Miniature Horse Laminitis

Hello Everyone! I have a question and would really appreciate as much help as I can get.

About 2 days ago, I found my miniature horse laying down on the ground. This is uncharacteristic of him, as he is usually the first one to come running up to me for attention! Because he is never down, the first thought that ran through my head was COLIC. So my instinct was to get him standing up, and walking around. As soon as I got him up, we went to take the first steps and he immediately favored his right front hoof. So I checked him over for any stones or abcesses, and found nothing. I felt down his leg and hoof, and there was no obvious heat.

This mini is very special to my heart, as I have had hopes to use him with my future children. He is only 6 years old, and it saddens me that this has happened to him at such a young age. I am very motivated to bring him back to full soundness, as I also compete with him in cart classes.

So we called the farrier out to have him take a look at our mini, and he assumes that he went lame or foundered. He went on to explain to us that supposedly there is a link between laminitis and magnesium deficiencies; so he instructed us to not only soak his hoof in warm water and epsom salt (magnesium sulfate), but to feed him small amounts of the salt to restore the magnesium. So after much research, I decided that it was worth a shot.

Although its only been a couple of days, I can already see a noticeable difference. He is still favoring that hoof... but he is progressively becoming more independent in terms of mobility. In order to keep him comfortable, I have given him minimal doses of phenylbutazone, restricted his grazing times, rub therapeutic warming-cooling gel on his fetlock joint, and have used padded hoof boots.

My problem is that I will be leaving to attend college out of state in a week. My parents are completely comfortable in doing horse related tasks like tossing them some hay, grooming, and other basic horse care tasks. Our horses are very low maintenance, but with this new development with our mini, he is going to need some extra care.

My question is: what are some things that we can do to keep our miniature horse COMFORTABLE while he is on the mend, keeping in mind that my parents are going to be the one's dealing with his care? I know for sure that they will not be able to do all of the things that I am doing right now.

Any advice from people who have dealt with lame horses before would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

I'd say that about covers the bases! If the horse was lying down to get off his feet, I'd say that lami is a distinct probability, esp that he's a mini at grass. But not enough info to know that. Could be an abscess or something else. If you would like to take some hoof pics of various angles that would give us more idea. Pete Ramey hoof care laminitis founder horse navicular disease thrush equine foot development farrier is one good source of info to learn what you might be seeing.

Yes, you can learn more about diet & nutrition & how it relates to laminitis at Katy Watts | Safergrass.org . It's not necessarily related or only due to magnesium deficiency though and obesity(hence little, unexercised ponies more prone), insulin resistance & rich & 'junk food' are the more important factors.

Generally, unless trauma induced, lami effects all feet, so I'd treat the whole horse rather than just one foot. While it effects all feet, the *symptoms* & mechanical changes are often worse in the front feet and can be worse on one foot than the other.

Of the above, it may be the bute alone that is making the difference. But I would only personally be doing it in the very short term, in case of an actual lami 'attack'. If his pain/problem was only a 'one off' initial episode, then you should find he's probably fine now. If the laminitis has been ongoing for some time & his pain is due to progressive changes - 'rotation', etc. then there is more to be considered, such as trimming specifics & frequency. It may also(if lami or otherwise) be due to a stone bruise/solar abscess or such.

Unfortunately there's no easy answer to that & depending on what they can do, you/they may need to find someone else to help. Of what you're doing, as mentioned, I'd likely do away with the bute now(except under vet's advice), I wouldn't worry about the therapeutic gel personally either, and hopefully, if he can be on yielding ground, he may be comfortable without hoof boots. I would definitely continue to restrict grazing &/or use a grazing muzzle and the extra Mg *may* be a good idea. If he's not supplemented otherwise, there may also be other nutritional deficiencies/imbalances.

I would first & foremost line up a good farrier/hoofcare person(not assuming your current guy is not good, just not assuming he is either). He may benefit from 4-weekly or more frequent trims if there are imbalances to be corrected. I would also line up a good vet who is also experienced at successful treatment of lameness(unfortunately you can't just assume all 'experts' are as good on this as eachother) and while I wouldn't *necessarily* rush to call them out immediately, I'd get them if he's still sore after a week and I'd also consider getting xrays done if the vet isn't sure it's something unrelated.