I need help with a foundered horse

[minih]

I have a mare that has been foundering off and on since this past spring since she was on the new grass. I had just bought her in the late fall and everything was ok until spring. I had never had a foundered horse and did not realize when I bought her she was founder prone, and I was not told.

Any way she is only getting plain steamed and crimped outs and older hay, not the new stuff we just put up. We give her aspirin and she will get some better but she goes right back to hardly being able to walk. I hate seeing her like this and don't know what else to do. My vet has said she was already rotated when we bought her, this is a chronic issue for her, but she should clear up. She hasn't. I need your advice on what I could do to help her out, what do you feed your foundered horses? Please feel free to pm me if you want, I know no advice, your not a vet

 

[Frankie]

We have one of these and it is and will most likely be an on again off again type thing.

He is on Triple Cleaned Oats, and GRASS ONLY hay. Those two things combined have made a difference for him. He has a very cushion stall floor, 4 inches of woody pet that has been watered down, and 4 inches of pine bedding. He never goes on grass and we keep him a water puddle at the end of his dry lot most of the time.

I would think your vet would have better/more suggestions for you. Try a very experienced farrier, in my case, they had more ideas to help.

Good luck

 

[Leihala]

In my experience you might check with your vet. as to whether oats are appropriate. In my climate they are not and could cause problems. I am not sure about giving asprin to a horse - please check with our vet.

 

[manyhorses]

minih,

Oh I feel for you! We have a shetland here that foundered three years ago this month...you will have lot's of ups and downs...PAY attention to your veterinarians recommendations! There is a web site www.naturalhorsetrim.com it is a very controversial method of treatment, goes totally against what we are taught here in the USA...The lady that heads up the treatment protocol is Dr. Strasser, from Germany. As a last ditch effort for Icky my farrier and I tried her methods, after conferring with my regular Dr., of course, to ensure that there wasn't anything we were going to do to make it worse. I literally spent hours pouring over her website, and there are a few "Strasser" certified farriers in the area, should you try this method. I won't say that Icky is 100% sound, he still has his good days and bad : ( He is rotated approx 15 degrees in both front feet, and there are days I wonder if I'm doing the right thing, but HE still has a gleam in his eyes and holds his own in the pasture turnout. Your veterinarian will probably recommend NO grain. Buckeye and Moorman's both make a feed that is great for these guys, supplys their vitamins and minerals, and PROTEIN which your horse will need to grow new healthy hoofs. If you would like to PM me we can talk further, and I'd be happy to share with you, my personal experiences with Icky... I don't know if Dr. Strasser methods will be "right" for you or your horse, but they are an option worth looking into. She is starting to catch on here in the USA, as there have been articles in several magazines on her, along with interviews, and It seems she was invited to the AAEP symosiumn on Laminitis this year.... not for sure. Dr. Redden is usually a speaker there, and has a totally different approach....my opinion only... but his just did not sit right with me. Do you know if your horse is insulin resistant? That's what is predesposing lots of horses to founder...Take care, Keri

 

[Miniv]

I agree about checking with your vet regarding the oats and the asprin.

Asprin may be hard on the stomach if continued over time. And we had a Shetland founder on us this year and took him off ALL grain.....just grass hay. Initially we gave him banamine and then weaned him off that. It took about a month before he was walking normally.

Again, talk to your vet.....

MA

 

[Kendra]

Ask your vet about x-rays to determine the degree of rotation. Often the vet and farrier will look at the x-rays and see how much toe to take off. By taking back to toe the idea is to make to angle of the hoof wall match the rotated angle of the coffin bone and gradually bring it back to normal after the laminae heals to some degree. They'll also use styrofoam on the bottoms of their feet to support the coffin bone.

There are lots of options to help her, your vet and farrier will have lots of ideas, I'm sure!

 

[Marty]

I probably hate founder more than anyone else in the world as it took my horse. I hate it with a passion. To understand what rotation of the coffin bone means, you should do a google search and then select IMAGES to have a visual aid.

Research, research, research will help you more than anything. A rotated coffin bone cannot be fixed in any way. Once it is moving, it's moving and that is the problem and there is no growing it back or repairing it. The bone is "loose". It actually "rotates" That bone will not get better, it can stay the same or it can get worse and some go right through the bottom of the foot if they are severly rotated. When that happened to my quarter horse gelding there was no other choice then to put him down at that time as the bone was trying to come out the bottom. As Keri has said you can indeed grow a healthy hoof again but there's no fixing the bone inside.

My pony foundered too on grass and rotated very slightly and with good trimming and no grass he did fine, so they are all different depending on the degree of rotation. And you are so right, once a horse has foundered they do tend to do it again so keeping an eye on things is important.

Grass can be your worst enemy. You don't want your horse to get heavy. She needs to be kept "light and lean" so that is less weight bearing down on her foot. Deep bedding in a stall is a must have. You may consider padding the foot too. I used to use stay free pads wrapped in vet wrap. I did that on the real bad days and it helps. A good farrier can trim the hoof and give you instructions how to trim it right every few weeks so that the coffin bone is going to be angled down in a certain way to relieve some of the pressure that is causing pain. You may want to contact Julie at R3 Minis @ aol who has quite a method trimming foundered horses. She does travel around a lot too and maybe coming to your area. But if you email her she can explain how to trim this mare. I tried Devil's claw and banamine for pain but that would not touch the pain so I was feeding bute left and right out of desperation, but I know that you should not do that, so for pain I haven't got a clue. I don't know about asprin either having any effect or being safe to use. On bad days you can stick her in a mud puddle. They seem to get some relief from standing in mud.

As for feed, us oldies were taught in the past to only feed oats and grass hay, but new research out there now disputes it and says that's wrong so I need to research that too. I would go to Liz, Hosscrazy who is usually up on this stuff to see what she fed her foundered horse and again, use google to research that. She also knows of a support group too.

I wish you lots of luck and best wishes as I know this is a hard thing to deal with but it can be dealt with. The important thing to remember is that this is now 2005, not 1975 and there is research and so many new methods out there to try. You just have to keep trying to find out what is going to work for you. hugs (((( ))))

 

[Ashley]

Does she have any signs that could say Cushings?

 

[wendy4mini]

There is an excellent Yahoo group called equineCushings. It is a wealth of information. The vet has a diet that will get you started (it's listed under files area). It will also explain that some grass hay has more sugar than others.

 

[LisaF.]

I had a mare a few years back that foundered.

My vet told me during the bad times to run a water hose over her hooves..it helps the pain...just a suggestion...and you may already know this.

 

[Hosscrazy]

I am not a vet and I am not giving you medical advice. I'm only sharing my personal experience with you. I just lost a Cushings/Insulin Resistant horse, and it looks like her offspring are now Insulin Resistant.

Please join the Yahoo Cushings/Insulin Resistance forum:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EquineCushings/

I'm an active member and "helper" on this site. I think you may want to look at the information on this site (feel free to PM me if you have question about the site) and ask your vet to run blood tests to check insulin, T3, T4 and ACTH levels.

Liz R.

 

[justaboutgeese]

There are some horses who even with the best treatment your veterinarian can provide for it, and all the caring you can give are just not going to get better. It is a condition which in some cases will render an animal totally unsound and unable to lead a normal, pain free life.