GeorgeGuns
08-03-2006, 03:05 PM
I thought I'd throw this info out because I've noticed in a few threads the reference to rings, etc with founder.
Founder: painful rotation of the coffin bone (P3)
Laminitis: inflammation of the lamina and basement cells that form the lamina (whiteline)
Stretched whiteline - obvious. It needs to be stressed here that for hte lamina to separate (even small stretching is a degree of separation of the inner and outer lamina - think of velcro) there has to be a metabolic influence. MMP3 is an enzyme that is responsible for the natural slow breakdown of lamina at a rate that actually promotes growth - its kind of like the outer lamina walks down the wall of the inner lamina. Leverage forces on the wall in a horse that is NOT in any kind of metabolic upset (by this I mean even a little too much sugar in the diet - each horse has different sensativities to this and its individual) will have some flare with an intact whiteline, and these are the horses that chip down to a good level and self trim quite nicely. With a degree of metabolic influence, the walls flare and we see the stretch and some grossly ugly chipping as the hoof tries to get rid of poorly attached wall.
A horse can have any combination of these.
Can founder happen in the absence of metabolic upset and without bloody laminitis? Yes, its not the extreme founder that we normally think of first. If the sole is thinned and the heels are too high this lowers the tip of the bone, raises the back of the bone, the horse will be ouchy, and exrays will show "rotation" - this rotation is more related to the heel area being above ground parellel (1-3 degrees being normal) than the front of P3 being rotated away from the wall. Often these horses appear with clubby hooves, and may also be diagnosed with navicular, the founder idea being missed because there is little or no whiteline separation. In this horse, the goal is to get the heels down and back and functional, and to let the sole grow and then callous off. Backing up breakover is also necessary to let the heels get back. (if you pull the front forward, the rear usually follows!)
Laminitis refers to the circulatory component of the founder types. I have been unable to find sufficient information regarding why some horses show blood in a very tight whiteline and others don't. Dr Pollits researck on the MMP3 factor is dead on, but I think it falls short and that there are other factors that are individual to each horse. I would not be surprised to find out that the horses that only have some blood in the WL are the true road founders and that this is in response to higher condussive forces than teh hoof can handle - and a great excuse to boot rather than shoe! This IS laminitis, BUT by the time we see it its OLD because that circulatory issue happens at the coronary band first and works its way down either in a big circulation collapse or the bloody area just grows out.
The lines in the hoof... almost always correllate to stretched whiteline. The wall is inherently weaker and thinner directly outside the poor whiteline, and why would it not be? Poor whiteline cannot support a thick wall, so it thins. When we change the breakover and adjust the diet to allow good WL to grow down, we get the lines to go away.
Okay, so if you have a founder (rotation only) that is not related to a metabolic event, the whiteline gets to stay intact and you won't have lines! The horse is sore because either the sole is thinned (lets the front of P3 closer to the ground) or the heels are too high (raises the heel of the P3 up) or both. Thin soled horses may have an exaggerated heel first landing at the walk (flat at walk is okay, toe first may be depending on the horse, landing is best judged at a faster gait), whereas the tall heeled horse will land toe first and tend to trip and be ouchy on rocks even if the sole IS thick. Combine both and the poor beast doesn't know how to land and will actually alternate between toe and heel first, and if we do a good job, we may see a horse that goes completely over to one or the other as only one part of the hoof now hurts. The reason I birng this up is because we may have horse that is rotated and no rings apparent, but is landing heel first merely because the heel hurts less than the toe, and its easy to miss the founder idea on these horses, they move like navicular horses.
On the contrary, you can have a horse that has lines, due to stretched WL that appears sound. Now why does this happen? Go back 2 paragraphs. This is exactly why its important to not go beyond 6 weeks in the hoofcare program. Every time we trim the hoof or reset shoes (assuming its a good job of either) we are promoting healthy WL to grow down from the coronary, and that area of wall will be well attached and thicker and healthier. By 6 weeks though, the leverage forces of a horse in need of a trim or reset are enough to decrease the quality of WL and wall coming out of the coronary band (the rationale for this can be dealt with later if anyone is interested) and we get thinner wall, thus a groove or ring.
I hope I hae not further confused issues, lol, it may take a couple reads to realize that this is quite logical.
Founder: painful rotation of the coffin bone (P3)
Laminitis: inflammation of the lamina and basement cells that form the lamina (whiteline)
Stretched whiteline - obvious. It needs to be stressed here that for hte lamina to separate (even small stretching is a degree of separation of the inner and outer lamina - think of velcro) there has to be a metabolic influence. MMP3 is an enzyme that is responsible for the natural slow breakdown of lamina at a rate that actually promotes growth - its kind of like the outer lamina walks down the wall of the inner lamina. Leverage forces on the wall in a horse that is NOT in any kind of metabolic upset (by this I mean even a little too much sugar in the diet - each horse has different sensativities to this and its individual) will have some flare with an intact whiteline, and these are the horses that chip down to a good level and self trim quite nicely. With a degree of metabolic influence, the walls flare and we see the stretch and some grossly ugly chipping as the hoof tries to get rid of poorly attached wall.
A horse can have any combination of these.
Can founder happen in the absence of metabolic upset and without bloody laminitis? Yes, its not the extreme founder that we normally think of first. If the sole is thinned and the heels are too high this lowers the tip of the bone, raises the back of the bone, the horse will be ouchy, and exrays will show "rotation" - this rotation is more related to the heel area being above ground parellel (1-3 degrees being normal) than the front of P3 being rotated away from the wall. Often these horses appear with clubby hooves, and may also be diagnosed with navicular, the founder idea being missed because there is little or no whiteline separation. In this horse, the goal is to get the heels down and back and functional, and to let the sole grow and then callous off. Backing up breakover is also necessary to let the heels get back. (if you pull the front forward, the rear usually follows!)
Laminitis refers to the circulatory component of the founder types. I have been unable to find sufficient information regarding why some horses show blood in a very tight whiteline and others don't. Dr Pollits researck on the MMP3 factor is dead on, but I think it falls short and that there are other factors that are individual to each horse. I would not be surprised to find out that the horses that only have some blood in the WL are the true road founders and that this is in response to higher condussive forces than teh hoof can handle - and a great excuse to boot rather than shoe! This IS laminitis, BUT by the time we see it its OLD because that circulatory issue happens at the coronary band first and works its way down either in a big circulation collapse or the bloody area just grows out.
The lines in the hoof... almost always correllate to stretched whiteline. The wall is inherently weaker and thinner directly outside the poor whiteline, and why would it not be? Poor whiteline cannot support a thick wall, so it thins. When we change the breakover and adjust the diet to allow good WL to grow down, we get the lines to go away.
Okay, so if you have a founder (rotation only) that is not related to a metabolic event, the whiteline gets to stay intact and you won't have lines! The horse is sore because either the sole is thinned (lets the front of P3 closer to the ground) or the heels are too high (raises the heel of the P3 up) or both. Thin soled horses may have an exaggerated heel first landing at the walk (flat at walk is okay, toe first may be depending on the horse, landing is best judged at a faster gait), whereas the tall heeled horse will land toe first and tend to trip and be ouchy on rocks even if the sole IS thick. Combine both and the poor beast doesn't know how to land and will actually alternate between toe and heel first, and if we do a good job, we may see a horse that goes completely over to one or the other as only one part of the hoof now hurts. The reason I birng this up is because we may have horse that is rotated and no rings apparent, but is landing heel first merely because the heel hurts less than the toe, and its easy to miss the founder idea on these horses, they move like navicular horses.
On the contrary, you can have a horse that has lines, due to stretched WL that appears sound. Now why does this happen? Go back 2 paragraphs. This is exactly why its important to not go beyond 6 weeks in the hoofcare program. Every time we trim the hoof or reset shoes (assuming its a good job of either) we are promoting healthy WL to grow down from the coronary, and that area of wall will be well attached and thicker and healthier. By 6 weeks though, the leverage forces of a horse in need of a trim or reset are enough to decrease the quality of WL and wall coming out of the coronary band (the rationale for this can be dealt with later if anyone is interested) and we get thinner wall, thus a groove or ring.
I hope I hae not further confused issues, lol, it may take a couple reads to realize that this is quite logical.