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.

While the exact mechanisms by which the feet are damaged remain a mystery certain precipitating events can produce laminitis. The causes vary and may include the following. Starch black walnut oligofructose fructose and insulin. The classical one and one area that has been investigated in greater detail is an excessive intake of carbohydrates in the diet.

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. Although laminitis occurs in the feet the underlying cause is often a disturbance elsewhere in the horse s body. 80 causes predispositions and pathways of laminitis henry w. Laminitis is a complex cascade of events that causes the soft tissues laminae within the hoof to swell weaken and die.

Laminitis means inflammation of the laminae of the horse s hoof. There are 3 main causes of laminitis. Laminitis commonly known as founder is a painful disease that causes severe lameness in horses. 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. This can all occur before any symptoms are apparent and once the process has started it is extremely difficult to stop. It can often cause lameness in two or all four feet at one time but it is preventable. Before we get into what causes laminitis in horses let s quickly cover what is laminitis.

The most famous example of this was the american racehorse barbaro who had a. Relatively less commonly horses can get laminitis from overload typically associated with non weight bearing conditions in one limb thereby overloading the opposite limb.