Founders I Have Known

As I'm dealing with a foundered & a laminitic horse, I've been reflecting on the horses in my past. Looking back it's pretty amazing that I never saw a foundered horse as the stable of my youth. In fact, I'd had horses for 20 years before I saw my first founder. Knowing what I know today, I find that unbelievably amazing. Our horses were kept in stalls & fed high quality, dairy alfalfa with large quantities of grain. Maybe part of the reason for no founders was that a number of the horses had young girls who rode them constantly. But what of the idle horses standing around in stalls with bins of feed? Why did these horses not founder?

Rick was the first horse I knew who foundered. He was an early teen, chestnut gelding of unknown heritage. i occasionally rod Rick when his owner was out of town. He was a nice horse, one that I enjoyed riding. One day his owner noticed he was slightly lame. Thinking it probably a stone bruise, he let Rick have a couple days stall rest. Rick didn't get better, in fact he got worse. Finally, after about a week, the vet was called. The horrifying diagnosis was road founder. Rick's founder wasn't caused by feed, it was caused by being over ridden (his owner liked to run for miles in the deep riverbed sand & it took it's toll) into exhaustion. Back then it was common practice to euthanize horses when diagnosed with founder. Rick's owner wanted to save his horse so he did as the vet prescribed. Rick was put on anti-inflammatories & the shoer was called. Eggbar shoes were put on to keep the sole off the ground. When Rick continued to worsen, he was reshod with shoes put on backwards. This was to relieve any pressure at the toes & to give him a better breakover. Still he worsened. Finally the day came when his coffin bones pushed through his soles. The decision was finally made to lay Rick to rest. I personally would have opted for euthanasia sooner. Rick was in a lot of pain, he refused to move, he had lost massive amounts of weight from the pain (causing lack of eating), & he battled numerous hoof abscesses. It was a relief to finally see he didn't have to suffer any longer.

VM April Dawn was a gorgeous bay, arabian mare. She belonged to an elderly friend who loved her horses to death. Each spring Dawn & her companions were allowed free access to the lush grass during the day. At night they were brought into the barn & fed alfalfa. Each received a scoop of grain (or sometimes chicken scratch) as a treat. Dawn & her companions were obese. Every spring the four horses would become foot sore. I don't know when Misty Foundered but it's evident today by the structure of her hooves that she did founder at some point. While she's sound today, Dawn wasn't so lucky. A couple of years ago Dawn foundered. The original x-rays showed 26 & 28% rotation in her front feet. She was given Bute & put on stall rest (12 x 12 box stall). She stopped eating because she couldn't move. By the time I was called, Dawn was emaciated & dehydrated. Her coffin bones were through her soles. I had her owner start feeding her beet pulp & rice bran, we moved her water trough closer to her, & we put her in a roundpen instead of the box stall. When I called a few days later, i was told Dawn was doing better & the farrier was upbeat on her outcome. It was a couple more months before I got a phone call that Dawn was worse again. It took some doing but I convinced her owner to let me take them to UCDavis. New x-rays showed that Dawn had no coffin bones left. The bones had de-mineralized to nothing. It was a sad trip. Dawn did not come home.

Cougars' Charmer was a palomino, quarab mare who belonged to one of my best friends. While she didn't belong to me, I loved riding her. She was very forward, bold, & covered a lot of ground with little effort. She was a very successful endurance horse. One day while my friends & I were out riding, Charmer stepped on a pine cone. She was sod with pads so we didn't think much of the small hole the pine cone put in her pad. Little did we know what had really happened. A few days later Charmer was lame. When the shoe & pad were removed, there was an abscess brewing from where the sharp point of the pine cone had not only gone through the pad, but into her sole. Laminitis set in, as well as a mild case of founder. Over the next few years Charmer continued to be ridden endurance but she had to have pads to protect her tender soles. Anytime she got early spring grass she would become foot sore. It was finally decided to retire her because it was difficult to keep her feet sound under the stress of competition. For a few years she was occasionally ridden by friend's grandkids. The day came when she was no longer ridden & she became a "pasture puff". As Charmer aged she would have laminitic bouts that always resolved. Then one day while my friends were on vacation, Charmer foundered again. When my friends got home, Charmer was in extreme pain & it was decided her time had come & she was laid to rest.

Laminitis & founder are horrible & devastating conditions. Their causes are many & not often understood. There are various treatments & no guarantees of success. Once a horse has foundered, it's always at risk for another episode. While we can do everything to control diet & exercise, we have no guarantee that we can keep founder at bay. It is my hope that someday we'll beat these conditions that can take our horses' lives.