Laminitis In The Equine Industry

Introduction
Laminitis is a condition that occurs in horses that’s painful and detrimental to the overall health of the animal. Being one of the most common conditions that appear in horses, there are many ways to treat, prevent, and cause laminitis that have been found in various research studies conducted throughout the years. With Equine being such an enormous industry throughout the world, it’s no surprise that there has been such a wide variety of research conducted. Even with all the research that has been done in the equine industry, there are still always areas of study that have yet to be successfully explained, but every year people find out more and more to increase the welfare and overall health of equine animals. For this particular …show more content…
When blood flow to the laminae somehow gets restricted, inflammation of the laminae occurs and can lead to serious damage if it isn’t spotted quickly enough and treated right away. If untreated it could result in the laminae becoming damaged enough that they pull apart and the coffin bone will begin to rotate downwards toward the bottom of the hoof, and in severe cases, poke through the bottom. Horses aren’t as likely to recover from a severe case, even though it’s still possible, but a milder case can be managed …show more content…
There are fermentable nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC), in simple sugar form that when in the cecum or large intestine will produce lactic acid and other toxins that trigger laminitis to appear. Particularly the carbohydrate fructan, along with starch, when consumed in large quantities during an experiment on ponies showed that it induced acute laminitis in the animal. Another factor affecting the onset of laminitis are amine compounds formed in the hindgut, these compounds can cause peripheral vasoconstriction which can contribute to blood flow being cut off from the laminae in the hoof wall (Crawford, C. et al,