
07/06/2025
Following my previous post, this is what you don't want to see. Sent to me by a client whose horse usually has the most solid rock crunching feet, but was now very footy.
The pink white line, solid in colour, is blood products from inflamed and broken laminar, this is a clinical sign of acute laminitis.
As always, the priority is working out the trigger , usually its diet related (about 80%) but in this case the vet confirmed mechanical laminitis - arthritic changes in the hocks, causing tension in the sacroiliac joint, causing the horse to project too much weight forwards and overloading his front feet.
So the hocks were the primary issue, and the laminitis the secondary issue.
The vet and I discussed a treatment plan involving injecting the hocks and using boots and pads which will not only give the horse comfort, but will reduce excessive wearing at the toe caused by his overloading, which was exacerbating the problem. We also agreed shorter trim cycles until he was comfortable to keep the heels down, keeping his weight at the back of the foot.
A few weeks later, the horse was back to his normal self.