Colic/Founder

[Maureen]

Hi,

Does anyone know what can be done to prevent colic in the first place?
And what is the difference between laminitis and founder?

Thank You

[Dreamweaver]

Maureen,

Laminitis and founder are one in the same.

As far as the colic goes there are different types of colic and therefore different preventatives. If you want to check fairly good article that covers all the "basics" on colic go here:

http://www.gaitedhorses.net/Articles/Colic.html

[avacanora/mom]

My horseshoer just told me my mare had foundered//She is too fat. I would just like to know more about foundering. What happens once a horse has foundered? Will she ever get over it?

[WildHorseSpirit]

Um Dreamweaver Not exactly hon.

To find out more of the differences you can go to www.horseshoes.com

You have laminitis without founder but not founder without laminitis. Founder usually occurs with or without rotation of the coffin bone and tears the sensitive laminae, laminitis is inflammation of the sensitive lamninae. Sure they go hand in hand sometimes but to say it is the same thing is not correct.

Here is another site that may help explain more than I have.
http://www.ladyfarrier.com/content_pages/2003/spring/laminitis_and_founder.html



A/M Have you had rads done on her front feet *Xrays* to determine how bad and if the coffin bone has rotated? If not get those done asap.

If your horse is pretty much the type who gets fat on air you may want to check for IR (Insulin Resistance) and EMS (Equine Metabolic Syndrome) once the horse has been checked and shows neither here is a good weight loss we used on our mare.

Horse confined off grass in a dry lot area that the horse can venture around and get exercise *some people claim stalling a foundered horse is best, not true wasn't in my horses case and she had mechanical founder in her right from leaning off an injured left front leg*

Grass hay Bermuda is best, you have to make sure the Non Structural Carbohydrates are low in this, soaking in cold water for an hour or feeding less amounts several times a day.

Say 5 lbs of hay *I used a hay net and fish weight thing* 3-4 times a day, if you feel you have to feed something ie if you have meds you need to mix in Nurena Lite Balance but less than listed on the bag to start with. The less sugar and starches the better!

Water and salt.

Exercise like crazy if the horse is not lame.

Making sure the farrier work is done is most important, some require shoes and some just a special trim.

Should your horse not be lame and then does you can get a set of Davis Medicine Boots and some house insulation foam board from like Home Depot the blue color or pink and mark around a horse shoe from your horse and cut out. Place 2 of them into the boot and put the foot in.
Until lameness subside and know abcesses are a curse to horses who have laminitis or founder *chronic* so when you use the boots cleaning out daily is best a pain but well worth it.
I would change pads 2 times a day for a week and then once a day. You can also duct tape em but I have had excellent results more with the booting and pads.

[Ryle]

Laminitis is the medical term, founder is a layman's term that has now been adopted somewhat into the medical terminology to help differentiate between the acute onset of laminitis when the lamina are inflammed but there is not yet rotation or sinking of the coffin bone and the chronic condition that occurs once rotation or sinking is seen. Your farrier cannot diagnose founder because he cannot see into the hoof to determine if there is only inflammation of the lamina or if there has been movement of the coffin bone. He can tell you that the feet are painful and can be instrumental in caring for your horse one a good diagnosis is made and you know what the condition is inside the hoof capsule. Since your farrier noted pain in the feet, it would be a good idea to have your vet out to examine the feet and take x-rays. It may be nothing more than tender feet, solar abcesses, bruising, etc or there may be a more serious condition.

Since you say that your mare is overweight and has tender feet, you need to consider the possibility that she is Insulin Resistant. This condition pre-disposes horses to laminitis and chronic/repeat founder. Your vet can draw blood and run a resting serum insulin when you have him out to determine if this is part of the situation with your mare. (Be sure not to feed anything other than grass hay for 12 hours prior to your vet's visit or the test results will be questionable.)

Here is a link to an article on Insulin resistance, obesity and founder: www.thehorse.com/pdf/aaep/obese.pdf

You can also access a great webinar (online seminar) on founder that The Horse magazine hosted a few months ago and get good solid information on laminitis here: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=9792

And here is a wonderful link to information on colic: http://osuextra.okstate.edu/pdfs/F-3921web.pdf
The best way to prevent colic is to give your horse as natural a diet as possible--free choice hay or grass, limit concentrate feeds, free access to clean water, deworm as needed, make changes in feeding slowly.

[Rebel's Mom]

Hello, I'm a first time horse owner (finally!) and had to have a vet check my gelding today and was told he had mechanical founder. I've tried checking on the internet but can't really get a good description of the difference between that and "regular" founder. She assured me that it was "the best kind" to have and has put him on Bute and told me to run cool water on his hoofs a couple of times a day. Also said he should be fine but to have shoes put on his front hoofs help with his flat soles or hoofs (?). I know he's very tenderfooted and will avoid walking on rocks at all costs when we're trail riding. Anyway, the main thing I wanted to know is the difference between Mechanical founder and any other type of founder.

[edward]

Here's what we found from our research:

"The final grouping of factors are those related to what is commonly called "road founder". More correctly termed mechanical founder, the conditions for laminitis are set up by the health and integrity of the foot and the amount of trauma induced. Mechanical founder is often misdiagnosed as it is the "catch all" for "unknown" causes of laminitis. It is generally the easiest to deal with because the horse rarely has a repeat occurrence. Treatment is generally restoring the integrity of the feet and avoiding a repeat of the causative trauma."


Hope this helps

[WildHorseSpirit]

Basically like my mare had an unfounded abcess *vet and farrier didn't catch it and she didn't toss of signs like normal horses just off in her gait some, I did point out the bruise from her being trimmed way too short from a former farrier as I had 3 that were trimmed so short they went lame this mare got the worst*, anyhow by the time I put boots to comfort her feet and she blew the nastiest thing I have ever smelled she had foundered in the opposite foot from keeping weight off the other one. I was told it was mechanical founder.