These eight hooves have given us a nasty scare. After a seven week gap during which David was concentrating on looking after me and getting the priorities done, he gave Dave and Theoden a thorough trim. Although their hooves looked marvellous, both of them became very footsore on the gravel as they went into the barn. After fifty-three years of horse keeping, and over twenty at this farm, it looked like we had our first two cases of underlying laminitis, exarcerbated by the recent trim. David has been trimming our horses for almost five years without a problem and has been complimented by the Vet (married to a farrier) and our qualified barefoot trimmer.
Unbelievably, we are keeping ten equines on only five acres but therein lies the problem. If we put them in the other four acres of grassy, harrowed fields they will get very fat, whereas in the present fields they short grass is more sugary even though it is Forest quality. The seventy-five Fallow bucks that frequent our fields have ensured that we have no really long grass which would be better for them and I can't walk them over to the fields at Brune's Purlieu. There were five equines in the top paddock - Nathalie's two (also on laminitis watch but doing absolutely fine), Theoden, Dave and Henrietta.
There were no other signs - no bruising, no event lines, no indentation above the coronet band, no stretched out or indeed elephant-on-a-drum stances - but a real reluctance to go on the stonier part of the access to the barn.
Fortunately, it has worn off very quickly as I was being tormented by the radically different advice given by vets, and by barefoot gurus; mention the word 'laminitis' and forceful suggestions flood through the stable door. I have had to hold my nerve.
Whilst box rest was an option with heavily soaked hay, Bute and shoes, I didn't want them to have to be restricted their movement for what could be rest of their lives - eventually substituting the barn with ever decreasing plots of bare land. Nor can I create any sort of Paddock Paradise on land that I only rent. I may have 'got away with it' until now, but I have always put a lot of thought into testing my horses' metabolism so that they live more naturally. I have always been highly suspicious of foods that claim to be suitable for 'laminitics' because often it is not, and I have always supplemented horses with good quality hay. At the moment mine are on a little bit of last years' which I am only giving them to top up their fibre; I don't want my horses to get ulcers next.
So there's a great deal of waiting and seeing going on, but after one week they are significantly better than day one. Vets are saying that the weird weather conditions - very dry and hot, then wet an warm - have brought on more cases of laminitis than they have ever seen.
