THE FOUNDER FACTS

18 April 2023

Laminitis kills thousands of horses every year, and leaves thousands of others debilitated with lameness.


It will and can affect any horse.


And for you, the horse owner it can be devastating: you feel guilty and heartbroken at your horses suffering, confused with all the information as it is typically explained by professionals in scientific terms that can be difficult to understand, costly veterinary bills and you have the major task of nursing your horse back to recovery. .


Unseasonal weather patterns around Australia with abundant rain and sunshine saw laminitis at a near epidemic last year. The reason being, that the environmental conditions can trigger increases in the sugar, starch and fructan. These collectively known as non-structural carbohydrates can cause laminitis in any horse or pony.


Alarm bells ring this spring!!


Be warned and be prepared, for prevention is better than cure.


What Is Laminitis?

In a healthy horse, the coffin bone inside the hoof is attached to the wall by tough laminae. These are like Velcro. One part stuck to the bone and one part stuck to the hoof capsule. 


Laminitis, in very simple terms, is the poisoning or inflammation of this ‘velcro’ (laminae). It results in the failure of the attachment between the bone and the hoof wall. 


In an acute case, 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. 


The Problem with It?

It is the most serious disease of the equine hoof and causes pathological changes in the horse’s anatomy that may lead to long lasting lameness.

white horse
horse foot

This is molly a five yr old Welsh/sheltland mare. She has the classic slipper toe identified with long-term neglect and founder. With correct hoof care, she was able to move off in a normal gait, and then cantered off to join her herd. Her hooves look normal again. Molly was fortunate to be rehabilitated from her founder episode. Founder is the long-term result of laminitis.

hoof
hoof


What Causes Laminitis?

  • Pasture high in sugars – even skinny horses, and horses in work can get laminitis on grass that is high in sugar. The sugar in pasture varies seasonally i.e. spring or autumn flushes; throughout the day by photosynthesis; climatically i.e. drought or frost; and through management of pasture i.e. fertilizers
  • Over feeding grain – all horses can get laminitis from overfeeding or feeding products too high in non structural carbohydrates (NTSC’s), starch and protein in addition to pasture and hay. Horses that “break in” and gorge on grain can develop laminitis rapidly.
  • Obesity - and its metabolic consequences is one of the major causes of laminitis. Thinking your obese horse is safe is like a ticking bomb! 
  • Fat horses can become Insulin Resistant (IR), which is a condition similar to Type 2 diabetes in humans. These horses are extremely susceptible to laminitis – even carrots and apples can make them founder – and sometimes these horses cannot be put on grass at all. This is extremely common. www.ecirhorse.com
  • Cushing’s disease – a tumor of the pituitary gland – Found often with elderly, IR or obese horses. Horses that develop this are extremely susceptible to laminitis.   www.ecirhorse.com
  • Retained placenta post foaling- can induce laminitis
  • Supporting limb laminitis - can develop when your horse has injured one leg and loads weight for long periods of time without movement on the other uninjured leg.
  • Mechanical - when the horse is subjected to hard work on often-compromised hooves (overgrown, unbalanced). Also called Road Founder or concussive founder. 
  • Stress – excessive travelling, competing, overtraining, illness, medications, post colic attack or post surgery can all trigger laminitis attack. 


Signs to Look For

  • Reluctance to move freely – horse is accused of being lazy, is “ouchy” on rocks “walking on egg shells”, is worse when asked to turn or walk down hill
  • Bounding Digital pulse – indicates hoof inflammation. The digital pulse can be felt in the artery behind the fetlock. 
  • Heat in the hooves
  • Shifting weight from hoof to hoof /swaying side to side
  • Horse appears restless or may lie down a lot
  • Blood (stain) visible in white line of the hoof sole – usually seen by your farrier or trimmer a couple of weeks after an attack 
  • Horse stands depressed, unwilling to move
  • Horse unwilling/unable to pick up a foot
  • If your horse has been mildly laminitic for some time, the hooves will look distorted, rings are present in the hoof wall, hooves may be flared, have separation in the white line of the hoof and thin flat soles. These horses often have cracks and seedy toe infection.
  • Overweight laminitic prone horses will often show a cresty neck and fat cellulite deposits on their body. 


Unfortunately most horse owners don’t realize when their horse is in the developmental stages of laminitis. Severe damage to the internal anatomy can occur out of sight within the space of a few hours.


Fortunately horses have an incredible potential for healing. If the cause of laminitis is removed and ideal conditions of recovery and health are provided they will nearly always heal.


A management plan is necessary if you have a laminitic horse in your care.

  1. remove the horse from the cause, 
  2. first aid and pain relief. Seek veterinary advice.
  3. The horses environment – make it comfortable and with companions
  4. Feeding and nutrition – keep it simple. Soak hay to remove sugars. Strip graze or use a muzzle to reduce grass intake
  5. regular and rehabilitative Hoof care 
  6. Regular exercise and movement 
  7. Prevention


Knowing what causes laminitis, we have the power to prevent it. 


Think about the horse – both wild and domestic.

 

To nurse your horse back to good health look at the big picture: your horses evolved needs. Today’s horse is highly evolved and its biological makeup allowed it to survive for millions of years.


This one fact is valuable to your understanding of laminitis. Horses have simple needs and more we complicate their lifestyles and feed, the more problems we have. 


While it is difficult for us to adopt the nomadic wild horse lifestyle for our own horses – it is possible to incorporate a few of the “wild” elements into our husbandry that produce healthy, happy horses. Acknowledging this and making the necessary changes, the road to recovery will be a success. 


The most rewarding thing is to see a foundered horse return to soundness. 


More rewarding is knowing YOU made the difference 


Case Study – Charlie the Superhero Shetland please click on the footage links to see before and after.

kid on pony

Footage of day one – he couldn't walk https://www.facebook.com/wild.abouthooves/videos/779752806625766/


Footage of returning to good health and rehomed to a equine assisted learning facility – he is sure to win more hearts there. https://www.facebook.com/wild.abouthooves/videos/187728624026044

founder facts

This Little Book Could Save Your Horses Life The Founder Facts – Your Horses Health Is in Your Hands

A little book with lots of information to prevent your horse developing laminitis. If you have a laminitic horse in your care, it will outline a management plan to aid their recovery. 


Edited by the leader in laminitis research in Australia, Professor Chris Pollit this book contains up to date information and is a must have guide for all horse owners and professionals. 


PREVENT LAMINITIS – BUY THE FOUNDER FACTS direct from https://www.wildabouthooves.com.au/online-shop/THE-BARE-FACTS-AND-THE-FOUNDER-FACTS-BOOKLETS-p154026025

Rehabilitation case….


This is Charlie, he was to be euthanased. I found him lying on the ground. As you can see from the way he is standing in picture 1 he's not very comfortable and in a lot of pain. He was in a small grass paddock with grass and clover up to his knees hence the reason for his laminitis

Charlie in acute laminitic state
Charlie 12 months later, healed and employed at the Riding for Disabled, Launceston
His hooves were rotten and he had an extremely stretched white line. He was trimmed and booted and started moving better within the hour.
Within six months Charlie has almost grown a complete connected hoof. He suffered his fair share of setbacks, with abcessing and seedy toe.
wild about hooves

Hoof care and rehabilitation specialists, educators in one day learn-to-trim workshops, and the nationally accreditated trade certificate in hoof care, guides of the ultimate outback wild horse adventure, designers of tools of the trade.

Jen and her horse Imaj Zamir

ARE WE BECOMING FARRIERS?

by Jen Clingly - Wild About Hooves • 29 November 2020
The extraordinary relationship between humans and the horse has been running since before the birth of Christ. Indeed, there is evidence our domestication of horses goes as far back as 3500 BC. And ever since we recognised the utilitarian value of the horse, there has been the horseshoe. The use of horseshoes has become an almost unquestioned tradition. Humans have been nailing shoes onto horses’ hooves for well over a thousand years. Who can remember back to a time otherwise?
horses

CAN YOU LEARN A PRACTICAL SKILL ONLINE?

by Wild About Hooves • 19 November 2020
There is nothing quite like getting hands-on when you are learning the art of trimming horses hooves. Wild About Hooves popular weekend workshops allow their students plenty of opportunity to ‘have a go’ in a situation as close to real-life. Students start practicing by trimming horse’s cadaver legs, they also practice positioning themselves under a horse safely and ergonomically. Students retain more information when they physically practice, instead of just seeing or hearing it. However, when a worldwide pandemic puts a stop to everything, and public events banned, border restrictions in place, and other impacts make it impossible to travel and train in person, Jen Clingly and Jeremy Ford decided to adapt and reinvent their learn to trim courses. “We can still bring this “learn-by-doing principle” of adult learning into what we are teaching regardless of whether we teach online or off line.” Clingly highlights. “But it is challenging especially for us to articulate clearly and demonstrate without the constant interaction of questions and answers that face to face provides.” When it comes to traditional face-to-face training, the principle of maintenance hoof trimming is easy to grasp and execute. So how do the team at Wild About Hooves deliver their online hoof care course? How do students learn to do it themselves in an environment where they are not physically present to perform practical exercises? Online teaching requires very different approaches to teaching face-to-face for obvious reasons. Wild about Hooves shares 4 ways of teaching a practical skill via online training. 1. Get as Visual as Possible When it comes to practical training, or teaching learners new skills, we created loads of visual with power point lectures and ‘live demonstrations of trimming.’ People learn in many different ways – visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. By delivering information online, we want to make sure we enable all the different type of learners to engage with our hoof care principles. Providing visual diagrams, animations and dot-pointing our information all helps alongside a video showing a real life demonstration of the skill in a environment that is as close to what will happen out in the field. We try and get the camera in close to the hoof to show the trim process step by step. When the brain can ‘see’ how something is done before it is attempted independently, the chance of success are much higher than just reading or hearing about it. 2. Get on Camera Much out of our comfort zone, we got ourselves on camera. People like people, and it can significantly enhance the engagement, retention and completion rates of our course if our learners can see us talking to them. We don't have the budget for a professionally filmed training video, but we put together some good ‘how to’ trim footage and this also enables people to engage by watching, listening and following along as the training video plays. 3. Self Paced Learning Students can work at their own pace through the series of lessons. They can stop when they are tired or need a break and then get back to it when the time is right. Also they can go back and revisit any of the lessons to reinforce their learning. The lesson range is interesting and covers introducing the trainers and their backgrounds, the distal limb anatomy of the horse, how the hoof works, barefoot trimming, step by step hoof trimming, the relevance of the wild horse study, Australia’s desert brumbies, tools for trimming, what to look for when you trim horses hooves. All lessons are interwoven with film footage and powerpoint lectures and then access to further resources. It’s user friendly and feedback has been sensational. 4. Trainers Are Accessible and Can Be Contacted to Provide Advice and Feedback The team at Wild About Hooves is contactable to help students who need further information and guidance. Best of all with a team of over 150 hoof care practitioners in Australia with ACEHP: The Australian Certified Equine Hoof Care Practitioners there is usually someone who students can touch base with to learn more from or who they can book in to check on their trimming and horses hooves. Check out the link and join the team virtually! https://hooftrimmingonlinecourse.podia.com/
Horse

THE NORMALCY OF BAREFOOT AND A THANK YOU TO THE HORSES HOOF

by Jen Clingly - Wild About Hooves • 21 September 2020
“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.”
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