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Managing Chronic Laminitis

Feb 21, 2014

Each morning Chrisbell Bednar of Oregonia, Ohio, brings her 16-year-old mare, Brynn, in from overnight grazing and crosses her fingers that the mare’s grazing muzzle is still intact.

“If the muzzle is off, I’ll start to a panic as I try to figure out how much grass she’s eaten and how long she might have had it off,” Bednar says. Even though the Morgan cross spends the night in a closely mowed paddock, there is still the chance she’s overeaten the sugar-rich -grasses.

Confirming the grazing muzzle is in place is just the first hurdle of the day; next, Bednar carefully weighs Brynn’s hay and measures a small amount of low nonstructural carbohydrate feed. Such is life caring for a horse with chronic laminitis.

Bednar and her veterinarian and farrier work closely with each other to monitor the mare’s recovery and shoeing and to adjust her treatment plan accordingly. This owner is one of countless individuals who manage horses with chronic laminitis. But how do horses get to this point? We asked three laminitis researchers to help us understand how chronic cases of laminitis occur and how to manage them.

Source: The Horse