Emergency Founder Help!

[horse~lover]

My horse seems to have foundered. Her legs are shaky, she doesn't walk much, and when she does its stiff and jerky, and just above her hooves, there is heat. My horse is very overweight, ive been working on that, but that along with the growing of the grass in her field seems to have made her founder? iam now unsure what to do? i only have a walk in shed for my two horses. My horse is in much pain. i gave her bute earlier, and locked her in the the barn (with a gate in front so she could still see out) except i can't keep her in there forever, and when she gets out she eats more grass. i have no idea how to help her get better, should i keep her locked up? should i??? what? please give me some suggestions i don't know how to proceed from here.

thank you so much!

ashley

 

[chandab]

First off, contact your vet, founder is serious. Not to mention she could have something else going on. [i don't recall my foundered mare being shaky when she was in her full-blown attack, but that doesn't mean its not a symptom for your girl.]

You will probably need to make a drylot for her and not let her on grass, especially when it's really growing. Take her off all grain and just give grass hay (and water); til you can get your vet out to evaluate her.

 

[Marty]

This should be treated as an emergency so please contact your vet to come out asap!

He will try to get her stablized and give her antibiotics most likely and further meds and instructions.

She cannot have anymore grass, atleast until you get a proper diagnosis.

You can start a dry lot in the meantime by mowing down the grass in a small area as low as you can set your blades. That will help a whole lot. Our big mower blades don't go down too low, so once I borrowed a push mower and that did the trick. If the area is small enough, she'll keep it from growing back too fast. You might also borrow a small harrow or something like that which will help tear up the grass too.

Is it possible that she is suffering from heat stroke? That would explain the shaking.........

Do call your vet.

I am so very sorry and please do keep us informed.

 

[horse~lover]

thanks for the suggestions. i called the vet and he just gave me advice over the phone. he said it is definately founder, and that i need to take her off all grass completely. which i did, i bought her a grazing muzzle, and i also gave her bute for the pain. She seems so unhappy when i put her in her stall i feel kind of bad, but it needs to be done. Another question i have is, is it alright for her to excercise? shes very fat, and that attributed to some of her problems. However, she doesn't want to move very much at a time, so can i excercise her? i ve heard people say yes you need to walk her, and many that say dont or it will hurt her more. what do you think?

also my vet said she'd probably be hurt for a few months. which is a bummer with summer coming, however this could be a good bonding experience for my horse and I.

thanks for all the suggestions and keep the advice coming

thanks so much!

ashley

 

[chandab]

I don't know if ponies are as sensitive to bute as minis are, but if so, then you'll want to give her ulcer meds along with the bute to keep the bute from doing too much damage to her stomach. You can buy OTC horse ulcer meds, many brands, or in a pinch OTC generic human Tagamet works fine (one tablet is what I gave my B-mini).

For the next few days til you get the discomfort and inflammation under control, you will probably have to limit how much exercise you make her do, as she is very sore. Once she is more comfortable, hand-walking will probably be beneficial.

Marty has good information on setting up a drylot for her, if you can make her a drylot, do it.

 

[tracerace]

Ashly, please call another vet.

I don't mean to sound mean, but what your vet did is wrong. My vets famous words are: "I don't know until I see it"....he will NEVER diagnose and prescribe treatment over the phone, unless he KNOWS I know what I am talking about (and it is not as serious as founder).

The shaking is not indicitive of founder - so unless you left out some other clinical signs in your post, I would say he's wagering a serious bet on his diagnosis.

If she IS foundering NO EXERCISE - she needs to be off those very fragile and painful feet. She needs to be on soft shavings at the very least and ice cold soaking and banamine (not bute). Of course all of this is useless if she is suffering from something else.

 

[kaykay]

we had a foundered rescue and she was put on complete stall rest for 10 days with very thick shavings or straw in the stall to cushion her ouchy hooves. Once a horse founders this bad they can never have grass again. Its also best to get a farrier out who is good at working with foundered horses.

I will say this mare also shook but I believe it was from the pain.

I would however have a veternarian out to actually see her and xray her hooves to see how much rotation there is.

 

[Fred]

Actually horses will shake from the pain of founder. The shaking IS serious because the pain is so great the horse could colic along with the founder. Cold soaking her feet will help quite a bit. Bute IS given to foundered horses [in the PROPER dosage] because it relieves the inflamation while banamine doesn't. There are sometimes other medications given with the bute. While it doesn't hurt to get a second opinion I think your vet is right. You have been given some good advice here. However, I would NOT excercise this horse at all until the founder has stabilized and the horse has been given the ok from the vet. Keep the bedding deep. Linda

 

[tracerace]

I forgot this was the pony forum...I assumed this was a mini which is why I don't think bute is a good idea .

 

[horse~lover]

thanks for the suggestions. sorry, i guess i didn't really elaborate on the shaking, it was mostly confined to her legs, and it was only for the first few days. she seems to be doing much better! im so excited. shes walking a bit better today, and not jerkily walking any more. ill be getting the farrier out here soon. Right now, i keep her in a grazing muzzle, because its not possible for me to take her out of the field or keep her in a stall all the time as i have another horse, and only a walk in stall shed thingy. thankfully i caught it early enough it seems that shes doing ok and didn't require sereious sereious proceedures. thanks for all your suggestions! any other tips would be appreciated.

ashley

 

[Fred]

Tracerace the proper dosage of bute be it for a large horse or mini is the key. I know a very very well known stallion that died of a banamine overdose because the vet thought banamine was better. It doesn't matter the drug, the key is proper dosage from the vet. Bute is routinely used for founder in ALL horses as well as minis as it reduces inflamation.

 

[tracerace]

I'm glad she's feeling better Ashley. But please do some googling and research laminitis and founder now, and get a handle on it. Once she's had an episode she may be hyper-sensetive to being laminitic again (and honestly, you actually have NO idea how bad it is or was without x rays).

Good luck.

 

[CLC Stables]

The mare needs a dry lot...................you need to go buy some fencing and seperate the two somehow, this mare cannot have grass. It seems that she was foundered extensively, and could have rotation of the coffin bones starting, or already quite bad.

She needs NO GRASS, not even with a grazing muzzle.

 

[kaykay]

I so agree with rob. it is so important to keep her off green grass! A grazing muzzle still lets her eat grass and that is the worst thing for her right now. If she rotates or continues to rotate there will be nothing to help her.