Laminitis (AAEP Convention 2005)

What causes laminitis? Is it the same as founder? Should I remove shoes from a horse with acute laminitis? Should I soak his feet? Does laminitis always have devastating consequences?
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

What causes laminitis? Is it the same as founder? Should I remove shoes from a horse with acute laminitis? Should I soak his feet? Does laminitis always have devastating consequences?

"Unfortunately, many of these questions do not have definite answers," said Andrew Parks, VMD, head of the Department of Large Animal Medicine at the University of Georgia, during Horsemen’s Day, which was held in conjunction with the AAEP Convention, in Seattle, Wash., Dec. 3-7, 2005. "However, over the past 25 years much has been learned about this disease."

"Laminitis is a syndrome in which the epidermal and dermal laminae within the hoof are damaged," Parks said. If the damage is severe, the epidermal layer separates from the dermal layer and the distal phalanx (coffin bone) displaces or rotates in the foot (known as chronic laminitis). Acute laminitis is the sudden on set of clinical signs of laminitis, which include heat throughout the hoof and a reluctance to move often with a rocked-back "sawhorse" stance.

Risk factors include colic, colitis, overfeeding of grain or lush grass, prolonged weight-bearing on a single limb for a prolonged period as with a limb injury, and Cushing’s disease

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Chad Mendell is the former Managing Editor for TheHorse.com .

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
314 votes · 314 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!