How to Successfully Pasture a Foundered Horse or Pony

If our pony was a car، she would be a real lemon. While she is an adorable animal، she chokes on hay، dirt، and long grass، and she also suffers horribly from founder during the spring and summer.

What Is Founder?

Founder is a very painful condition where blood flow is cut off to the hoof resulting in inflammation، lameness، and other serious hoof problems. It is triggered in susceptible animals when the horse or pony eats grass that contains large quantities of starch and sugar.

When a vet utters the dreaded word “founder”، most equines are immediately fed hay in a dry lot or put onto overgrazed pastures with little to no grass. While this drastic treatment is sometimes necessary، most horse and pony owners sentence their equines to this dreary fate without fully understanding what founder actually means.

Let’s learn how to keep grass-foundered horses and ponies on pasture all year round

Founder، Laminitis And Your Equines

A horse’s hoof contains roughly 600 laminae، which are soft tissue that connect the coffin bone to the inside of the hoof wall. The coffin bone، also called the pedal bone or third phalanx (P3)، sits behind the hoof wall at the front of the hoof capsule and is an integral part of an animal’s hoof. Here is a great site that shows the detailed

 (WARNING: this link contains anatomical images that some might find graphic).

The bond between the laminae and the coffin bone is strong enough to bear the full weight of the animal while it is running، yet still being flexible so the hoof can grow around it.

When a is horse stricken with founder، blood flow is cut off to the laminae causing inflammation and death of the tissue. As the condition worsens، the coffin bone can loosen from the hoof wall and twist downward or even punch through the sole of the hoof. It can be an acute issue، or it can turn into a long-term chronic condition.