can a horse be grass intolerant without having cushings?

notpoodle

notpoodle

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Jul 16, 2003
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bit of a stupid question i suspect.

pony's lami proneness is getting ludicrous :eek: she keeps on having to come in with 'dodgy' hooves (eg warm around coronet band) and odd pulses. the weather doesnt seem to make a blind bit of difference any more ... yesterday i have put her in a rather small pen within the field so she'd have even less grass (put soaked hay in there for her ...). the pen has a large patch of dockweeds she wont touch and the rest is 'poo grass' eg that weird long stuff where they pooed and that they wont eat) ... lo and behold, hooves iffy again this evening.

vet didnt want to test for cushings when i could have claimed on the insurance (cant now and im broke) because she had no other symptoms (still doesnt) and the results would have been 'too onconclusive' :eek:

shes not fat either. im at the end of my tether. i need a sandpaddock or something :eek: what on earth has happened to the pony that was merrily living out on grass all her live up until she was 14??

Julia
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Hey, this year for our yard has been particularly bad, we have had a 15.2 welsh section D and a 15.1 cob go down with laminitis, the cob lives out 24hrs usually in a 12 acre field with my horse and three ponies. We found that the weather is whats causing the problems as the intermittent rain and sun has made our grass much lusher than it has ever been and this year we have less horses grazzing 24hrs (well less big horses anyway). Is you pony being treated for laminitis? if she isnt i would seriously treat her for it, make sure its an eliniated possibility, and within a month of box rest she should be back to normal, but you must muzzle her if this is the case (thats also if u havent allready).
Hopefully thats of some help
Jorel
 
bit of a stupid question i suspect.
Click to expand...

Not at all. No expert on the subject but all I know is that both mine struggle more with their feet during spells of strong grass growth, and neither of them show any of the classic signs of being laminitic or IR. Both are slim, fit, work hard, come off the grass part time and are fed all the right things. I strongly suspect it won't show up now Rio has shoes back on, but she's been up and down in the last few weeks in terms of comfort levels, so it's no surprise to hear Angel is struggling a bit too. This summer has possibly been the worst yet - even last year things did brighten up more come August and September.
 
@ jorel: my pony does not have a full blown attack and never has done. she keeps on getting low grade symptoms (eg i dont let it get to an attack), which has been going on for two years now. she has been x-rayed in the past etc. and now the vet said he was happy for me to use my judgement to decide as and when to bring her off the grass and bute if neccessary. and no i cant muzzle her (she takes it off), but she is on limited grazing (could you please read my posts properly) as it is.

@ bobs mum: thanks ill have a look at that :)

Julia
 
Sorry to hear that the small pen did not work.

Do you know what sort of grass you have at your yard - Rye grass is meant to be not so good for laminitics but it tends to be used for cow grass as it has lots of whatever it is that makes cows grow quickly (my dad used to farm cows).

You may find in her previous living out years she was not living on rich rye grass but timothy grass which is more suitable for horse grazing! Edited to say I know she is on restricted grazing but maybe if it is rye grass it is richer than say long grass of a different variety!
 
Yes i agree with Bob`s mum. My boy back in early March was treated for LGL (long, long story so won`t go into it!!), but i read up on EMS, and then got my vet to test for insulin resistence by doing a glucose tolerance test - it did turn out negative, but at least i could rule it out, might be worth a try?:)
 
not sure what kind of grass we have, but its probably something for cows (there being a lot of cows and all!). mind you, the field shes in is the one thats not fertilised and in use all year round (eg not rested) and there really isnt much in there at all :eek:

and magic's fine on it :)

Julia
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Julia there is a nice lady on the ihdg forum that has an IR horse and she keeps him and his friend in an entirely grass free area, bark maybe? She is really knowledgable on the subject, and I know her chap gets set off by all sorts of things, even the things that most of us would think fine even for lami prone! She would really be worth a chat to, pm me if you'd like her username on the ihdg, I'm sure she wouldn't mind, as she is so well researched and practised on it all!:)
 
I know you have a big problem with sweetitch, have you considered stress being the trigger.

Laminitis can be triggered from a number of things, as I am sure you know, concusion on feet from hard ground, giving birth, cushings, grass and sugary feeds etc...... plenty of them.

The stress from sweetitch should not be ignored. I know you struggle with her in the stable, ripping rugs etc trying to scratch, and being alone for lengths of time because of grass etc, not being with friends is a form of stress.

This could all be adding up. Some get it from being stressed at going to too many shows.

Worth considering as I can safely say you have explored cutting out the grass, it could be another trigger.
 
Just wanted to add that there seem to be alot of lamititus/cushings recurrences at the moment not just Angel.
Hopefully if you can get through the unpredicatable autumn patch, things will improve.
 
@ Jorel: sorry, i didnt mean to cause offence. but my pony's woes are a long, ongoing issue eg it's not just your average lami attack, for which, i would, of course seek the vets advice :)

the stress thing may well be a factor ... but thats a catch 22 thats nigh on impossible to get out of :eek: i leave her out, she gets lami.i bring her in she itches and starts the dreaded itch cycle - this could cause more stress. she goes out again. lgl again ...

the paddock seems to work at the moment. hooves were normal for a couple of days :) i dont think she enjoys it much though :eek: she gets hay for breakfast and lunch in there (dont want to starve her!) but its probably quite dull for her in there (she can see her fieldmate and another horse though!). i'll keep her there until the fields close at the end of the month ... next year i'll probably have to make her a little pen earlier on and hope she gets used to it (she is calm in there, but always eager to get out ...)

Julia
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Mine definitely does not have cushings and cannot tolerate more than a few mouthfuls of grass, a few handfuls of unsoaked hay.
 
@ bronya: any idea what's causing this? insuline intolerance? EMS? i'd be really interested to hear. did this come on suddenly? with age? had anything changed in her environment?

Julia
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insulin resistance

hi, my pony is insulin resistant and cannot graze at all. In his case it was caused by ME letting him get overweight a few years ago, It just totally messed up the metabolic rate. He would now only have to graze for ten minutes and have an attack of laminitus!. He had alot of rotation in his front feet from repeated attacks. Every time they have an attack (even mildly) those hooves are getting damaged! He now lives in a completly bare paddock with no access to grass at all. I feed him on older soaked hay as good hay is like giving good grass! not advisable! one handfull of hifi lite, one small portion of speedibeet and f4feet. twice aday. No apples or carrots are fed as the sugar content is to high. He has another 28year old laminitic pony for company and is very happy!
 
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