringing it any way so she had no hard feet initially.

After moving Lily to the new stable and after 2 weeks of her being on only 2 slices of hay a day I was concerned about the nutrient intake – her diet needed to be reduced but she did need some vitamins and minerals as no body can heal without the right nutrition. Lily had started eating her bute in a small handful of HiFi Lite every morning and night but having looked in to different feeds for laminitics I discovered alfalfa is also not necessarily good for them! So I was looking for something that was unmollassed and was not alfalfa based. I asked my EP who recommended Fibregold’s Easylite. I contacted the company who were very helpful and I ordered my first bag, Lily was happy with it as was I and so this is what she has each day at the moment, only a handful day and night but at least it contains some of what she needs!

Supplements
Magnesium Oxide
The equine podiatrist advised feeding Magnesium Oxide from the outset which I did. The reason for feeding this is that excitable/stressy horses and laminitic horses can be deficient in magnesium, Lily is a sample of both these types! http://www.freewebs.com/equi-care/magnesiumoxidesoya.htm
http://www.equi-therapy.net/equi-therapy/nutrition/magnesium.shtml

Milk Thistle & Rosehip
I have always been keen on feeding herbs and as Lily recovered I wanted to feed her something to help her liver due to the bute she was on, also the liver is a big part of toxin build up in the body so anything that can help it is an advantage. I brought some Milk Thistle and started adding this to her feed. I also brought her some Rosehip which is rich in vitamin C and promotes hoof growth, it also helps to support the body’s immune system and circulatory system, this aids tissue repair and is therefore good for recovering laminitics.

Garlic
When she started having a hard feed again I always added a small amount of garlic, the main reason was that she likes the taste and so would eat her bute, it doesn’t seem to have done any harm - though I have been advised by one person that it is not good for laminitics!!

Lily has had a clicky joint for a little while and was on a glucosomine supplement, I took her off this during the initial laminitis attack. I asked the vet if she could go on it he said it would be fine to give her a low dose of it and wouldn't cause any problems regarding laminitis. Elsewhere I have been informed glucosomine is not good for laminitics and a different joint product should be sought!

You can buy Magnesium Oxide, Milk Thistle and Rosehip from http://www.naturalhorsesupplies.co.uk/

If you are interested in more info about glucosomine affecting laminitics and want an alternative supplement look at http://www.metabolichorse.co.uk/

Managing the overweight horse and losing the pounds

2009-04-27T09:55:00.003+01:00

If you have an overweight horse it is a very fine balance to get it to shed the pounds without starving it. The last thing you ever want to do is starve a horse, they are trickle feeders and for that reason if they have not got regular forage going through their systems they can become ill, including suffering colic attacks.

Obviously lots of exercise is an excellent way to shed the pounds, though again if a horse is fat it’s unlikely to be very fit so fitness should be built up gradually.

Of course if your horse has just suffered a laminitic attack exercise is not an option for losing weight.

With Lily she was on box rest initially, she was fed 2 sections of soaked hay a day and 2 at the night. The hay is soaked to remove the sugars and I soaked it for 12 hours and would rinse it before feeding it to her. This at least meant she had something running through her though at the time I felt it wasn’t enough and looking back possibly would have given her a bit more.

When possible I tried to have the hay spread over the day so she didn’t eat it all too quickly leaving her with nothing for the rest of the day, I also ensured the hay was put in to one small holed hay net inside another maker it harder for her to eat and so ensuring it was eaten slower and therefore lasted longer!

As her laminitis settled I upped her hay intake slightly and added a section during the day and one at night, I just felt she wasn’t getting enough and the stress of not having hay to keep her occupied in the stable would be enough to worsen the laminitic attack more than a bit of extra hay. It’s so hard juggling what to do for the best but as it was having the extra soaked hay had no repercussions.

She was in the stable for 3 months as well as feeding her the hay I also fed her a handful of Easylite with supplements in. You also need to ensure the horse or pony is getting the right vitamin and minerals, when the food is sparse they still need the goodness! Lily had Magnesium Oxide, Rosehip, Milk Thistle and some garlic. The Easylite also supplied her with what she needed.

Lily was shedding the KGs by the day without the exercise on this diet – and it shows how overweight she was.

Once she was allowed off box rest she was in a bit of the field, at least being out, even in a small area meant she could wander around which is some exercise and she was eventually out in the large field. She was then muzzled in the day to reduce her grass intake.

Lily is now living out 24/7 she is on a bare field without a muzzle and she gets a handful of Fast Fibre with a handful of Easylite a day together with her supplements being magnesium oxide, rosehip, milk thistle, garlic and a joint supplement called Safe Joint made by Metabolic Horse.

She seems to be doing well and her weight is still coming down a little. I would say her weight is ok now for a 14.3 Welsh Cob, she is quite a chunky build. There are a couple of parts of her where I think she needs to lose a bit but I plan to do that by exercise now I can ride gently. She looks healthy and shiny.

Her girth is nearly too big now! It’s on the last holes so may need to add some more!

I will build her exercise up slowly, there are plenty of hills around my way so I will include in hand walking up these initially (will be great for my fitness too)! And build up to riding her up them. At the moment I ride her around our fields at walk which are flat.

Advice/Support Forums

2009-04-27T09:54:00.003+01:00

Internet forums are an excellent way of talking about what you are going through with people who may have been there and who can offer some advice and support. I have found them to be invaluable for expressing my concerns over the last 4 months – and grateful to all those that read on and offered help and support along the way. It’s interesting to read about other people’s experiences so you know you are not alone, each case is different so everyone’s recovery time and experiences will be the same as yours but it all helps to encourage you for the future! So join a forum or two and get posting!

http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=178771&page=14

Conflicting Views

2009-04-27T09:54:00.002+01:00

Something I really struggled with was conflicting views. I followed my vets advice each time and would recommend others do the same but it is hard to know what to do for the best some times. I hate the thought of Lily stood there with nothing to eat all day because she pigs her haynet in a hour (despite small holes and one being inside the other) but I couldn’t risk feeding her more, I was then told by someone and read elsewhere that actually it’s ok to give the horse more hay as long as it is soaked! I decided that it was better for her to have continuous soaked hay so upped her intake, not only was I worried about ensuring her guts were still moving but because she doesn't like being stabled at least if she has a continuous supply of hay it will keep her occupied. Each hay net was soaked for 12 hours and put in one small holed haynet inside another!

I also spoke to people who felt it would be ok to turn her back out in to the herd as it would be better for her than the stress of being in, I really wanted to believe this but stuck by what the vet advised and she stayed in, as I read more in to laminitis I know this was the right decision, I would have seriously greatened the risk of further attack and further rotation had I turned her out early on.

With regard feeding hard feed and supplements some people advised me she should have nothing, others advised she could have a feed if it was low in sugar etc. Obviously she needed to get her weight down and eat less but she still needs nutrients to keep her going – how does a horse heal if it isn’t getting the right nutrition?! I decided after the initial week of detox she needed some feed for this reason and so I started feeding her Easylite (see feeding heading for list of feed & supplements I am using).

Then there was the conflicting views on frog supports as mentioned earlier.

You will come across many conflicting views along the way, do what you think is best for your horse and if you are in any doubt at all do what the vet says, if you are unsure of your vets advice seek a second opinion from another vet.

Lily had a fit mid laminitis and another vet from another practice was called, he offered different advice to my vet! Not sure how you decide what is best for your horse in these circumstances, I carried on with what I was doing as it was working.

Stress, Time, Cost, Guilt

2009-04-27T09:54:00.001+01:00

This whole laminitis thing has really put me through the mill! My emotions have been up and down and I have been very stressed and in tears, then elated because there is progress, then down again because the recovery seemed to go backwards, then happy because she was the same which meant at least she wasn’t worse! Then there is the guilt I felt thinking could I have done more to prevent this from happening, should I have spotted that it was laminitis earlier rather than putting it down to other causes. At times I have just wanted to get Lily right then give up on horses and ponies altogether because all it ever seems to be is hard work, stress, tears and bills and I’d think they’d be better off elsewhere! It’s hard to remember the good times when you feel so low, but you have to remember the goods wouldn’t be so good without the bad!

The time it has taken to look after Lily has been enormous, luckily I have a very understanding boss who lets me go out to see Lily to meet the vet and the EP and to check on her when needed.

The cost has been high too, vet bills (luckily covered by insurance), podiatrist fees, livery costs which I didn’t previously have, bedding, hay, feed, supplements, petrol due to the extra journeys. I am very lucky to have a good friend who has helped look after her when I have not been able to get to the yard due to the weather. I also have a very good boyfriend who has hardly complained when he really has every right to as Lily has wiped out our joint account!!

Cures

2009-04-27T09:54:00.000+01:00

There is no cure so to speak, there is correct management of recovery and then there is prevention

Prevention is obviously better than cure, from my experience I would advise to ensure your horse is of a good weight, that you limit concussion to the feet so avoid trotting on hard surfaces when possible, manage a good diet so avoid turnout during the day in spring an autumn and very importantly watch your horses gait regularly, and watch him standing in the field, this way you will easily pick up if something is wrong. I am very paranoid that perhaps I didn’t act early enough with Lily because I missed signs that I should have seen, of course there may have been no signs to see but it is a worry.

Box Rest

2009-04-27T09:53:00.000+01:00

When the vet first saw Lily and said she has to go on box rest my instincts were to say no she can cope fine out, luckily I listened to the vet and immediately stabled her in the barn. I hate keeping a horse in a stable and so the only time I would do so if it was life of death and this is the situation I found myself in with Lily. Staying out and being able to walk around more would have been a huge risk to further rotation of the pedal bone.

Box rest does mean the horse is not moving around and so circulation of the feet is not as great, however it is a means to an end.

It can be harsh on horses like Lily who do not cope with stabling well. Due to the laminitis I could not keep her occupied in the normal way, with treats hidden in her bed, lots of haynets and hay, treat balls, likits etc – every single one of them is food orientated! The only thing I did contemplate was a stable mirror but to be honest she had a horse next door to her and it was an expense I just could not afford on top of everything else! I would have loved to see how she reacted to it though. The only real thing I could do for her was to sedate her every morning.
Box rest to me was a necessary evil! It plays an instrumental part during the recovery period – however long that may be. The next problem is once she is allowed out how do you stop her galloping around the fields – if she’s by herself she will gallop around and if she’s with company she will as they are new to her! Only answer was really to wait until she is 100% better.

Digital Pulse

2009-04-27T09:52:00.003+01:00

Something to check for with laminitics is a digital pulse, I thought I knew where this was but could rarely find it on Lily, this tended to be because she didn’t have one but again I spent a lot of time researching to ensure I was checking in the right place. I wanted a diagram and full description which was actually hard to find, I did find one in the end though which was very helpful and confirmed I have been checking in the right place!! This website is great for explaining how to find it http://4hooves.co.uk/finddigitalpulse.aspx

Bute & ACP

2009-04-27T09:52:00.001+01:00

I don’t like giving my horse drugs long term, however if they are a necessity so be it. Bute works as a painkiller and anti inflammatory, Lily was on 4 a day when she was first ill, this slowly reduced to one a day and stayed at that level for a long time. I was concerned about the long term side effects of bute particularly the damage it can do to the liver – this is why I put her on milk thistle.
She was on 4 ACP tablets morning and night, I managed to reduce this to just 4 in the morning. She tends to be less stressed during the night, probably because it is quiet and all the other horses are in and settled. I tried to research long term use of ACP and as far as I can see there are no side effects unless the horse is overdosed.

Stress

2009-04-27T09:52:00.000+01:00

I was very concerned that the stress Lily was experiencing was not helping her recover and was very interested to read of one persons experience whose pony had been on box rest for a long long time and was just not recovering, the horse was stressed, they decided to turn him out and he recovered very quickly, the stress of being in was actually hindering a full recovery! I have been very paranoid about this being a factor in Lily’s recovery as she is get very anxious and will internalise any stress, I can imagine lots of things going around her body causing recovery to be slow due to this and so this is another reason for sedating her. It is not something I took to doing easily but I believe keeping her stress levels as low as possible is the priority.

Abscesses

2009-04-27T09:51:00.002+01:00

Something laminitics can be prone to when recovering are hoof Abscesses so always be on the look out, touch wood to date Lily has not had any, but there’s always time!

The horse normally goes very lame when it has an abscess bothering it so do watch out

Sometimes they can take a while to come out, they normally need poulticing.

Update
Lily did get an abscess but it didn't cause any problems, it burst at the coronet band and I didn't even see it until it was gone, she wasn't lame and didn't show any signs just one morning there was a crack at the top of her hoof which is now growing out, I will try and get a photo of it! My EP advised that sometimes abscesses can happen like this - if only they were all so easy to deal with

Heat in the Hoof

2009-04-27T09:51:00.000+01:00

I regularly checked her hoof temperatures, apparently this is not necessarily an indication but it is something worth keeping check on, Lily’s changed a lot from day to day, sometimes her back feet were stone cold to touch compared to her fronts, other times the backs were warm but the fronts warmer, more recently they all seem to be staying at a constant temperature.

Medication

2009-04-27T09:50:00.000+01:00

When the vet first came out he injected her with a pain killer and anti inflammatory, she was then on 2 sachets of bute morning and night, this helps with the pain and is also an anti inflammatory. As she improved I gradually reduced the dosage to 1 a day (half morning and night). She was on this dose for some time though was completely off it after 3 months.

I did take her off it a little earlier (on the vets advice to see how she was) but she was very shuffly with her front feet after 12 hours without it so she was back n a low dose

Small Holed Haynets

2009-04-27T09:49:00.000+01:00

A must when managing laminitis is small holed haynets, this in theory makes the horse eat slower and so makes what little it is allowed last longer, you can also but one haynet in to another to make it trickier to eat.

The Diary - Forum Entries

2009-04-27T09:30:00.000+01:00

Below is my diary of Lily’s laminitis and what I went through over the first few weeks, they are taken from forums that I posted on for advice and support, I included the replies form those who have agreed to it. I was panicked by everything and it’s so hard to know what to do for the best as there is (as always with things like this) so many conflicting views.

Post on From the Horses Mouth forum

New Post – Poor Lily - 4th January 2009
Still lame, seems tender on all 4 feet but more lame on her right front which is the one she has been worse on throughout. It seems so on and off, three days ago she ran away not wanting to be caught obviously feeling better then today she is hobbling and feeling sorry for herself again.

There is still no swelling, no heat - nothing!

The Equine Podiatrist said it was the side bone causing it and as it's going on I'm getting the vet out for their opinion too, at least I can give her a bit of bute then to help her on the bad days if that is it.

I had been slightly concerned she was getting arthritic too as she was clicking a bit in the past so I have had her on a joint supplement, she does seem worse when it is really cold and the ground is solid. She didn't eat her dinner today either though think that was because of the supplements, she can be really fussy which isn't helping! I can't believe all this has stemmed from having two front shoes put on!

6th January 2009
Vet is coming out tomorrow, she was a little better yesterday but bad again today so will see what the vet has to say, at least I can get some bute to give her!

New post – Waiting for Vet to call – UPDATED Laminitis 7th January 2009
ARGH! Sat at work and can’t concentrate, got the vet coming out to Lily today as still no real improvement, they are calling an hour before they get there so I can stay at work but no idea when! I just want to go see her and get it over with! I keep hoping I might get some more answers but it’s doubtful! Hurry up and ring stupid phone!!!

Me
Just got back from vet!

Lily’s even worse, I can’t believe it, today I got up there and she couldn’t walk, she has taken a real sudden down turn.

The vet gave her some anti inflammatories and pain killer, she was stood in a slight laminitic pose which was odd but the vet could find no signs she was suffering from laminitis when he did the tests.

He suggested stabling her and keeping her off the haylage and call him tomorrow to say how she is doing, he couldn’t find anything obvious causing it and is somewhat flummoxed. I managed to bed up the barn, she hates being stabled though and normally weaves as soon as she is in an enclosed space but I thought she is in pain and can’t walk far I’ll give it a go, so she’s shut in the barn (stable doors on the barn – well actually I’ve had tie up some doors LOL). She has two haynets, some water and I have my fingers crossed when I go up after work she is still in the barn and she isn’t too stressed, if she’s too stressed I can’t really see the point in keeping her in there poor girl. I’ve put a lightweight rug on her too as worried she won’t keep so warm stood still and also not eating so much!

I’m not to feed her either! She was only getting a handful of Hi Fi Lite and half a scoop of sugar beet to have her supplements with but she won’t be amused not to get it!!!

I am so worried about her, I just was some answers. At least she has some pain relief.

I have to go up every morning and evening to give her 2 sachets of bute twice a day – I am dreading the drive first thing, it’s a horrible road and will be very icy!! Poor Lily I wish I could just take the pain away for her, she’s is very cuddly when she is ill!!

Reply
If it continues more than a day or two insist she's x-rayed! They couldn't tell Max had laminitis and he was so bad he couldn't stand! He had hardly any heat, no pulses, no tenderness with the pincers, nothing, so thought abscess then strained tendon etc. X-rays showed up rotation of 19degrees in one and 21degrees in the other!

Me
Thanks I'll bear that in mind - just as you say there is no pulse, no heat, no tenderness with pincers she just can't stand up! I've just left her and she is laying down in the barn, so at least she is chilled out, I took the water to her and she drank it! She's just laying down taking the weight off now, will wait to see how she is in the morning,

8th January 2009
I'm in shock right now, looks like she might have laminitis, I just can't believe it! I was so careful over Spring and Summer to ensure her grazing was restricted and she was never turned out in the field with the fresh grass until it had been eaten down etc. She is a heavy weight and I have found it really hard to keep her weight down so have been very paranoid in the past - didn't really occur to me much about the winter! Went up this morning and she was laying down, she got up but was really uncomfortable so gave her the bute which seemed to help a little. Called the vet as really worried and he thinks it has to be laminitis and can't think what else it could be and that the shoeing and the side bone are a coincidence! I just can't believe it, had me bloody crying this morning to see her like it. She has suddenly taken a real down turn and now I am kicking myself for not calling the vet earlier, but I thought it was side bone and sore from shoes!
She still in the barn and also got her some ACP so she had that and the bute this morning. Got to keep giving her bute and see how she goes and want to sort out x-rays at some point, not sure if my vets can do it on site though so need to arrange to get her somewhere no doubt - can't imagine travelling her right now though so they will have to wait.

I've never dealt with laminitis directly before so it's all quite a learning curve so any advice on laminitis greatly received.

She is in the barn and just having a few sections of hay a day at the moment

Reply
Ok don't panic is the first step!

Max was put on 18inch deep shavings and also had frog supports.
He was given a calmer and bute!
No carrots, feed, treats just plain hay and that was restricted.
No exercise whatsoever!
He had farrier visits every week too! Speak to your vet and farrier.
The farrier will probably be more help to you than the vets if mine is anything to go by.
X-rays can be done on site but mine preferred them done at the vets as a better image is produced.
You can get over this! Was told that Max might have to be PTS, would never be ridden the lot and he's now been sound and ridden for 4 years. Don't try to rush things, time is what’s needed.
Good luck!
If I can help I'm here for you!
Big hugs to you both!!

Me
Thanks FF, it's hit me really hard keep blubbing about it and feeling really guilty for not picking up on it earlier!

I've contacted the EP I used who I think is very good but he is only in the area every 6-8 weeks!

The other farrier I used I really am not sure about I have no confidence in him but I may just have to try and trust him as not many other options on farriers here.

I'm so glad I have a good boss! I was out of the office for nearly 4 hours yesterday, late in today and no doubt got plenty more favours to ask him!

The vet hasn't mentioned anything to me about getting a farrier out or frog supports, she is on a deep bed though. Will wait for the reply from the EP and take it from there though I think I will have to find someone who can put frog supports on!

Reply
Will probably have been bought on from eating frosty grass Guesst - the fructans in the grass come to the tips in the early morning when the ground is frozen and can lead to frost induced lammi.

Fingers crossed its just a flare up and as fairyfeet says, with the proper management she should be ok!

Me
I wondered about that, but I honestly didn't think there was any grass in the field!!!

Reply
Your vet can supply them, they come in different sizes. Just shaped rubber and you bandage them into place. Will need removing washing and replacing about every three days!

I'll help you all I can, any questions, fire away and I'll do my best! I too had done everything in the 5 weeks I'd had Max and he still came down with it in December!!

Chin up hun, she'll be fine!!

New post – 8th January – Frog Supports?
I assumed frog supports should be fitted by a farrier, however looking at the laminitis trust website here they just use two bandages! Is this right, is it this easy?!
http://www.laminitis.org/fitting%20frog%20supports.html

Reply
at my old RS, there was one horse who had Lammi twice... we always put the frog supports on ourselves and like that

9th January 2009

Me
I have brought some bandages to do it this evening!

My vet is most odd it's like he assumes I know what to do! I asked him about frog supports and he said oh yes put them on, why didn't he tell me about frog supports when he first came out..?! Argh! I do hate not knowing about things and having to put your faith in the professionals sometimes!

Reply
Mine are made of rubber and shaped like a frog! Would let you use them but they are probably the wrong size! You need a thick firm bedding like shavings too! I used 12 bales of shavings in a 12x12 stable!

10th January 2009

Reply
I have the green frog supports made by TLC available from the laminitis trust website (same people that make formula for feet). They are made of a foam type material and are held in place using vet wrap. I keep them in my first aid kit, having a laminitic. I pop them on at the first sign of laminitis and if I am unsure they go on anyway until I'm certain either way and have spoken to the vet.

My vet was so impressed when she saw them that she was going to obtain a supply to stock to sell to clients who needed them

Me
Yeah I saw those online and every tack shop has looked at me like I was totally mad when I asked if they had any! Think I'll order some online!!

9th January 2009

New Post – Lily hates being stabled ACP?

Hopefully Lily will start to recover with the very slight improvement today I am feeling a little more optimistic. However because she was feeling a bit better she was starting to weave, she does this as soon as she is in an enclosed space or when she is worried, it’s not your normal weaving either she literally rocks her whole weight one side to the other! So I have a laminitic horse who needs box rest but who is stressing herself out and I can’t imagine shifting weight continuously from one foot to the other like that will help her recovery.

Any ideas on what I can do?! Can’t relieve boredom with treats hidden in the bed or licks or anything like that so need things that are not food orientated. The vet gave me ACP to give her yesterday morning and night, I gave her a little this morning too to try and chill her out a bit, I’m waiting for vet to call me to ask his opinion on how to deal with it.

Not ever used ACP before, obviously it is a sedative, is it something that’s very bad to use long term or is it something I could look at giving her whilst on box rest – my head says I can’t see how it could be any good for her and I will be asking the vet when he rings, just thought I’d get your valued opinions too! It’s not an option I want to do but I am at a loss as to how to stop her weaving as she improves! I’ve been coming up with future management plans too! Thinking she’ll have to be put up with being stabled in the day and go out at night during grass growing season, am also contemplating getting some sheep to help keep the grass down with the added bonus they will help with the worms!!

See feeling more positive!!!

Reply
Can you not give her a mate in the stable? Is there enough room for another pony?

Me
She'd kill it! LOL! I would be worried she is one of the bosses and she is grumpy at them and going for them over the door when they are nearby so would be a little concerned at putting one in with her!

Reply
Put old bits of carpet where she stands then bedding on top, if she is rocking then at least the ground underneath (probs stable door area) is soft small holed hay nets and more than one scattered about, and can she see the others? how about a radio left quietly playing Annies had lammi since 2 shes now 13 luckily if shes got a bad bout shes quiet enough not to get stressed

Me
She was quiet the last few days but obviously is very slightly better today so stressing, I have some rubber mats, hadn't thought of that! Will put them by the door will at least help more with the concussion - I have ensured there is a deep bed where she stands!

She has two haynets up though at the moment she is only getting 2 slices of hay a day! Poor thing.

She can see the others, the barn is in the field and the come over and talk to her over the door sometimes when she isn't being miserable at them and trying to chase them away. I need to make the barn doors more secure at the weekend and put up a round pen around because if she does get out she can get at the haylage which would be disasterous - however if I put the pen up she won't be able to sniff the others

Reply
Max was on ACP for weeks! It hasn't done him any harm! He'd never ever been stabled was not very keen on even being handled but I gave him a salt lick, had a radio on and the ACP and he coped!

Me
Spoke to the vet and he didn't think I should use it on her at the moment, he has said put frog supports on and she will do less damage weaving than if she were out in the field! The better of two evils, I will keep an eye on her and if the weaving gets too much I will reconsider, the last thing I want is her causing herself a leg injury on top of the laminitis

11th January 2009

Reply
Star was on it for about 8 months when she was in with her lami and it helped her no end. She is a stress head too so I had no choice as it was doing her more harm than good without ACP.

Reply
you have to keep her calm and as still as possible!! Acp is the best of two evils!

New Post – Lily Update 10th January 2009
She seems to be walking better again around the barn today so still more improvement (phew), very unhappy in the barn though and did sweat up a bit today through the stress. I spied on her, she didn't know I was there and once I am gone as long as she has some hay she tends to be a bit more chilled out, unfortunately she can't have much hay so I can't ensure she is occupied with it all the time, she is getting it soaked in a small holed haynet though to try and make it last longer. Poor girl doesn't help that two round bales of haylage were delivered today and she had to watch whilst the rest of the herd went and stuffed their faces! She won't eat the bute so I have been syringing it and the last two days she has been very clever at spitting it out! Managed to get around this one by having a very small handful of Hoofkind for her as soon as it is syringed in her mouth!!

Oh and I went to see a livery yard today - it was amazing! If I decide to move her think it will be there though it's a tough decision, I want to try and manage her where we are ideally as it's her herd and she is happy there - and although the facilities are crap it's a lot easier having all horses and ponies in one place! The yard had electric gates on entering, huge American barn style stables, acres, and acres of grazing, indoor and outdoor school with lights for both, washing machines and dryer for rugs with rug hangers, rubber matting on the yard for walking on, lights for the paths you have to walk down to the fields. It has everything you would want for a yard and how much.... £10 a week for grass livery, £20 per week for livery with stable!! It would be like going from one extreme to the other. But I know Lily is happier in herself living out in a herd, so I want her to be happy and will do my best to ensure she can be healthy and happy where she is, if she can't be healthy and happy she may have to move but if it's that or be PTS because of unmanageable laminitis I know what I'd prefer and if she was given the choice and understood I'm sure she would too!!

11th January 2009

Reply
Aww poor lily. Things will get easier hun. Star was really bad a few years back and was going to be pts because of her lami. She was in for nearly a year and there was no improvement. Thankfully she did recover, quite suddenly if I am honest...like the day before the vet was due to pts! She has been living out again with our other ponies and does occassionally do a runner when she can (she knows if my powerpack is running low!!) but if she so much as breathes a blade of lush grass she is back in for a day or two, and I am able to keep her and Kosha in a small starve if the grass is too much.

I must admit that new yard does sound like a little peice of heaven!

Reply
I was thinking about you today when i looked at how much wieght Charlie pone has put on since i queried his wieght!

I think if i was you i would move her to the livery yard as a trial, she may enjoy being somewhere where things are going on so her mind is ticking away rather than watching 'her' haylage being munched on as by the sounds of it shes the boss! If it stresses her out then move her back but think of the extra hours you will save by driving up to her current place so many times checking on a box rest horse.

12th January 2009

Me
She was in a right state today, walking around, weaving, she is still shuffling her legs about so is obviously still feeling it, but so stressed at being in, the vet has suggested giving her ACP morning and night to subdue her a little.

I will see how she is this evening but the more I think about it the more I feel like moving her.

I'm going to write a fors and againsts this evening!

Not sure I can cope with mine being in different places though, and I love the fact she can live naturally out in a herd, it's what I have always wanted, so I don't know if I should keep tying to manage her there for the time being or just move her! I am about at the end of my tether now, I was in tears seeing her like it this morning and now worried as I can't get there again until this evening, at least at a livery yard someone can keep an eye on her!

Reply
Get that ACP into her now! give her as much as needed to calm her! Stress is not good for laminitics, it can actually cause or prolong laminitis! Once she is calmer, she'll start to improve!

New Post – Honest Opinions please - help!! 12th January 2009
I really want your opinions on whether I should move Lily or not, I’d written out loads of fors and againsts so will write them out again and try to remember them all. As you probably realise she is suffering from laminitis at the moment. She is stabled in the barn which is in the same field as the others, she is box walking and weaving and screaming lots, the doors aren’t the most secure so there is a pen around the outside of them too as a secondary back up in case she breaks them down! I was in tears seeing her like it this morning and gave her some ACP to try to sedate her a little. I spoke to the vet who has given me more ACP and said do not turn her out whatever you do!

She is still shuffling her feet so still feeling pain in them and stomping about like this is not going to help.

So do I move her?

The Fors
Someone on site to check her throughout the day
Electricity (can’t get x-rays where I am as no electricity)
Lighting Water Hard standing
Indoor and outdoor school
Proper stables with lights and dry!
Lots of acres for turn out
Easier access to a farrier
Could look in to getting a sharer there when she is better
If I can’t get up will always be someone to do her (even if for a fee)!

The Againsts
She can’t live out in a herd (something she loves)
She would hate it, would she settle?
Livery yard politics
Cost me more money than I pay now

Another consideration is that I am to have an operation in March to remove my spleen. Obviously this is quite a big op and I could be out of action for up to a month, if Lily still needs seeing to twice a day I am not sure this would be possible where she is now. My OH is brilliant and has said he would do his best but though he is great at handling he isn’t overly knowledgeable and I know it would put a huge strain on our relationship if he was looking after me and my horse twice a day! Any other help I could get would only be once a day
I am sure I will think of more fors and againsts as I go along (sure I had more in my initial lost post)!

With Lammi I understand they can be on box rest for 3 months. At the moment I’m thinking do I give her another week to see how she is improving as if she improves more quickly she may be able to get turned out soon which will ease things a bit, or do I move her as management if the lammi in the future will be far easier at a yard too! Thanks for reading this far – all your opinions would be gratefully received!

Reply
I personally would move her, it doesnt need to be forever, yes ok she loves her herd but at the moment its stressing her out not being in it only watching it, maybe move until she gets better or you get better after your operation?

At least at a yard you can sort her out with a radio, toys etc.

You are not being a bad owner taking her away from her herd!

Reply
Ditto above, and hugs

Reply
I'd def move her!!!

My jim has gone from having a herd to just him and choc,loads of grazing to 2 acres no indoor outdoor school nothing its completley different

And you know what his sooooooo much happier xx

Reply
Come spring you are really going to have a big problem if you intend to put her back in a herd where you are now! For starters she'll only be allowed out for a couple of hours or on very restricted grazing!

If I was in your situation I personally would move her until at least after your op. You are going to need someone available to manage her grass intake carefully. I know you are saying she's stressed now but she needs to be kept calm and sedated if required and a new yard now would be easier with sedation. You'll have a lot more help available and more facilities that you really need at the moment. I'd say move and asap!

Reply
Agree with everyone else - I think moving her would be for the best.

Me
Thank you all so much for your comments, you are all right, and I think i knew what the answers would be!

I am moving her tomorrow...!

Reply
I think you've been brave and sone the right thing. She probably won't be very happy at first but it's for her own good and she will settle in time.

Me
I just hope the stress doesn't make her laminitis worse, she is very very stressy! It will be nice to be able to drive on to a concrete yard though, my boss will also be relieved as my mind can be on work rather than worrying about her as much!

Reply
Fab news, i guess you could try her on a calming supplement, Vale was on one when she turned into a stress bag, she dropped a huge amount of weight and as hard as i tried i couldn't get it back on her. But the supplement did help calm her down. Where she is now she is very settled and loves it, i guess what i'm trying to say is you never know Lily may love it there!

Best of luck with the move.

Reply
I do think you're doing the best thing, as worrying as it might seem now.
Things sound pretty basic where you are now which is extra strain on you as it must be harder to cope without electricty etc.

Also if your op is due in a few months, it gives her time to get setted and there will always be people around to help out which means you will be worrying less when the time comes. It would be hard on your OH worrying about you in hospital and trying to cope with Lily too. Also you will be happier knowing someone with horsey knowledge is looking out for her. Even if your OH did his best it's not the same (sorry OH no disrespect! )

Reply
definately think you are doing the best thing, well done for being brave enough to make the jump- I found it hard enough moving the horses somewhere I knew we would all be happy, let alone moving somewhere you are not sure about! Fingers crossed she settles as much as she can to recover

Reply – 13th January 2009
Any more news?

Me
She's moved! Was actually really easy everything went very smoothly, She loaded perfectly and we managed to get the trailer to the barn door so she didn't even have to walk too far, she isn't anywhere near as lame as she was either so she is improving! Beau her best friend was very sorry to see her go, he chased her in the trailer as we drove through the field. We arrived at her new home and she was really sweated up from travelling but seemed to settle quite well in the stable. I was expecting box walking and yelling but she started eating her hay net and just yelled now and again - in particular when she saw or heard another horse.

Sadly the horse in the next door stable doesn't seem to like her too much and keeps putting her ears back and trying to go for her a little, not really bad but enough that it mad Lily mini rear the first time! Hopefully they will settle over night. I have a good friend at the same yard and she has helped loads and will be helping keep a close eye on her which is great.
So all in all it went as well as it could!

Thanks guys for all the advice and support, I still feel it was the right thing to do, yesterday I was in near tears all day and as soon as I made the decision to move her I chilled! Now got to get the x-rays organised!

Can't wait to go up in the morning and see how she is!

Reply
I'm glad it went well and she settled so quickly. She must know it was for her best. Don't worry too much about being on a livery yard, they're not all full of bitches. Mine is lovely, everyone helps everyone else and is more than happy to lend a hand if you need it. Atleast Lil will be able to watch people come and go and will have a bit of entertainment now.

Me – 14th January 2009
She was relatively chilled this morning considering, shell shocked I think! will be interesting to see how she is this evening. It’s great though as I didn’t give her any ACP as she seemed ok and my friend has agreed to give it to her if she does start to fret too much – I am so relieved there are people there to keep an eye on her and do that!
I do feel like I am keeping her in a cage but I have to keep telling myself it’s for her best interest at the moment!

X-rays are booked for next Wednesday so we can see exactly what we are dealing with, sadly the vet can’t manage any earlier but to be honest she’s improving and I’ve already waited this long!

Will try and get some photos at some point!

Ideal Weight for 14.3 Welsh Section D – 16th January 2009
Just wondered what you thought was an ideal weight for a 14.3 Welsh Section D. I should have taped her when she first got ill as would be interesting to know how much she has lost since then but I never got around to it

Reply
Madison is a similar build to a section D and 14.2. Last time I weightaped her she was 480 and the vet said that was a good weight but not to let her get any bigger.

Me
Thanks, a little way to go yet, I can't imagine her being skinny, it seems wrong LOL! Just found this on Your Horse answers after someone asked ideal weight for 14hh medium built cob:
"I think that you’re close to his ideal weight. I’d expect the bodyweight of a medium weight cob, of between 14 and 14.3hh, to be 380 to 420kg."

Damn and I was so pleased at 525, just relieved I have her somewhere I can properly manage her weight now, I was very close to moving her last summer for that reason, looks like I should have done!

Reply
Lilly is 14.2 but still has a lot of maturing to do, she's still quite scrawny for a D, and I think she's about 450

Reply
Harley is 13.3hh and the saddler weigh taped him last night and he is back up to 490kg. he was 620kg when I got him in June 2007 and the slimist he has been with me was 430kg although the vet thinks he should be more like 390kg.
Now harleys saddle fits him again I will start working him and will be happy to get him back to 430kg. the saddler did comment that he was the perfect weight for a 15.2hh, oppps

Reply
Spuds a Knab x which is a similar build and shape in some ways to a welsh D, hes also 14.3hh. when he was his correct weight he was 460kg, much more over 500 and id be worried. However it does depend how 'chunky' they are ect. Always better to be bit thinner then fatter

Me
thanks give me some idea of what to aim for, Lily is quite a chunky type - my old boy Dollar was much finer than her. I am going to aim for 480 I think and see how she is at that - obviously body scoring along the way too!

Reply
Max is about perfect for him at 400k, he was 565k when I first bought him! He's about 13.3 by the way!

New Post – Nightmare morning with Lily – 16th January 2009
Well went up there first thing and she was quite settled, it was the first morning I actually felt happy leaving her!

10am and I get a call from my friend, Lily is weaving and throwing herself around and sweated up and also very tucked up, shaking and looking quite colicky! Decided to call the vet straight out and got there about the same time as him, she was in a right state all sweated up but was calmer than she had been apparently. She was still quite quivery. Vet thinks is spasmodic colic and injected her to relax the guts and I gave her ACP again – she has been off this for 24 hours so makes me wonder if not having that take the edge of made her worse.

Just left her and she is looking chilled again and eating her hay net, no poo since I mucked out this morning yet though she isn’t eating much either due to the diet! Will be up there again at 5.30 and friend is there all day so will ring if she gets bad again, now I have to sit here worrying and wondering should I have moved her, would this have happened if I kept her where she was or would it have happened any way but no one would have been on hand to see it. I don’t know – so many what ifs!

Reply
Give her the acp! Don't attempt to do without! she needs it obviously

Me
She sure does - she's on it now! Got tablets to try and tempt her with this evening as they are a lot cheaper!

Reply
I am so sorry to hear you've had a bad day, its so stressful seeing them like that isn't it. don't think about the what if's as it will only make things worse. You did the right thing getting the vet striaght out and I hope she gets better soon.

Me – 17th January 2009
Thanks, she is better today, we've worked out she is ok not sedated at night as everyone is in but she gets very wound up during the day (she has one companion in the block but all the others go out) so we will sedate her with ACP each morning bless her! Lots of poos so hopefully colic is all over with! phew - she gave me such a fright!

Reply
OMG you really are being put through it at the mo! Glad she's better now though. Let's hope it's the last of your bad luck. I still think in the long run she is better off where she is now, try not to think too much about the what ifs it will only drive you crazy! x

Reply
She sounds the spitting image of Vale when stabled!
Hope she is better tomorrow

Me – 19th January 2009
Had a phone call at 10.39 today from my friend saying Lily is having another colic like attack, I didn't get the message until gone 12 though. So I rang the yard owner and she was fine again, it would appear she winds herself up whenever a certain mare is led out. This mare is on box rest too so has been in the stable block with her since her arrival, before we thought she did it as she was being left alone but this time the horse went for a walk around the school and Lily had a fit even though 2 others were still in the stable block with her.

Oh for an easy to manage horse that I don't have to worry about!!!

New Post – Lily’s X-ray updates 20th January 2009
It may be my imagination BUT I think she is shuffling her front feet less

X-rays are tomorrow morning, filled with dread for the badness they might show, and filled with hope too!

Just realised I haven't seen Ebony or Tigger (or any of the other ponies) since Tues last week, that's ages, not sure I will see them until the weekend now as so preoccupied with Lily! Doubt they really care or notice though LOL!

Me 21st January 2009
So had the x-rays, won't know the results until tomorrow, argh!

Lily was amazing, she didn't prat around, stood stock still, lifted her feet up when necessary, she was the perfect horse! Ok so she did have 4 ACP tablets this morning but even so she was fantastic.

Now on tender hooks waiting for the results!

Me 22nd January 2009
had the x-ray results back. Slight pocket around the right toe but nothing to really worry about, Vet is getting me a disc of the x-rays that the podiatrist can look at and then work on her feet from there.

Reducing bute to half a sachet twice a day, not to go out or walk yet though in case bute is masking anything! If ok in a week off bute and then start walks if still ok! So considering how bad she was I think the news isn't all bad and her future is looking good (I am so relieved)! Just wish I could let the poor girl out!!

PHEW!!!

Reply
Max's were far worse than those and he's absolutely fine now! By expert trimming they can get the foot back in line!

New Post – Lily’s X-rays – 24th January 2009
I picked them up and here they are. Have e-mailed them to the EP and am very interested to hear what he makes of them!

[img]http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b341/Charmed245/xray2.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b341/Charmed245/x-ray.jpg[/img]

Reply
They really aren't that bad at all!

Me -25th January 2009
better than I feared! There is rotation there but looking at other x-rays of horses with rotated pedal bones who have recovered hers are nowhere near as bad - such a relief! Desperate to hear podiatrists thoughts!!

Reply
I love things like this- really interesting to see

However, being naive like I am- whats the thing that looks like a drawing pin in her hoof???? Lol, sorry, am not all that up on this kinda thing!!

Reply
It is a drawing pin! Its to mark the point of the pedal bone! Assists in taking measurements

Reply
Really interesting to look at thought, have to ask thought whats wrong with her feet in these xrays? Have never seen leg/hoof xrays before so couldn't tell whats 'normal' and whats 'wrong'?!

Reply
Ok lets see if I can explain for you! In the ex-ray you can see the outline of the hoof, then inside there is a white triangular(hoofshaped) area, that's the pedal bone. The front edge of the pedal bone should run parallel to the front edge of the hoof, where the nail is! Any deviartion fron this parellel line is called a deviation or rotation! In Lily's case is is only a small amount.

You can also see the point of the bone, and by placing a pencil on front line of the bone, increasing the rotation, you can then see that as the bone rotates, the point would eventually pierce the sole of the hoof!

The drawing pin is placed opposite this point to show how far off the bone is from the sole of the foot!

New Post – Lily Update – 29th January 2009
Yesterday Lily moved to a new stable! Very kindly one of the other liveries offered to swap stables as her boy is out most of the time and it is twice the size of the one she was in, it is also right next door to another mare who is on box rest for at least another month.

Lily has been going mad every time the horse next door goes out of site, fortunately for Lily she had been on box rest too but will be out again after the weekend so in anticipation of all hell being let loose she has moved! She seemed very relaxed in there this morning and it must be better for her having a little more room. I have to say moving her was definitely the right decision!

She has been on one sachet of bute a day for a week now, vet said if she is still ok to come off it after a week so I walked her yesterday briefly to assess her - with a friend who had also seen her when on two sachets a day. She looked practically sound, just seemed a little sore upon turning - she is hard to tell as she has a very fast forward walk but she isn't looking footy at all. I haven't seen her shuffle her feet for a good few days either so bute stops today and fingers are well and truely crossed! My operation date came through as you know so I just want to have her recovered enough that I can have peace of mind she is being well looked after and managed correctly and she isn't stressing too much when I am in hospital and recovering! I need to ask the vet for supplies of ACP and bute I think in case they need it! Any way that's where Lily is at for the moment - oh and her weight was down to 518 - she was 525 just over a week ago so we are getting there!

Reply
Glad things are looking up!

Do you think you will keep her there when you are both fixed?

Me
I really don't know! It's something I do keep wondering. There are so many fors and againsts! She is happiest living out in a herd, she won't get that there. But then if I move her back and can't control her feeding then that would be silly so the setup would need to change at the fields to give me more control. But then I also look at the fact I really can't ride in winter as all we have are fields and mud baths and I can only go in the evenings whereas where she is now of course has indoor and outdoor schools so I can exercise to keep her weight down all year round.

They also have stables in case of emergency!

Then there is the cost - it is costing me a lot more having her there than at the other place - not something I considered would happen when I took on a third equine!! I have decided to wait until after my op, see how Lily is, how I am and how finances are! Other problem is with her one place and the others elsewhere it is hard work looking after them all! I have got to do the ponies tomorrow so will be driving for nearly 2 hours in the morning to do them and her and get to work and will have to get up nice and early!

Reply
Pleased to hear she's doing well! don't be too quick to get her back out though!

Me
No I won;t be, I don't want her out until she is 100% again to be honest as I know she is gonna hoon around the moment she hits grass!!

Me 30th January 2009
24 hours off the bute and I walked her up and down, she was still a little foot sore on turning, but she was quite forward, I think there is a everso slight difference in her, she shuffled her front feet a couple of times in the stable - nothing like she was when on 2 sachets of bute twice a day! She only did it three times in the half hour I was watching her - it could even be normal and I'm paranoid! Any way don't think there is a disaster and need for her to go back on the bute yet!! See what she is like this evening! I don't think it is a problem if they do feel it slightly any way as long as she's not in huge pain an she certainly wasn't!

Me – 30th January 2009
I was relieved, I am so paranoid though - this morning I was like should I give her some bute just in case! I'm pretty sure I will know if she needs to go back on it!

Me - 1st February 2009
I panicked today, don't think I needed to! Went up and she was looking really miserable, she seemed a bit tottery so I gave her a sachet of bute! There was no heat in the hoof and no digital pulse and then having fed her the bute I watched her more and she was shuffling the fronts a little but that's all. No different really to yesterday, I guess better to give it to her than not if worried but not sure she really needed it.

She seems a lot more settled in the bigger stable still thankfully and not given her ACP since Thursday morning!

New Post – Laminitis Question – 5th February 2009
Haven't been up to Lily since Mon evening as couldn't get there so friend has been doing basics but of course I haven't been there to monitor day and night! Went up this evening and she was standing in a slight laminitic pose and seemed a bit sore, she was more shuffly than last I saw her and was slightly tucked up. There was no heat and no digital pulse.

Friend has been feeding her half a sachet of bute a day, I have upped it to 1 sachet again having seen her today.

I will see her tomorrow morning and give the vet a call just to see what he thinks but is it normal for her to be ok one day and perhaps not so good the next, I think I have read that it's like one step forward 2 steps back and that is what it feels like! I have been trying to find out when I should expect her to be in less pain, when will she come of bute and stop shuffling, I understand it can take 8 months or more to be fully recovered, the time for new horn to grow etc but can't find any details on when I can expect her to be at least a little more comfortable.

I assume it varies and some horses can be right in 2 weeks and others 5 months, just wanted to know if it was normal as she's been like it for a good few weeks now and I feel really bad for her!

UPDATE: Spoke to the vet this morning, he wants her on one sachet a day for 10 days then wants to come and see her. I asked if it was a worry and he said he would have expected her to be sound by now....

Reply
Possibly hasn't helped by reducing the bute and acp! Keep her on both for the 10 days and hopefully then she should start feeling better.

Max was really poorly for 6 weeks but I think he was worse than Lily! Oggy was bad for 10 months!

Reply
Hun Star was on her bute for twelve months and the ACP for 3 months, you need to keep her on both as long as the vet says and try not to reduce it. It won't do much damage unless they are on it for years then it can damage them. My priority would be getting her comfortable first. Star didn't show any signs of improvement until about the 11th month and it was only then that I started to reduce her bute and that was basically because I couldn't see how she was progressing and we had made the decision to put her to sleep...she had other ideas.
Mony was on bute and ACP for a month and we started to reduce it about 3 weeks in but all totally under the vets instruction.

Once they were off it I was determined they wouldn't get it again and thankfully my management system has made sure of that.

Hang in there hun she will improve but not without the drugs now xxxx

Me
Thanks, the vet had said to reduce it which is why I did and he didn’t want her on ACP unless it was absolutely necessary hence me trying her without it! Problems have arose in the fact I couldn't get up to her due to weather having lowered the dose so I wasn't there to see the slight deterioration - and it is slight so probably not noticeable to any one not keeping an eye on her.
I put her back on one sachet a day yesterday and will give her ACP morning and night to see if it helps, as you say it helps with the blood flow if nothing else! Also if she's on it and I can't get up she shouldn't get any worse!!

She was improving very quickly and seemed sound, the vet was quite amazed at the difference in her when he came out to do the x-rays which is why everything was reduced and he said to try without! Knew it was too good to be true!

Your other post is very helpful by the way, I have looked on so many websites and found nothing like this!! thanks!

Reply
No probs huni, we went through hell with Star and I had a wonderful vet who gave me all the best contacts xx

New Post - Lily (for a change) – another update – 9th January 2009
She seems a little better back on 1 sachet of bute and lightly sedated, vet is due out in a few days to check on progress. She seems quite sore on one of her backs now and the temps in her feet keep changing! Her fronts were a little warm to touch and her backs stone cold (and I mean stone cold I was more worried about them being too cold LOL) , now they all feel slightly warm!
Also discovered a sore on each of her hind heels today so finally cut all her feathers off - thought I would have eventually but been putting it off!

She is down to 496 weight wise now so that's good and I have upped her hay to 4 sections a day from 2 all still soaked, she was getting through it far too quickly and getting a bit tucked up I think due to lack of continual forage.

So that's how she is, I am stressed out completely still

Reply
Have you any small holed haynets? I put two small haylage/small holed haynets into each other to slow Star right down when she was in during her lami. It did help slow her down.

Me
Yes already got them! Not inside each other yet though but have contemplated it! She looks like she is wasting away to me LOL! Poor girl. I think she will be fine on 4 sections of soaked hay a day now but may well invest in some more haynets so I can put them inside each other.

I caught her eating the next door pony's hay net today! It had been put up too close to her bars in the stable and she could get at it!

They sure do like to test us - you sure you want one Nicky!!

Me – 12th February 2009
Vet came out today for progress check, he was happy with the progress she is making, she is practically sound in walk so he asked me to trot her up, very unsound in trot in the right leg still so got to carry on exactly as I am for another 2 weeks then he will come out again

What fun!!!

Happy he's happy with progress though! And relieved - I was asking him so many questions LOL! I was so paranoid about so many things and he was like look she's fine, she's improving, you're doing the right thing nothing there to worry about!!

Reply
As long as there are improvements, even little ones she will soon recover. Star had no improvements at all for the first few months.

I know sometimes its hard but stick at what you are doing and she will soon be back to her old self xx

Reply
So glad she is making progress, has she calmed down now?

Me
Thanks, she still stresses so is still on the ACP! I'm just not going to risk taking her off it until she's much better

Reply
She's doing well and will soon be back to normal! Keep up with the ACP, keep her chilled and carry on doing exactly what you are doing and the time will soon pass. She's better off in the stable at the moment anyway with all this rain and snow, saves her getting injured in the field. You will probably have to dope her a bit before turning her out too, to save her going loopy!

22nd February 2009

2009-04-27T08:00:00.000+01:00

The Equine Podiatrist came out today to trim Lily’s feet. He was positive that she would come right with the correct careful management which is encouraging. I use an EP who is a member of the EPAUK - see a link on right side of page.

She has a good hard hoof which is something!

There were plenty of signs of previous laminitis attacks which fills me with guilt that I had never picked up on it though he advised these attacks can come and go in a matter of minutes and even overnight so you may not necessarily see the obvious symptoms, what concerns and frustrates me the most is having been shown what the hoof looks like because of a laminitic attack why my previous farrier didn’t pick up on it. It is something I have been paranoid about in the past so specifically asked are there any signs of it and have been reassured that there were none.

Perhaps last time he trimmed her there were none. Who knows. It is very hard putting your faith in professionals, you have to trust their judgment. It’s the same with vets, there are many differing opinions on treatment and management of laminitis and I am sure one vet would advise differently to another on occasion – which one do you believe!

The vet is due out again the end of this week so I am hoping to reduce the bute again as she is walking out quite well at the moment and isn’t as tottery when turning circles as she was. The bute is another dilemma as on the one hand you want to feed it to reduce the inflammation and also to help with the pain, the last thing you want is to see your beloved animal in agony! However the downside is if they can’t feel the pain they are going to walk around and perhaps cause further damage.

I plan to turn Lily out in to the indoor school this evening, it is deep sand so very supportive on her feet, I will tie snapper, the horse who has been on box rest with her, outside so she has company in front of her, this will hopefully stop her panicking!

Unfortunately I am due for an operation myself on 8th March and will be out of action for at least 2 weeks possibly a lot longer, for that reason I can’t change Lily’s management too much right now as I won’t be there to monitor and assess her. I will be putting her on full livery so she will be looked after.

Both Lily’s previous owners and the podiatrist have very kindly offered to have her at their places if necessary, it’s very tempting as I know she would receive 100% care at either place but if I can I want her to stay where she is, as she is so stressy travelling and moving will only stress her out more and I don’t want to risk this bringing on another attack. It’s good to know the options are there though if anything goes horribly wrong during my recovery!

Once I am back on my feet the plan is to put Lily out in the sheep field in smallish area using electric tape. Hopefully being a small area she won’t run around and as she gets used to being out again I can gradually increase the size. Snapper will also have a section fenced off next to her so they can see each other (but not fight)! The other advantage to this is being the sheep field if she happens to get out it is not disastrous as the sheep have already eaten all the grass!!

I am feeling positive about the future with her but it will need a lot of careful management as another laminitis attack could be the end of the line.

27th February 2009

2009-04-27T07:59:00.000+01:00

I was so happy! I have been taking Lily outside for some fresh air, not walking her far just around the sand school and along the rubber matting areas, it means she can get used to the outside world again a little bit and stretch her legs. She arrived at the yard and was put straight in her stable so she hasn't really seen that much of the outside world there, when I first put her in the sand school I thought she was going to jump out so I spend 10 minutes a day with her just walking around.

She has been getting much better in walk and when I turn her she is looking fine so I decided to trot her up along one of the rubber mats to assess her lameness, to my shock she was almost sound! Two weeks ago when I trotted her up for the vet she was very lame on her right leg and I pulled her up instantly so as not to cause more concussion so you can imagine what a big smile I had on my face to see her trot up almost sound yesterday!

The vet will be out again next week to assess her and I need to decide on management of her whilst I am out of action. My operation is just over a week away, my current thoughts are to keep her as I am now until I am better, a friend has kindly offered to visit Lily and take her for little walks so she get out still which is great. My main concern are her stress levels, I am worried something might happen to heighten the if I am not there managing her and that this could being on another attack, the vets are letting me have a good supply of ACP so the yard owner can keep her sedated as necessary which will hopefully be a help.

6th March 2009

2009-04-27T07:58:00.005+01:00

Had the vet out again today to assess progress. He was very pleased, no reaction to pincers and she was sound in walk, I trotted her up and she was much better, she isn't sound yet but very close. She is to stay on box rest with 1 bute a day and the ACP whilst I am in hospital (so about 2 weeks or so) then after that we will assess her again. He's happy with me to continue walking her in the sand school - have some friends who are taking it in turns to walk her each day! Fingers crossed by the time I am better we will be read to try turn out of some kind. Vet did say he'd like to see her lose more weight - she weight taped at 489 the same as 3 weeks ago, and to reduce her hay. I am quite loathe to do this though as it is fully soaked so of very little nutritional value any way, it also helps keep her stress levels down, she has 3 soaked sections during the day and 2 at night. When she was on 2 day and 2 night she would really stress when she ran out. The other current problem is that her box rest companion mare can go out again but she flips when she goes! The other horse a gelding who can keep her company she hates and lunges at! We have been slowly building her time up away from the companion mare and put rugs to cover the bars, we put the gelding in next to her today whilst the companion was out and she only went for him once then settled to eating her hay and didn't worry about the mare not being there so fingers crossed she's getting used to it!! I have plenty of sedatives too!!

21st March 2009

2009-04-27T07:58:00.004+01:00

The post of 6th March was done around 2pm, at 4pm that day I had a call from a friend in tears saying get to the yard now Lily is having a fit! I rushed out of work trying desperately not to panic and trying not to drive too fast and dangerously to the yard not knowing what I would find, I had all sorts of images in my head.

I got there around 4.20pm and found Lily stood looking normal! Apparently she was stood calm eating her hay when suddenly she started banging around, my friend took a look and she was on her knees, thrashing around then legs in the air, and shaking finally it stopped and the yard owner and friend pulled her on to her feet and put her in the outdoor school where she stood quiet as a lamb (she never does that in there) then 5-10 minutes later she was back to her normal self. When I got there she was stood alert eating hay and I wouldn't have known anything happened, she wasn't even sweated up.

My friend had called her vet out who got there 5 mins after me and checked her over, everything was normal, guts sounded fine, temp fine, colour fine, pulse very slightly raised but nothing to be concerned about and he thought it could even be normal in her. He could feel a stronger digital pulse in her right leg. Totally flummoxed.

We chatted about the laminitis, he did suggest taking more heel off to take more pressure of the toe and cut back the toe more too. He also thought I should lunge her for 5 mins on each rein in the indoor school to lose some of the weight, he wouldn't recommend reducing feed any more and said she'd be fine trotting on that surface (I had told him about rotation etc).

I left her having eaten her dinner and munching on a haynet looking well and she has been fine since.

I am perplexed as I have no answers and it is a concern that something like this could have happened before but not been seen, as she was so normal after there would be no telling.

Yet again I am getting different advice regarding the laminitis which is also confusing.

This happened 2 weeks ago now and I had to have an operation myself and so Lily has been on full livery since the 7th March and I have only just been able to visit her today. I have had regular updates and she has not had any further fits and when I saw her she was as good as when I left her! I had someone trot her up for me and she is sound. I can't do much myself for 2 more weeks so I will keep her as she is for a further week or so and then start a turn out plan!

The photos are of Lily out today, she has been going out in the indoor school and being walked around a little outside regularly. I will start long reining her when I am better in the indoor school too, the sand is very supportive and thick so it is an excellent surface to get her doing a little work without putting too much pressure on and hopefully this will help her drop some more weight.

Turnout!! 29th March 2009

2009-04-27T07:58:00.001+01:00

Lily has finally been turned out!

Today we set up some electric fencing in the sheep’s old field as they have only been out of it 2 days so grass is extremely low, we put up one section of fencing for Lily and one for Snapper (whose section is a bit bigger)! We have sectioned her in so she can't go out of sight of Lily. We gave both horses some ACP to take the edge off as they have their tantrums with each other and we were quite worried about a fight over the fence! – they have had us worried about knocking the stable partition down in the past but are more settled these days!

We took them down after ACP had kicked in and they were perfect! Lily just stood looking around in amazement at being out! Snapper ran around and bucked and farted but Lily stayed chilled, they sniffed a bit too and had no ears back nothing so we are very hopeful we can turn them out properly together eventually! We were up there about 4 hours watching them and they were perfect the whole time. So they are still out and hopefully can stay out now, there is no grass so Lily doesn't need a muzzle which is great too (and I mean no grass as in she was eating the soaked haynet as there was nothing else to eat)!! We think the main effects of the ACP had worn off by the time we left and there were still no signs of nuttyness so fingers crossed all will stay well!

1st April 2009 - looking hopeful!

2009-04-27T07:57:00.000+01:00

Lily was sound in walk yesterday and this morning having last had half a sachet of bute on Monday morning. She hasn't had any ACP since Sunday either and is coping fine with being out side. She is still a little stressed, it's still all new to her, but having Snaps next door is really helping.

Every time any one walks near her field she starts yelling, and when I walk away she starts again - sadly I think this is more due to the fact she is hungry and her paddock is bare rather than being overjoyed to see me and sad to see me go! There is no grass in her area of paddock - I made her section a little larger yesterday and moved Snaps' further back, I will keep moving her paddock and making it a little larger like this every few days - there is hardly any grass as the sheep have grazed it and what grass there is Snapper will be eating for a few days before she gets to go on it!

She is still on 3 sections of soaked hay during the day and 2 at night, plus a handful of easylite morning and night. I am feeding her supplements of magnesium, small amount of garic, rosehip and milk thistle.

So far so good

5th April 2009

2009-04-27T07:55:00.000+01:00

Well today I had planned to let Lily in with Snapper, with fingers crossed they didn't beat ech othe up both being quite dominant mares! They have been stabled together for 3 months and out in adjoining paddocks for a week.

Sadly it was not to be as Lily didn't seem right when I got there. She was more tender on her right leg again and lame in trot (she had been sound). This could be due to being off bute, she's been off it for a week now and had been on it for 3 months so guess it could have taken a while to get out of her system completely, or she could have tweaked it whilst out side or worst worry it's the laminitis. Her breathing was also a little laboured.

She had no digital pulse and wasn't standing in a laminitic pose, she was walking around quite happily and I washed her feet and she was fine standing the whole time I did them (she would normally struggle with this when feeling the lami). I made her paddock smaller again (there is no grass but just to be sure!). I did wonder if it was the heat as it was a really hot day and there is a little shade in the field but not much, and if she is hungry she's more likely to try and graze than dose in the shade! I sponged her down with cold water in case she was too hot, she was not impressed and promptly rolled! She was happy enough when I left her so hopefully this is only a small blip!

After the roll

Photos of her rolling:

9th April 2009 - I am feeling extemely elated!

2009-04-27T07:54:00.001+01:00

The vet came out to Lily today and was really pleased with her, so much so he said I can start riding if she is just as good in 2 weeks time! I can't believe it I am over the moon!!

He took a look at her feet and watched me trot her around a lot and she was sound, she's been off bute and ACP for nearly 2 weeks and he was extremely happy with the progress. I couldn't believe he said it was ok to ride if she is as good in 2 weeks time.

I showed him her paddock and the field I wanted to turn her out in and he said it would be fine as the grass is so low in it so once he was gone we let her and Snapper in together - decided to do it right away as it is so wet the ground is soft and better to run around on that than the hard ground! It went well, they ran around for about 5 minutes then settled together so hopefully they will be fine.

He was happy with her weight too and said she is just about right now so I was really pleased with that.

I will take it slow with her and longline for a bit before riding as I don't want to push my luck!

24th April 2009

2009-04-24T08:53:00.001+01:00

Well this week has had it’s ups and downs!

On Saturday 18th April Lily was turned out in to the mare’s fields with Snapper, there are 5 of them in there now. I was hesitant because what I was doing was working and I didn’t really want to risk changing it, however Snapper is due to have an operation on her tendon sheath on 6th May so Lily needed to get used to other companions as otherwise she would be left on her own for a while which would not go down well!

So we turned them out, Lily was sound at the time and the ground had a bit of give in it which helped. After an initial 5 minute run around the settled with Snapper and Lily one end of the field and the rest at the other end!

When I went to see her Sunday she was fine and I put her muzzle on, I left it off the first 24 hours as I thought it a bit unfair to have a muzzle on when being introduced to new companions. She wasn’t best pleased about the muzzle! I had decided if I could I wanted to leave it off at night but put it on in the day – of course this depended on Lily being caught each morning! Luckily she was happy to be caught and the routine worked well for a few days.

On Wednesday I went up in the morning to find her lame on her right hind, now what! She had some nasty cuts down the inside of the leg which were very fresh and one still bleeding. I cleaned them up with difficulty, Lily doesn’t do pain well and being her back leg it was, lets say, interesting trying to clean and dress the wounds (once Lily has felt pain in an area she stands stock still anticipating it ready to explode at the slightest touch)! We got there though and I turned her back out but decided to leave the muzzle off, there isn’t that much grass in the field and it isn’t growing as it’s been so dry (and of course there were no signs of lammi, no digital pulses etc).

I went up to see her after work and the wounds still looked quite sore, there was also a swelling the size of a tennis ball! There was no heat in it so I gently put on some arnica and tea tree ointment to help with bruising avoiding being kicked as this is where she was very sore.

I worried all evening about her and her wounds but luckily come the morning the swelling had gone right down and the wounds had dried out a little. She was only slightly lame on the leg so it was a huge relief.

Today she is totally sound on it and the wounds are well on the road to healing!

Fingers crossed we will have no more incidents for a while.

Newrider Posts & Support

2009-04-24T08:49:00.002+01:00

Newrider forum has proved very supportive and there is a thread on there where a few people who own laminitics have been posting updates and offering support, started by Tracey (Bobcat) whose pony had laminitis but then suffered abscesses it has brought a few of us laminitic worriers together! It may help others who are going through the same to have a read and join in!

http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=178771

Lily's history!

2009-04-18T19:31:00.010+01:00

Before I had Lilly I had another Welsh Section D on loan called Dollar, sadly he was PTS in February 2006 following colic, he was about 25 years old.

Dollar:

After Dollar was put to sleep I missed him so much, I decided I wanted another horse, I sometimes think I was a bit quick to get another but then I wouldn’t be without Lily and I always believe everything happens for a reason. In April 2006 I went to see two ponies, an Exmoor named Bomber at the ILPH and a Welsh Section D mare named Lily. Lily had been advertised on Project Horses for sale, I couldn’t afford to buy so I e-mailed her owners and asked if they would consider loaning her, they replied saying they would. I had visited Bomber at the ILPH Glenda Spooner Farm and really liked him, I had ridden him in the school and gone out for a hack and he seemed a real sweetie so Lily had a lot to live up to if I was going to change my mind!

My friend came with me to see her in Kentisbury, Barnstaple, she lived on a farm with a couple of other ponies. Her owner Linda had owned her since she was 5 and she had been her daughter’s horse.

Lily was stunning when I arrived shiny dark bay coat with a white blaze. She looked like a very sweet mare. Emily groomed her, tacked her up and rode her to a field nearby, she then rode her around the field before galloping across it, then it was my turn! I got on her and walked her around and also galloped, pulling up was a little bit of an issue, she didn’t really want to stop until she got to the end! It was great fun though and I rode her back to the farm and spent a little time with her. Linda told me a bit about her personality, the more I heard about her the more I thought how I could give her just what she needed, a place to live out 24/7 in a herd, no enclosed spaces and plenty of company.

2 days later the ILPH rang me asking if I was interested in Bomber, I said I was but that I had also seen another horse and I was torn between the two, I agreed to call them back the next day. I pondered on it overnight and decided Lily was my choice. I rang Linda who confirmed she would come and see where Lily would be kept but was in theory she was happy for me to take her. I then rang the ILPH to advise them of my decision.

Lily arrived at the end of April to the livery yard I had chosen in Exeter. She settled in but could be a little manic to handle, she would get stressed very easily and then prance around, I’d have to watch my toes! I then got an issue with her, she wouldn’t leave her field! I couldn’t work it out, and you really can’t force a horse like her - and I wouldn't wan to. You could see in her eyes she was scared and not just “taking the pee” but for the life of me I couldn’t think what it was. I started just leading her around the field and then realised when we got close to the electric fence she changed. She would start acting up or refuse to move. I contacted Linda and asked if she had ever had any problems with Lily and electric fences, she told me she was very sensitive to them. It turned out Lily wouldn’t walk through the gate as it was an electric fence taped gate and she was picking up on the electricity, I ensured I turned it off and tried to get her to walk through, it was very tricky as the gate consisted of two strips of electric fencing and there were others in the field who would take advantage of the gap in the gate if I took too long to get her out! After a lot of time and patience (and irritation and feeling of hopelessness), Lily finally started going through the gate when it was off, I used a bit of clicker training and would click and treat when she took a step forward. She never really got used to it and I was very relieved when it was time to move fields. Once we moved fields she would go through the normal metal gate perfectly!

After about a month of having Lily I went up one day to find she had a puncture wound in her chest so the vet was out a couple of times, she was on antibiotics and I was having to clean the wound, it was grim and the wound was deep but luckily she recovered well.

Lily on arrival at the yard in Exeter

She has reminded me of her hatred of electric fences over the years including towards the end of last year. I was out for a ride with Ro and we were heading home when a car came behind is we trotted on to an entrance to a field and pulled in, the car started going past and Lily started backing up, she would not respond to me or do anything other than back up, how we didn’t back in to the car I don’t know. She had been perfect the whole 1½ hour ride and then she did that! I was flummoxed as was Ro, 2 days later we rode past the same gateway and I decided to have a look, would you believe running alongside the metal gate way was electric fencing!

Whilst Lily was at the livery yard in Exeter I found myself struggling to split my time between her and the ponies I decided to move her to Bickington with the others. (I work with the Dartmoor Pony Training Centre www.dptc.org.uk and have a Dartmoor Tigger kept there too).

I was nervous on the day of the move as I had been told she could be a nightmare to load, however much to my relieve she walked straight on the trailer, in fact she ws the easiest horse I had ever loaded.

Lily was quickly accepted in to the herd and became best friends with Natalie’s Irish Thoroughbred Beau. There was the odd battle between them over leadership which was really interesting to watch, there never appeared to be any full blown fights but one day you would go up and Lily was boss, the next day Beau was, it seemed they had settled and decided they could share the responsibility, that was until winter came and food arrived! Beau then became the real boss with Lily trying to put up a bit of a fight now and again and making it very clear she was not impressed! They are still best friends and miss each other when one is out and away from the other.

Lily at the fields in Bickington - note her face turnig grey

Lily was happy and settled here but the fields themselves were awful, it was the worst winter of my life - no electricity, no running water, knee deep mud, we had to carry 30 bales of hay up a 100 metre hill every week and carry the feed up every day as we had to soak it at home! Luckily we found some new fields in Moretonhampstead and we moved Lily and all her friends there in July 2007

At the fields in Moretonhampstead - Note how spotty she is!

One day during the summer of 2007 I went to work as normal and loaded up my e-mails, there was one from Linda which I was not expecting, she wanted Lily back for her daughter Emily. I was devastated and just didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. She was so happy where she was and as well as my own selfish reasons I just didn’t think it would be fair on her to move again. It had taken her a year to fully settle and become the horse she was with me and we had finally bonded and now I was going to lose her. I e-mailed back explaining that I was devastated by this news and was there no other option, I asked whether she would consider me buying her and if so how much would she want. Linda replied they would consider selling her to me. This was my lifeline but could I afford her? I knew I shouldn’t it was a huge responsibility but I had somewhere to keep her and could afford the insurance and her general upkeep. I had some shares which turned out to be worth £700 so Linda agreed to let me pay that and then pay £100 a month until I had paid the full amount. We drew up an agreement and in April 2008 I finally owned her. I will always appreciate Linda allowing me to buy her and to let me pay by instalments, I know she got a really hard time from her daughter for doing it as she wanted Lily back and loved Lily like I do, they had grown up together after all!

Some photos over the time at Moretonhampstead

Of course in January 2009 she was diagnosed with laminitis which is why this blog started and you can read the rest below!

Not happy after a rinse off the other day!

Turning spotty

2009-04-06T15:34:00.006+01:00

Lily is turning spotty! When I first got Lily she gradually turned in to a spotty horse, she got spots down her neck and over her bum, she looked like an appaloosa! I asked around and got the vet to look at her but no one could explain it, it was not birdcatcher spots nor was it rainscald, her face started turning white too around her muzzle and behind her ears and she lost hair on her muzzle and around her eyes.

At the time I wondered if it was stress - as you may have gathered she is quite a stressy mare! I now know this is what caused it as the coat change colour is coming back. It's worrying as it shows just how stressed she really is feeling and how unsettled at what's going on.

These are two photos taken recently - the wings (as I call them) on her chest remain from the previous time she went spotty, if you look closely you can see her muzzle is changing colour and you will notice the odd new spot coming through, Her back has a couple too

You can see a spot on her neck and some areas whitening around the muzzle and heading up her face

This was her in summer 2007, as you can see the spots are at their full glory, the blodge on her fetlock area was new too

Winter early 2007 - her face looks awful

Close ups of her bum and neck in early 2007

27th April 2009

2009-02-27T13:44:00.000Z

The weekend has been uneventful yay!!

Her wounds are healing nicely and she is sound, I long lined her for 10 minutes on Friday mostly at walk though did a circle at trot on each rein and she was fine.

I have had her muzzled most of the weekend due to the amount of rain we have had, don't want her eating the freshly sprouting grass. She isn't happy about it but she is coping - if only they could talk and understand us!

Below are some photos of the day I turned her out in to her new herd.

2nd May 2009- Feet Trimmed!

2009-02-26T23:31:00.001Z

The podiatrist came out on Friday to do Lily and was pleased with her feet which is great, her backs are fine, her fronts show the normal signs of lammi with the wider soft white line, also a few pockets of blood in the hoof from bruising or other damage, nothing to worry about though, all old stuff nothing new or pumping!

The vet had said I could ride Lily, I felt it was too soon after everything I had read so had been waiting for the podiatrist's view, he agreed with me and thought it was too soon. He doesn't think I should until the new hoof has grown, there's about just under an inch grown so far. He said she might be fine BUT it would be a risk as until the full new hoof has grown at the correct angle the pedal bone still will not be held in place as strongly and so it is a big risk, something I won't risk that's for sure! Another farrier a friend was talking to and who knew Lily also said he certainly wouldn't ride her yet....!!

Thrush has basically gone and she has good frogs again now so I am really pleased! He also agreed it was right to muzzle her in the day and leave it off at night, I showed him the field she was in so he could see the state of it.

So all in all her management is working well and seem to be doing the right things.

I long lined her a little today and she was very good, still feel bad putting her muzzle on, can't be nice for her but it's that or a stable alone and I am sure if she had to choose one it would be the muzzle!!!

11th May 2009

2009-02-25T17:01:00.002Z

Well all is well in Lily Land I am pleased to say. She has shown no signs of the laminitis reocurring to date, though she is of course still muzzled and as you can see from the photos she doesn't enjoy it too much!! I hate leaving her with it on I feel so guilty when she gives me such a sad look!

I have been working her a little bit in the school which supports the feet well in a hope to help keep the weight off her. She is so good at free schooling, I ask her to trot on and she just trots around me in a large circle and as soon as I say woooo and slouch my shoulders she walks straigh back to me, she's so good .... most of the time!!

Unfortunately time has been short with her the last few days as my pony Tigger has now been unwell with suspected colic, of course because I moved her he is in a different place so it's been tiring working my way between the two of them. I hope to move Lily back there in about a month as it will be easier, and she will be happier back with her herd, I have worked out a system to manage her grazing!!

1st June 2009

2009-02-24T12:07:00.003Z

Well it has been an exciting week for me and Lily. First of all I have ridden her! It was an amazing feeling to be back on her and she was very good and relaxed about the whole thing. The first time I just walked her around the outdoor school for ten minutes, the second time we walked around for 20 minutes with a trot along the length of the school so I could check for lameness – she was sound! Then yesterday my partner sat on her whilst she walked around the school and she seemed to quite enjoy it.

Yesterday was a big day, she was moved back to the pony fields. It was a tough decision to know what to do for the best as the yard she has at has all the facilities I could ever need, indoor & outdoor schools, stables, running water, electricity.... However she is not overly happy in herself at the yard, company is limited and will be even more limited soon with the risk of her being by herself. Also my pony Tigger was ill with an infection for a few weeks and it was very hard looking after them both in separate places which were 30 minutes apart! So I decided she should come back home.

I spent lot of money on some electric fencing and am now an expert in how to use it! Natalie and I sectioned off an area for her, it’s ideal as it has a water trough and lots of shady places throughout the day for her to shelter under. The ponies, particularly the youngsters, were very intrigued as we put the fencing up, they were biting it and scratching themselves on the post – not making it easy to put up! They did however get their comeuppance when the fence was up and the power switched on.......! Needless to say they had a few shocks and were not impressed and now keep well away.

So yesterday Lily was loaded up and travelled home, she is now in the sectioned off area with Tigger, we had hoped to put a couple of others in with her but they are all so sketch with the electric fence going up we need to give them a few days to settle down.

Lily seemed to settle quickly in to her new area and was happily grazing, it is nice as I can now restrict her grazing without the need for a muzzle.

I went up this morning and Lily was standing up asleep with Tigger laid down next to her, Beau her old boyfriend was the other side of the electric fence as close as he could get laying down too.

I will give her a few days to settle back properly and then start riding her around the fields at walk for 20 mins a day and gradually build her workload up from there, I still don’t want to do any more than ride her at walk for a couple of months.

Sunday 7th June 2009

2009-02-24T12:06:00.000Z

I am really pleased with Lily today, she seems to be settling well back in her fields at Moretonhampstead. She was quite stressy earlier on in the week when I did her feet, she wasn't keen on being taken away from her field but today she was almost an angel! She was a lot more chilled out and having given her a brush and picked out her feet I tacked her up, I had my pony Tigger out of the field too which helps keep her in a chilled out frame of mind! I rode her at walk up and down a few times. Paul was with me walking along with Tigger, I'd like to be able to lead Tigger from Lily eventually so the idea was to get them used to this and I did lead him from her up and down the field, successfully eventually! After a few stops with him trying to eat the grass and then not being able to keep up! After Paul decided he'd like to have a little ride on her again and she was very good for him as you can see from the photos!

On Saturday Lily had 2 new field companions, up until then it had just been her and Tigger. Hazel & Trixie had been due to join her but when Lily moved they weren't in the mood to be caught what with all the excitement! So Saturday they joined Lily, I was very apprehensive as I was worried if one charged through the fence that would mean Lily would be let loose on all the grass, and secondly it would mean she was in the herd running around and possibly could get kicked or causing damage to her feet, having only just recovered from a kicking injury I am very paranoid about her getting another! For that reason we shut the rest of the herd in the other field so if one of them charged through the fence they couldn't mix with each other.

Fortunately when I went to check later all 4 of them were still where they should be! I have left the herd shut off for now and will let them back in tomorrow morning, I will muzzle Lily in the morning so if it causes mayhem and she gets out she cannot at least gorge herself and will be caught when she has the muzzle on also with all the rain we had the ground is soft so if she is going to get out and run around I'd rather it was now before it hardens up again.... watch this space!

As for the laminitis and her management she seems to be doing really well, still no digital pulses and she is totally sound and walking freely. I haven't been muzzling her but I am now going to start muzzling her in the day again, I think she would be ok without but to be honest I think I'd rather be safe than sorry and muzzling in the day will do her no harm. All I seem to do is worry whether each decision I take is the right one, but so far so good.

15th June 2009 - Out on the road!!!

2009-02-23T22:10:00.002Z

Well I have had an interesting week with Lily!

She was on restricted grazing with just Tigger though we added 2 others in to the field who need a diet! When we first fenced them all off together we fenced the rest of the herd further away so as to let them settle properly (and to lessen the risk of any of them trying to jump the electric fencing!). After 5 days on Thursday I let the herd back in to the area which is next to their fenced off bit. During that day Lily was muzzled just in case the fencing was ripped down, firstly so she couldn't gorge herself on grass and secondly so I would be able to catch her if she'd got out in the herd!!

I went up in the evening and I am pleased to say all horses and ponies remained in the areas they should be (phew). However Lily was stood at the gate weaving, I'm not sure if she'd been weaving all day or if she'd heard the car and come on over, either way she wasn't happy. I got her out and took the muzzle off and gave her a good scratch and she chilled out a bit. I tacked her up and rode around the fields, she was a nightmare! Jogging, cantering sideways and even bucked which is something in the past she has felt like she would do but never ever has!! We carried on and she chilled out when Paul brought Tigger over.

On Saturday Paul decided to try riding her as she was very chilled out and she was an angel for him again, they just plodded around the fields which was great!

Most excitingly on Sunday I hacked Lily out on the roads! We went out for about half an hour and I rode her half of the way and walked her the rest so as not to put too much pressure on her, there is quite a steep downhill too and I wanted to walk her down that any way, she didn't put a foot wrong, she strided out like I have never seen even down the steep hill I couldn't believe it - I'm not sure I have ever seen her stride out down hill like that before. I was so HAPPY! And she was so good and seemed to really enjoy herself.

I rode her around the fields again today and she was certainly none the worse for her walk on the roads and she was very good around the fields, I had a very short trot and she certainly was not lame! Will be buying her some boots soon so we can get out a bit more which will be great.

Where I went wrong and future plans for management!

2009-02-23T22:09:00.000Z

Looking back on Lily's laminitis I know now where I went wrong. She was overfed in the winter, being allowed ad lib haylage. She lives out in a herd of ponies, many of them over the last 2 years had been malnourished youngsters who needed ad lib haylage through winter (some only 4 month old foals taken away from their mares already), Lily of course did not need it so would go in to the spring already fat. A horse is not designed to live that way, they normally gain weight in the spring/summer which they then use up to keep them through the winter and at the end of winter they should be more on the skinny side ready to store it up again. Lily just kept putting it on and on despite the seasons. In the spring and summer I would muzzle her but now I realise ad lib haylage was just as bigger problem as the spring grass. Haylage isn’t ideal for horses and ponies any way due to the high sugar content – this year we are cutting hay instead of haylage!

Of course there were then the other issues of her being very stressy which can bring it on, the frosty grass meaning she was eating high sugar grass all day as well as haylage, and the concussion of the shoes. Combine it all together and what do you get LAMINITIS!!

I now just hope I can manage her in a way that it won’t happen again. Of course once they have had it they are very prone to getting it again so I will have to be very strict on her now.

I could kick myself for being so stupid, and for not picking up on it earlier but it’s so easily done. I am now paranoid about every single pony’s weight skinny or fat! My pony Tigger is in with Lily and on the same regime as her, it won’t do him any harm! He is 4 now so it’s time to keep an eye on him!

She will have to stay in her section where she is now until the hay is cut. Once the hay is cut the other horses will go in those fields and Lily and the other 3 she is in with can have the other half of the barn field to give the bit they are in now a rest, during spring & summer it will be a case of alternating them between the two though neither will be ungrazed fresh grass before they go back on it!

I have planned her winter already and how to avoid the frosty grass, the area around our barn is bare and so she will be sectioned of in and around the barn and given soaked hay, Tigger may well have to stay with her there too to keep her company as they have bonded now having spent so much time together, but again this will also do him no harm! When it isn’t frosty they can be out in a field with the other fatties to ensure the barn area doesn’t get too churned up!

Photos! 19th June 2009

2009-02-22T23:55:00.000Z

Some photos of Lily taken today - and one of Tigger too!!

Future feeding & feet care

2009-02-22T15:41:00.002Z

After much research and trying various products, some of which have been quite expensive I have finally settled on Lily’s future feeding and feet care regime and the products I will keep using. I quite often swap and change and try new things but there really is no point when you already has something that works!

Her feeding regime is the following, obviously amounts of bulk feed will vary depending on the time of year and her condition. At the moment they are minimal!

Allen & Page Fast Fibre
Fibre Gold Easylite http://www.fibrefeeds.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=70
Natural Horse Supplies Herbal Slim which has magnesium, rosehip, yea-sac, seaweed & mint
http://www.naturalhorsesupplies.co.uk/p/product/0902259100-Herbal+Slim+900g++%A3649/

Metabolic Horse Safe Joint which contains Chondroitin Sulphate, MSM, Boswellia Serrata, Micronised ground linseed.
http://www.metabolichorse.co.uk/safe%20joint%20supplement%20laminitics.htm

Although I give her Fast Fibre it is only a tiny amount each day as she gets all she needs from the Easylite, it's just something to wet the feed a little for the supplements.

As for her feet, thrush has been a problem in the past and this is now under control, I loved the Red Horse Products and will continue using them, so her feet treatment includes:
Hibiscrub
Sole Cleanse
Hoof paste
http://www.redhorseproducts.com/onlineshop09.htm

And that is it, no swapping around and trying new products or paying over the top prices for things that don’t work! I will feed my Dartmoor Tigger the same when he needs it. At the moment he gets a small amount with a supplement, he is on restricted grazing with Lily and so I need to ensure he is getting his vitamins!

Of course there is always a salt lick in the field too.

22nd June 2009 - Feet trim & vaccination

2009-02-21T12:03:00.000Z

Today Lily had her feet trimmed and her flu injection and she was very good for both, in fact I didn’t really need to even hold her for either she would have just stood there! I still can’t believe the chilled out calm pony I now seem to have. I wish I could say the same about Tigger who thought it a good idea to rear at the scary vet with a needle. To be honest I don’t blame him as last time he met this vet he spent 20 minutes trying to find a vein to get some blood so not his favourite person in the world! Luckily after the initial tantrum all went well.

I used a new farrier for Lily for the first time, she trims our ponies feet and has done Tigger before, she is very good with the handling of them for their first time knowing exactly when to put pressure on and when to take it off. She seems to have a sixth sense knowing when the horse is taking the pee and when it truly is scared/unbalanced or being bitten.

She said there wasn’t much to worry about with Lily’s feet, they were growing well and she couldn’t see any new signs of laminitis which is great news. She couldn’t see any problem with her being ridden now.

The part of her hoof where the laminitis has almost grown out now, we think by the time of the next trim it will be gone which will be excellent – and would have been 7-8 months since the attack.

I am anxious to see her today just to be sure she has had no adverse reaction to the flu jab and that the trimming hasn’t made her sore at all, though Natalie is up there this morning and I am sure if she had had any adverse reaction I would know by now! These laminitics are always a worry though!

30th June 2009 - Best ride ever!!

2009-02-19T16:25:00.000Z

A friend of mine was visiting yesterday, we grew up together and spent many hours out hacking around the countryside as kids. We haven’t ridden alone together in around 15-16 years so it was lovely to go out. She borrowed a friend’s horse called Cinnamon whilst I rode Lily.

We trundled along and we had such a lovely ride, Lily was so free in her movement, I got off and walked her down any really steep hills but other than that I rode her, we stopped at the ford half way round for a splash and a drink which she enjoyed.

We were out for about 2 hours in the end and Lily was still forward and happy when we got home, I was monitoring her very closely throughout the ride.

What amazed me even more was how she only had a tiny amount of dampness under her girth other than that she hadn’t sweated at all. I assume she was happy and riding her in the field is fittening her up, also of course she has less weight to haul around at the moment!!

Because she has no shoes I can’t go out on the roads too often but I have today ordered some Easyboot Gloves and I can’t wait for them to turn up – hopefully they will fit! There will be no stopping us when they arrive, I am confident she will easily cope with long hacks up through the woods and to the moors now!

Oh and today she was absolutely fine despite the long ride and a few snatches at the hedge.....!

3rd July - still grinning and evem more so!!!

2009-02-18T21:24:00.000Z

I am grinning from ear to ear again! I brought Lily some Easyboot Gloves for hacking and they arrived today, I put them on and the first few steps her face said "what have you done to me"! Then she carried on walking and was fine, I walked her up and down the field in hand and there was no slipping so I tacked up and off I went for a 40 minute hack (I only intended to walk up the road to try them on tarmac ...!!)

Boots were great up hill and down hill Lily seemed comfortable, didn't trip or slip. We went down a steep hill and she stopped a bit funny but think it was her trying to get at the hedge as everything seemed in order and she was fine after! Got home and they don't appear to have rubbed (and I tried a brief trot in them which was fine)!!

Not only that but this was the longest I have been out with Lily without another horse since the laminitis attack as she can be really stupid but today she was fine, we walked past 2 other horses out riding going the other way, she neighed but was fine, we also went by a field with horses galloping up and down the hedge line and she ignored them - 7 months ago we would have been cantering sideways down the road feeling like we were about to explode, I cannot believe the change in her! It was fantastic!!:D

Another hooray for the hoof boots!!

2009-02-18T19:56:00.000Z

Had another ride around the block today and I am pleased to say the boots were still fantastic (as was Lily)! We even did a very forward trot in them no problems. She hasn't tripped once in them and I am so pleased! It's lovely riding in them and knowing her feet are safe!

The photos are of the boots and just before we went out - see the "do we have to go" look on her face! Oh and the shiny face is fly repellent!

Oh and I am just adding these because my big brave Tigger has had his first proper saddle on and been totally fine with it!!

19th July 2009

2009-02-17T10:30:00.002Z

Unfortunately I wasn't able to ride much this week as the weather was so appalling! I did a hack around the block on Monday and rode bareback in the field Tuesday and Paul had a ride around the fields on her yesterday. It was quite funny as Lily was in a "I want to trot" mood and just jogged all the way around with Paul, I think his legs are aching this morning!

On Thursday evening I went up to find a shivering cold Lily, I couldn't believe it - this is my hardy Welsh Section D who lives out 24/7 365 days of the year unrugged! The temperature had dropped and the wind was harsh, it had been raining for 3/4 days and I guess what with all the blubber loss and only having a summer coat and little to graze she really felt it! I fed her and dried and warmed her up with her cooler then put her rug on before putting some hay out for her to munch to help keep her warm and she was fine!

Yesterday she had me worried briefly! She looked low when she came in and I felt her feet and the seemed everso slightly warm = panic!! I spent ages trying to find a pulse but couldn't and then Paul walked and trotted her for me and turned her in tight circles, she was 100% sound and fine and very forward dragging him around, we decided that she'd been asleep when we arrived hence seeming low! And as said above she was full of herself when Paul rode her. It's funny how the slightest thing can send me in to a panic about her.

Later I picked out Tigger's feet and his were slightly warm too so obviously something to do with the weather. I then long lined Tigger for the first time with his saddle on and he was very good!

New Studies Question Safety Of Soaked Hay For Laminitis-Prone Horses And Ponies

2009-02-16T17:41:00.000Z

Just been reading this article on the Equine World website which may be of interest though to be honest it's not surprising, it’s good it warns people if they feed unnutritional hay they need to supplement vits & mins as it’s amazing how many people don’t!

http://www.equine-world.co.uk/news_read.asp?id=1689&title=New%20Studies%20Question%20Safety%20Of%20Soaked%20Hay%20For%20Laminitis-Prone%20Horses%20And%20Ponies

Still doing well! 29th July 2009

2009-02-14T17:03:00.001Z

I keep taking my camera to get some photos of Lily but it keeps raining and photos of a bedraggled wet horse are never good!!

She is still well though, she had a week off as she had a high worm count so she had the 5 day Panacur wormer and I decided not to ride her during the treatment. I did ride her out Monday though and she seemed happy to be out and about!

I do wish the rain would go away though it really does put a dampner on things, riding is certainly not as fun when it's wet. Today it is pouring again so I think she will get fed and put back in the field!

She worried me after the ride the other day, I went out with a friend and when we got back we tied them up and I gave Lily her feed, because we were with another horse she was tied in a different area, what I hadn't realised whilst being distracted talking to my friend was that she finished her food, finished her hay and was starting on the lovely green grass under her feet! She couldn't have munched for longer than 5 mins but nevertheless she shouldn't have had it! Luckily she has had no adverse effects!

I found this website which is very good, it has some great examples of healthy and unhealthy feet and well worth a look at

http://www.progressivehorse.co.uk/index.html

12th August 2009

2009-02-13T12:27:00.000Z

Pleased to say Lily is in fine form. Had some lovely rides over the last week, I also got to test out my Libbys bitless bridle properly, I have been riding her in it for about 2 years now and cantered her in the fields in the past but I have never had to properly test it out on a hack. The other day there was obviously something VERY scary in the hedge and Lily tried bolting up the track! It was quite amusing as I swear she did a bit of the cartoon type movement of galloping on the spot to start with before actually getting any forward motion! Fortunately within about 6 forward strides she’d pulled up!

Paul has been riding her around the field too which is great as it means she is getting some exercise freeing my time up to do something with Tigger or much more enjoyably poo pick the field! It’s not easy poo picking a field where 6 ponies live but Lily has had a high worm count reading and I really want to keep on top of it as much as I can! Every little bit helps!

Lily has put on a little bit of weight since I moved her field around, she was initially muzzled but now isn’t. I swear there is no grass in there but they seem to be finding enough and don’t need hay yet, and Lily has a very slight grass belly on her, she weight tapes the same and her girth does up the same. I am so paranoid but I am checking the pulses every day and she has had none, her feet have felt warm but I have been going around checking all the other ponies and their feet are warm too so I am putting that down to the weather, having been ridden her feet are much cooler so it’s probably standing around in the sun we have had (which has been a shock to the system)!

I am so paranoid about every little thing now, I wonder what the ponies think of me going around and touching all their feet!!

A Weighty Issue

2009-02-12T12:28:00.001Z

Something I will never forgive myself for is allowing Lily to put on as much weight as she did, no doubt one of the main causes of her laminitis. In summer & Spring 2008 I knew she was over weight but I had little comprehension of weight and how overweight she actually was. She weight taped at 577kg in June 2008 – I found an old worming record and was shocked. It was at that time I brought the Greenguard muzzle and muzzled her and of course thought that she’d be fine. I then took the muzzle off once the green grass had gone and winter approached thinking the weight would be ok and only thinking green grass = weight gain. She moved on to ad lib haylage and in November 2008 weight taped at 593kg, it really is shocking and it’s no wonder very shortly after that she succumbed to the laminitis. With the ad lib haylage, frosty grass together with the weight issue there was only ever going to be one outcome.

As you know from my blog she was box rested from January and her diet was restricted, on 16th January 2009 she weight taped at 525kg, I have a note in my diary of her weight and my aim was to get her to 480kg.

Unfortunately although I regularly weight taped I have no further clear written record of her weight loss until June 2009 when it was 484kg and this is the weight we are sustaining – she looks so well and I am happy with 484kg!

It has taken me a while to write about her weight loss as I just feel so guilty for having such little awareness of how overweight she was.

She has lost over 14 stone, can you imagine that sat on her back!

Here are some photos of her and how she has changed (the dates are approximate)!

June 2007

The running one is approx December 2008 and the other one a month or two before, I remember the running one as she had been on off lame but was happy then to gallop around!

During her box rest, approximately February 2009

When she was first turned out beginning of April I think (should look back on my posts)!

These must have been taken around May time just before she moved back home

June 2009

And finally taken beginning of August 2009

Introducing Ebony & Rags!!

2009-02-11T15:12:00.002Z

You may have read about Fiona & Ebony’s troubles in the comments part of the “Forum Diary Entries” – if you haven’t go take a look! Fiona e-mailed me some photos and the story behind Ebony and her other horse Rags and thought I would share it with you (and of course have Fiona’s permission)!

At the bottom of the entry are photos of Ebony (of course the black one) and Rags (the coloured)

Rags is a traditional Irish cob and Ebony likes to think that she is a Royal Dutch Friesian however she is a cob who may have a bit of Friesian in the genes. Certainly snooty enough.

Rags was a trotter in her previous life and lived in a concrete back yard in the back streets of Belfast until she came my way. She wasn't in great condition and had been rather neglected for a while (hence the name Rags as she looked like a little rag bag). Really didn't want a coloured cob at the time but now wouldn't change her for the world. She is her own person and quite perfect in every way. In the dictionary bombproof should have an illustration of Rags.

Ebony came from a lady who had owned her for nine months and couldn't manage her. Ebs had been sold to her by the farmer who bred her when he hit hard times. Ebony has serious attitude she is a stunner in the flesh but was an over indulged spoilt madam. When we got her we thought that lessons would be good for her however she was expelled from riding school due to her excellent performance of the wall of death when being expected to canter to the rear of the ride- cantering was for amateurs. In short she was our wayward child or 'that mad black horse' as others affectionately referred to her.

It took three years to get her in to a mare who generally behaves other than when something gives her a fright- like fireworks, Rags breathing and having a life etc. She would be a little girls dream as she will stand to be groomed and admired for hours. Follow you around and enjoys nothing better than standing with you and your chums whilst you have chat. Just don't ask her to do anything that will stress her- hacking was ok if she must however other things? I don't think so.... Ebony would be a lady that lunches (without the good works) a bit of a Victoria Beckham although eats LOTS. Sorry that was unkind. She has come a long way and will now do a bit more when asked.

We chose her name as we felt it summed her up- she has a coat that gleams like well polished Ebony. We got lots of advice as to how to manage her generally involving violence however don't hold with that and as she is so highly strung it probably would have made her worse. She flinched if you moved quickly near her so reckon that had been tried. With a great deal of patience and working with her she started to trust us and an understanding was reached.

So now you not only have a face to a name but a whole load of info. that you neither needed nor wanted. Love my girls in case you hadn't noticed!

Getting vet to call tomorrow as Ebs is walking very well now no sign of a limp. Bet it will reappear when the vet comes. I am hoping that her square of mud may get extended and she may be allowed some grass to perk up her diet.

I hope that Lily continues to keep well. I am scared stiff about letting Ebony eat anything other than her hay so Lily has been keeping me sane as she certainly seems to have recovered well and is obviously not suffering any ill effects from her return to grass 24/7. What bliss to have her out again all the time- not in to the stabling thing much rather see horses living out.

Your blog was such a fantastic idea - you have been a lifeline thank-you. Much better that all the other guff that is on the internet as you understand exactly what it's like from the owners perspective and also helped me to understand that what Ebony was going through was 'normal' and that there was a good chance she would come through it relatively unscathed. I honestly had no idea that the recovery period was so long. You and Lily are just wonderful!

I have left the nice comment at the bottom (thank you) but only really to show it’s also not just me that goes through it!! Fiona sent this on 2nd August and Ebony has improved since then – again see the diary entries comments for details!!

Tigger in the school

2009-02-10T14:57:00.000Z

Ok so not laminitis or Lily related but wanted to share some Tigger progress news!

Poor Tigger has been a bit neglected recently, I do a little with him but nothing like I used to as I have been concentrating on Lily so much, he's become quite moody and miserable with me which I thought was a phase he was going through but after yesterday I think it's because I have not been doing the things with him we used to do!

I took him to the school with a friend and her 2 year old, he's not been out since before Lily got ill so at least 8 months, because of his recent attitude I was a little worried about how he would be but decided to put his saddle on any way and see how he was. He has worn the saddle about 3 times before so I am stil wary that he is quite new to it.

He LOVED it! He wanted to be in front walking and was striding out ears forward and looked like he was grinning! We got to the school and I did some long lining, again he was fantastic, listening and steering really well over and around obstacles - straight lines need a little work! :lol:

After that we put 2 poles together and 2 small jumps, he's trotted in his saddle but I wanted him to jump in it for the feel, I guess I just keep waiting for a reaction from him regarding the saddle as he's never had one but no again he was great and jumped fine no problems and no reactions. He was the old happy Tigger

Note to self find more time for Tigger...!!

A couple of photos of him in the school, only one jumping shot and sadly they missed the head LOL!!

4th September 2009

2009-02-09T12:55:00.000Z

It feels like it’s been ages since I last updated the blog! I have been quite busy with one thing and another and of course there hasn’t been too much to tell.

I was unable to ride much for a couple of weeks recently as it was my birthday and I was busy and then away etc. sadly Lily put on a few kilos because of that, it’s amazing how it does not take much for them to put it on again! She went from 448 to 468 so she wore the muzzle 24/7 and I weight taped her yesterday and she was back to 448, I do wonder how correct the measurements are sometimes but she did look like she’d lost a little. I had also kept her muzzled as the grass seems very rich at the moment, I keep hearing of more and more ponies coming down with laminitis at the moment and others who have had it having new bouts, so another very good reason to leave her muzzled, and she seemed ok about it – I wouldn’t say happy! But she wasn’t stressed about wearing it all the time.

Lily and I had an incident last Sunday, not sure what caused it but I was picking out her back foot and she kicked out, she got me under the chin somehow and I flew backwards. I was holding my jaw thinking ouch but still feels in place then saw the blood! Turned out only to be a small puncture wound on my chin but I’ve never seen so much blood! Did my best to stop the bleeding and in the end covered it up to finish madam off before taking myself to the minor injuries unit who then wanted me to go to Torbay A&E for x-rays – 2.30am I finally got home but thankfully all was ok – just a very grumpy tired me and boyfriend who’d come with me!!

Not sure what caused it, it is VERY out of character for her and she has never done anything like it before, shows how complacent you can get around your own horses and that even those you trust 100% perhaps you shouldn’t! My guess is it was a fly bite, or a horse sniffed her over the gate, though of course it could have been pain related in the foot but I have since (cautiously) picked out and washed her feet and she has been fine. I will get my EP to have an extra look at the foot very carefully when he is out.

The weather has been quite horrible, a bit windy, rainy then sunny. I went up two days ago to find a shivering Lily again, it’s madness as the tb and Spanish youngster were fine, and she has a huge barn to go in! So I ended up drying her off and rugging her! I am loathe to keep it on as I need her to grow a nice thick coat for the winter.

Yesterday it rained then stopped and the sun was out, initially I was going to turn her out in rug and muzzle but having weight taped her, and the fact she had a small sore on her nose from the muzzle I decided to take the rug and muzzle off and let her be. No matter what you do you always worry whether it was the right thing though!

Interestingly other people who have laminitic horses and ponies have said their horses are particularly sensitive in bad weather now. Whether it’s because most have lost vast amounts of fat which used to keep them warm who knows!

As for her exercise I have managed to do a bit more again. Paul rode her around the fields, then I rode her and tried to do a little bit of schooling in the fields. We had a canter too which was good, but only a small one!

I have long lined her a few times too and I am finding she is not very bendy. She seems to struggle on circles, even wide ones on both reins but particularly on the left – most horses tend to have one side that is better than the other.

I can’t see any obvious lameness she changes her stride and speeds up to compensate on certain areas and I think it’s due to being unable to bend her body and use it in the right way. I am going to ask my EP to watch her move this way next time he is up to see what he thinks and then probably get the physio out to check her over and get some exercises to work with. Because of this I haven’t ridden her only done some long lining and in hand work concentrating on trying to get her to bend. I have been doing some carrot stretches (without carrots using more low sugar treats!) and some rope work getting her to move around me.

She has moved field again, which was another reason for muzzling her for so long, she will soon have some more fatties joining her too, our hay fields have been cut but the grass as come up so quickly and lush we can’t put some of the ponies in it so they will be joining the fatties whilst the others munch it!

So that’s where we are at at the moment. I was going to get some photos of her feet and had the camera ready but sadly that was the day I then got kicked! So perhaps another day!

Photos of new sparkly headcollar!

2009-02-08T18:04:00.003Z

Thought I would treat her to a new headcollar, was a bargain in the Robinsons sale!

This is her in the field having run away when she spotted me with said headcollar!

And here it is with a couple of her bored whilst I waited ages to get a photo with her ears forward!!

Lily's latest vet visit - 11th September 2009

2009-02-07T20:47:00.001Z

Lily has been slightly lame on circles, initially I put this down to her inbalance due to lack of schooling but it got a little worse so I called the vet.

He came to see her today (a little late) Lily was such a star I tied her up with a haynet at 4.40, vet due at 5pm turned up about 6! She stood all that time totally chilled out, I still can't believe the change in her sometimes!

Any way vet examined her, did flexion tests and watched her longline in circles and he thinks what my suspicions were, arthritis. He said it was hardly noticeable on a straight line and oddly she was worse in walk, normally it's worse in trot but when trotting she was practically sound, he also said with the flexion test she was only lame for one or two strides so the response to that wasn't too bad and it wasn't like she couldn't trot on it at all to start with.

So she is on 2 danilon a day for 10 days and then 3 days after her last dose he is coming out to reassess. It could just be a flare up that will go away and just come and go now and then, or it may be more severe, if she hasn't improved much on his next visit after the danilon then he suggests x-rays to see what is going on and then possible injections if needed but that it should be manageable. Obviously this is not set in stone and it may be something else, we shall see how it goes over the next few weeks!

he said to continue riding her too, just not in too many circles

So to be honest pretty much what I expected, and I am not totally gutted as it's expected as a horse gets older (though she's only 14) and I have managed arthritis before and managed to ride etc and as all I want is a happy hacker it shouldn't affect us much - well it might affect the bank!!

My only real concern is her laminitis never flares up again as that mixed with arthritis would be a nightmare, so fingers crossed that just won't happen!

We made it! - 3rd October (ish)

2009-02-06T22:18:00.000Z

Something I have wanted to do ever since I moved Lily to where she is now is ride on the moors, for one reason or another we never made it until now! It involved going through the town centre which I was slightly nervous about having never taken her through something like that but she was fantastic, she was a little worried but listened to me the whole way and was perfect! We got up to the moor and rode on it for about 10 mins before heading back home, she was only just fit enough to get up there so I didn't want to push it! Here are some photos of us on the moor (only quick ones in case she went silly)!! And when we got back she needed a wash down as had sweated up a little, she wasn't very amused and proceeded to roll to get dirty again a lot!!

20th October 2009

2009-02-05T13:58:00.002Z

It's been a busy time lately! I have had lots to do with the DPTC as we had our 3 day foal handling workshop & Open Day, I was also on holiday for a few days and ill with a lovely bug so all in all Lily hadn't been ridden much, I weight taped her and she has put on a small amount of weight but nothing I am concerned about, it shows how it could quickly creep up though without even just a small amount of exercise!

Last week and this week though we are back in to a routine and I have found someone who can help ride her once a week, this is great as it means even in winter she can get ridden 3 times a week (I was concerned with the clocks due to go back how I would manage in winter - might be able to long line when the moon is out)!

Good news on her lameness too, she has come sound on a circle, the vet was due out again but I was too ill and unable to leave my bathroom! I started feeding her Apple Cider Vinegar hoping it may help, no idea if it's the reason she is sound or just a coincidence but she is and it's great news!

She also has a new saddle, with all the weight loss the treeless just kept slipping too much so I have gone back to a treed one and really like it.

So all in all Lily is on top form and doing really well! yay!

I did have a fright the other morning though when it was frosty, couldn't believe it, so I rushed up early morning and put lots of hay out as the frosty grass was part of the cause of her laminitis, luckily she was fine and no pulses or any signs, I have changed my plan on how to keep her in the winter though, I think I will have to separate her out from the others, leaving her just Tigger as a companion and go up each morning over winter and put out enough hay to last her until 3-4pm - if she is in with more ponies it will be impossible to put out enough hay to keep her going and I can't risk putting it out ad lib day and night due to the weight issue! Fingers crossed the plan will succeed!!

24th November 2009

2009-02-04T19:48:00.003Z

Just a quick update to say all is still well! Lily is weight taping at 441kg at the moment and the podiatrist said she is looking the best he has seen her look! Also after the next trim or two there should be no more laminai wedge and her feet should be back to normal! I can see where the line is closing up which is very exciting, and when he came for this trim her feet were looking ok, they normally were a mess chipped and cracked but they had kept together well with no problems like that so I was very happy.

I am riding her once or twice a week and have someone else to ride her once a week so she is getting some exercise even with the dark evenings and this awful weather, it hasn't stopped raining for 2 weeks, and I can't believe how the wind has kept up, our brand new metal shed is warped and flooded so I am not amused! Luckily so far (I shouldn't say this I am tempting fate) I have managed to ride in between the rain showers!

I am still riding her with the Easyboot Gloves on but I hope to be without them one day, I went to a very interesting talk the other week on the pros and cons of shoeing and not shoeing. The thinking was that boots protect the foot but do not help build it up at all to being ridden barefoot and so we should not ride with boots if we want a barefoot horse, to get the horse fully barefoot is a long drawn out process of walking out for only 10 mins at a time initially then building the time up and then riding. With Lily I will ride her with the boots on but take them off 10 mins before the end of the ride and walk her home and do it that way building the front feet up slowly, it won't interrupt our riding adventures at all and should make her feet even better!

I have been happy to see her frogs are still looking good and not been affected by the mud and wet, I have been concerned with the wet weather thrush might start to appear but the foot care regime is working well!

Lily is now in the field with just Tigger for company, this is so I can manage her correctly over winter, there is practically no grass in the field so I won't have to worry about frosty mornings, and I will be feeding her hay each day, I am a strong believer that a horse should always have some kind of forage though as they are designed to trickle feed and keep the gut moving so I am currently trying to source some oat straw as a way of providing this, unfortunately it is proving very hard to come by! The idea is to mix it in with the hay so it lasts longer but does not have the same nutrition.

Sad News

2009-02-02T15:57:00.000Z

Sorry I have been quiet for a little while. Life has been rather chaotic lately with one thing or another, I split with my partner and then found out my dad is very ill and needs a heart operation, then to top it all off Lily went lame again just after Christmas. I was devastated having had her do so well.

She was living out 24/7 on restricted grazing having hay mixed with oat straw and one small feed a day, she was being ridden once or twice a week and keeping her weight spot on.

My initial reaction was that it was the laminitis back, it coincided with the frosty grass, though she could not get to much frosty grass it would appear even the tinyist amount was too much.

Unfortunately at the fields we do not have the luxury of stabling and so I muzzled her and gave her two feed a day, she also had bute, initially 2 sachets twice a day with some ACP tablets, then 1 sachet twice a day and off the ACP, she had this for a week. She came off the bute 48 hours ago and seems to be walking around fine and is coping well.

Of course this weather has not helped, the snow has been horrendous resulting in me being unable to get to the fields, I live 35 minutes away and I couldn’t get up there once a day let alone twice a day in the conditions, luckily a friend was walking to the fields twice a day putting out hay and feeding Lily for me and keeping an eye on her. I have been so stressed not being able to see her! Luckily I got to her at the weekend and could see she was doing ok, because being muzzled she cannot eat as much hay I rugged her to try to ensure she was warm enough, she can eat through the muzzle so is still getting forage in the snow, just not too much!

I then managed to get up to her again yesterday, she’d been off the bute for over 24 hours and I was pleased to see her walking around ok. I checked her over and weight taped her and she has not lost any weight at all in the circumstances and so I felt happy removing her rug again!

Lily does have slight arthritis and ringbone on and so part of the problem could have been that the ground was really hard, all the other ponies were struggling to walk on it but Lily more so, but with the ring bone and arthritis this could be why she was struggling so much more than the others, I am hoping it was that and not the laminitis but either way I have treated it as such as better safe than sorry.

Unfortunately all this happening has meant I have had to reach a very sad decision, I can no longer keep Lily. To be sure I can manage her correctly all year round I need to keep her at a livery yard near where I live, with everything else that is going on in my life at the moment I just can’t afford to do this, and it’s not fair on Lily to keep her somewhere where if she gets ill she can’t be cared for properly. The spring and summer are fine, the lanes are safe and the evenings light, but the winter is very difficult with icy snowy roads blocking the way and the dark evenings, it makes it impossible to care for her in the way she needs. I had booked to move her to a livery yard last week but the roads were too bad to move her.

I made the decision that I could not keep her, but the problem was how could I part with her, obviously I would get her well and back being ridden and then advertise her but how could I trust any one to take on this very special mare and ensure she got the care she needed and deserved, and the understanding as she is quite a stress head at times!

I e-mailed the people I brought her off, who have always stayed in touched and visited from time to time, to let them know of my decision. To my great joy they turned around and said they would have her back! They brought Lily when she was 5 and have always loved her, this is the best scenario for Lily in the circumstances. I do not want any money for her, I just want to know she is going to a hope who can look after her and understand her, and hopefully ride her and have some fun!

So all being well Lily will be moving towards the end of the month.

I can’t say how shattered and devastated I am to lose her, she is my world and my life has revolved around her for the last 4 years, I think I am going to feel very lost for some time when she has gone. But it is a huge relief to know she is going to the best home possible and I will not have to worry about her or have any regrets. And I can of course visit her from time to time.

Here she is rugged and muzzled in the snow in the first one!

Update July 2010

2009-02-01T14:51:00.000Z

Lily settled in well to her new home in North Devon and there has been no reoccurence of her laminitis. He grazing is restricted and she is very carefuly managed. She is back to normal ridden work and enjoying life. I do miss her so much but the main thing is I know she's happy and well cared for, hopefully I will be able to visit her soon.

As mentioned previously we won the Fat Horse Slim competition, to see the full article click on the link below. She was in fine form the day of the photo shoot particularly as the hunt rode by and she wanted to join them!!

If you click this link there is a summary ten at the bottom a link to an Adobe document for the full article
http://www.bluecrossteaparty.org.uk/fhs/fhswin.aspx