I havent posted on here about this, Ive been working with both my vets and even " Want2chase3" from this site about her experiences. Two weeks ago my horse won a barrel race by 3/4 of a second, next day just a little off, by day after that, full blown laminitis! Xrays showed a SLIGHT/minimal rotationso we started all the precautions. Bute, icing the feet, diet change, etc. Sent in blood work for any and all things metabolic. All negative. He had hock injections done 2 weeks prior and had one slight joint flare at the time. It resolved very quickly. Vets have determined he had a reaction to the steroid and thats what caused it. He went down hill pretty fast the first few days then stabilized. He was able to come off the bute ans switched to equioxx. Vets have all said its a rollercoaster. SOme get better in a week, takes several months for others. He has been in Cloud boots and heavy bedding since day 1. Vet gave a DMSO IV drip a week ago which made him instantly improved. Vets origionaly said to put a pad and shoes on, but he was so painful they said to take them off so he is barefoot now with the boots. He literlly will be bright eyed and feeling better one minute and barely able to walk 2 hours later. He lays down and sleeps a LOT, which is good i guess. Eating and drinking good. He has never been on feed with molasses, jut renew gold and alfalfa /Grass hay so there wasn't a lot of diet changes to be made. He is a BIG 1300 pound horse in shape but he has lost 50-75 pounds these last 2 weeks. Vet says he should make a full recovery, just takes time and we can't predict how long. Just wondering if anyone on here has any ideas maybe I missed!! I have packed his feet with magic cushion few days and tried sore no more. Both seemed to work then not work so who knows.  Thanks for reading, if there is anything I am missing please tell me!!! He is a super nice horse so I am giving him a chance but I don't want to continue something if its going to not work in the end. Thanks! 

Are you still feeding Triple Crown Lite? 

Just wanted to add to my thoughts: Have you done more xrays again? Sounds like he may have done some more rotation if hes laying down alot more. If he were mine I would be getting more x rays to see what his coffin bones were doing, if he can tolerate a trailer ride to the Vets.  

Yes! That was part of the feed change. Winwillows was helpful and said RG would not contribute enough sugar and starch but we did switch to one pound of the TC Lite to reduce it even more. Oh, And for hay he is on unlimited teff AND TC Low starch forage because its guarenteed at 8.3% NSC so under the 10% requirement. I know its working cause he has lost a lot of weight. 

Yep!!!! His first xrays were 2 weeks ago today, and we took a second set ONE week ago today. Their wasn't any real change, but its been. a week so might not be a bad idea to maybe get a 3rd set. 

Re check the joint....any fever?

You mean from the joint flare? That resolved fine and no fever, but I can check it again for sure! 

Not that I am recommending this but just my story. I treated a light case of laminitis once with banamine, absolutely no feed even though the horse was a hard keeper, grass hay, deep bedded stall and I started off taping cut down memory foam people shoes that belonged to my husband --lol his favorite runners-- to my horses' frogs for support and pain relief.  I eventually moved to boots with memory foam inserts I cut from a memory foam pad.  My horse went through a miserable week or two then once the abscesses started erupting out she started improving really fast. 

My good friend is a veterinarian and I trust her completely when she goes outside the box when one of my horses does not respond to traditional treatment.  

I hope your horse feels better soon.

Have you checked his digital pulse latley? If so how was it? When Melvin was really hurting and laying down I knew he was in alot of pain and I checked his pulse and it was thumping hard, I called his Vet and he wanted to see him right away. 

Checked the joint. Zero heat or swelling and perfectly normal temp. I put my sore no more poultice in the freezer and packed his feet with the cold clay tonight. He sure liked that. He ate and is laying down again. Lol. Every person who I've talked to said this is the normal eb and flow of this and to stick it out and he will recover. I will keep at it!! 

I have heard about the abscesses. He was only on bute a week before we switched to equioxx. He didn't tolerate it at all. The best thing my vet has done is give him an IV DMSO drip. She is willing to let me take a couple bags of it home and I don't mind doing it every week if necessary. 

Yep! The hard part about this horse is he has big pulses normally. But yep on his bad days they really get to thumping. Me and the bet text back and forth regularly. 

Sounds like you are doing everything you can for him,which doesn't surprise me, it does take time,ALOT of time,its just seeing them in so much pain that hurts the heart.

Flit has been doing everything and anything he can for this horse, literally has spared no expense, gotten lots of great advice and he put together a dream team of vets and farriers to try to get this horse fixed! it's definitely a terrible roller coaster to endure ... hoping and praying each day to see any sign of improvement,  even if it's just a little, it gives you hope then the sinking feeling when they take a few steps backwards.. its heart wrenching... and I feel for you ... I remember it all too well. 

I would find a good farrier that could put wooden clogs on him. I'd also run more dmso

So sorry to hear- prayers for your horse to have a full recovery and for your patience and perseverance. 

I agree,its the first thing our vet suggested,and if the DMSO worked that good I would give again asap.I would also remove his feed and suppliments,, all OF IT  except hay until you see some improvement. Is he on alot of supplements?

We went with cloud boots for the time being because he can only stand on one front foot about 20 seconds at a time before he jerks it away and has to put it down. It took my farrier a long time just to get his front shoes pulled!!! And my horse feels horrible about taking his foot back like he is going to get in trouble. Not his fault but he knows he is not supposed to do that. Maybe he will improve a little more in the next week and we can put the wooden clogs on. Supplements wise, all he gets is his curost total support. That's it.

have any of you had one go through it and come back and run cans? My vet is a barrel racer as well  and is really confident that when this is over he will be back running just have to maintain them a little different.  

My mare became laminitic during the lockdown.  My friend lives in another state and the vets that I use were only accepting haul in drop offs.  They would not even consider letting me pick up meds or do a DMSO drip without a diagnosis so I had to do the next best thing and go old school with ace since I had it on hand.  Equioxx and bute were useless so my friend told me to go with banamine it was her preference anyway.  My mare started parking out at first and it took me hours to get her in the stall from an outside paddock just outside the barn.  Once the abscesses started forming she went down from the pain and that is when I taped my DIY lily pads to her feet made from my husband's shoes.lol  No way could I get her to hold one foot up long enough to do much of anything.  Once the abscesses broke out she was up and going.

The laminitis was mild and stayed that way. The abscesses though tore her feet up.  She had two in each front feet and one in each back.  She has the slight dropped sole in front and you can tell where there was some separation.  When I started her back I tried riding her barefoot because she doesn't have much foot to nail or glue a shoe to but she clocks almost a full second off barefoot.  I finally found a farrier that can custom make a shoe and get it on her and keep her sound at the same time.  So it looks like I will be able to compete on her again but her feet will always be a management issue now and I will always be cautious of a relapse.

It looks like you are doing what works for your horse and all set to a hopefully a solid recovery with your horse. 

Thanks! Good to hear that after all that you were still able to compete.  It's a day by day thing for sure. Luckily my vet didn't agree with the lockdown and it was business as usual! Lol