Don’t let the optimistic array of new research findings, therapeutic products, and expert opinions deter you from the basics of helping your horse avoid or survive the disease that has broken so many owners’ hearts.

What you have seen of this too-common disease has probably shocked you. You’ve watched owners soaking and bandaging and gingerly hand-walking their stiff-legged, laminitic horses. You’ve seen hooves crusted with growth rings, scarred by abscesses, and shod with pricey designer horseshoes or boots.

Every horse is at risk of laminitis. It’s a disease with different forms, multiple causes, varying severity, and an impact like no other. Some horses recover to gallop again, some spend months on stall rest, and others live with low-grade chronic lameness, helped by a special diet, conscientious hoof trimming and medication for the rest of their lives.

For advice, we turned to a respected source on the subject. The Animal Health Foundation (AHF) funds laminitis research all over the world. The charity’s founder, Donald Walsh, DVM, is optimistic about how horse owners can prevent and manage the disease.

What is Laminitis?

Most people think laminitis is a horse foot disease, but it is more than that. The AHF defines laminitis as the breakdown of the internal supporting structures (“laminae”) between the outer hoof wall and the coffin bone inside the hoof. This breakdown can also damage the delicate circulation in the horse’s foot and cause great pain.

Laminitis commonly affects horses’ feet when hormone production is disrupted, but it is also caused by retained placentas in mares after foaling, or when an injured horse bears weight excessively on its good foot. Body-wide inflammation, such as a complication after surgery, severe diarrhea, or diseases like Potomac horse fever are other pathways. Horses may also develop laminitis when exposed to stable bedding made from black walnut trees.

The most classic laminitis is direct carbohydrate overload, caused when a horse gorges on grain. He may not look sick, but his feet can be damaged by a situation that could have been prevented.

Laminitis research focuses on any one of these causes of the disease. Researchers look at aged horses at risk for the hormonal disease pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID, or Cushing’s disease), which alters pituitary hormones. They also research how efficiently horses regulate the hormone insulin, how they handle stress, or how seasonal or gender-related hormones affect them.

The most familiar form of laminitis is the sore-footed aftermath of grazing on rich spring grass. Many of these horses have what is called equine metabolic syndrome, rooted in insulin dysregulation, and frequently are overweight with obvious cresty necks or fatty areas around the tail base, sheath and shoulders.

Signs of Laminitis in Horses

Laminitic horses are usually lame in both front feet and sometimes in all four feet. Laminitic horses take shorter, more tentative steps than usual, and will toss their heads when turning at the end of a walkway. They may stand with their hind feet tucked forward under their bellies, and their front feet strutted out in front.

But laminitis caused by hormonal problems may have been sending you warning signals for months by gradually altering the shape of the horse’s feet. Hoof wall ridges are common, but the Animal Health Foundation suggests that it is farriers who see it first; they will remark that the sole is flattening out or bruised, and that the white line around the border of the sole is stretching and flecked with hemorrhage even if the horse isn’t noticeably lame.

The Mechanics of Laminitis

When the inner lamina tissue are damaged by laminitis, the bone partially detaches from the hoof wall. If you’ve ever torn one of your fingernails loose, you know how much damaged lamina hurt. Now imagine bearing your weight on that ripped nail: That’s how a horse feels when standing on laminitic hooves.

Sometimes the lamina are mildly damaged; other times the damage is focused on a portion of the foot. Commonly, the toe region is the worst affected. In severe cases, the bone becomes unstable inside the foot.

According to AHF, founder is the painful, crippling result of a foot’s bond damaged by laminitis. When a horse founders, the unstable coffin bone rotates or even sinks, putting pressure on the sole of the foot, sometimes even puncturing it.

Veterinarians take X-rays to evaluate the rotation factor, and also may take a venogram to get a picture of how badly the circulation is damaged.

What can you do to reduce your horse’s risk of laminitis or founder, and what makes a laminitis emergency? Click here to continue reading about treating laminitis.

This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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On Michigan’s pristine Mackinac Island, your carriage is waiting on the dock for you. That’s because there are no motor vehicles (other than fire engines or ambulances) on this little 4-mile-long island in Lake Huron. And it’s been that way for more than 125 years.

Climb in, and let’s go for a trot.

Once you leave the ferry and arrive on Mackinac, you have three choices how to get anywhere: Walk, ride a bike, or let a horse take you. We know which one you’ll pick.

Mackinac (pronounced “MACK-in-awe”) holds the honor of being one of the last places where you can be around real working horses in an authentic and scenic setting, without the distraction of cars and trucks. Horses aren’t pets or pasture ornaments here; they own the roads and know their way around.

If you have any doubt how indispensable horses are, ask to see the horse-drawn trash wagon as it rolls through town.

The horses seem to know that the tourists “ooh” and “ahh” over them as much as over the spectacular scenery and views. Some horses have even learned to pose for photos—ears up on command!

Painters come here to paint horses. Sculptors come to sculpt horses. And everyone comes to roll along the scenic streets and trails behind a team and have their picture taken hugging, kissing, and patting the horse of their choice.

Noteworthy Sights

Day-trippers can wander through a town full of fun shops and restaurants or travel further afield to enjoy sparkling lake vistas and a craggy coastline. But scenery here takes many forms, so your selfie options are endless. Who wouldn’t want their photo taken with the spectacular Arch Rock in the background?

You won’t find any chain hotels or motels on Mackinac Island, but you will find a long list of charming guest houses and inns. Your innkeeper will be your best source for information, weather forecasts, and how to find cell signals and free Wi-Fi around the island.

If you prefer a more luxurious experience, the opulent Grand Hotel boasts the longest porch in the world, plus a pristine antique carriage and sleigh museum. (The museum and Grand Stables are open to all, even if you’re not staying overnight.)

Carriages pull up at the door, teamsters in top-hat livery make deliveries, and guests fall asleep and wake up to the sound of hoofbeats on the drive, or a whinny from a nearby field. By the way, that might be one of the hotel’s many celebrity guests rocking in the chair next to you.

Also be sure to check the Mackinac Horseman’s Association website to see if they are hosting a show or other horse event while you’re on the island.

History and Horses

Given its location on the Canadian border, Mackinac has played important roles in American history over the centuries, but is now predominantly a fun, friendly, and interesting destination. Mackinac is a gem for summer visitors.

In winter, this is one of the most northern points in the USA—with weather to match. In older times, sleds had to cross the frozen lake from the mainland in winter to bring hay for the horses.

Horses are the biggest import to the island: 500 of them, to be precise. Mostly draft horses, they are ferried across the lake each spring to go to work moving things and people around the island once the ice in the lake melts. The day they arrive is quite a sight!

You’ll see all-business Percherons, massive Belgians, and even some ponies stepping off the ferry and onto the dock each spring.

It’s OK if you don’t know your “gee” from your “haw” in driving lingo. Not all the horses on the island are harnessed. It’s also fun to pick out the resident saddle horses. You might see colorful Paints and Appaloosas, as well as a great selection of breeds in pastures and on bridle paths or tied to one of the horse-head hitching posts.

This is also one of the few places where you can see Hackney Ponies pulling carriages.

Riding on Mackinac Island

To answer your question—yes, you can go for a ride. You’ll find several options. You might want to bring your own helmet, but don’t expect your companions to be experienced equestrians (unless you’re lucky). People come to Mackinac to be around horses, and it will be fun for you to watch new friends fall in love with your favorite animal!

Horses may be the biggest import to the island each year, but there’s no contest about the biggest export. The island is famous for its fudge, and visitors take home lots of it. There’s even a fudge festival each summer, as well as a spectacular lilac festival each June. Nature puts on a spectacular foliage display each fall for those who enjoy brisk air.

Mackinac Island is horse heaven in the middle of the Great Lakes. It’s not close to anywhere, except to the hearts of all who have visited and hope to return.

This article about Mackinac Island appeared in the October 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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All horse owners dream of beautiful barns, arenas, and paddocks, but equine behavior and welfare leaders are urging them to open up their barns, rethink time spent in box stalls, link their paddocks, and let horses be horses—together.

Building a Dream Barn

Constructing an ideal horse farm has usually focused on improved ventilation, energy efficiency, safe flooring, buoyant footing, and green paddocks with horse-friendly fencing. But now experts remind us that those are our goals. What would our horses want in the way of a perfect farm?

The first thing to realize is that a one-size-fits-all vision can never apply to horsekeeping, whether it’s the dream of a human or a horse. Every property is different, just as every horse owner’s goals and budget are different. However, what your horse wants and needs may be well within your budget.

Horse owners want their horses to be safe, above all else. Some would say that they want their horses to be safe and happy, but how people define a happy horse is subjective. Equine behavior research from universities around the world has grown into an impressive body of peer-reviewed literature.

We want horses to fit into our lives, but we also want to find ways to stop their cribbing, weaving, and aggression problems. Now we are being asked to solve problems by changing the way horses are managed and housed.

Natural boarding and natural horsekeeping have been established alternatives for many years, but now they have research on their side. Horse owners are also realizing that incorporating social-friendly aspects into their management schemes yields great payoffs without having to make a huge investment all at once, or without sacrificing some aspects of their traditional setups.

Group Housing in Equine Behavior Research

Today’s equine behavior research is looking closely at the way we confine horses in individual stalls. Especially in Europe, researchers are questioning the use of stalls at all. A long tradition exists there called “group housing,” especially for horses used in breeding.

If group housing doesn’t sound familiar, it’s because its roots are European. More than 30 scientific studies have been conducted on horses stabled indoors living in communal groups instead of in individual stalls. Ten new studies have been published since the pandemic began, with more expected.

At the majestic Spanish Riding School breeding farm in Piber, Austria, visitors are often shocked to see a dozen or more mares living together under a common roof, sometimes called “lying halls” in Europe, with their foals at their sides. These valuable animals live quietly together, with little aggression. Barn workers walk among the horses.

Moreover, when it comes time to move the mares to a huge pasture to graze each day, 30 or more mares and foals may be released at once, together. They gallop together, without aggression, through a narrow roadway to the field that waits for them.

U.S.-Based Solutions

So, should you “quit stalling?” Turning horses out together can make most horse owners nervous. Americans probably aren’t ready to make the leap to Euro-style group housing, but plenty can be done in traditional barns to make stables more aligned with welfare principles and equine behavior preferences.

In America, horses often live solo lives. They often spend more time with people than with other horses. A recent trend to build run-out pens out from individual stalls has been accepted as progress, but critics say they are not enough. Horses can see each other, but often cannot touch or groom each other.

Researchers like Australian equine behaviorist Andrew McLean caution that visual contact is not enough. What really matters, he says, is that a horse be able to socialize with a compatible horse in the stall or pen next to it.

Horses require movement, but they also crave, and may even require, direct physical proximity to other horses, according to McLean, who presented some simple ideas for updating stable designs in a webinar for World Horse Welfare in March 2022. Entitled “Can a stabled horse truly be a ‘happy’ horse?” the webinar explored the welfare and behavior aspects of horses in stalls and compared ideal farm designs with realistic ones.

McLean, like others, is cautious about endorsing a switch to group stalls, at least until or unless the herd’s dynamics are established. Safety is a great concern, since open-barn living often cannot provide cover for a horse that needs protection from aggression, especially at feeding time.

Also at risk are humans who may need to enter the common area and move among horses. In Europe, new designs of feeders and watering systems for group-housed horses are making news in barn design.

Social Box Stalls

For some time, stable design has focused on both better air circulation and facilitation of visual contact between horses, especially through using sight-friendly upper bars between stalls. McLean showed examples of the next level of this option from an Australian architect who has created curved bar dividers allowing horses to touch between stalls. Some have sliding bar windows that can be closed if aggression is a problem.

According to McLean and many of his colleagues, the “social box stall” is an idea whose time has come.

McLean related the experience of a racehorse training facility in Australia where old brick walls between stalls were crumbling in places, creating unintentional social opportunities between horses in adjacent stalls. According to McLean, Thoroughbreds returning to their stalls from work would go directly to the broken wall and touch and sniff the horse next door.

Building a better horse farm may be a noble undertaking for an owner, but there is also the possibility of changes in horse management being mandated by equine welfare policies in the future.

Some stables have insufficient grazing and turnout for the number of horses housed, requiring horses to be turned out for only short periods of time. Working on interior changes to stalls may be an easy and relatively economical solution to relieve the stress that these horses feel in stall-bound isolation.

Human companionship, stable toys, and even stall mirrors are other methods recommended to assuage horses, although experts claim such methods are a distant second choice to horses being able to touch their companions.

As with all changes to horses’ lifestyles, gradual and calm introduction to alterations will help horses adjust if the idea of having a more social life is new to them.

Paddock Paradise

Another idea brought forward in recent years has been that a paddock can be much more than a flat, open field. It can be an interactive playground for your herd and have many healthy components to keep horses moving and engaged in therapeutic equine herd behavior.

“Paddock Paradise” is a concept put forth in a book by the same name by author Jaime Jackson, whose years of observing feral horses inspired him to incorporate aspects of their lifestyle into the pastures of American domestic horses.

Of particular interest to Jackson was using environmental components conducive to healthy feet that don’t require shoes. In the 15 years since the book’s publication, many horse owners have embraced his paradigm of active pasture life for horses, although many Americans are frustrated by limitations in the amount of land available to them.

No matter what size your paddock is, you can help your horses make the most of their turnout time. New designs for turnout hay stations and slow feeders are a basic element that were not common 20 years ago but are today.

A true Paddock Paradise is a sectioned-off track that encourages horses to keep moving. Their progress is motivated by progressive grazing and feed stations. Most owners will opt for temporary or electric fencing, so that the track can be easily modified by season or to utilize better grazing as needed.

Some horse owners cleverly add water elements or variations in footing, which may aid in hoof health, and include both shaded and sunny areas, and wider sections where horses may pause, gather, or take a nap. Another benefit is that horses can become familiar with new objects, natural obstacles like logs and ditches or changes in footing, which may pay off on the trail.

Sacrifice Areas and Strip Grazing

The flip side of a paddock paradise is the paddock that represents deprivation. Dry lot or “sacrifice” turnout is ideal for horses with problems like equine metabolic syndrome. No grass is allowed to grow in this barren space, and the horses are fed hay, often from a slow feeder.

This type of paddock is also useful as a backup when other grazing is deep in mud or has been recently seeded.

A simple practice in use on many farms has been the interconnection of existing paddocks by adding gates directly between adjacent paddocks, creating a larger common space and more chance for interaction between horses, but making smaller paddocks possible when and if needed for a new horse or special situations.

Run-in sheds are a popular and relatively economical way to provide shelter during turnout if allowing horses to live a truly independent natural lifestyle around the clock.

Another useful type of paddock planning is strip grazing to aid in weight loss and laminitis prevention, especially in spring. Simple, moveable electric fence cordons off sections of pasture so horses are gradually exposed to limited amounts of spring grass. British research has documented that horses lose weight when their grazing is restricted in this way.

These temporary electric fields can also be used in the opposite way, moving horses between good grass areas while allowing overgrazed areas to rest and grow back.

Around the World

A 2015 study compiled by World Horse Welfare and Eurogroup for Animals was designed to move forward in welfare education in the area of horse management. It addressed continuous stall confinement, lack of social interaction, and other issues to be considered. Unfortunately, the isolation years of the pandemic prevented those efforts from further development.

The following are some current horse welfare laws in place in Europe:

◆ In France, a new law requires horse owners to hold licenses.

◆ The Netherlands now judges horse welfare based on the type of horses or the number of horses on a property.

◆ Sweden is probably the country with the most equine welfare oversight by government. A Sweden’s 2007 Animal Welfare Act requires that all horses have daily exercise in paddocks that allow horses to exercise at all gaits.

◆ A British government code of practice covering group housing specifies that all horses have access to hay, feed, and water and that sufficient free space for movement be provided so that all horses can lie down at the same time, and that aggressive horses be segregated.

◆ Also in Britain, the Royal Society for the Protection of Horses recommends that horses not be housed alone in individual paddocks or pens, and that indoor stalls allow horses to both see and interact with their neighbors.

Looking Ahead on the Basis of Equine Behavior and Welfare

Look behind every barn door you can for new ideas. Extension agents, equine behaviorists, and architects may have innovative suggestions you haven’t thought of. Through the input of diligent researchers and promotion by dedicated horse welfare advocates, equine behavior-based social needs are now in the spotlight.

Just remember, where horses would like to live may not be as important to them as who they’d like to live next to. Being able to safely touch and smell familiar herd mates, both in the barn and in the pasture, is at the top of every horse’s wish list.

This article about ideal living situations for horses based on equine behavior appeared in the September 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Horse Vacation Destinations

Here, we’ve created a list of top U.S. destinations on the premise that many people need to plan a family vacation and that not all family members want to ride horses, or even be around them. Additionally, the post-pandemic world means that some equestrian resorts have closed, so we’ve checked this list to make sure all are open and ready to welcome you in 2023 and beyond.

The Resort at Paws Up

If horses and Montana sound like your dream come true, this is the place for you. Paws Up is an all-around deluxe resort with a rustic flair, and horses are right at the center of it.

Your family or friends will find plenty to do, but the horse enthusiasts in the group will have a tough time choosing between all the equine activities. You may want to soak up quiet time in your luxury safari-style “glamping” tent, if you choose to stay in one. You can also take a mini course in horse whispering, since Montana is where the film The Horse Whisperer was shot.

The horse crew at Paws Up may also have a few adopted Mustangs for you to meet. But your ultimate selfie moment just might be participating in moving cattle on the ranch. This is not your typical dude ranch—you may never want to leave!

The Biltmore

Let’s move east to North Carolina’s storied 8,000-acre resort, once the home of the Vanderbilt family: the Biltmore. Elegance is everywhere, but horses have not been forgotten, and you’re welcome to bring your own. You can even camp on the grounds.

More than 80 miles of trails are open to independent riders. Guided trail rides on the estate’s horses are offered to day visitors, as well. If luxury is on your list, you can choose to stay in the middle of it or pitch your tent near your horse. Either way, it’s an unforgettable experience.

Big Cedar Lodge

One of America’s new favorites in the category of family resorts, Big Cedar Lodge is high above Branson, Mo. Created by Johnny Morris, the founder of Bass Pro Shops, this 4,600-acre resort has not left any detail out.

It has invented nature activities found nowhere else, and the site includes museums and a Jack Nicklaus golf course, Top of the Rock. The landscape of the Ozarks and Table Rock Lake create a stunning setting that is even more special when seen between the ears of a horse, which you can rent in the resort’s Dogwood Canyon zone.

Chincoteague Island

Who doesn’t want to walk in the hoofprints of Misty of Chincoteague? The barrier islands of Assateague and Chincoteague in Virginia are on every horse lover’s vacation bucket list.

You can take a boat, a bus or your own car onto Assateague to see the horses in their natural beach habitat, but the island is 30 miles long, so a guide might be helpful. There are a number of hotels in Chincoteague.

If you’re ready to plan the full experience, the famed pony swim and auction takes place every year at the end of July, with related activities filling a full week.

Rocking Horse Ranch

A dude ranch just a few hours from New York City? You bet! Rocking Horse Ranch began as a trail riding stable, and a full resort grew up around it. It’s accessible to millions of Americans who might want the feel of a ranch vacation with horses but need to stay close to home.

Rocking Horse offers so much to do that you may be too tired to go riding, but it allows you to experience barn time out of the saddle, plus the road crossing of the 100-head herd between pastures each day. The ponies are a great way to introduce younger family members to horses, and the draft horses are big buddies guaranteed to make friends with every member of your own herd.

Salamander Resort

If you prefer a more luxurious experience, head to Middleburg, Va., and the Salamander Resort and Spa, owned by horsewoman and entrepreneur Sheila Johnson. Mascot Mini Horse Cupcake hosts a cocktail party on the terrace by the Grand Lawn two evenings per week. Having some laughs and taking selfies with this character will soften the heart of anyone in your family toward horses.

Meanwhile, you can take advantage of the resort’s equestrian center, with trail rides and equestrian options galore, whether you bring your own horse or partner up with one of theirs. A great family activity is equine communication—no riding required, and you might get to know each other better, as well as the horses!

Vermont in the Fall

Crisp air and colorful vistas are standard fare each fall in the state of Vermont. Horses are popular in the state, and most of the local fairs have a horse show, draft horse pulling contest, and harness racing for local owners.

If you can bring your own horse, the ultimate fall foliage viewing is at the Green Mountain Horse Association’s (GMHA) Fall Foliage Ride in South Woodstock, which offers pleasure riding events in other months, as well. GMHA is in the center of many, many miles of trails and dirt roads, and the ride managers plan carefully to offer pleasure riders optimal views and photo opportunities. Stabling is provided at the GMHA showgrounds, the site of shows and events all summer long.

If you can’t bring your horse to Vermont, a charming alternative is to get immersed in a wonderful breed at the Vermont Icelandic Horse Farm. With a bed and breakfast inn on the farm, you can stay right next to the horses.

The farm offers short trail rides or longer treks, and can tailor your adventure to your interests and abilities. If riding a smooth and speedy tölt without leaving the country is on your bucket list, then this is the place for you!

The U.S. tourism industry offers adventures and experiences with horses from coast to coast. See you out there!

This article about the top horse riding vacations appeared in the August 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Flies love to land on horses’ lower legs, and even the most diligent fly spray regimen can’t always prevent stomping-related cracked and chipped hooves or loose and lost shoes. There is more at stake than gallons of fly spray and dust clouds in the paddock. Are you ready to stop the stomp and help your horse?

That symphony of stomps you hear as you approach your horse’s pasture can be an ominous warning sign of hoof problems to come. If you start to see hoof health deteriorate as summer progresses, you may soon be facing increased farrier bills and even a horse that need time off.

Be a Keen Observer

What’s a horse owner to do? First, make a plan—but make it early in the summer, before the flies take over.

The first step is to understand that the sound of a horse stomping the ground may mean different things, and you must be dedicated to checking your horse several times a day.

Stomping at flies is a normal reaction for horses when flies buzz around and land on lower legs. But a horse will also stomp the ground if he has unearthed a wasp’s nest or biting-ant hill in the ground; he may need your help, especially in a small pen.

Likewise, a horse may be nervously pawing the ground, not stomping. If you hear the sound of stomping when you shouldn’t, don’t assume that your horse is reacting to flies. Always investigate unusual sounds coming from a pen or pasture.

Next, learn what is “normal” for flies in your area and on your farm. Some areas cycle through different types and densities of flies over the course of the summer.

Flies may bother horses more or less at different times of the day, or in different weather conditions. Make notes about what you notice about the flies around your horse and around your barn, in general. If your horse prefers a certain part of a paddock, it may be because there are fewer flies or the ground is softer and pounding isn’t so jarring.

If your horse is sensitive to biting flies, have topical astringents and healing ointments on hand to dab broken skin and welts. Exposed wounds on the lower legs will attract even more flies. Be prepared to call your vet if sudden swelling occurs.

Learn all you can about horse behavior in the pasture. Horses can become habitual stompers, and tales are told of fly-weary horses who kept on stomping even on windy days when no flies bothered their legs.

Fly Stomping Causes Problems for Feet

Fly stomping can wreak havoc on hooves. Shod horses may experience raised clinches, a loosening of the nails’ grip on the hoof wall. The clinches may suddenly feel rough to the touch.

Ragged clinches may cause cuts and scrapes on the hands and thighs of riders and grooms who pick up hooves for cleaning, and rip or catch on an expensive pair of breeches. They’re another good reason to wear long pants around horses in the summer.

Loose shoes are a special danger when horses are shod with clips. Clips prevent shoes from shifting, but a horse can step down on a loose shoe’s clip and damage his hoof wall or sole. A shoe that comes completely off is a danger to all the horses in a pasture, since any of them can step on its exposed nails or protruding clips.

Frayed “potato chip” feet are common in the summer and worsen as fall approaches. Stomping at flies may make brittle hoof walls worse.

Superficial wall cracks are also common in stomping horses, but a crack that penetrates the wall requires the attention of a farrier. It may worsen over the course of the summer if the horse is stomping repeatedly.

Notify your farrier if you see problems developing so they can be treated before resulting in lameness or requiring special shoeing.

Fighting Off Flies

Horses have their pet peeves. One hates wearing leg wraps. Another fears the sound of sprays and won’t stand still for application. Learn each horse’s fly-related idiosyncrasies, inform everyone who cares for the horse, and find workarounds so every horse has as ideal protection from flies as possible to prevent fly stomping.

What’s in your fly spray? Respect anyone around your barn—whether horse or human—who may be sensitive to fly-control chemicals.

Know how much and how often products should be used. Your paddock fly-control practices should suit the severity of your problem, your horse’s turnout schedule, and your environmental priorities.

10-Step Plan to Eliminate Foot Problems Related to Fly Stomping

1. Think ahead. Keep a calendar and mark when the flies start appearing, what times of day they are the worst, and dates when you notice different types and densities of flies and mosquitoes. Also mark days for manure removal. Likewise, make note of weather, and notice paddock areas that have more or fewer stomping horses.

2. Check each foot on your horse before and after turnout. Look for loose or sprung clinches, bent or gaping shoes, and traces of dried blood that indicate stomp-related skin damage. Examine the insides of legs and pasterns.

3. Try using fly boots. If using repellent, too, apply to both the inside and the outside of the leg from the knee or hock down.

4. Don’t turn out horses near manure piles in summer. Remember that flies love manure, so a horse’s feet and lower legs are already often in close range for a fly. Be diligent about picking out your paddocks so you can deprive flies of the manure they seek.

5. Walk your pastures and look for lost shoes. If you find one, note the location and date found and the name of the horse, if known. Check that horse for hoof damage. Your farrier may be able to re-use the found shoe if it’s in good shape.

6. Quickly address shoes that are partially detached. First, call your farrier. You may be instructed to secure the shoe with duct tape or cover the entire foot with Vetrap and keep the horse in a stall until it can be fixed.

7. Learn to remove a loose or bent shoe. If you’re unsure how to do this, purchase a basic set of farrier tools and ask your farrier to teach you. Store the tools in a clean, dry place and don’t use them for anything but horseshoes.

8. Have your horse on a regular trimming or shoeing schedule. Six weeks is normal, but some horses may need shorter intervals, especially in summer. Don’t be tempted to skip or reschedule an appointment in the summer. Overgrown feet and worn shoes that are left on too long put a horse at risk.

9. Not stomping may be a problem, too. Senior horses, laminitics, or ringbone sufferers will especially appreciate diligent lower-leg fly defense. Is there a horse that’s not stomping at the flies, even though he’s in the same paddock with horses who are? It’s possible that the horse is in pain and doesn’t want to slam a sore foot onto the ground.

10. Stomping feet may be only part of the problem. Make sure your horse is up to date on vaccinations for insect-related diseases. A variety of serious infectious horse diseases are carried by horse flies and mosquitoes.

Flies are a fact of life around horses in the summer. They are a nuisance, but they can also cause problems that will gradually compromise a horse’s wellbeing. Horses instinctively stomp their feet when they sense flies.

Your horse will thank you for stopping the stomp before his hooves are damaged.

This article about fly stomping affecting hooves appeared in the July 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Imagine a snow globe. Inside is the city of London, England. There’s the bridge, Big Ben, the river, Buckingham palace. Now give it a shake and it turns into a Christmas wonderland, where ponies prance, jumpers leap, and elves cavort around Christmas trees. Carolers sing and a magical, horsey Christmas pageant comes to life. In real life, it happens every year. Welcome to The London International Horse Show (just call it “Olympia”).

Held each December the week before Christmas in merry old England, this time-tested and spectacularly produced cavalcade of elite equestrian competitions and horse-themed holiday entertainment is an annual delight for Londoners and guests from all over the world.

The Fanfare at the Olympia Horse Show

It’s where Santa may suddenly shout out, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” instead of “Ho! Ho! Ho!”; where jumping classes have holiday theme names like “The Snowflake Stakes”; and where polished royal military units gallop to the sound of Christmas carols.

Speaking of royals, the show even has its own royal patron. You’ll recognize Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, enjoying the company of horses in her annual prize-giving role. Princes William and Harry rode in Santa’s sleigh at Olympia when they were children.

Olympia is the show where legendary horses like Olympic dressage champion Valegro performed (and set records) in the show’s FEI Dressage World Cup qualifier. Valegro even entered his retirement during a ceremony at Olympia. His rider, Charlotte DuJardin, and owner Carl Hester, usually compete or host public masterclass events at the show.

In all, FEI World Cup qualifiers in driving, show jumping and dressage are contested during the weeklong show. They attract Britain and Europe’s top competitors—because everyone loves to come to London for Olympia!

This unique urban stage is alternately filled with competing horses and the antics of toy soldiers, elves and cherubs performing pony-themed holiday theatrics. Next door, holiday retail treasures found in 250 Winter Market pop-up retail shops beg to be put under Christmas trees.

The first thing you’ll notice about Olympia is that this horse show is expertly staged with technological precision, right down to dramatic theatrical lighting and acoustics. The announcer is a talented narrator who keeps the show moving or diverts the crowd’s attention during stage changes.

With a puff of theater fog, jumps disappear after a class and soon you’re watching the next performing act. Horse show patrons entertain friends and clients in the high tiers of box seating or toast each other in the show’s restaurant and champagne bar.

Past & Present at the London International Horse Show

Olympia dates back to the late 1800s and has evolved through several identities to survive as the ultimate urban horse show. Its current holiday format dates back to 1972, when Olympia was reinvented as a hybrid international horse show and holiday horse-themed performance event.

Londoners flock to the event for fun and out of tradition, and its success was guaranteed with the addition of Great Britain’s primary FEI World Cup indoor qualifiers staged during the show.

One of the first things you’ll notice is that the United Kingdom’s largest indoor horse show is under the glass roof of London’s domed and steel-girded Olympia exhibition center in the Kensington sector of the city. During the week before Christmas, Olympia’s Grand Hall is transformed with dozens of Christmas trees, artificial snow and yards and yards of garlands, all illuminated with festive lighting into a holiday wonderland.

At one time, kings and queens occupied a Royal Box at Olympia after arriving with their entourage in stunning carriages. No less than 10 dukes, 11 marquises, 54 earls, 25 viscounts, 80 lords, and 28 comparatively ordinary sirs were honorary vice presidents of Olympia in its early years.

For 2019, the show is gearing up for a special star-studded race night. Champion celebrity jump race jockeys Sir Anthony “AP” McCoy and Bridget Andrews will captain teams in a relay show jumping competition, which benefits Britain’s Injured Jockeys Fund. Andrews will captain an all-female team that will include some of Britain’s top women jockey heroes.

The “Twelve Days” of Olympia

On the first day of Christmas, Olympia gave to me… a Shetland Pony Grand Prix!

Perennial show favorites at the London International Horse Show include the wild (and especially wooly) Shetland Pony Grand National and high-speed Kennel Club Dog Agility. The Queen’s own Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment will perform its Musical Ride in 2019, and entertaining French horseman Jean-Francois Pignon will choreograph his well-trained horses. Things move quickly at this show, and the arena transforms itself over and over. This year, the Mountain and Moorland Breeds Championship of native British horses will be held during the show, making for a change of pace from the warmbloods used in the FEI events.

On the second day of Christmas, Olympia gave to me…a clear leap over the Puissance wall!

While everyone is on the edge of their seats during the drama of unusual jumping events like the Puissance wall or the exciting six-bar competition with rising jumps, what they inevitably remember is that each session of the show, whether morning, afternoon or evening, ends with a gala Christmas Finale.

Somehow, snow magically falls (or appears to) in the arena as Santa and his horses (no reindeer at Olympia!) circle the arena in a sleigh-like carriage, trumpets blare Christmas carols, and elves frolic in the footing.

On the third day of Chistmas, Olympia gave to me…a chance to ride a horse!

In September this year, Olympia launched its Olympia Riding Academy charity program to involve inner city children in equestrianism. The show hosted a day of activities with horses for children and offered a group a series of lessons through The Tim Stockdale Foundation.

These young urban equestrians will attend the show this year as special guests, and the Stockdale Foundation, created in memory of Britain’s late Olympic show jumper Tim Stockdale, will be the featured charity patron of the show for 2019.

On the fourth day of Christmas, Olympia gave to me…Kennel Club dog agility!

By the end of the week, 90,000 spectators will have watched equine Christmas magic in the iconic arena, along with two days featuring Kennel Club dog agility high-level competition.

As soon as ticket holders enter, they have stars in their eyes, and watch attentively as the two- and four-legged stars of the horse world perform or compete in the arena before them.

At the end, they follow Santa’s sleigh-like carriage out of the big arena with a communal satisfied sigh, knowing that they found their annual Christmas pony, and that some traditions have survived for the sheer joy they add to the holiday season.

For more information, visit www.olympiahorseshow.com.

This article about the London International Horse Show appeared in the December 2019 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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• If your horse is showing signs of developing laminitis, your vet and farrier can help you come up with a management plan to reduce the risk of founder.
• Sudden-onset laminitis is a serious emergency that needs to be treated by a veterinarian.
• Having a plan in case laminitis strikes can save your horse’s life.

What You Can Do for Laminitis

The slow-onset form of laminitis may seem more benign, but it can cripple the horse eventually or even suddenly. You may notice your horse is less active during turnout, or won’t change leads without tossing his head. He may prefer to walk on the softer side of a trail and avoids rocks.

If your farrier sees changes, discuss what he or she recommends in shoeing or trimming. Call your veterinarian and make an appointment as soon as possible. Expect a possible set of radiographs and a blood test to measure hormones. The vet may use hoof testers to see how painful the feet are.

The horse’s weight and physical condition will be discussed; overweight horses will need more exercise, if possible, and less feed and treats. You may be able to prevent a more serious lameness if your veterinarian and farrier work together and you resolve to help your horse.

What Makes a Laminitis Emergency

In 2013, the Animal Health Foundation’s “Laminitis 911” program stressed that laminitis is an emergency to be treated with urgency

Serious laminitis may come on suddenly; you might come home one day and find your horse standing uncomfortably, as if nailed to the ground, refusing to walk no matter how hard you pull on the leadline. This is an emergency situation—call your veterinarian immediately and describe your horse’s behavior.

Your horse is telling you that something is wrong. If you run your hands around his hoof walls, one or more may be warmer. If you place your fingers at the back of the pastern, you may feel a bounding pulse there. These are the classic signs of laminitis. Tell the veterinarian if you feel warmth or pulses.

Waiting for the Vet

Gently move your horse to an area where your veterinarian can safely examine him. The horse should be in a stall or small pen. Bed the stall with deep shavings.

Listen carefully to your vet practice’s instructions over the phone. Ask if you should remove the horse’s hay; some medical tests are best performed without feeding. The clinic may instruct you to ice your horse’s feet; you will need to send someone to get bags of ice and immerse his feet in tall ice boots, buckets, or whatever you have handy.

If you can, take some photos of your horse. These will be useful later so you can see how heavy your horse was (or wasn’t) on the day of the attack, or how he was standing. You may also want to gather medical records, especially if the horse has had laminitis before.

Your veterinarian may want your farrier to pull your horse’s shoes or schedule a trim. It is important to evaluate your horse’s condition and level of pain.

Don’t expect many answers from your veterinarian until test results are back, radiographs are taken, and the horse’s history is reviewed. The veterinarian also needs to rule out other causes of lameness and factors in the horse’s recent exercise schedule.

What’s New in Treating Laminitis?

The Animal Health Foundation helped develop a simple new test that is used to measure a horse’s insulin called the oral sugar test. You’ll need to buy some Karo sugar syrup. Your vet may advise you to dose your horse with it before blood is drawn, so the blood’s sugar-reactive insulin can be measured. You will need to calculate your horse’s weight, figure out the proper amount, and use a syringe to dose your horse.

The farrier industry is always active in providing new shoes and boots that may help horses with laminitis. Formahoof is a new three-dimensional shoeing system that molds adhesive around the foot, and can be configured to different support goals. Debra Taylor, DVM, of Alabama’s Twin Creeks Podiatry finds that the molding helps laminitic horses grow much-needed sole depth.

Ice boots, vibration plates and slow-feed hay nets are part of a growing product sector for owners of laminitic horses. The Soft-Ride boot line makes cushioned boots, as well as wader-type plastic boots and high-tech icing sleeves.

Most of the news about laminitis is about preventing it, and also in finding new medications to help control pain.

“Horse owners now have the tools to be able to make laminitis a preventable disease,” says Walsh.

Owners can find peace of mind by getting annual assessments of horses’ foot health and hormone levels, keeping horses fit, and being ready when and if laminitis strikes. Your horse hopes you never need to make a laminitis emergency vet call.

This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Farriers sometimes leave warnings on invoices: “Needs thrush treatment,” or “Thrush is getting worse.” Some farriers even sell thrush preparations to their clients, or charge extra for foot disinfection.

Treating thrush is not something you want to put off. The next note from your farrier may be “Call the vet—serious thrush!” and you may even find your horse showing signs of lameness.

Here is a refresher course on what thrush is and how simple it is for you to do something about it.

Thrush is Everywhere

Thrush is probably the most common problem that horse owners encounter in their horses’ hooves. In a 2017 study published in the Preventive Veterinary Medicine journal, veterinary researchers from Utrecht University in The Netherlands worked with farriers to collect data on hoof problems. They found that 85 percent of the 942 horses in the study had at least one hoof problem, and that 45 percent of those suffered from thrush.

While thrush is linked to dirty stall bedding, muddy paddocks, and wet climates, it’s found even in dry environments. When farrier Shane Westman moved from Washington state to sunny, dry California to take over the farrier shop at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s Large Animal Hospital, he thought he’d no longer need his well-developed expertise in thrush.

He was mistaken. “Oh, it’s here, too,” he says. “But it’s more clandestine.” Washington horses may have good reason to suffer from thrush in their muddy pastures, but why is it common in California?

“That’s easy,” says Westman. “Neglect. People don’t clean their horse’s feet.”

We may have the cleanest and best cared-for horses in the history of America, but their feet are still dirty, farriers across the country say. Our penchant for repeated bathing of horses may create more moisture in the foot than we realize, but farriers and veterinarians alike report a bigger problem: Daily hoof cleaning is being neglected.

“Your horse isn’t clean until his feet are picked out,” one farrier says. “It doesn’t matter what shampoo you use to try to make your horse smell nice if his feet stink.”

Treatment Plan

At some point, either your farrier warns you about thrush, or you recognize it yourself. You’re now standing in a store, looking at the shelf of thrush remedies. Do you want a spray, a gel, a liquid, or one of the new clay treatments?

Try this experiment: Go into the tack room of any boarding barn. Give the thrush treatment bottles a shake. Usually, they’re at least half full.

Selling a bottle of thrush medication is easy. But selling a second bottle is tougher because so many people stop treating thrush as soon as it starts to clear up.

To defeat thrush, you need a plan of action. For starters, look at your horse’s environment. Where does he spend most of his day—in a paddock? In a stall? What is the ground like in his turnout area, and what can you do to improve it?

If thrush is new to your horse, have you changed something in his routine? Have you switched bedding? Is he spending more time turned out (or kept in)? Are you bathing him more? Has rainfall been high in your area?

Many changes in a horse’s surroundings can affect the likelihood of thrush, but the most controllable factor is the person caring for the horse, and whether that person is cleaning the feet.

How to Clean a Foot

Walk through a boarding or lesson barn and watch people care for their horses: Some clean the feet, others don’t. Some make excuses for not picking out the hind feet. “Oh, he hates to pick up his hinds,” they say. But the longer a horse isn’t asked to pick them up, the less likely he is to want to do it.

And if the thrush gets worse, picking up the feet will be required, and often.

Some people are very fast. They quickly graze the foot with a hoof pick. They don’t turn the foot up to look at the frog. Proper hoof cleaning means inserting the hoof pick into the sulci on both sides of the frog and drawing it from the back of the foot to the point of the frog, down and away from the heels.

Once the foot is clean—and only then—it’s time to apply anti-thrush treatment to the frog.

Don’t Ignore It

Common thrush should be easy to cure, but haphazard treatment or ignoring the problem can lead to a severe infection that eventually makes a horse lame, or at least causes him to alter his gait or posture to relieve pressure on painful tissue.

Additionally, there are several types of infections that can attack a horse’s feet. Thrush is only one. Canker, known to your veterinarian as equine proliferative pododermatitis, is a very serious hoof problem that smells even worse than thrush and forms ugly, tumor-like growths on the frog or heels.

When the frog is eaten away by thrush, be prepared: your horse may jerk his foot away if he feels the hoof pick. The thrushy horse may feel pain when landing in a stride or after a jump. You may notice him refusing to change leads or preferring to get off a trail to walk on softer ground.

The deep split between thrushy heel bulbs is called “deep sulcus thrush.” The horse’s heels may move independently, leading the infection to spread to critical inner tissue. Your farrier might decide to shock you by inserting a tongue depressor deep between the heel bulbs to illustrate the damage.

A typical treatment involves the farrier or veterinarian “flossing” between the heel bulbs with a piece of gauze soaked in a disinfecting medication.

Farriers often solve the problem of frog deterioration or the deep sulcus split by applying a bar shoe. This will add to your monthly expenses, but it’s very important to conquer the thrush and help the hoof heal. Your veterinarian may apply antibiotic medication into the frog sulcus.

Wouldn’t it have been easier to keep the feet clean and dry, or at least be proactive at the first sign of thrush? It’s better to stomp it out early than pay the veterinarian and farrier to treat it later.

This article originally appeared in the February 2019 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Meet Gay Gaddis: Clothes Don’t Make the Cowgirl

Gay Gaddis is the author of the recently published Cowgirl Power: How to Kick Ass in Business and Life. Whether you gallop an eventer cross-country, transition from letter to letter in the dressage arena, or care for your beloved aged pony in the back field, your attitude toward life—and your sense of self—may benefit from aligning philosophically with the wisdom espoused by the classic cowgirl heroes of America’s past.

Wild West Wisdom

A Texas businesswoman, Gaddis has channeled that wisdom as the premise for her book. Cowgirl Power presents chapters on facing life’s challenges by introducing you to cowgirls from the past and sharing how each of them faced life head-on.

The cowgirls on the Wild West entertainment circuit form the core of this book. Gaddis proposes that they were among the first female athletes, and in particular, they performed alongside men—often stealing the spotlight. They did it, she contends, by capitalizing on riding or ranch skills learned at home in childhood.

But those skills could not have translated to leadership and notoriety on the world stage without a confident, can-do attitude and a sense of self that got things done, even when the riding was rough.

Trick Riding and Confidence

Gaddis begins with her own grandmother, Florence Chiles, who grew up on a ranch in Texas in the late 1800s. Pictured in a polite sidesaddle pose, her personality showed the flip side. Grandmother Florence impressed on a young Gaddis that Mandy, the cowgirl ranch worker assigned to supervise the girls, made sure that they were well trained.

Once out of sight of the ranch, Mandy had Florence and her sisters dismount, remove their petticoats and bonnets and ditch their sidesaddles. The girls rode their horses bareback like the circus performers they admired so much.

Florence and her sisters learned trick riding from Mandy. They raced each other at breakneck speed, developing a sense of confidence on the back of a horse that women of the time found hard to attain in a sidesaddle—let alone in the restricted life roles assigned to them. When their galloping fun was done, the girls were instructed to re-saddle their horses, pull the petticoats back on, tie their bonnets, and ride demurely back to the ranch. Surely their horses were covered with sweat, but Florence insists they were never caught.

A Secret Source of Power

A secret cowgirl is a force of nature, as Florence illustrated many times in her adult life. She instilled in her granddaughters a sense that being self-reliant was second to no other attribute for success in life.

Florence and her sisters found freedom on those spirited rides, but they also found a personal, if secret, power that would serve them for the rest of their lives.

At times, Gaddis calls for a take-no-prisoners attitude toward unmasking those who stand in your way for the wrong reasons. While cowgirl ways may be an internal matter, they translate to how you deal with situations and people on the way to accomplishing your goals.

Whether a woman is trying to juggle being an employee and a mother and also an equestrian, or just trying to find more forward motion for the path through life, the wisdom of cowgirls from 100 or more years ago rings as true today, and perhaps more true than any traditional path to recovery from life’s challenges and setbacks.

“The cowgirls will inspire you and help you see a path that perhaps you hadn’t seen before,” Gaddis advises her readers. “Let them be your guides. Let them speak to you like no one else can, through their courage, kindness and deeds, competitiveness and authenticity.”

Pushing Ahead

Gaddis’s switch between saluting the cowgirls of the past with superimposing their stories on current-day life and business situations illustrates how cowgirl values can work for women today.

While some of her paradigm is based on equality between men and women in the workplace, the overall effect of an infusion of inspiration from the past can extend to all types of challenges and visions we have for our future selves.

Many women distribute their inner power between the sectors of their personal and business lives. Others may find areas where a little cowgirl moxie can improve forward motion, whether it’s finding new options or working your way out of a failed relationship or risky behavior.

“Be kind, but not (necessarily) nice,” is how Gaddis interprets some of the cowgirl wisdom assembled in the book. While many of her quips call for “kicking ass,” the book is not a call to arms for women to adopt aggressive male styles of leadership or goal attainment, but rather to invent their own and execute it accordingly.

Women today have plenty of challenges. Where traditional leadership and self-help books often depict women as burdened with obstacles to overcome, juxtaposing our challenges with all that the Wild West cowgirls faced in 1900 puts a lot into perspective. Being candid and keeping a sense of humor about yourself and the situations you face might cut your present dilemmas down to size.

Injecting that humor—and even a bit of swagger—into a self-help book is something that isn’t done often enough. Gaddis could easily have written the story of her own success in business and her recent transition to painting Texas landscapes.

Instead, she gives credit to the heroines of the past who painted themselves as unique, perfected their skills in the saddle, and tipped off women everywhere that independence was possible—and worth the sweat and dust and sunburn that most women would never feel.

Gaddis speaks to her readers from the mountaintop of career success as founder and CEO of the successful creative agency T3. It may seem easy for her to spout advice to the rest of us, but she swears it’s nothing she learned herself. It was taught to her by her cowgirl heroes from the forgotten pages of history and by a grandmother who could probably ride better than most of the men around her.

She kept that secret to herself, but never forgot who taught her it was OK to be a cowgirl, and that power works its way from the inside out and has some adventures on the way.

This article about Gay Gaddis and her book Cowgirl Power: How to Kick Ass in Business and Life originally appeared in the January 2019 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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As the veterinarian’s words echo down the barn aisle, there’s a clanging in the horse owner’s brain that sounds like a car alarm bleating: “Lame! Lame! Lame!” You close your eyes and see your horse in pain. Then you see dollar signs. Then you hear your vet say, “Let’s get more information. Every horse is different.” Read on to learn more about horse navicular disease.

But what happens when the next word you hear is “navicular?” Is it a dire prediction of permanent lameness, or simply a realistic location of temporary pain?

A lameness examination shouldn’t trigger a panic attack. Navigating a potential diagnosis of navicular-area lameness is no different from driving successfully through a complicated street intersection: Look for signs, steer clear of distractions, and keep both hands on the wheel.

The Structures

Start by thinking of the navicular bone in your horse’s foot like a statue in the middle of that intersection. This tiny bone sits in a critical spot near the middle of the foot. (Did you know there’s a navicular bone in your own foot, as well?)

The bone is held in place with multiple ligaments. Behind it sits a bursa (sac) that cushions it from the tendon behind it. The foot’s blood supply and nerves weave through it all like busy bike messengers through that intersection; the sole, frog and digital cushion are underneath it. This complicated design works; everything functions cooperatively in a sound horse.

If your horse is lame, be patient until you have a definitive diagnosis and the all-important prognosis or recovery forecast. That statue in the intersection may not be damaged after all, but instead, structures around it are stressed or injured. Most damage can heal.

What happens next? Expect tests, radiographs, and possibly more advanced imaging before your veterinarian’s final report. Your horse will be resting. Veterinarians often start horses on pain-relieving anti-inflammatory medication; later plans might call for a more advanced treatment, like bisphosphonate medication. Joint injection is a possibility, as are new shoes (or no shoes at all).

Horses with similar signs of hoof lameness often have different injuries and require very different treatments. The age and use of the horse can also dictate what treatment is prescribed. Some owners want their horses back in the arena as soon as possible, while others are happy to give a horse time off or accept a future change in use.

Be prepared for questions your veterinarian may ask about your horse’s training schedule, any changes made recently, and details of past lamenesses.

Navicular Syndrome

Horses go lame every day, for many reasons. But one of the most common reasons is because of lameness in the region of the foot where the navicular zone is located. In fact, veterinarians estimate that about 30 percent of lameness is what we’ll call “navicular-ish.”

Veterinarians have studied navicular-type lameness for at least 250 years. For an equal time, farriers tried to make those lame horses comfortable. Both professions have learned a lot. Medications have been developed to ease navicular lameness. Dozens of products have been marketed.

But horses still go lame, and veterinarians still say, “Well, it could be his navicular. We need to look further. Don’t panic.”
But you do, anyway.

Not too long ago, horse owners feared the serious foot lameness called navicular disease, and many still do. Horses have been retired or even euthanized when therapy and medication failed to restore soundness.

Veterinarians were confounded to learn that some sound horses had damage or degeneration in the bone, but no sign of lameness. Some lame horses had clean radiographs.

Thanks to the availability of radiographs in the field beginning in the 1970s, veterinarians were able to compare the images of lame horses. Horses with similar lameness symptoms might not have similar radiographs.

Eventually, navicular disease began to be thought of as a “syndrome,” or group of related symptoms. Case analyses showed that Quarter Horses and European warmblood breeds were commonly affected.

Horse Navicular Disease: Current Diagnostics

Technically, “navicular disease” is a specific chronic degeneration of the navicular bone itself, and it still exists, but veterinarians are very careful before they diagnose it.

With the advent of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for horses, the maze of structures within the foot was finally visible from every angle—but an MRI might show multiple problems in the same foot.

Today, some veterinarians simply refer to “palmar foot pain” until or unless a definite diagnosis can be made. They are describing lameness symptoms in the back of the foot; palmar foot pain is not a diagnosis.

A diagnosis identifies an illness or injury; the exact cause of palmar foot pain can be difficult and expensive to ascertain. A series of nerve block diagnostic tests uses temporary local anesthetic injections to narrow down the source of pain.

Sometimes—but not always—the ultimate diagnosis will still be the true degenerative “navicular disease.” It’s a frustrating diagnosis, since some horses respond initially to treatment only to have the lameness return. As a last resort, some horses with navicular pain undergo nerve-cutting surgery to desensitize the navicular zone and alleviate pain.

“In navicular disease, you treat the pain, not the lameness, because the damage is irreversible,” says Jean-Marie Denoix, DVM, Ph.D., Ass. LA-ECVDI, DECVSMR (Equine), DACVSMR (Equine), of the National Veterinary College in France.

Pinpointing what causes navicular-type foot pain is still the challenge. Quite often, “wait and see” or “if this doesn’t work, we’ll…” are heard just as often as they were years ago.

Some horses respond positively to simple changes in workload, arena surface or even warmup routines. Some can go back to work on light medication. Other horses are less responsive.

Name that Lameness

Palmar foot pain covers the big picture of discomfort in the navicular zone, sole and heels. Digging deeper, we can see how complex—and co-existing—the different lameness problems can be.

A study led by Sue Dyson, MA, VetMB, Ph.D., DEO, FRCVS, clinician at England’s Animal Health Trust equine orthopedics referral center, examined the MRI records of 263 horses with foot pain. Only six showed abnormalities in the navicular bone alone; 29 had injury to both the bone and the tendon. Another 60 had co-existing injury in the bone, navicular ligaments and/or tendon.

They documented 46 horses with injuries to the collateral ligament of the coffin joint in combination with lesions of the tendon, navicular ligaments or navicular bone. Still another 25 horses had damage in five or more structures within the foot.

Horses sometimes show signs of foot lameness when they have been changed to different shoes, or a different farrier. A recent change in owner, rider, exercise intensity, or tack is worth pondering during early stages.

Something as simple as a bruised foot or sore heels can cause temporary palmar foot pain. Injuries like collateral ligament desmitis, pedal osteitis, coffin joint arthritis, or infected puncture wounds also cause pain in this part of the foot.

MRI has made it possible to diagnose damage to the deep digital flexor tendon; veterinary radiologists will look for tiny tendon tears in the foot to see if they (or more general tendonitis) are possibly at the root of pain. The navicular bursa, the small sac protecting the navicular bone from the tendon, can also be damaged.

Horse Navicular Disease: Corrective Farriery

The first step for many horses with palmar foot pain is referral for therapeutic farriery. Some horses with palmar foot pain suffer from overuse, long show seasons, riding on hard ground, conformational challenges and poor or infrequent trimming and shoeing.

Their feet may have weak walls or cracks; the foot may be contracted and the heels underrun. Restoring good hoof balance will be a top priority and may work wonders.

Make sure your farrier plans to come on a schedule to re-trim or re-shoe your horse through his rehab period. The farrier may need to come every four weeks instead of every six to eight weeks.

Radiographic evaluation of farriery is a new possibility; for this convenience, your horse may need to be shod at a vet clinic, or both the farrier and the veterinarian must visit your barn at the same time.

The veterinarian will radiograph the horse before and after shoeing. The support or relief of different areas of the foot can be evaluated, along with the improved balance of the foot.
Does your farrier know your horse well? Farriers know what worked for individual horses in the past; they will watch how horses move and design or modify shoes that minimize effort or fully support the foot.

Your horse will also let a farrier know when he doesn’t like a shoe. After shoeing, the horse may change the way he stands or shorten his stride; your farrier can interpret signs that the horse wants more stability than a rocker shoe offers, or less heel elevation than prescribed wedges.

Watch your horse carefully after he has been shod. Sometimes putty-like hoof packing is uncomfortable for one horse, while another horse shows a positive response; this is all vital information for your team to know.

When your horse is lame with navicular-ish pain, you’re sharing a common experience with horse owners around the world. Remember that most horses respond to treatment and rest.

This article about horse navicular disease originally appeared in the July 2018 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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