24/02/2024
Very good information here regarding Laminitis, it's a good read for anyone wanting to learn more about what Laminitis is about, a "fat horse" is not the only horse that can develop laminitis, it's actually quite common in lots of different horses!
Laminitis is a serious disease of the equine foot that can lead to long term, crippling changes in the hoof. It is usually explained in scientific terms that can be difficult to understand.
In a healthy horse, the pedal bone inside the hoof is attached to the wall by laminae. These are like velcro. One part stuck to the bone and one part stuck to the hoof wall.
Laminitis, in very simple terms, is the breakdown of this ‘velcro’ (laminae). It results in the failure of the attachment between the bone and the hoof wall.
Your horse may already have mild laminitis without you knowing. Sometimes professionals call this “sub clinical laminitis” or “low grade laminitis”. Commonly, horses are in this stage for a long period of time, even years. Quite often, horses that are tender footed are simply in a state of constant low grade laminitis. Any horse with a dish in its hoof wall has some degree of laminitis.
In an acute case, the horse will experience unrelenting pain and lameness as the bone tears away from the hoof wall and is driven down inside the hoof capsule by the full weight of the horse. This is referred to as pedal bone rotation or founder.