Laminitis is a very complicated and not fully understood pathology in the Equine medical community. It is not the scope of this article to go into detail of the reasons or treatment methods for a disease that has many faces. The names used to describe this pathology are not clear as well. 

Although there are two main things that are worth mentioning:

There are different forms of inflammation of the laminae and different forms of Founder. Some clinicians, would divide this disease into different categories: Acute/chronic laminitis and Acute/chronic founder.

Most clinicians would agree that most of the damage that is seen in the next couple of weeks after the initial part of the disease is done in the first hours when it occurs and the treatment is important, but can be sometimes frustrating for there is a very slow recovery and healing process. The horse will need to “grow out” it’s hoof, that is, grow another hoof wall that will attach currently to the new laminae. 

There is one very important aspect when dealing with founder cases, Farrier. The farrier will probably be the most important and valuable person that will follow the current trimming of the hoof wall, until a new wall and laminae can form. A new wall will take anything from 6 months to 1 year, or more, to grow out. The hoof grows from the coronary band downwards so you will see that changes as they develop.

In these pictures I wanted to point out the importance of good ferrier work, working aside the veterinarian with follow up x rays to ensure that the foot is trimmed correctly and most importantly that the ferrier is aggressive enough with the trimming. We want to aline the coffin bone in it’s most natural position as we can. Low heals and most importantly short toes for an easy break over. A short toe is very important and usually the reason for additional x rays after a trimming cycle (every 2-3 weeks, more often then you would usually trim the horses feet). most of the time when I take x rays the ferrier can’t believe that there is still more toe to take of, for that just looking at the foot does not show what the x rays can tell us, the distance of the coffin bone from the hoof wall. X rays are essential for reevaluating the foot with the ferrier every couple of weeks for a full recovery.