Unfortunately, one of the biggest risk factors for laminitis and founder in horses is domestication. In the wild, horses will often cover very long distances looking for food and water and their digestive systems have evolved to be very efficient in obtaining energy and nutrients from sparse low-calorie fodder.

Not all the signs of Laminitis are obvious! Your horse doesn’t have to be standing ‘Camped under’ in the classic Founder Stance or have ‘Aladdin’ slipper feet! Some of the signs can be subtle and easily confused with other common problems.

It can be confusing for people to actually visualise what is happening inside the hooves of their laminitic horse, so we’ve drawn some pictures for you! But first, before we go into what’s ‘abnormal’ we need to have an understanding of what’s ‘normal’

4 STEPS TO PREVENTION - Once Laminitis occurs, depending on the severity, it can be a death sentence for many horses. If they are lucky and dont have a catastrophic hoof failure, then rehabilitation is possible, however prevention is far preferable. Rehab takes dedication and a lot of time and expense, and for some...

‘Laminitis’ simply means inflammation in the lamina. ‘Founder’ is the term used to describe a horse where the condition has caused the pedal bone to rotate and/or sink in the hoof capsule. 

Your fat horse has been locked in the ‘jenny craig’ paddock now for weeks and he’s starting to get fed up, he might be missing his mates, walking the fence or just standing around looking a bit depressed.