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laminitis and founder

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#1 ·
Can someone please describe to me the definition of the two. Everyone who I have asked can not give me a definition of both of them separate. How do they connect to eachother and what causes founder and laminates?

Thank you!
 
#2 ·
The terms "laminitis" and "founder" are used interchangeably but they're not the same thing, although they are related.

Laminitis is caused by the disruption of blood flow to the laminae in a horse's feet. The laminae secure the coffin bone to the hoof wall. When a horse develops laminitis, the laminae become inflamed, which can separate the bone and hoof wall. This may or may not present with a rotation of the coffin bone.

Founder usually refers to a chronic (long-term) condition associated with rotation of the coffin bone, whereas acute laminitis refers to symptoms associated with a sudden initial attack, including pain and inflammation of the laminae, but not necessarily rotation.

Not all horses who get laminitis will founder, but all horses with founder will have had laminitis, because one is a condition of the other.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Thank you!

Do I understand it correctly?

The two are connected through the coffin bone. Laminitis is when the coffin bone and the hoof wall separate? It's the first step of founder kinda but may or may not lead to a foundered horse?

And founder only happens when the coffin bone has actually started to rotate or has rotated? But...does anything else cause founder or is it only laminitis?

Or am I not right?

Thanks again!!
 
#5 ·
Basically, founder is the last stage of laminitis. With founder there is always rotation of the coffin bone. In laminitis, there may be none at all.

People use the terms interchangeably because unless you get x-rays of the feet, you won't know whether or not the coffin bone has rotated.

In severe cases of founder, the coffin bone will punch through the sole of the foot. :?
 
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