Laminitis – Symptoms, Relief & Prevention Part 2

Laminitis – Symptoms

How to recognize acute laminitis!

Acute laminitis is very painful for the affected horse. If laminitis is suspected, a veterinarian should be called immediately! In addition to pain relief, they can also provide information about possible causes of the disease. Besides diet-related laminitis, which is a common cause of this condition, there is also weight-bearing, foaling, and disease-related laminitis. A professional diagnosis is essential for further treatment of the disease.

The following symptoms can be signs of acute laminitis:

• Warm, pulsating hooves
• Profuse sweating and muscle tremors
• Increased pulse and respiratory rate; in some cases, fever
• Painful expression – tense nostrils, ears half-laid back, mouth tightly clenched
• Protective posture – lameness, weight-shifting; horse lies down to relieve and protect painful feet
• Weight shifted to hind legs, while forelegs are stretched forward to relieve hooves (horse arches its back upwards)
• Inability to lift limbs, as weight shift leads to increased pain
• Colic symptoms

Laminitis – Relief

Immediate measures we can take for acute laminitis!

After calling the vet, we naturally want to do everything in our power to make the waiting time as bearable as possible for the affected animal. The following immediate measures can relieve the acute pain of the sick horse and help us make good use of the time until the vet arrives.

• Cooling the hooves in a cold water bath (placing buckets and hooves one after another), using a water hose or cooling elements
• Place the horse on a soft surface
• Avoid movement at all costs and as much as possible
• Check vital signs (pulse, respiration, temperature)

Laminitis – Prevention

What we as horse owners can do preventively!

In my last blog post, I already mentioned the glucose and starch content in spring grass as a possible cause of laminitis. Especially now after the long winter break, when turning horses out to pasture, it is important to pay attention to the times of day when you let your horses graze. Since temperature greatly influences the concentration of glucose & starch in the plant, there is a risk that at cooler temperatures, the horse's insulin levels will skyrocket due to too rich grass, severely overtaxing the sugar metabolism and promoting the development or recurrence of laminitis.

★ In general, turning out to pasture should be designed to match the individual diet of our horse. This is especially true, of course, if diet-related laminitis has been diagnosed by the vet in an already pre-existing condition. We also want to avoid obesity in our horse and ensure that exercise and food intake are balanced! In overweight horses and ponies, the risk of developing laminitis increases significantly.

Important tip: Walk the pasture and check if there are any poisonous plants growing there! If so, remove them before you start turning out. Our pasture, for example, unfortunately produced a lot of ragwort every year in addition to lush green grass. Toxic substances in feed can also be a cause of laminitis!

Once laminitis has occurred, it is often a permanent companion, and henceforth, particular care must be taken for the holistic well-being and general fitness of the laminitis patient. This can be quite demanding, especially when our horse or pony is part of a herd where, of course, every animal has its own very specific needs that must be met. From personal experience, I can report that we had to care for two of our ponies much more intensively due to chronic laminitis than was the case with the rest of the herd, especially nutritionally.

★ If possible, we should make the grazing times of laminitis patients independent of those of the other horses. One possibility, for example, is: shorter, but possibly more frequent grazing – depending on the season, of course (beware of spring grass, you know..). Fencing off the pasture into smaller areas can also make it easier for us to organize the grazing time of laminitis patients independently of the rest of the herd. Fencing can also establish a kind of rotational system, so that the pre-diseased animals graze on already grazed areas for a while longer before moving on to a slightly lusher area. Grazing muzzles and hay nets can also be a sensible investment to keep an eye on the food intake of an animal with a pre-existing condition.

Are ponies more susceptible to laminitis than horses?

It is often heard that ponies are more susceptible to laminitis than large horses. This is certainly not least because they tend to gain weight faster, are considered more robust due to their anatomy, and thus experience a different diet than would actually suit their needs. Our ponies had both already suffered from acute laminitis at the time of purchase. Unfortunately, we were very naive (first own pony & instantly smitten) and trusted the seller too much. In retrospect, a complete examination by the vet – from head to hoof including X-rays – would of course have been absolutely necessary to be informed about pre-existing conditions. Not necessarily with the motivation to be able to reverse the purchase decision, but primarily to ascertain the current and acute health status of the animal and to know exactly what to expect. Based on the expert's anamnesis, adequate measures can be initiated directly by the owner, and preparations can be made for what is to come.

Being well informed about the health status and pre-existing conditions of our horses and ponies is incredibly important! Especially laminitis, which can quickly develop into a chronic disease, requires our watchful eye. This also applies, of course, to our ponies and their diet. We should not be too negligent with them and adapt their diet to their health status, breed, and exercise level.

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