Category: Winter laminitis

Post reviewed Nov. 26,  2022

I would not intentionally torture my longtime laminitic horse with two weeks of subfreezing temperatures, including three consecutive days with highs ranging from 4 to 10 degrees, a stretch that ended with a big snowstorm and an overnight low of -4 degrees.

In the past, a single night near zero has been enough to make Kurt’s feet uncomfortable immediately, with lasting effects for weeks.

But this is what Mother Nature gave us in February 2021, and it allowed us to see how well Laminil kept Kurt’s compromised immune system in check, preventing it from overreacting to the weather, which likely would have caused an inflammatory attack on his feet.

The cold temperatures started in the St. Louis area on Feb. 6 and stayed well below freezing until Feb. 19.

My biggest concern was that Kurt, 25, would fall apart after the temperatures warmed, something I had seen previously with a winter laminitis case in 2004. In that case, the horse withstood the weather stress of two consecutive ice storms but then fell apart as the weather warmed with the worst case of laminitis my farm has seen.

I was determined to use the new tools I had to prevent that from happening to Kurt.

As the cold snap started, Kurt’s Laminil IM shots were increased to once every three days, and he started getting Laminil Cream on his feet at night as the overnight temperatures dropped to zero. He returned to IM shots every five days a few days after the polar vortex weather ended.

Through the freezing weather, he got free choice hay, as always, and ate more than normal. He looks fatter now (his hair is puffier), but his weight tape says he’s the same weight.

His shed was bedded with shavings twice as deep as normal to try to keep his feet warm.

He doesn’t like to wear boots, so I didn’t put them on, but they were ready to go if he seemed sore. I really didn’t want to mess with boots in the snow. They tend to turn into snow-filled icicles.

Kurt’s Cushing’s like heavy coat likely kept his body warm. Horses on a farm down the street were double-blanketed.

I would say Kurt was bored, because the snow took away his reason to walk around and nibble at what’s left of the grass. Otherwise, he did fine.

 

Kurt walking on Feb. 23, about a week after the worst of the polar vortex of February 2021.

 

I have thanked Willowcroft Pharm for what I termed a “medical miracle,” because there is no logical reason that Kurt came through the polar vortex of 2021 unscathed — based on his long history of doing poorly in zero-degree weather — other than Laminil protected him.

This old pony has been through so much in his 25 years. He does not need one more thing to knock him down.