Tag: laminitis

Is there a link between mares coming into season and laminitis?

Posted on: April 14, 2012

I’ve had a few interesting conversations by email and phone with a fellow owner of laminitic horses. This horse owner noticed that her mare’s laminitis bouts seem tied to the horse coming in season. The mare does better in winter when she goes out of season for an extended period of time. In fact, the mare often does better when environmental conditions are favorable for the mare to do worse, which is what made this owner look beyond the usual list of so-called “laminitis triggers” since that list wasn’t serving her well.

Estrogen rises in a mare during the preparation of the egg and drops if the egg is not fertilized and the uterine lining is shed.

A possible link between laminitis and rising estrogen makes sense since we know the most prevalent form of laminitis today is the insulin resistance form, and estrogen is a major player in insulin resistance.

I wasn’t looking for this link when my mares foundered. If I noticed a link between Angel’s cycles and her laminitis when she had her first bout in 2004, I didn’t write it down.

I did notice as a general rule that Angel came in season far more than most normal mares, and Goldie, her mother, also had that tendency. Goldie foundered before Angel. Those two mares had my worst cases.

Both mares stopped cycling after several bad bouts of laminitis. It was as if their body knew to shut down that process completely.

When I wrote my original article on laminitis and estrogen, the research on whether more mares developed laminitis was mixed. One study that reviewed a broad range of previous laminitis studies said the results were inconclusive.

If you look at this logically, here’s what we know in both the human and horse world on estrogen as it might relate to laminitis:

1) Young woman are reaching puberty earlier, and many researchers say that is due to things such as the estrogen mimics in plastics and other materials that are prevalent in a child’s world today. It only makes sense that some of these same plastics are in a young horse’s world, as well.

2) Dr. Mehmet Oz defined the link between fat, estrogen and insulin resistance in humans this way: Estrogen causes the body to make more insulin, and more insulin creates belly fat. Increased fat cells make estrogen.

Many horses that develop insulin resistance and laminitis get the cresty neck that scientists call “regional adiposity,” along with fat deposits over their tail and in their sheath area. Maybe for horses, their estrogen-related “belly fat” isn’t in their belly? Maybe it is in these three areas. We certainly know that horses are much fatter today than 100 years ago. Veterinarians refer to this as an epidemic. Are we feeding horses more? I am not feeding my horses more than my parents fed their Connemara herd 30 years ago; in fact, I’m feeding far less. I know this, because I often fed for my parents. I gave their horses several bales of hay at a meal rather than counting out flakes as I do now. And I fed grain — the kind of grain full of oats — by the coffee can rather than by the half cup, as I do now. My parents’ herd was made up of relatives of my herd. My parents had maybe 10 Connemaras at any one time on 14 acres. I had six on 8 acres — that seems fairly even. None of my parents’ Connemaras ever foundered. All of mine did. None of my parents’ horses were obese or had a cresty neck. All of mine are obese and have the neck.

There has to be something else going on in these horses now. Elevated estrogen caused by something environmental seems logical.

3) I continue to look at excess iron’s role in my horses’ cases. I threw out my horses’ trace mineral blocks over the winter because I discovered the blocks were 20 percent iron.

In looking for studies on iron and estrogen, I took a close look at a study published in 2001 by the Stehlin Foundation for Cancer Research in Texas that looked at iron’s role in estrogen-induced cancer. Remember, scientists now believe that laminitis makes the hoof wall proliferate in an out-of-control manner similar to cancer. The Texas study said that elevated dietary intake of iron raised the incidence of cancer in rats and hamsters and that adding estrogen increased iron accumulation in hamsters. The study suggested that, since other studies have shown that elevated body iron storage increases the risk of several cancers in humans, interfering with iron accumulation in tissues might offer an option for cancer prevention. I wonder if anyone has tried that in laminitic horses?

Could estrogen exposure play a role in laminitis?

Posted on: March 31, 2012

Two stories caught my attention in the last few days: an article about how young girls are now developing much earlier than what was previously considered normal and a report that autism cases have risen dramatically.

Anytime I see what appears to be evidence of environmental factors wreaking havoc on the body, I feel compelled to open the story, because I am convinced environmental factors led to my horses becoming insulin resistant and laminitic. Note that estrogen comes up over and over in the first article. Estrogen causes the body to make more insulin, and more insulin creates belly fat. Increased fat cells make estrogen. Thus, excess estrogen creates a never-ending cycle of insulin-resistance. As far as horses go, research published in 2007 showed that elevated insulin causes laminitis in horses, and a study published in 2011 suggests how that elevated insulin causes laminitis. These two breakthroughs have made horse owners focus on trying to fix laminitis through dietary changes as well as trim techniques.

The story on the girls developing early says animal studies show that exposure to some environmental chemicals can cause bodies to mature early. Of particular concern are endocrine-disrupters, such as estrogen mimics.

The story says one particular concern is the effect of simultaneous exposure to many estrogen-mimics, including the compound bisphenol A, or BPA, used in everything from plastic bottles and metal cans to cash register receipts. The story says more than a million pounds of BPA are released into the environment each year.

Parents of girls developing early are being told this development is the new normal. Is that an acceptable explanation? Would that not be a little like saying laminitis is the new normal for horses?

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released numbers on March 29, 2012, that say about 1 in 88 children in the United States has autism, and the prevalence of the condition has risen nearly 80 percent over the past decade.

The report said the cause of autism remains unknown. I did a quick search for BPA and autism. No shortage of articles there. Looks like autism groups have been suspicious of BPA for years.

I have never given a second thought to what type of plastic or coating was used in feed bags, buckets or other plastic materials around the farm. When I’ve looked at environmental factors, I was looking at things in the water, ground and fencing material.

It would seem plausible that some estrogen mimic was causing horses to have high levels of estrogen, leading to development of insulin resistance and laminitis. That certainly would coincide with anecdotal reports that more mares get laminitis than geldings, given that mares start out with more estrogen. I thought testing for elevated iron on my farm was going to be hard.

How to grind flax seed for laminitic horses

Posted on: March 12, 2012

Use a small coffee grinder to grind flax seed for your horse.

In a previous post, we looked at two veterinarians who recommend adding fat to the diet of laminitic horses to keep their blood sugar from spiking.

The veterinarians suggest using ground flax seed as the source of that fat, and one says to use a small coffee grinder to grind the flax seed.

I bought a bag of whole flax seed from my local grocery store. The store only offered one brand. I can’t tell you if it’s the right kind. I watched a YouTube video on grinding flax seed, and the host said she prefers golden flax seed to the darker variety. I believe mine is the darker variety.

One of the vets recommending this, Dr. Frank Reilly in Pennsylvania, suggests feeding a horse 4 tablespoons of flax seed. I’m assuming that’s per day, since he recommends giving a horse its feed ration in the morning. I still divide my horses’ feed into three meals, and each horse gets 1 pound total of Nature’s Essentials Enrich 32 (Reilly’s recommendation due to its low starch content — I switched my horses to it in October 2011 when I started my horses on Reilly’s Heiro supplement). I did some weighing to work this out, and each horse gets half a cup of feed per meal to equal that pound.

Half a cup isn’t a lot. It’s hard to hide anything in half a cup.

Since the horses get their Heiro supplement with breakfast, I decided to put the flax seed in lunch and dinner at 2 tablespoons per meal, along with their thyroid powder.

Two tablespoons of flax seed is more than it sounds. The horses noticed it was there. They didn’t hate it. They ate their whole meal. But Robin Hood made a big face after he was finished, complete with curled lip. I tasted the flax seed (before he did), and I thought it tasted like grass or hay. It doesn’t really have a taste to me.

Small coffee grinders can hold maybe 4 tablespoons of flax seed.

To grind the flax seed, I put 4 tablespoons in the grinder to prepare the ration for one meal. A small grinder won’t hold much more than that. Grinding the seed is similar to using a food processor. Put the lid on and press a plastic button on the lid in a pulsing motion a few times to turn the seeds into powder. It takes less than 10 seconds total.

Reilly says that feeding whole seed to a horse is a waste, as it goes right through the horse.

It appeared to me that the ground seed was about the same measurement as it was as whole seed; grinding it might actually add a little volume. I put my first batch into a bag for the evening meal and stored that in the refrigerator (not sure if that’s necessary, but the YouTube host said she preserved her freshly ground seed in the refrigerator for later use in the day). And then I split the second batch of 4 tablespoons between the two buckets for Robin and Kurt’s lunch. Note that the remaining flax seed in the package should be stored in an airtight bag to maintain its health properties.

Cleaning the grinder requires wiping it out with a wet towel. The grinder can’t be rinsed or washed like a pot. The YouTube video host said to get a grinder specifically for seeds. Don’t try to use your coffee grinder for this, as it will be hard to switch back and forth between the two products without contamination.

All in all, this is pretty easy.

Ground flax seed can help prevent blood sugar spike in laminitic horses

Posted on: February 28, 2012

For owners of laminitic horses with the insulin form of the disease, keeping the horse’s blood sugar from spiking is the key to trying to turn the disease around and preventing future bouts. Excess blood sugar leads to excess insulin in the blood, which appears to bind to the wrong receptors in the horse’s feet and cause abnormal hoof growth, resulting in laminitis, according to research by Dr. Chris Pollitt and his team in Australia.

I have found two quality sources that are recommending putting ground flax seed in the horse’s meals as a source of fat.

One is Dr. Madalyn Ward, DVM, of Bear Creek Veterinary Clinic in Austin, Texas. She says that feeding fat to an overweight horse may seem counterintuitive, but it curbs the horse’s appetite and slows the release of glucose. She recommends ground flax seed, rice bran or cold-processed vegetable oil on her website.

Dr. Frank Reilly at Equine Medical & Surgical Associates in Pennsylvania also proposes using ground flax seed, and he used to provide instructions on how to do so on his website.

Owners should feed 1/4 cup, or 4 tablespoons, of ground flax seeds, not flax seed oil or whole seeds. Whole seeds go right through the horse. The seeds must be ground.

Reilly says they can be ground in a small electric coffee grinder, available for $15 at big discount stores. I couldn’t find a coffee grinder at my local Walmart, but I did see a basic one for about $13 on Amazon, and several reviewers said it was the perfect size if all you want to do is grind up flax seeds.

Reilly also says to buy whole flax seed, not preground flax seed, since shelf-life is an issue. Whole flax seed keeps in an airtight container for a year, whereas ground flax seed keeps for only 90 days.

He suggests avoiding flax seed products made for horses due to the shelf life issue, as well. If the flax seed is ground, and you don’t know when, the product may expire before you even buy it.

He says flax seed offers fiber, antioxidants, protein and the essential fatty acids of Omega 3 and Omega 6, which can help decrease inflammatory responses and the need for medications in a horse.

Plus, one tablespoon of ground flax seed is only 36 calories.

Dr. Mehmet Oz covered this topic Feb. 27, 2012, debunking the myth the fat is bad.

He also suggested adding cold-pressed oil in the form of rice bran oil. It’s loaded with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, the good fat that a body needs to lose weight. He introduced the oil by saying, “Could this be the miracle fat that makes you get skinny?”

Oz said the rice bran oil contains gamma oryzanol, a plant phytochemical that “convinces our cells to burn up the sugar that’s going on in our bloodstream so that sugar doesn’t hang out in our bloodstream and get deposited on our hips or on our belly.” It also has Omega 6 fatty acids.

He suggested that, one day, it may become the standard cooking oil in people’s kitchens. Look for it at health food stores for about $8, he said.

Can laminitic horses eat carrots or not?

Posted on: February 18, 2012

It appears there’s some controversy over the glycemic index of the carrot in the human world.

In one corner are those claiming that carrots have an unusually high glycemic index, and they should be avoided by those with insulin resistance.

In the other corner are the carrot backers, including the World Carrot Museum, trying to establish that carrots really are healthy and should not be shunned.

This might generate a snicker in some parts of the world, but to owners of laminitic horses, this is important stuff.

In my attempt to get to the bottom of this, I learned another concept related to glycemic index called glycemic load.

The glycemic index of a food indicates how quickly the carbohydrates in the food will raise your blood sugar. The higher the number, the faster your blood sugar rises. And then there’s the inevitable crash.

The glycemic index for each food is determined by testing people’s response before and after they eat the food.

The result is compared to a reference food, such as white bread or white table sugar, which sets the bar at 100. Food with a lower glycemic index than 100 causes blood sugar to rise more slowly than white bread or table sugar.

The glycemic index is determined for 50 grams of carbohydrates in the food. That’s the point that can’t be overlooked. One serving of a food may not have 50 carbohydrates in it.

The glycemic load factors in the amount of carbohydrates in the food for a more accurate number of how a food will affect your blood sugar.

The website Caring4Cancer by P4 Healthcare compares a carrot to white pasta for glycemic index and load.

It says that 50 grams of carrot carbohydrate has a glycemic index of 131, and 50 grams of pasta carbohydrate has a glycemic index of 71. Carrots seem pretty unhealthy by that number.

But, one carrot has only 4 grams of carbohydrates, while a cup of pasta has 40 grams.

Thus, the carrot’s glycemic load is 5.2, while that for the pasta is 28.

A glycemic load of 10 or less is considered low, and 11 to 19 is medium. Twenty or over is high and not good.

Several other knowledgeable websites back up this message. Carrots are indeed OK for those battling insulin resistance.

Phew.

Are geldings less likely to develop laminitis, insulin resistance?

Posted on: January 16, 2012

In my research on the history of laminitis, it was hard to overlook the recommendation in the fifth century by writer Publius Vegetius Renatus that a horse with hoof problems related to overfeeding barley — presumably laminitis — should be castrated.

Scientific research appears inconclusive on gender’s role in laminitis.

A study published in The Cornell Veterinarian journal in 1975 looked at a series of equine laminitis cases examined at the University of Missouri’s vet hospital from 1965 through 1971 and reported there were significantly fewer geldings among the affected horses.

A comprehensive review of studies published in November 2011 in The Veterinary Journal says study results were inconsistent in a number of categories. The review looked at published material from 1910 to 2010 and said there was good evidence of a link between chronic laminitis and increasing age. But, it said there were inconsistent results for many other risk factors including gender, breed and body weight.

Laminitis Help’s own unscientific survey online found the opposite to be true. Survey respondents reported the gender of their laminitis horses as follows:

Stallion: 6
Mare: 81
Gelding: 89.

I included that question in the survey because my veterinarian on my early cases, a laminitis specialist, said it seemed as if fewer geldings developed the disease. When I relayed that to my farrier, he said all his laminitic cases were female.

My horses participated in three studies total, the last two in 2007 and 2008, during which their blood was tested regularly, and the two geldings were closest to normal on insulin levels. Kurt was always in the normal range with the exception of one reading. The boys lived and ate in the same conditions as the girls. Whatever on this farm caused the consistent development of laminitis did eventually catch up with them. They both had elevated insulin in June 2011. But, it took much longer to get there.

I had been going through studies online for about a week looking for clues on geldings and laminitis, but a topic on “The Dr. Oz Show” on Jan. 13, 2011, moved me to draw a likely conclusion:

Insulin-resistant cases of laminitis may affect geldings less.

And since the insulin-resistant form of laminitis is the predominant form today, thanks to our horses getting fatter and fatter, perhaps geldings are developing it less.

Gender probably doesn’t play much of a role in grain overload or grass cases that change the microflora of the hindgut, leading to enzymatic changes in the feet. Nor does it probably play a big role in cases caused by standing on one foot too long to take the weight off the opposite foot.

But, once you get into insulin resistance, estrogen is a major player.

In the human world, women appear more likely to develop insulin resistance, according to medical experts. Some physicians suggest that all women are at risk, including Dr. Yehuda Handelsman, medical director of the Metabolic Institute of America.

“The Dr. Oz Show” talked about the link between fat, estrogen and insulin resistance. Estrogen causes the body to make more insulin, and more insulin creates belly fat. Increased fat cells make estrogen. Thus, women have a never-ending insulin-resistance cycle.

The Women to Women website, run by women physicians, says insulin resistance — also called syndrome X — is so pervasive today that the clinic evaluates almost every patient to determine the individual’s level of risk. The practice says most women are surprised to learn they either already have insulin resistance or early symptoms.

Note that men also have estrogen, which contributes to healthy functioning of the body and hormonal balance. They just have less of it, but that estrogen rises in time because testosterone is converted to estrogen as they age.

Life Extension, a nonprofit focused on anti-aging and optimal health, looked at endocrine factors in insulin resistance for both genders:

— As men age, they convert testosterone into estradiol, a form of estrogen. Their levels of estrogen and insulin increase, resulting in belly fat. Studies suggest that fat cells, particularly abdominal fat cells, convert testosterone to estradiol, and the more belly fat a man develops, the more testosterone is turned into estradiol. Thus, they have their own problematic cycle.

Perhaps geldings are less affected by rising insulin levels because they have less testosterone to convert to estrogen. If only I could find the study on that.

— In women, estrogen inhibits lipid (fat) oxidation for women when they reach puberty and, again, if they become pregnant, to store fat for functions related to child-bearing. This increases fat storage with no dietary changes. As “The Dr. Oz Show” pointed out, increased fat elevates estrogen, leading to elevated insulin and more fat.

— When women reach menopause, their progesterone and estrogen levels drop, with progesterone dropping at a faster rate, leading to an imbalance and “estrogen dominance,” again contributing to fat accumulation.

— In men and women, everyone over 35 sees lower levels of dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA , a steroid hormone whose drop may lead to weight gain.

— Beyond any medical conditions, aging causes cells to be more resistant to insulin. As cells refuse to accept insulin, insulin rises, resulting in more fat.

Lowering insulin resistance

Life Extension, which admittedly does sell products as part of its mission, says fiber can slow carbohydrate absorption. Particularly, taking in fiber before meals can reduce rapid absorption of simple carbohydrates and control blood sugar. It recommends a Canadian proprietary blend called PGX, or PolyGlycopleX, made of the purified soluble dietary fibers of glucomannan, xanthan and alginate plus mulberry concentrate.

I mention this brand because it’s the brand a medical expert recommended on this same “Dr. Oz Show,” and Oz admitted his wife uses it.

The expert was noted physician and author Mark Hyman, whose book and PBS special “The Blood Sugar Solution” (release date of March 2012) addresses insulin resistance and obesity.

Hyman said food more than drugs is the medicine of choice to treat diseases such as diabetes.

He says inflammation is the real enemy, because it comes first in the downward spiral, but inflammation can be turned around with diet.

Inflammation occurs when the body’s white blood cells try to fight off foreign substances. Sometimes, the body reacts when there is no real enemy. Chemicals in the white blood cells are released in the blood and tissue, leading to increased blood flow, possible redness and elevated temperature. The chemicals can cause damage to tissue.

Inflammation is usually temporary but, with an autoimmune cases, the body attacks its own cells and tissues and gets caught in a loop of chronic inflammation. Inflammation leads to insulin resistance.

Chris Kresser, practitioner of integrative medicine, says the modern lifestyle is to blame for inflammation and lists five specific causes. Horse owners familiar with laminitis triggers will see some familiar names:

• Dietary toxins (primarily refined wheat, fructose and industrial seed oils);
• Environmental toxins (chemicals like Bisphenol A, pesticides, phthalates, flame retardants, and heavy metals);
• Micronutrient deficiencies (especially magnesium and vitamin D);
• Chronic stress (emotional, psychological, physiological);
• Altered gut microbiota (caused by antibiotic use, poor diet, formula-feeding during infancy);
• Sedentary lifestyle

Hyman, the medical expert on “The Dr. Oz Show,” listed causes of inflammation as sugar and white flour and reactions to food such as gluten (wheat) and dairy; he says corn and processed soy also can be triggers.

Hyman says the supplement PGX is a super fiber from konjac root and seaweed that absorbs hundreds of times its weight in water and prevents spikes in insulin.

If PGX is such a miracle cure for insulin-related problems, I wonder if there’s a PGX for horses or if anyone has given PGX itself to horses?

History of laminitis may date to ancient Greece and beyond

Posted on: January 8, 2012

Maryland farrier Henry Heymering published “A Historical Perspective of Laminitis” in April 2010 in the journal Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice.

His research found a seeming understanding of laminitis dating to the Hittite empire from the 17th to 12th century B.C. in Anatolia (roughly present-day Turkey) and northwestern Syria. The Hittites were the first to use iron. They also adopted cuneiform script to record their Indo-European language on tablets. Heymering says the Hittites’ care in feeding and watering horses after exercise suggest they were aware of laminitis.

The first written mention of laminitis may have been by ancient Greek historian and philosopher Xenophon, who lived from about 430 to 354 B.C. He wrote about a disease called “barley surfeit” (surfeit translates to excess) and said: “Diseases are easier to cure at the start than after they have become chronic and have been wrongly diagnosed.”

Many contemporary laminitis researchers quote Aristotle as the first to discuss laminitis in the tome “The History of Animals” in 350 B.C. Aristotle was an ancient Greek doctor turned philosopher. His work in zoology is called “the grandest biological synthesis of the time” by the University of California’s Museum of Paleontology.

Looking at two translations of “The History of Animals” available online, only one includes a specific reference to barley surfeit in the text. The other mentions barley disease in an editor’s footnote. And the use of barley surfeit may not refer to laminitis. Nonetheless, Aristotle seems to have an understanding of laminitis.

The translation by D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, available on MIT’s website, says:

“Horses out at pasture are free from all diseases excepting disease of the feet. From this disease they sometimes lose their hooves: but after losing them they grow them soon again, for as one hoof is decaying it is being replaced by another. Symptoms of the malady are a sinking in and wrinkling of the lip in the middle under the nostrils, and
in the case of the male, a twitching of the right testicle.

“Stall-reared horses are subject to very numerous forms of disease. They are liable to disease called ‘eileus’ (this appears to be colic). Under this disease the animal trails its hind-legs under its belly so far forward as almost to fall back on its haunches; if it goes without food for several days and turns rabid, it may be of service to draw blood, or to castrate the male. The animal is subject also to tetanus: the veins get rigid, as also the head and neck, and the animal walks with its legs stretched out straight. The horse suffers also from abscesses. Another painful illness afflicts them called the ‘barley-surfeit.’ The are a softening of the palate and heat of the breath; the animal may recover through the strength of its own constitution, but no formal remedies are of any avail.”

Heymering, who used a different, though similar translation, for his research, says the symptoms Aristotle described for barley surfeit do not fit laminitis. He also says that the translation he used suggests the text was altered by another hand. In the translations online, there do appear to be similarities to laminitis in Aristotle’s first paragraph, such as the hoof falling off and regrowing. The second paragraph specifically mentioning barley surfeit affecting the palate seems to be a reference to a different disease if in fact Aristotle wrote that at all.

The next half century includes more interesting suggestions for veterinary care for laminitis, according to Heymering:

First century: Columella describes blood descending to the feet, creating heat, and recommends bleeding from the middle of the leg as a treatment.

Fourth century: Apsyrtus, the father of veterinary medicine, says barley disease should be treated by dietary restriction and exercise in addition to bleeding.

Fourth century: Chiron describes lameness, heat, blood and possible separation in the hooves.

Fifth century: Publius Vegetius Renatus mentions problems from overfeeding barley and suggests purges, febrifuge (fever reduction), moderate bleeding, diet and exercise as treatments. He recommends a laxative diet of green meat, which apparently is fresh cut grass and other greens, with nitre, apparently potassium nitrate, and if that doesn’t work, castration.

Heymering says the Dark Ages from 500 to 900 were silent on laminitis in publications, though many things happened in hoof care, particularly the development of iron shoes and nails.

Heymering goes on to cover in detail the dizzying and depressing treatments of laminitis over the next 1,500 years and ends his paper in a summary of frustration:

“We’ve had nearly 2,000 years of bleeding as treatment, 1,700 years of exercise as treatment and more than 40 years of phenylbutazone as treatment – without proof of effectiveness in treating laminitis. Although longevity suggests effectiveness, until we have proof of our treatments, future generations may find them as quaint and misdirected” as the ancient treatments that have come before.

Laminitis symptoms and causes in horses

Posted on: January 5, 2012

Forum threads are full of horse owners asking, “What are the symptoms of laminitis?” or “What are the causes?”

There are a broad range of causes, but they tend to lead to the same symptoms.

Knowing the causes of the disease or what early symptoms to look for before a horse develops an acute case of laminitis might make the difference in the horse surviving.

Laminitis gets its name from the laminae lining the inside of the hoof wall that hold the coffin bone in place inside the hoof. When the laminae are destroyed, the coffin bone no longer stays in place. Displacement of the coffin bone often is referred to as founder, as in, the horse has foundered.

CAUSES OF LAMINITIS

Causes of the hoof disease include:

● Mechanical: The horse exercises on hard surfaces repeatedly, especially with long toes, causing the breakdown of the laminae in the hoof from concussion.

● Contralateral limb overload: The horse stands on one limb to take pressure off the opposite limb due to lameness. This leads to a loss of blood flow to the laminae in the foot bearing all the weight, as well as a continual pull on the coffin bone in that foot by the deep digital flexor tendon in the back of the foot constantly being loaded. The dual assault leads to breakdown of the laminae.

● Starch overload: The horse gets more starch, such as grain, than it can digest and absorb in its small intestine; the starch moves into the large colon, where it doesn’t belong, leading to microbial digestion. Changes in the normal pH and microflora in the large colon, or hindgut, activate enzymes that cause destruction in the laminae of the hoof. There is constant enzymatic remodeling in a horse’s hoof, according to Australian laminitis researcher Chris Pollitt. The enzymes must let go and reattach to allow the hoof to grow in a process similar to the human fingernail growing. With starch overload, the enzymes go out of control and stop reattaching, leading to the laminae pulling apart easily.

● Endotoxemia or infection: Horses with severe inflammation of the intestine, bloodstream or uterus, including those that suffer a retained placenta, can develop laminitis from circulating toxins in their system.

● Insulin resistance: This may be the most common form of laminitis seen in the early 21st century. Research suggests that elevated insulin in the horse’s bloodstream binds to the wrong receptors in the foot. There are no insulin receptors in the horse’s foot, but there are insulin-like growth factor 1 receptors in the hoof, which may be there to help a foal’s hoof turn into a horse hoof in the early years. According to Pollitt, insulin may fool these receptors, resulting in them binding to the insulin, causing out-of-control growth, similar to skin cancer in humans, leading to hoof deformity. Excess hoof in the toe area may push the coffin bone backward and downward, leading to rotation and destruction of the laminae, Pollitt says.

● Cushing’s disease: Dysfunction of pituitary gland can cause laminitis.

● Drug administration: There have been anecdotal reports of administration of corticosteroids and dewormers causing laminitis.

● Black walnut shavings: A toxin in the black walnut wood called juglone can cause laminitis to develop within hours of exposure.

SYMPTOMS: EARLY WARNING SIGNS OF INSULIN FORM OF LAMINITIS

● Fat horse that doesn’t lose weight, even with less calories.

● Fatty deposits on the crest of the neck, over the tail and in the sheath area.

● Elevated insulin levels, determined by a blood test.

● Changes in the position of the coffin bone on X-rays.

● Stretching of the white line around the toe of the hoof. Fissures in the white line.

● Bruising in the sole of the foot, which show up as areas of red.

The horse can still be sound through all of this.

SYMPTOMS: ONSET OF ACUTE LAMINITIS

● Pounding digital pulse in the foot.

● Heat in the foot.

● Inflammation or edema around the short and long pastern. The leg can fill in up to the knee.

● Anxiety.

● Set back stance. The horse carries as much weight as possible in its hind feet.

● Lameness

Four Obel grades of lameness used by veterinarians:

Grade 1: Alternately lifting feet; not lame at the walk.

Grade 2: Stiff and resists turning at the walk and lame at the trot.

Grade 3: Lame at the walk; stilted gait; resists lifting feet.

Grade 4: Will not move unless forced.

Laminitic horses can develop severe osteoporosis in their long pasterns

Posted on: January 1, 2012

Angel on May 4, 2011. She was put down two days later. Her X-rays showed that her coffin bones in both front feet were half gone and she had developed a facture in her left coffin bone. She had managed to get around for years by carrying the bulk of her weight in her hind end.

In my mare Angel’s final few years with laminitis before dying in May 2011, the focus shifted a little from her front hooves to her long pasterns, what I think of as her ankles, sometimes called “P1.” She developed pretty severe osteoporosis in her front long pasterns, and the veterinarian who took over her case was more than a little concerned about her trotting or galloping and having something catastrophic happen to her legs.

In Angel’s X-rays during that time, her long pasterns should have been white, but they were pretty dark other than a white outline showing the edges. I’m no radiology expert, but if white represents healthy bone, dark gray to almost black can’t be good.

Of course, this osteoporosis was in addition to all sorts of bad things happening to her coffin bone two bones away.

Angel’s vet said the osteoporosis in the long pastern was due to lack of weight-bearing on the front legs. Over the years, Angel did get very comfortable carrying most of her weight behind, and she could spin on those hind legs like nothing I had ever seen. Given the severity of her case, she likely would have been put down by most vets early on. And her final vet was surprised that she was still alive but agreed with me that as long as Angel had such a sunny and positive outlook, there was no need to make any drastic decisions “in her best interest.”

The fact that Angel made it seven years led to developments in her that might not be well-documented or studied. I have found no research on long pastern osteoporosis.

I did find two studies that looked at the bony changes in the distal phalanx, or coffin bone, often referred to as P3, which is connected to the laminae in the feet. This is the bone that usually changes position in the foot. The bone should be shaped similarly to a hoof and fit in perfect alignment in its cavity inside the hoof.

In 1987, researcher Robert Linford looked at bone changes with trauma- and carbohydrate-related laminitis. He said changes in the laminae were likely to cause changes to the bony structure in the coffin bone.

In 2010, researcher Julie B. Engiles published a 10-page paper in Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice and mentioned that she was picking up where Linford had left off, as no other research in the interim appeared to study the deterioration of the coffin bone during laminitis.

She said developments seen in humans due to inflammatory conditions or alterations in biomechanical forces lead to active bone remodeling as well as medullary edema and other changes, and these changes are similar to what is seen in the distal phalanx in horses with laminitis.

The medullary cavity is the center of the bone shaft where marrow is found.

Engiles concluded that the coffin bone should be considered, perhaps in addition to the laminae, as a continuing source of pain and self-perpetuating inflammation.

In Angel’s case, the front half of her coffin bone just eventually wore away, leaving her with half a coffin bone. When Angel’s vet took her last set of X-rays and turned around to look at the monitor, the words “holy bananas” were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Holy bananas told me everything I needed to know. Some problems even the sunniest of horses can’t overcome.

A look at Kentucky Derby winners that have developed laminitis

Posted on: December 26, 2011

On Dec. 13, 2011, Strike the Gold was the latest Kentucky Derby winner reported to have developed laminitis. His battle with the hoof disease was mentioned in his obit after he was put down in Turkey due to an injury. He joins an unfortunate club of elite thoroughbreds to suffer from laminitis or founder. Here are their stories:

Secretariat: In October 1989, Secretariat was put down after he developed complications from laminitis. He was 19. The beautiful chestnut colt ran the first sub-2 minute Kentucky Derby on his way to sweeping the Triple Crown in 1973. His career earnings totaled more than $1.3 million. His owners declined to talk about his laminitis, including the cause, but the horse always seemed to carry more weight than the usual thoroughbred and may have had the insulin form of the disease.

Affirmed: In January 2001, Affirmed was euthanized due to laminitis. He was 26. He had injured his left front pastern the previous October, causing him to stand too much on his right front foot, resulting in laminitis. Affirmed remains the last winner of the Triple Crown, in 1978, and his legendary rivalry with Alydar made it an exciting year. He was ridden by young jockey Steve Cauthen. Affirmed earned $2,393,818 in his career.

Sunday Silence: In August 2002, Sunday Silence lost his battle with laminitis after suffering a fatal heart attack. He was 16. He had been ill since May with an infection in his right leg that brought on laminitis in his left foot. His owners had been discussing whether to euthanize him when he got down in his stall, could not get back up and eventually died of heart failure. The nearly black stallion won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Breeders’ Cup Classic over arch rival Easy Goer, and his career earnings totaled $4,968,554.

Barbaro recovers after shattering three bones in his right hind leg.

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro recovers in 2006 at New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania after shattering three bones in his right hind leg in the Preakness. (Photo by the University of Pennsylvania)

Barbaro: On Jan. 29, 2007, the big bay Kentucky Derby winner was put down at the University of Pennsylvania after a fight against laminitis watched around the world. He was 4. The colt won the Derby by 6 1/2 lengths in a romp in May 2006 but shattered three bones in his right hind leg in the Preakness, leading many to wonder if he’d survive the initial injury. Dr. Dean Richardson was able to rebuild the right leg only to see the left hind foot develop laminitis in July 2006. Barbaro’s early recovery from laminitis looked promising. However, after he developed an abscess in his right hind foot and laminitis in both front feet, owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson, along with Richardson, made the decision to euthanize him. Barbaro earned $2,302,200 in his career.

Strike the Gold: On Dec. 13, 2011, Strike the Gold was put down at Karacabey Stud Farm in Turkey after suffering a fractured left front pastern in his paddock. He had battled laminitis throughout the year but was considered in relatively good health. According to a Turkey racing official, the stallion had a heart attack in his paddock and fell, leading to the fracture. Veterinarians were able to wake the horse but chose to put him down due to the injury. Strike the Gold was the 1991 Kentucky Derby champion and the oldest living Derby winner at 23. He had been a stallion in Turkey since 1999. He won six of 31 career starts for earnings of nearly $3.5 million and was Nick Zito’s first Derby winner.

Does circadian rhythm play a role in laminitis and founder in horses?

Posted on: December 21, 2011

From left: Goldie, Angel, Robin, Stitches (lying down) and Kurt all hang out together. Wherever the mares were, the geldings were, too.

For years, I wondered if my second-shift schedule may have caused my horses’ laminitis and founder by messing up their circadian rhythm.

I was a journalist who worked nights and came home around 1 or 2 a.m. The horses were hungry, and I fed them when I got home. They got a handful of grain, usually because some of them needed bute, and two flakes of hay per horse.

I was more convinced of the association during Angel’s last days in May 2011, when I was spending a lot of time in the shed with her after I fed her overnight. I just sat in the shavings and hung out, looking up at the stars with her. I noticed that the boys ate a little hay and then both lied down. So, I put calories in their stomachs and then they went to bed with that sugar in their system.

In people, we know that’s a big no-no.

I’ve searched on and off since for research on a horse’s circadian rhythm to test my theory, and I have found two studies that indicate that horses actually tend to graze the most overnight when left to do whatever they want, though they also are more prone to lie down overnight than at any other time.

Over the years, my geldings probably chose to lie down in the shavings overnight because they always looked to the mares for guidance. If the mares were lying down, then they would, too. In fact, after Angel died and left the geldings alone, those two boys were so lost, they didn’t know what to do with themselves for weeks.

I now know that, if Angel hadn’t been there, they would have been off grazing, because that is what they do now. Robin Hood snorts wherever he goes. I hear him all night long. And they are on the move all night, though I limit where they can go because I don’t want them stuffing their face with grass. They tend to nap first thing in the morning.

It’s possible that the laminitic mares caused them to change their pattern of movement, leading to the boys getting fat. But, I don’t think the mares’ initial founder cases were caused by me feeding them in the middle of the night. I likely would have done more damage if I had fed them before work at 4 p.m. and then not fed them again until the next morning.

The first of the two studies I found was conducted by Cornell University in 1988. It watched a herd of eight Przewalski horses on pasture during summer around the clock and recorded their behavior. The abstract does not say how long the study lasted or where the horses were located, but I’m assuming it was New York.

The horses spent about 46.4 percent of their time feeding, .5 percent of their time drinking, 20.6 percent standing, 15.7 percent standing-resting, 1.7 percent self-grooming, 2.2 percent mutually grooming, 7.4 percent moving, 1.2 percent lying laterally and 4.1 percent lying sternally, or upright, similar to a relaxing dog. They averaged about 45 behavorial states per hour.

The study says the horses spent the greatest amount of time grazing from 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., when the temperatures were lower. They spent 68 percent of their time from 8 p.m. to midnight feeding, but only 30 percent of their time from 8 a.m to noon feeding. Recumbent rest, or lying down, was most common between midnight and 4 a.m. As it got hotter during the day, the horses spent more time standing and drinking than grazing.

The second study, by the Division of Animal Production in Australia in 2003, was a comparison of circadian patterns of sheep, cattle and horses grouped together. The abstract is brief but it notes that the horses in the study grazed extensively all night, whereas the sheep and cattle grazed more intensely during the morning and afternoon. It said horses spent only 1.1 hours lying down per day, whereas sheep and cattle spent 11.6 and 10.5 hours, respectively.

Tricks for giving medicine to laminitic and foundered horses

Posted on: December 19, 2011

Hollow out the end of a carrot with a steak knife to hide your horse’s medicine.

Over 15 years of treating six horses with laminitis, I’ve had to come up with many weird and wonderful ways to give medicine and supplements.

Success often hinges on how bad the medicine or supplement tastes, and some medicines are harder to mask than others.

For example, I gave the supplement LaminaSaver, which is mostly jiaogulan, to Angel on and off for two years to try to stimulate circulation in her feet during the winter. The last few years, winter was really hard on her, and her mobility dropped off with the temperature. But, I gave her this supplement with mixed feelings. Have you ever tasted LaminaSaver? It’s terrible, in my opinion. And the taste stays with you for hours no matter how you try to get rid of it.

I gave it to Angel by buying a juicer, juicing carrots and mixing the powder in with the carrot juice, then squirting the mixture in her mouth with a syringe. The powder tasted better, but it still wasn’t great; at least there was no horrible aftertaste. But, I never was comfortable making her take something that tasted that bad. And the cleanup after each dose was tremendous.

I started giving the horses Quiessence either by hand or in their feed several years ago and kept that up until October 2011; the magnesium was supposed to help control insulin resistance in laminitic horses. Quiessence is made with alfalfa, so the horses always wolfed that down. I never tasted it myself. In fact, I usually only taste things when the horses refuse to eat them. I always wondered about the wisdom of giving them alfalfa, but at least I didn’t have to do much work on that one.

For some medicine, such as bute, it seems better to just get it down without the horse tasting it.

I used to get the apple-flavored powder bute and never had a problem with the horses cleaning it up in their feed. But, I was trying to feed as little as possible, and you need a certain amount of feed to cover it, especially if you’re also mixing in thyroid powder, which I’ve been doing for a long time.

I changed vets and suddenly only had the option of the orange-flavored bute powder. None of my horses would touch it. After getting through one tub by putting the powder in a syringe and squirting into the horses’ mouths (not so easy in the winter when my fingers aren’t working), I changed to bute boluses.

They weren’t orange flavored or scented, and they were cheaper. I didn’t really have a plan how to give them when they arrived. I was thinking about crushing them and given them through a syringe in the same fashion, but I stumbled upon a new trick as I was trying to figure it out.

I took a steak knife and hollowed out the end of a piece of carrot and placed half a bolus of bute inside, and each horse ate his bute as if it wasn’t there.

For a whole gram, I stuck with the half gram-per-carrot ratio and just used two carrot pieces.

This process has worked well for other pills, such as antibiotics.

The only two supplements I’m using now are the Heiro to lower their insulin levels and thyroid powder. As long as there is some feed to cover the thyroid powder, the horses just eat it. I don’t think it has a taste.

The Heiro supplement is chock full of cinnamon. When you open the jar, the whole room smells like cinnamon. The instructions provide ways to make it more palatable for horses, but my horses didn’t have a bad initial reaction. That first day, I held my breath as I put the buckets down, because I was thinking, “This is our only hope to stop this latest bout of laminitis; please don’t let this be a feeding nightmare.” I based that feeling on the fact that we had tried everything else and nothing had stopped bouts of laminitis in progress, and this product was designed to lower insulin levels in laminitic horses, which is what my horses needed. If I could get the supplement in them, I thought it would work.

The horses at first chewed their feed over and over with puzzled looks on their faces because they had never tasted anything like it, but now they pounce on their breakfast, which is when they get the Heiro, and lick their buckets clean. Big relief.

My plea to anyone thinking of making drugs or supplements for laminitic horses in the future is: Please make them taste good or make them in bolus form. Don’t ask my horses to eat anything you wouldn’t want to eat yourself.

Excessive tail growth in horses with chronic laminitis and founder

Posted on: December 16, 2011

Angel’s tail before and after getting several inches trimmed from it. Laminitis caused the tail to grow excessively.

In all the thousands of articles online about the effects of chronic laminitis, a topic that seems to get no coverage is excess tail growth.

At first, I didn’t even consider that a laminitis-related issue. But, I was talking to someone at the laminitis conference that I attended in 2007, and the tail thing just came up. She must have mentioned it, because I remember my surprised response being something on the order of, “Your horses, too!”

The more I thought about it in the following days, the more the excessive tail growth had to be laminitis, because Angel always had a lousy tail and suddenly the hair was growing maybe 18 inches a year. I’m guessing on that measurement, but every year at the first snowfall, I cut off at least a foot of the tail, and I also cut it back in the summer because she was always stepping on it. Same for Goldie and Stitches. In fact, Stitches’ tail was bitten off by a fellow horse when she was a 2-year-old, and I never could get it to grow beyond her hocks after that. Suddenly, after the laminitis started, it was dragging the ground.

I spent hours searching online trying to find any article on excessive tail growth, and I just keep getting how-to articles on growing a long horse tail or information on the plant horsetail.

I thought I had a lot of photos of this in my collection, but I’m afraid the pickings are slim. But, here is one set of photos of Angel’s tail before and after I trimmed it.

Learn to check the digital pulse in a horse’s foot before laminitis develops

Posted on: December 11, 2011

Checking a horse’s digital pulse.

Checking the digital pulse in a horse’s foot is a handy skill to have. It’s good to establish what your horse’s pulse feels like prior to the horse having problems, such as laminitis or founder. If you call the vet and say, “I think my horse is foundering,” the first thing the vet will ask you is, “Does your horse have a pulse?”

There are two ways to position your hand, and preference really comes down to the size of your hand.

The process is similar to checking your own pulse using your wrist. To do that, turn your hand palm up and put your first two fingers on the outer edge of your wrist just beyond where your wrist meets your hand. Press lightly to feel your pulse. Everyone should be able to feel this pulse.

In a normal horse, it’s often difficult to find the digital pulse. That’s OK. At the same time, feeling a small pulse does not necessarily indicate that the horse has a problem.

Place your thumb and one or two fingers on the outer edges of the crease where the horse’s foot meets the ankle (see photo). If you have a long hand, you can reach around the front of the foot. Otherwise, just feel the ankle from the back of the foot.

Press a little, but not too much. Feel for the same type of pulse you feel in your own wrist.

The skill really is like anything else. If you do it enough, you get the hang of it.

Check the horse’s pulse at consistent times to get a feel for the normal pulse at those times. I have one horse with a much stronger pulse overnight than during the day. Note both the strength and rapidness of the pulse. Horses with an acute case of laminitis often have a rapid, pounding pulse. A normal pulse might feel very faint and deliberate if you can feel it at all.

Write down your description of the pulse in a place where you can find it if you need it.

Photo journal of horse with laminitis and founder in 2004

Posted on: December 6, 2011

My mare, Angel, had one of the worst laminitis cases that my vet in 2004 had seen, and laminitis is his specialty.

At the time, I had just gone through laminitis and founder with another mare, and it occurred to me that I should chronicle Angel’s case with photos, especially after abscesses appeared on both feet. The previous mare didn’t have abscesses. This was new territory for me. In fact, I pretty much had a heart attack when the first abscesses opened up around Angel’s coronary bands. It looked like her hooves would fall off. And, as time wore on, most of the hoof wall did.

Angel’s damaged hoof wall eventually sloughed off.

This journal was designed for print, and I didn’t make any effort to control the file size when I made it, so it’s a whopping 300 megabytes in its original form. It took me a while to get it down to under 4 megabytes. And you can still read it. I think that’s as good as we’re going to get. You may have to zoom out a little to fit it all on your screen.

I laid it out vertically for print, not ideal for Web viewing because you have to keep scrolling up and down. But, it’s a good case study.

Angel did return to various levels of soundness over the years, but she often did too much once she was sound, running around with her herd mates, and then was left with more damage.

If I had known insulin resistance was the cause, we could have combatted the problem back in 2004 and perhaps turned this around. Angel likely ran extremely elevated insulin levels and suffered the abnormal hoof proliferation for all seven years after her original acute laminitis case, right up until she finally had to be put down in May 2011.

This diary is 15 pages, and the photos of the abscesses start on Page 4.