Laminitis vs Founder - Part 1 - Ask a Farrinarian

Dr. Brian Eitelman, DVM, CJF, and Aggie Vet and Farrier Services provide veterinarian and farrier services in Parker, CO, Elizabeth, CO, Franktown, CO, Castle Rock, CO, Sedalia, CO, and Larkspur, CO. To learn more, please visit us at www.vetandfarrier.com
In this series, Dr. Brian Eitelman, DVM, CJF, discusses laminitis and founder in horses.
In part 1, we go over the definition of laminitis and founder, anatomy of the horse that is involved in laminitis and founder, insensitive and sensitive laminae, coffin bone, hoof wall.
Start with definitions:
Laminitis = Inflammation of laminae
Founder = Maritime term - boat founders it sinks, when laminae loses ability to hold coffin bone the bone rotates/sinks in foot = founder
Anatomy
- Bones: Coffin Bone (CB), Short Pastern (SP), Long Pastern Bone (LP), and Navicular bone (N)
- CB primary determinant of hoof wall shape and sits mostly in forward half of foot
- 2 types of laminae
- Sensitive (red) - internal, blood, innervation
- IN-sensitive (black) - external, hoof wall, no blood or sensation
--Comparative Anatomy -- cuticle and fingernail
- Simplifying sensitive laminae - holds coffin bone (bony column of horse) to hoof wall
- acts as Velcro and interlocks/interdigitates with insensitive
- Insensitive laminae - bears ~90% of horse’s weight
Blood supply
- Circumflex artery - hose that feeds the bottom and forward half of foot
- Foundered/rotated coffin bone pinches off hose and majority issues in founder in lower/forward part of foot
Laminitis
- Primarily inflammation of sensitive laminae (discuss causes and treatments in part 2)
- Large amounts of tissue and connections b/c fingers that are inflamed, dying, dead
- Catch fingernail and pull away or smash finger with hammer - you have inflamed sensitive laminae
- Painful but reversible condition
Enough inflammation for enough time causes lamina to die and when enough die - can’t hold bone and rotates
Founder
- Horse has crossed over from laminitis (potentially reversible) to founder (permanent)
- Pinches hose (circumflex artery) in bottom of foot
- Large parts of forward half of the foot can start dying and coffin bone can rotate more, etc.
- Long term prognosis depends on: How much blood supply has been lost? How much tissue still intact? Has the underlying cause corrected?
Why did my horse founder? Why does my horse have laminitis? How did my horse get laminitis? How did my horse founder? What causes founder in horses? What causes laminitis in horses? How do you treat laminitis in horses? How do you treat founder in horses? How to treat laminitis in horses? How to treat founder in horses? What are the signs of founder in horses? What are the symptoms of founder in horses? How do you diagnose laminitis in horses? How do you diagnose founder in horses?