What Causes Laminitis

Common causes of laminitis in horses laminitis in horses is caused by the number of different factors acting alone or in combination.

What causes laminitis.

The classical one and one area that has been investigated in greater detail is an excessive intake of carbohydrates in the diet. Laminitis commonly known as founder is a painful disease that causes severe lameness in horses. Before we get into what causes laminitis in horses let s quickly cover what is laminitis. Laminitis means inflammation of the laminae of the horse s hoof.

The most famous example of this was the american racehorse barbaro who had a. Starch black walnut oligofructose fructose and insulin. The type of food that causes laminitis is rich young spring grass with high levels of fructans. Laminitis involves the failure of the bond between the hoof wall and the distal phalanx commonly called the coffin bone pedal bone or third phalanx p3.

Laminitis is a complex cascade of events that causes the soft tissues laminae within the hoof to swell weaken and die. However rich grass can cause the problem at any time of the year and even frosty grass in the winter can damage the digestion in the gut so much that the wrong sort of bacteria starts to multiply and release toxins. There are 3 main causes of laminitis. 80 causes predispositions and pathways of laminitis henry w.

Relatively less commonly horses can get laminitis from overload typically associated with non weight bearing conditions in one limb thereby overloading the opposite limb. Although laminitis occurs in the feet the underlying cause is often a disturbance elsewhere in the horse s body. This can all occur before any symptoms are apparent and once the process has started it is extremely difficult to stop. In this post we ll go over what laminitis is what causes it and how to prevent it.

It can often cause lameness in two or all four feet at one time but it is preventable. The causes vary and may include the following.