laminitis advice needed

Anyone have any experience/advice in dealing with an acute laminitis attack in a horse with a history of founder? My sister's pony has been symptomatic for 3 weeks now - increased pulses, heat in the feet, rocked back stance and a lot of time off his feet. He is getting 1g of bute 2xday, turnout in a snowy pasture all day, timothy hay only.

He had a bad attack 4 yrs ago, fronts only - xrays showed slight rotation in one pedal bone only. He was on fall grass at the time. This time it seems all four are involved, with no rich diet to spark an attack. He is booked to go to the college for x-rays this week, our fear is that he will have a signifigant degree of rotation.

Our farrier keeps him barefoot, sort of a conventional trim with barefoot influences.

If anyone has any advice, or experiences they could share, I would be grateful. We are not sure what else we can do for him. Our vets are not offering a lot of hope or options, just based on his history and his lack of response to bute and cold.

really sorry to hear about this Will, wish I had any decent advice to give you.......I wish you good luck when the results are in from the xrays..........POOR GUY.

Biggest tip...do NOT touch his soles Period. And trim his hoof walls to relieve the pressure.. (The "prying" effects of him trying to hold his weight up on walls. They may or may not appear flared).. is he "Flat footed"?

..Some horses are insulin resistant..and even small amounts of sugar in their hay, can set them off.. What breed is he? is he an actual pony? (I call all horses, "ponies"...so thought I would check..lol) Most ponies can't handle the sugar in hays... and should be cut way back if he is geeting free choice.. or slowed down.. By no means do I mean take hay away from him so he has nothing to eat for hours of the day, but slow down his intake is what I mean.

He can be corrected for sure... (the rotation is nothing to be concerned about if you have someone who will trim him to support new tight growth. This pony can have WONDERFUL feet by the end of summer... )...and can be set up in living conditions that allow him to be a pony...allow him to move...and eat constantly, but just in smaller amounts..

I'm with TC, even Timothy hay may be too rich. Is it first or second cut? Soaking will eliminate some of the NSC's, or a a lower quality hay may help? Is he overweight?

Movement is also really important, you need circulation and blood flow going to his feet. Standing in a stall is not going to promote healing. Can you spread his hay to encourage movement and get him on 24hr turnout? Take him for walks.

Pads (flutter boards or foam cut to fit) duck taped to his feet may make him more comfortable, or hoof boots, but you can't leave them on all the time. 12hrs a day max.

Can you post pics of his feet?

thank you for your advice! I will pass it along to my family. (he is not in my care, I just get called in for trimming/vac/worming and any health crisis)

He is a pony pony - shetland x QH x welsh. about 13hh. Sleek is what comes to mind when I try to describe his condition - not a prominent fat pad on the tailhead or cresty neck, but his ribs are covered and where his neck and shoulder meet is completely filled in and smooth.

Pre laminitis he had a long foot - even freshly trimmed with his heels back where they belonged his toes looked too long, with a slight cup shape to the sole. Since his first attack 4 yrs ago his heels have been getting more and more forward. He has always been pasture trimmed, never shod and never actually in a barefoot trim. Last year our farrier changed to a pasture trim with more barefoot influences - rolled toe, leaving sole, leaving frog, getting him off his walls. Pete Ramey (sp?) made too much sense to ignore any longer!

x rays showed about 13 degrees of rotation. The college plans to reduce the thickness of his sole and quite radically shorten his toes. I'm confused about why they recommended thinning out his soles - it seems that the more sole between his bones and the ground the better?

His hay is first cut timothy. He only gets about 1/2 of a 40lb bale a day, in two feeds. BUT - Turns out my father was sneaking him beet pulp, fat and fibre pellets and the odd alfalfa cube - the old mare (34yrs) he is pastured with is essentially toothless, so gets a feed of "mush" twice a day in addition to her hay. She does not share! Dad felt sorry for the pony so was feeding him a little too - about a 500g container twice a day. I think I understand how he managed to have an attack in the winter now! The vets at the college were very direct with dad - "that is not for him" !

uh-oh!!
sorry to hear darc.. that sucks :( poor pony! we are going to have to put your parents on full-time watch! haha.

Quote :

The college plans to reduce the thickness of his sole and quite radically shorten his toes. I'm confused about why they recommended thinning out his soles - it seems that the more sole between his bones and the ground the better?

I am not sure why they would do this, unless they are trying to "Carve" a more ideal hoof out of what he has?
Not a good plan if he is already too thin in that area.

The biggest thing by far, is reducing the toe... a long toe is always prying at the layer of laminae with each step... it would take very little influence of a high sugar diet to help that along.

This is a picture of a horse with notorious flat feet, low heel, long toe. Just by changing his diet, and relieving the wall at the toe..his hoof wall immediately started to grow in tigher...big difference with a very small change.