DESCRIPTION OF LAMINITIS AND FOUNDER

© by Gordon Adair

Laminitis / founder stance

Laminitis is defined as inflammation of the laminae. There can be many degrees of inflammation, you may not realize your horse had an episode until you see a heat ring around the hoof wall at a later date. In a serious case, one hoof is affected, then with the transfer of weight to the opposite hoof, that hoof will become inflamed, then the crisscross hind foot from the origin hoof will inflame when left untreated. The highest heel is often the origin hoof.

The laminae is the connective tissue that connects the external hoof wall and the coffin bone inside the hoof.
Cooling the laminae immediately is very important to avoid damage. Daily movement, 24/7, can reduce the inflammation.

The coffin bone is the bone closest to the ground inside the hoof capsule. The other names used to describe the coffin bone are; P3, third phalanx, and pedal bone.
Laminitis / founder is the second leading cause of euthanasia of horses next to colic. This could lead us to believe that the success ratio of recovery from laminitis / founder is very low using traditional methods.

A deformed coffin bone from chronic founder

Founder is the nautical word for sinking and is often used to describe the damage that resulted from the inflammation. e.g. sinking of the coffin bone. Founder is considered the effects of laminitis as the condition remains unsolved. e.g. Separation of hoof wall and the coffin bone from the laminae, damage to other internal components, and hoof capsule deformity. Founder and laminitis are often used to describe the same condition, people will favor one word over the other. The disagreement of the word use of laminitis and founder is another result of the frustration of unsuccessful treatments.

Acute is the early period of the condition.

Chronic is when the condition continues uncorrected over a period of time.

The coffin bone rotation is mechanical
 because of the hight heels

Mechanical is used to state the possible cause of the inflammation and rotation is a high heel. The damage is the same as true rotation. In my experience mechanical laminitis is eighty percent of coffin bone rotations. Redesigning the hoof capsule can restore mechanical laminitis horses to full use.
The sole is the con-caved material on the underside of the hoof between the outer hoof wall and the frog.

Possible damage of laminitis / founder
Downward rotation of the tip of the coffin bone. Coffin bone rotation can break through the sole. Uncorrected swelling can cause the sole to tear and cause the belief that the coffin bone has penetrated the sole. The swelling can also cause the shedding of the hoof capsule. Sinking downward of the coffin bone, which is called a "sinker." Damage to tissues and blood vessels. Impair the growth mechanisms, causing abnormal growth. e.g. flat or convex sole, heat rings around hoof wall, separation between the hoof wall, sole, and laminae.

Causes

Tear in sole from swelling

Unnatural feed for horses: Synthetic, high sugar, protein, spoiled feeds. Over heated conditions; fever, improper cooling after hard work, hot day without movement, over weight. Confinement / lack of movement Chemicals poisons Toxins Infections Drugs Metabolic conditions of the internal material; lack of blood flow, gasses, internal damage. Colic Fertilized pastures. Shoes; because they decrease blood flow and increase shock on hard ground and jumping. Improper or lack of timely trimming. Excessive weighting of a sound leg because of a nonbearing injured leg.

Symptoms

The hoof and leg are warmer to the touch then the others. Lameness / limping on any ground surface. Surface sensitivity. lameness / limping on concrete or gravel. Transferring weight from one front leg to the other, as if the horse is standing on a hot surface. Laying down for long periods to relieve hoof pressure. A typical stance for a Laminitis / founder horse is extending the front legs forward to de-weight pressure on the toe region to the heels. The hind legs are also extended forward under the body to carry the weight transfer from the front to the hind. Laying down is a sign of the other hooves becoming affected. Using hoof testers will show response in the toe region in front of the frog. Coffin bone pressure can be seen on the sole of the bottom of the foot. Swelling of; the leg upwards to the knee, cornet band, and the sole causing less concavity or even con-vexing the sole. Heat rings around the hoof capsule. Sinking of the hoof capsule down onto it's self. The outer wall separating with white-line stretching. High heels.

Treatments
Change the cause, fix the affects, and let your horse heal! Educate yourself by researching the different methods and treatments available. Care for the horse in the most natural way nature intended. Discontinue feeding "hot feeds." Switch to grass and grass only hay, no grains, sugar feeds, or alfalfa. Cooling of the hoof and leg. Movement. Blood flows in and out of the leg during movement. The blood flow works as a; coolant, detox, and repairs the damage. Barefoot trim to maximize the blood flow and ground to frog support. Bute or herbs to manage pain for decreased human and horse stress and improving movement. Blood flow will fix the damage. Use a grazing muzzle until weight and toxins are brought under control.

You Are The Decision Maker And Care Giver
There are different methods and treatments you will need to research, you must be comfortable with the direction you choose. There is no time for mistakes so, don't trust on blind faith. Instead, question your professionals on whether they have experience, what is their success ratio, and ask to see the cases. Each person will have a different interpretation of a recovered horse. I have seen so called "recovered horses" who were still in a chronic condition. Ask what is your horse's chance of total recovery. You will be surprised with the answers. You must understand and agree with the procedures. Opinions based without knowledge is why so many horses are euthanized. The number one cause of delayed or failure to recover in my cases is the owners opinions on "recovery care" for their horses. The recovery care is fifty percent of the recovery. Your professional must be able to explain why everything is being done. Avoid additional harm! Your horse doesn't need any more pain or material to repair.

Prevention
Care for the horse in which nature intended. People often say, "the horse is the worst designed animal!" The horse is a poor design for human captivity but, not for living in nature. Horses are perfectly designed for eating grass as they travel great distances in a day. Movement is the horse's greatest prevention and healer of health problems!

The USDA study conducted in 1998, found 2.1% of the recorded population of horses had or were suffering from laminitis in the prior twelve months which, 4.8% had to be put to sleep. Of an estimated 8 million horses in the US would make 168,000 cases in a year, and 8,064 of those horses would have to be put to sleep. There was no mention of recovery rate or degree of recovery.

Care And Trimming Treatment For Client Laminitis And Founder

If there is no cure for laminitis and founder then, should we try a different treatment? 
© by Gordon Adair
Disclaimer: Most of my laminitis and founder cases have been in Ocala Florida. Different regional conditions my require altering my treatments. The therapy I use is not new, studies and records dating back to the early 1900's to the present are used to make my decisions.
Laminitis and founder is considered not to have a cure and is the second leading cause of  euthanasia so, to be successful we must think outside the box. You must make the decisions for your horse from successful therapies, your opinions will not help unless you have experience. When consulting with other professionals ask: about their experience, to see their own recovered horses, and will your horse recover. Don't go on blind faith.

Laminitis and founder is a serious problem with a small window to reverse the condition. The more time your horse is in the laminitis and founder condition the more damage is being done internally and externally thus, the longer the recovery.

Owner requirements for laminitis and founder recovery. Skipping any of the requirements will reduce the chance of your horse's recovery.

Swelling moves into leg
because of stall confinement 

1) Reduce the heat and swelling of laminae. Swelling and heat will damage the internal and external foot called; foundering. Ice and cold water can be used on the leg and foot. I rather not soak the hoof when there is pressure being applied to the sole, I always released horses on to grass pasture to walk and graze. You will learn why and how to make make pasture grazing safer as you read.

1a) Dr. Pollitt a researcher on laminitis has shown that weighted movement pushes blood out of the foot and then gravity refills the foot. Blood flow will cool the foot, reduce inflammation, and start the repair process. A horse standing in a stall or in a paddock will have less blood flow causing swelling then, when grazing. A horse buddy naturally helps with your horse's daily movement.

Over fed horses will not move even when on pasture, they will just stand waiting for the next meal so, reduce hay till there is movement. Horses recover in blood flowing foot steps, not time resting. But, don't rush the recovery: movement without causing inflammation is important. There is no drug, operation, or quick fix, only you fixing the cause and effects and then blood flowing time.

Sole is convexed from swelling
on a stall confined horse

1b) Movement with frog support. The coffin bone is attached to the laminae but, the frog and hoof mechanism supports the coffin bone. Grass is the best natural  frog support for the hoof. The hoof must be trimmed for frog health and support.

2) Eliminate the cause of the inflammation. Every problem has a cause and effect. Laminitis is called a disease but, to fix the condition and avoid any reoccurrence you must think of laminitis as a condition caused by something. Eliminate the cause and your horse will return to normal.

2a) No packaged sugar based feeds, no grains or mixes. Alfalfa is not grass, think of it as a herb although, high in nutritional and medicinal properties it should be stopped until the swelling is reduced, and then used in small amounts. Over feeding grain and alfalfa can cause laminitis. Feed grass hay with pasture grazing.

Heat ring growing downward after eliminating
the cause of laminitis

2c) Most packaging has sugar, even when not labeled, so horses will eat the contents. Pasture grass has sugar but, it's more stable then refined sugar used in most packaged feeds. Refined sugars can cause laminitis. Horses can safely consume natural sugar in small grazing amounts as long as they are not consuming large amounts in a short time period elsewhere.

Eliminate sugar sources to allow pasture grazing and movement. It takes a long time grazing to equal a sack feed meal. Sugar consumed in a short time has a greater insulin spike vs. natural sugar consumed over a long period.

2d) No chemicals. Chemicals pool in the foot and with little movement, the chemicals may inflame the laminae. Chemicals can cause laminitis. Manage pain to increase your hors's movement or whenever you need it to make you feel better. Try a natural buteless to help with pain and inflammation. Bute, a chemical, can be used to increase movement, it is the lesser of the evil of not moving. Movement's blood flow's recovery! But, if a little is good, a lot is not always better!

My rehabilitation trimming

Trimming must be done on a four week basis to rebalance hoof damage. Trim angles wear away in two weeks and bad hoof growth pulls the good hoof in negative directions.

The hoof must have a natural balance, 80% of my laminitis cases had high heels, long toes or other hoof damage requiring corrective trimming. High heels will show coffin bone rotation on radiographs although, the bone is not out of position. The mechanically rotated coffin bone will do damage to the laminae and cause inflammation until balanced. The rotation will lessen as the heels are trimmed or increase when the heels are raised.

Long toes will create an uneven top bottom measurement from the coffin bone to the outer hoof wall, this distance measurement is often used to determine rotation. The longer the toe the more uneven distance from the coffin bone to the outer wall. This is not rotation!

The hoof must be trimmed and balanced for optimal hoof mechanism and frog support. The foot will repair it's self when balanced for support and blood flow movement. My past successful laminitis and founder trims would not have worked if the above requirements were not met. My trim will not work if the horse stands and the causes are not eliminated.

There are millions of ways to trim a barefoot, each horse is different and often require changes in trimming along the way. I will tell you what your horse requires when I see the condition of the hoof. There are many variables in the corrective trimming and recovering process. The degree of foot pain, body soreness, movement, terrain, and your care will dictate the trimming.

Past owner mistakes that slowed recovery or contributed to my 20% unsuccessful cases 

Yes, I made my own mistakes as I learned to deal with laminitis and founder, dealing with the owners, and horses which, is why you should ask about experience.

Not following or discontinuing the above requirements, and adding something I disapprove.

The owner's uneducated or unexperienced opinions increase as their horse improved, causing owner past or new mistakes to re-damage the foot.

A nonprofessional or unexperienced professional changing or adding to the therapy. My therapy works for me, conventional medicine says there is no cure for founder so, there is little room for error or experimenting.

Stall usage to comfort their horse or themselves. There is little time to stop the damage, every stalled horse I've seen was swollen to the knees.

Over feeding their horse causing decreased movement and the natural survival instinct to graze.

Delaying the corrective trimming causing damage from excessive growth or breakage into sensitive material.

Excuses, to many to list. Excuses will not help your horse in the short time available to make changes.

CLUB FOOT, HIGH AND UNEVEN HEELS HINDER YOUR HORSE'S PERFORMANCE AND COMFORT

© by Gordon Adair

The right heel is higher
then the left

You don't walk or run with one flat heel and the other a high heel shoe. What would you think the different heights do to your back when you are just standing? Then your athletic performance would be unspeakable. 

The horse's power and energy of movement derives from the ground via the the hoof mechanism. An unbalanced hoof (the nail) can cause the hoof mechanism to become inactive, compromising your horse's performance and health (ex. lameness, founder, laminitis, navicular, body soreness).

A balanced hoof:

The unfixable club hoof.
This condition is like you
running in high heels

Balances the skeleton system of the horse with it's relationship with the coffin bone.

Delivers traction,  the front hoof pulls while the the hind hoof pushes.

Acts as a shock absorber by expanding and contracting.

Pumps blood out of the foot when expanding and contracting.

Creates proper stride break over.

When the hoof is unbalanced we use the words: club foot, high heel, uneven heels, long toes, flares, and underslung heels. 

Club foot is a hoof with a high heel that changes the weight axis collapsing the toe, and in extreme cases creates a dish in the front of the hoof. High heel is basically the same but, an earlier more fixable stage often caused by poor hoof care. The club foot or high heel can affect one or both front feet but, often they are uneven.

Same hoof as above after one trim.
Surprise a club hoof can be fixed

The weight axis is important for performance stride and body balance. An improper weight axis will cause improper hoof to ground contact changing hoof wear, then changing hoof growth. The front and back of the hoof will always affect each others balance and growth.

DAMAGE CAUSED BY A CLUB FOOT OR HIGH HEELS

As the heel height increases the heel will contract (become tighter). When the heel contracts the growth moves forward causing the hoof to be oblong instead of round (underslung heels, long toes). The bones inside the hoof (coffin and navicular) remain the same size as the hoof (nail) contracts and becomes oblong. The oblong condition will cause foot pain and bone deformity.

A clubfoot with a dished
toe from over weighting
 with forward weight axis

Heel  height effects to the body (muscle, tendon, ligament, and joint) is easy to experience by wearing high heels, women know this pain, men should give it a try! Normal easy tasks will become much harder and awkward giving you a bad attitude towards walking or trotting. I have found that forty percent of horse and human behavior problems are foot related. Make the feet feel better and the horse or human will move willingly!

Same hoof as above
after my trim restoring
proper weight axis

The hoof must have a natural balance, the hoof angles can affect and change the skeletal system from the ground up, causing discomfort to the shoulder, back, etc., altering the horse's movement discouraging movement. When horses have contracted and high heels every step will be painful as the contracted hoof capsule tightens around the coffin bone inside. High heels will show coffin bone rotation on radiographs although, the bone is not out of position. The mechanically rotated coffin bone will do damage to the laminae and cause inflammation until balanced. The rotation will decrease as the heels are trimmed or increase when the heels are raised. Eighty percent of my laminitis cases had high heels, long toes or other hoof damage requiring corrective trimming. 

CAUSES OF CLUB FOOT OR HIGH HEELS

When your horse is in motion, the heel is designed to make ground contact first causing wear to the heel. When genetics, pain, injury, or poor hoof care causes a horse's stride and ground contact to change (toe first landing), the toe will wear more than the heel. The ground contact and weight axis change will cause higher heel height and collapsing the toe.

I believe habit plays the major role in most causes:

A past injury has healed but, the movement habit continues. Riders favoring one direction can cause uneven hoof wear. Horses are also right and left handed so, they too favor one foot over the other in performance. The number one cause is feeding in one spot so, the horse holds the same stride each time while eating. Over time one heel will break down and become to low and the other heel will grow. A horse grazing on pasture will stride equally.

With most causes, poor hoof care is a factor, by the hoof specialist or the owner not having their horse trimmed.

TREATMENT FOR CLUB FOOT OR HIGH HEELS

Alarming number of horses have some degree of high uneven heels. Almost every new client's horse has uneven heels. Often it is said "thats just the way the hoof grows".  Can a club foot or high heel be fixed? "Yes, in time". Will the club foot or high heel correction stay? "No, unless the cause is fixed".  Every problem has many "causes and affects". For example, an injury started a change in stride (toe first contact), causing uneven muscle development, causing  stride length habit, and when the hoof is not corrected during this time the high heel itself becomes the cause, making a full circle. This is way it is hard to correct a club foot and high heels, there are many variables beyond trimming skills. 

The owner's responsibility:

Your horse should not be fed in one spot, scatter hay so your horse changes leg positions. 

Buckets should be raised so your horse stands even in the front.

Exercise your horse so muscle development and performance are near equal.

Same horse as above after my trim.
The left is to low and will grow
in time and the right is ideal height

The trimmer's responsibility:

The high heel:

The heel should be trimmed to the level of the sole.

Taper the sides of the frog so the ground spreads the heels.

Round the toe back to the white line for better break over.

The low heel:

Taper the hoof wall  outward all the way around so, first ground contact is on the inner wall.

Trimming the uneven heels (affect) even is easy but, they will grow back uneven unless the "cause" is corrected.

Analyzing A Radiograph Of A Horses Foot With A Deformed Coffin Bone

© By Gordon Adair

Professional barefoot horse trimmer

Below is a radiograph that I was asked to evaluate for an owner, and I often see in my barefoot trimming business showing a deformed coffin bone, high heel, long toe, and thin sole. I’ll describe what I see and how I try to help the horses. This is based on the radiograph only, another evaluation is done on a visual of the hoof.

Above is a deformed coffin bone and below is a normal coffin bone for comparison. 

Above the blue line shows the near ground level base of the coffin bone.

Below the blue lines shows the different angle bases of the coffin bone. 

The coffin bone over time will deform to help support the skeleton system of the horse. The two blue lines to the left show the front of the coffin bone deformed for a ground parallel support, and the blue line at the right shows the original bottom base.

Above is a video that discusses this coffin bone condition  ( Coffin bone deformity and heel height )

 Below is a human comparison of what happens to horses.

Trimming to help the horse

The yellow line is an estimated cut line to lower the heel of the original angle of the base to ground parallel.

No trimming should be done forward of the yellow line, this area needs to grow downward to lengthen the yellow line angle.

 I placed the red line angle off the cornet to determine the proper toe angle. The hoof to the left of the red line shows a stretched toe that needs to be backed up over trims for proper break over.

Above is a video that discusses this stretched toe condition 

( Hoof angles determine if founder laminitis treatments are working )

Always trim to keep all concavity on the bottom of the foot. A specialist should be contacted for this problem.

Gordon Adair began his professional career in 1977 learning horse training and farrier work. Applying his training and farrier knowledge Gordon has developed a successful trimming system that aids in training performance and rehabilitating lameness, founder, laminitis, and navicular. Gordon Adair barefoot horse trimming business is in the Ocala Florida area.