Bad news

I am in shock. Andolu has laminitis, in both front legs, and the vet thinks it is pretty bad. He also says he does not like beet pulp for horses at all, and never recommends it. He considers it really bad for laminitic horses especially. I know I told him that they get beet pulp mixed with senior feed before, when we were treating Mira's eye, and he never said anything about it then. I guess he was thinking about her eye at the time and didn't remember to warn me or something. I've seen so many articles recommending it as a good feed that I thought their diet was pretty much safe from laminitis with that and the grass/alfalfa mix. He gets three flakes of alfalfa a day, shared with Mira, and I didn't think that would be too much. I asked the vet a lot of questions. He said yes, Andolu is too chubby (which I have been trying to bring down without it being too sudden) but not that fat, and he said there really aren't any obvious things he sees that caused it. Just "luck of the draw."

He'll develop the x-rays later and we'll see how bad it is. I'm pretty sure it is bad, though. It's weird, 'cause I kept trying to feel for heat, and never could really tell. I checked in the wrong spot for the digital pulse, because as soon as he showed me to move my fingers, I could feel it pounding. Not good. He hadn't reacted to my prodding, but he did react to "real" hoof testers. In the pasture, he was standing pretty square, and, if anything, under himself rather than in the "laminitis stance." On the gravel it was pretty obvious how sore he was, though. I'm glad I iced him, but I wish I'd done it sooner and more. For now he is in the round pen, is not to move much, and is on anti-inflammatories. I need to get a bucket to ice his feet in.

For now, things don't look good, though. Laminitis is such a chronic illness, and it can be so hard to keep them comfortable much less usable, that unless the x-rays show very little damage at all, the prognosis is not good.

Please pray for me - I really need it today. Now I have to get some work done.


L