Help Prevent Founder in the Spring

 

 

Understanding Laminitis and Founder in Horses

There are a few subtle differences between these two complications of the hoof.

 

What is laminitis?

 

• Laminitis indicates the inflammation of the soft tissue laminae that attach the hoof’s coffin bone to the hoof wall. The swelling will interfere with blood circulation, cause extreme pain, and damage the laminae and its ability to function correctly.

 

• The most common cause of laminitis in horses is metabolic disorders. Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID, formerly called Cushing’s disease) and equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) disrupt a horse’s ability to regulate insulin. Too much insulin is a laminitis trigger, and too many sugars and starches in the diet exacerbate the risk of laminitis.

 

• Horses may also develop laminitis from excessive work on hard surfaces, called road founder, or when an injured leg transfers too much weight to the partner leg, called standing-limb laminitis. Fevers, exposure to black walnut, and a retained placenta can also create laminitis. There’s also carbohydrate overload. The classic example is the clever horse that sneaks into the feed room and gorges on concentrated feeds.

 

This ring on the hoof indicates a previous ailment.  In this horse’s case, it was laminitis. 

 

Equine founder

 

• As the laminar tissues fail, the coffin bone may shift, twist, or sink. The tendons and ligaments in the horse’s legs have a natural pull and will continue to do so as the laminae fail. This tension moves the bones around. In severe cases, the coffin bone may move through the sole of the hoof. This is founder.

 

• Laminitis does not always lead to founder, but it starts there. Many horses recover from founder, and many do not.

 

Signs of Founder in Horses

 

• As laminitis becomes evident, it’s already had time to create damage and pain. Daily grooming and health care can help you spot laminitis early and hopefully recover quickly.

 

• A horse’s digital pulses usually increase before they become sore or lame. You can’t see them, but you can sure feel them. An increased resting heart rate, even a slight increase, is evidence of pain somewhere. Hot hooves that don’t cool off when out of the heat and sun also alert you to hoof danger.

 

Learn how to check your horse’s digital pulses here.

When the sensitive laminae swell, the DDFT’s natural pull on the coffin bone can shift it out of place. 

 

How horses tell us there’s inflammation in the hoof

 

When horses begin to tell us they are footsore, you may notice any of the following:

• Reluctance to turn or turning in a different manner
• Hesitation to walk on hard surfaces
• Colicky symptoms
• Non-existent or persistent weight-shifting
• Not eating or drinking if it means standing on harder ground
• The hair around the coronary band starts to point upward as the hoof’s internal structures change
• Depression and lethargy

These signs also indicate abscesses, advanced thrush or white line disease, sole bruising, or hot nails.

 

Prognosis after laminitis and founder

 

• If noticed early and appropriate steps are taken to treat the founder, your horse has a greater chance of recovery. There are significant consequences to taking a “wait and see” approach to anything hoof related. Not only is this wildly painful for your horse, but your vet bills increase, and the chances of a swift recovery decrease.

 

• Ice, anti-inflammatory medications, special shoes or boots, a change in diet, and other supportive care needs to happen immediately.

 

Hoof x-rays tell your vet and farrier what’s happening inside the hoof. 

 

Spring Grass and Founder: What You Need to Know

 

• Any horse can experience the spring grass to laminitis and founder pipeline just as any horse can develop laminitis after bingeing concentrated feeds. With metabolic problems, this risk is more significant.

 

What happens to pasture grass in the spring

 

• When more daylight and warmer temperatures awaken pastures, it signals the plants to ramp up photosynthesis to make food for growth and reproduction. Those foods are sugars and starches and are measured by the non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) values. Measuring pasture’s NSC values is tricky but easy with hay and bagged horse feeds.

 

• As a horse starts grazing on lush, growing grass, it’s a diet change. They may also spend more time on pasture because the weather and daylight are nicer. Your horse will be gobbling down more sugars and starches than they have been all winter and for extended periods.

 

• This influx of sugar disrupts the hindgut fermentation process, which chain-reacts to interfere with insulin and sends toxins into the bloodstream. These events lead to laminitis and sometimes gas colic, too.

 

• A metabolically challenged horse already struggles with insulin regulation, and those high doses of sugars and starches increase the risks.

 

Cool mornings mean higher sugars in the grass. 

 

High sugar times of day for new pasture

 

• Nobody wants to micromanage horse turnout times, but knowing a little about how grass NSC values fluctuate can help you design safer turnout for riskier horses.

 

• Cool mornings and blazing hot afternoons in the sun will spike sugars as the plants hang onto the sugars for later growth.

 

• Pasture that has gone to seed is also higher in sugars, and the seeds need energy to grow, spread, and become their own plant. For most pastures, that’s later in the summer.

 

It’s a diet change

 

• Many pastures go from dormant and blah to bright and growing in a week or two. This abrupt change in diet is already upsetting to the digestive system, as they are now eating more sugar and less fiber than a winter diet.

 

• But it’s so delicious! Of course, it’s grass candy. Ideally, a transition to spring grass is slow and steady.

 

• Look for diarrhea or other manure change, colicky signs, and signs your horse is foot sore or dehydrated as they acclimate to the new grass.

 

Muzzles are wearable slow feeders. 

 

How to Prevent Founder in the Spring

 

• It’s challenging to prevent founder, but some clever barn management techniques and slow feeders can help your horse transition to the new food and lower the risk of laminitis and founder.

Know your horse’s metabolic health

 

• Knowing their metabolic status is the most valuable thing you can do for your horse’s health. For the cost of a saddle pad and some grooming treats, your vet can test for all manner of PPID and EMS. When you know the risks before spring grass, you can better plan for the transition.

 

Diet and nutrition to lower risks

 

• Look at your horse’s diet as a whole. There are countless reasons to use a low NSC value diet under 10-12%. A lower NSC value diet also helps with ulcers, metabolic disorders, general inflammation, and almost every condition a horse can have.

 

• Your horse’s diet may include supplements to fill in any blanks that forage alone doesn’t provide. Often, these are vitamins, minerals, and the ever-helpful (and anti-inflammatory) Omega-3 fatty acids. Specific supplements for hooves, skin, joints, or anything else may help, too. Be mindful of sugars in electrolytes, so avoid ingredients that end in -ose.

 

Exercise and weight management to avoid obesity

 

• Movement helps a horse in numerous ways.

 

• Appropriate exercise and turnout help with weight management, a healthy metabolism, and keeping your horse mentally healthy.

 

• Regular exercise also improves insulin sensitivity, meaning your horse uses insulin effectively to combat sugars in the diet and move in the opposite direction of some metabolic disorders.

 

• Be more mindful of this in the winter, as a horse’s hormones tell them to grow more hair and pack on the pounds for insulation. If you ride less in the winter, consider this as well as you move into spring. Your horse’s weight may be teetering into obesity before the lushness arrives.

 

HayPlay bags are great slow feeders for dry lots, and your horse can move them around. 

 

Slow feeding systems and grazing muzzles

 

• A horse’s body needs a forage-based diet to consume slowly, over many hours. Meals of hay flakes and bowls of grains do not make for the most natural way for horses to eat. Use slow feeders to boost gut health and keep their brains more “horsey.”

 

• Feed long-stem forages with hay nets, HayPlay bags, specialty boxes, and other systems that create smaller openings for your horse to reach the hay.

 

• The same goes for pasture time. Grazing muzzles are simple and effective slow feeders that your horse wears. That is all. A muzzle will slow down eating and reduce the volume of grass that makes it to the hindgut.

 

Selective turnout times

 

• Knowing how your grass pastures react to varying temperatures and sunlight will guide you to the safest turnout times. Here are some general guidelines about how grass acts. These situations will increase sugars and starches in pasture: 

• • Frosty mornings
  • Hot afternoons in the sun
  • After mowing
  • When the grass is long and producing seeds
  • After overgrazing
  • When horses eat down, the new sprouts are high-sugar
  • Droughts

 

• The percentage of weeds matters, too. Too many weeds will force the grasses to fight for survival by producing sugars. Many weeds, like dandelions, are also high in sugar and tasty to horses.

 

• Your local agricultural extension service can help you identify and understand the grasses in your pasture.

 

This is high-sugar salad!  Lots of seeds packed with sugars and starches. 

 

Daily health checks

 

• When you turn your grooming routine into horse health care, you will notice potential problems much earlier. It’s easy to spend a few extra minutes a day checking vital signs, digital pulses, and how your horse walks and moves.

 

• A quick look around their paddock and stall gives you valuable insights into the digestive tract as you notice manure and urination habits.

 

Monitoring the digital pulse

 

• It’s simple to check all of your horse’s digital pulses as you pick hooves. Here’s what to do:

 

• Run your first and middle fingers down the tendons of the lower leg and follow them as they wrap down, back, and under the fetlock. There’s a squishy pad there.

 

• When you press on that pad and swipe your fingers side to side, you’ll feel some strings. Those are the digital pulse and digital artery.

 

• Press down about halfway to feel for the pulse. If you feel nothing or the pulse is slight, it’s likely typical. If you feel something strong or bounding, as the vets say, there’s a problem in the hoof.

 

• As with checking their resting vital signs, ensure your digital pulse checks happen while your horse is chill. Shenanigans beforehand may not give you an accurate reading.

 

• If you find an increased pulse above the hoof, don’t panic and assume it’s laminitis. Other hoof problems can create a similar situation. It’s worth a call to your vet, anyway.

 

Measure these lines and so some quick math to estimate your horse’s weight. 

 

Track your horse’s weight to prevent spring founder

 

• EMS is closely related to obesity in horses, and the increased calories in fresh pasture can pack on some pounds.

 

• A weight tape used weekly or so gives you an idea of how your horse’s weight is trending.

 

• When you measure your horse, use the same method each time. Equine scales give you an exact weight. The tape alerts you to gains or losses.

 

• It’s also worth it for your vet to do a body condition score during the spring vaccination visit.

 

Learn how to use a weight tape here. 

How to Safely Introduce Your Horse to Spring Grass

 

• That first pop of green color makes us want to put on inspirational music and watch our horses canter breezily through the fields as they enjoy the freedom and sunshine before settling in to mow the lawn.

 

• You should treat fresh grass as a diet change, slowly increasing turnout times so they can safely acclimate.

 

• Your vet is the best person to ask about creating a schedule. Adding a few hours a day is suitable for some horses, but some may only tolerate an extra 30 minutes a day.

 

• Regardless of the time spent grazing, don’t forget how they eat when on pastures. Slow them down with muzzles, especially if your horse has metabolic disorders, is overweight, or has a history of sore hooves or laminitis.

 

• Many horses can safely ditch the grazing muzzle as their digestive systems adjust. Year-round muzzles benefit higher-risk horses during long turnouts and grazing by lowering laminitis risks.

 

Dandelions are delicious and safe for horses but chock-full of sugary starches. 

 

Pasture Maintenance for Safer Spring Grass

 

You can influence your horse’s health with the type of pasture you have and how you take care of it.

The type of grass matters

 

• Different grasses have varying growing cycles and sugar and starch levels. When you know what you are growing, your horse can remain safer while snacking.

 

• Grasses like Bermuda, orchard, Timothy, and Teff are generally lower in carbs. These warm-season grasses have lower NSC values than cool-season grasses, like Kentucky, rye, and fescue.

 

Mowing

 

• Any time your pasture is mowed, you should wait a day before grazing begins again. After haircutting the blades, the plant will panic-horde sugars to regrow.

 

• If your horse wears a grazing muzzle, mowing is essential to give your horse the ideal grass height to minimize frustration while grazing. Grass shorter than 3″ is hard to grab through the muzzle. Grass longer than 6″ will fold over, making eating tricky. Mowing to that perfect height helps your pasture stay healthy and keeps your horse happy.

 

Pasture rotation to prevent spring founder

 

• When your grassy paddock starts to show stress or sugar-hoarding, rest it if possible. And this can look a few different ways. Grass going to seed is high-sugar, as those little nuggets need to pack suitcases of sugar to germinate and flourish.

 

• When grass is chewed down to the nub, it also panic-hoards sugars to stay alive and regrow. That’s why you often see horses nipping at these tiny sprouts – they are delicious.

 

• Extra short grass also increases the likelihood of sand ingestion.

 

Dry lots for high-risk horses

 

• Horses with multiple risk factors for laminitis, like previous cases, Cushing’s disease, and metabolic problems do best on dry lots during lush pasture growth.

 

• Slow feeders, like hay bags and toys, help your horse move while mimicking the all-day grazing of a pasture situation.

 

• Proper management of pasture grass is only one part of reducing the springtime risk of grass founder. Know your horse’s individual needs and design their turnout around peak sugar times. When you know your horse’s metabolic state and have developed your horse’s diet around that, you can keep your horse at a healthy weight, and spring pasture becomes safer.

 

A grazing muzzle would help this overweight horse manage their higher laminitis and colic risk. 

 

Can you stop a horse from developing founder in the spring?

 

Yes! You and your vet can determine their overall laminitis risk by knowing their metabolic status, health history, and body condition score. Then, you can modify turnout situations and use grazing muzzles. Check digital pulses daily, and work to stop laminitis with vet care before it becomes founder.

 

What do you not feed a horse with laminitis or founder?

 

Stick to low-sugar forages for horses with laminitis and founder. Eliminate all supplements with sugars, and taper or stop feeding andy bagged feeds. Bring your horse’s NSC values below 10% during active laminitis. The diet should remain lower in sugars and starches in the future, too.

 

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