Posted by Anne (Tree) Coley on July 16, 2003 at 22:27:45:
In Reply to: Rapid Heel Growth in Foundered Horses - Tree posted by Jan on July 16, 2003 at 15:22:44:
: Tree wrote: (taken from a post on another board - didn't want to butt in there):
: ::We know that inflammation in foundered horses can cause heel growth to jump like crazy.::
: Could you explain further? I've always been very interested in why this happens (and it DOES), considering it seems to be counterproductive. Are there any opinions that it could be a protective measure somehow?
: Thanks,
: Jan
Hi Jan,
Since no one else commented that rapid heel growth in foundered horses is caused by inflammation I'll just assume it's accepted.
However, not all foundered horses will end up with high heels so it seems to me the rapid heel growth must come from something else.
Think about this, horses with heel pain can actually alter how they use themselves in order to place less weight onto their heels and more onto the toes. When they do this they will compress the toe walls more. With less weight placed onto the heels there's less resistence to them and they appear to grow more quickly.
Dr. Pollitt's Hoof Studies video proved that when heels were raised this altered the blood flow into the hoof. Less blood could enter in the heel regions so more entered into the toe regions under those circumstances. So therefore, to say there's inflammation in the heels of a foundered horse with steep/high heels would be incorrect. There would actually be more room for increased blood flow to the toe regions particularly in the areas where the bone has lost its laminar connections.
I would suspect that these types of founder cases started with heel pain problems which went unnoticed until the laminitis set in. It's quite likely these horses has heel pain which in turn caused them to shift their weight forward onto the toes, stress the toe laminar connections and start a vicious cycle which ended with laminitis/founder.
So why would a foundered horse of this sort still want to weight its toes and not the heels? Well consider the treatments being applied to them. It's quite likely their heels are now being raised on purpose to relieve the tensions to the coffin bone via the DDFT. It's not a choice any more that the horse places more weight onto the toes because it's now set-up to do so.
Do I think the rapid heel growth was a protective measure. It depends on how you define protective and what it's seeking to protect. I think it's more of an avoidence action vs protective. If this sort of horse had heel pain first, it was trying to 'protect' itself from pain. Or, it was seeking to avoid pain. If a horse owner recognized the early signs and had someone take care of this, via trimming to remove the causes of the pain, the horse would've returned to its natural posture, placing more weight onto the heels where it belongs.
I used to wonder why some foundered horses hooves would grow such an excessive amount of heel. It would make sense to me that heel pain pre-existed the laminitis/founder. It's makes more sense that the raised heels does more to weaken the laminar connections in the toe regions. It makes more sense that the horse is now 'setup' for laminitis and if the right trigger comes along, founder.
The other sort of founder cases would be the sinkers where all laminar connections were lost and the coffin bone came to rest on the sole. Those types don't tend to grow excessive amounts of heel. Their feet tend to platter or pancake...just go flat.
Let the games begin!
Tree