I am continuing in a dialog with my newsletter subscriber who was concerned about my use of pergolide. Her experience was with an insulin resistant horse that did not respond to supplements but did respond to the Floth horse supplements from Dr. Thomas. She was very happy with the individual coaching she received from the staff at For Love of the Horse and fells she now has the tools to prevent further laminitis episodes in her horse.

I also had some horses with laminitis respond to the Floth herbal program but I had others who did not get the good results. Just like my program using antioxidants and controlled diet does not work for every horse the Floth program is not perfect either. As I have said many time, Laminitis in horses is very complicated and must be approached with each individual horse in mind. That being said, I have had many people report to me that they had good results using different programs that are listed on my website or in my laminitis ebook.

What I am wanting to do, since I can’t possibly work with every individual horse with laminitis, is provide people with information so they can explore different options until they find the right program for their horse. I rarely give up on even severe horse laminitis cases unless the horse tells me he does not want to continue. I have seen too many respond. Once people have done what they can on their own with their local vets and trimmers I am willing to consult and help in any way I can.

Back to the pergolide issue. I would never use pergolide in a horse with insulin resistance. It would not help and could cause serious side effects. This drug is only for equine cushings cases and I still only use it on those that are not responding to natural treatments alone. I never base my treatments on lad results alone because they can be misleading. I look at clinical and lab results together. As my newsletter subscriber correctly pointed out pergolide like all drugs is only treating symptoms and can cause side effects. My experience with equine cushings cases that also have severe laminitis is that they are not able to respond to natural treatments alone but if I add small doses of pergolide they can respond to the combination of natural and drug therapy. I am so glad my readers get it about the negative effects of palliating and suppressing symptoms with drugs. I hope my decision to use drugs in certain cases can be understood as well. Drugs can improve quality of life in horses with laminitis that would otherwise be put down due to having an incurable disease. Madalyn

Related Links
Preventing Laminitis in Each of the Five-Element Personality Horse Types
What you need to know about laminitis in horses to be successful in treatment
Owners can treat laminitis in horses
The moral aspects of treating laminitis
Chronic Horse Laminitis: The Road Back to Health