A journal about my work as a farrier, hoof care, the booted horse, and endurance riding in New Zealand
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Laminitis
Yesterday I had to attend to five Welsh mountain ponies with Laminitis. We have had about 8 days of sunshine after a very long wet spell and the grass is growing like crazy. The owner said they had only been moved onto fresh pasture about two days ago and bingo they are all in a bad way so please keep an eye on your horses and ponies
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7 comments:
So the new grass has made them sick?
I looked up Laminitis on Wikipedia and it says that "rapid upward fluctuation in levels of [non-protein nitrogen compounds], for instance in lush spring growth on artificially fertilized lowland pasture, the natural metabolic processes can become overloaded, resulting in liver disturbance and toxic imbalance".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminitis
I hope the ponies are feeling better soon!
What you say is basicly correct as to the cause.Most likely caused by the build up of fructan in the grasses. Some species of grass are notorious fructan accumulators and if possible should not be fed to horses.
Laminitis is the most serious disease of the equine foot. The simplest definition of laminitis is: failure of the attachment between the distal phalanx and the inner hoof wall. A horse has laminitis when the lamellar architecture of the inner hoof wall, which normally suspends the distal phalanx from the inner surface of the hoof capsule, fails. Without the distal phalanx properly attached to the inside of the hoof, the weight of the horse and the forces of locomotion drive the bone down into the hoof capsule, shearing and damaging arteries and veins, crushing the corium of thr sole and coronet, causing unrelanting pain and a characteristic lameness.
This is an extract from
Professor Christopher C. Pollitt.
www.laminitisreserach.org
In the simplest terms what this means is that the hoof turns to mush and the bone will puncture through the sole.
Hanging on the kite tails here but I have just started a "vegetable gardending for your family " course with Prof Walker and am loving the soil chemisty. Growth is all about how the microbes in the soil utilise the liberated nirtates and other 'ates' to make proteins. So what is it that the horses become overloaded with when proteins are not being produced - sugars efectively? .. Is this "fallowing" ?
Hey Tim, why is it saying we are working i early hours of the am? Do you need to fix a time setting?
Hi Bindy
What do you mean 'fallowing' horses 'founder' when they get laminitis and yes it is sugars
Yes, I realised I meant founder - got the f words confused - such a townie!
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