What should I do with my horse
She has been foundered three times and now she is in a pen with no grass. She is 18 and I may not be able to ever ride her again. Should I just take her for long walks or try and ride her?
Answers:Do you have her on Thyro-L? There's something about foundered horses and Thyroid...so ask your vet and run her blood work.
I bought a foundered mare (sucker for a special needs horse, I guess) and we've had great success keeping her sound.
Also, look into low-carb feed for her. Mine is a rather high protein 14% and fat is 5%, but the carbs are low. It is kind of pricey...$12 something/50 lbs.
Depending on the rotation of her coffin bone, theres not alot you can do unfortunately.
How lame is she?
I would have a vet evaulate her and see exactly what you can do with her. Its so hard for us to say over the net when we don't know if your horse is lame, what the coffin bone is looking like etc.
Kudos for the pen with no grass, good job tho!!
You can put special shoes on her. I would check with both vet and farrier. Where I live, they work together on things like this.
Get some xrays done if you haven't already, find out the degree of rotation and talk with your vet for these answers. Keep this horse off of grains, put her on a good forage diet (grass forages, not legumes) and offer free choice mineral supplements to her. Keep her away from the "grains" though and any lush green grass or clover as you have stated you have done.
I wouldnt ride her if she is in pain...You might want to keep her on Butte...A pain killer..When a horse is switched from hay to fresh grass there is always a good chance the horse might founder.Be careful of what she eats, and get a vet out to evaluate the problem and a good ferrier...Founder and laminitus is a common problem with horses that eat alot of fresh grass, when they are not used to it. Alalfa can cause it too...Coastal hay, doesnt have the sugar in it like alalfa.
I'd say just enjoy her old age. Just walk with her, brush her and spoil her. ;-) If she's foundered that many times, she probably has genetic problems with her feet.. so it'd be kinder to her to just enjoy her without riding her.
There are many types of corrective shoeing, but i am sure they are expensive, and considering her age, I wouldnt use your money on trying to correct a horse that isnt gogint to take you anywhere.
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