What is foundering in a horse?

Answer 1

"Founder" in horses is when the coffin bone (P3) in the hoof capsule rotates downwards towards the sole. It causes lameness if left untreated, but can be maintained if your farrier knows what they're doing. Sometimes the coffin bone can rotate right through the bottom of the sole and when this happens, the horse probably will need to be put down.

Founder is caused by many things:

-eating too much grain

-lush pasture

-retained placenta

-black walnut

-working on a hard surface (also called "road founder")

-putting extensive stress on one leg if another one is injured

-obesity

Just to name a few.

(Adding onto what I previously wrote)

"Founder" basically is the term for when a ship sinks. And that's exactly what the coffin bone is doing when it founders. The laminae that hold it up become damaged and the bone rotates down. I thought that was a pretty neat fact.

If you have a horse and it founders, talk with your farrier and see what they can do about it. If they can't do anything, call another farrier who will.

Answer 2:It is a life-threatening lameness issue caused not by rich grass, obesity, or other reasons most people say, but by misshapen feet. The grass, obesity and other things are merely "the straw that breaks the camels back"

Here is a paragraph giving the basics on founder:

"The actual cause of founder in equines is due to improper hoof shape and condition. The normal position for the coffin bone is to be ground parallel. But if a hoof is made steeper, (by having long heels, wedge pads or other types of orthopaedic shoeing), the joint surface moves closer to the wall of the toe, causing the weight to come down further forward, putting great stress on the laminar corium on the frontal wall. The more pressure on the frontal walls...the more inflammation occurs."

The rest of this article can be found in the related links under "What REALLY Causes Founder" You will find more detail there, but this is the basic information.

Another Opinion:

The above answer (Answer 2) is NOT what a licensed equine or large-animal veterinarian would tell you. Hoof structure may be PART of the problem but not the COMPLETE solution! In reality, laminitis can be caused by the following:

• Age and weight: overweight horses are more likely to get founder than those who are in working condition, and ponies are also more likely to get founder than the "standard-size" or large horses.
• Lush grass, as mentioned above, especially in the spring, or grass that has been recently fertilized
• Pasture with a high percentage of clover or other legumes like alfalfa, sanfoin, birdsfoot trefoil, etc.
• Excessive feed for the individual pony or horse and its workload
• Significant quantities of inappropriate feed
• Concussion through hammering on hard ground, excessive work, jumping and athletic performances on uneven and unforgiving ground (and this would be with or without shoes)
• Poorly balanced diet
• Excessive weight carrying on one leg due to some sort of injury on the other
• Toxemia due to bacterial toxins being absorbed, i.e., colic, retained placenta, strangles, etc.
• Stress in the form of chronic fatigue, electrolyte imbalance or heat exhaustion.

Scientists still aren't sure of the exact nature of laminitis, nor what exactly causes a horse to founder. But apparently from experience of other horse people, lush pasture is one of those factors that can cause a horse to founder.

Answer 2

In horses founder is an illness. A horses hoof is like walking on only one of your fingers, so there is a lot of weight on one little area. When a horse gets sick, or too fat, or in too high of protein in their feed they get a fever in their hooves. This will kill the tissue that holds the bone into its proper place, when this dies then the bone will move into a different position making it painful for the horse to stand because there is a spot even smaller now holding all of the weight. This may become so bad that the horse will not stand and could even potentially have to be put down.

Answer 3

foundering is a type of lameness in a horse and can result in the horse being put down. corrective shoeing can fix the problem occassionlly or long lay-offs. foundering is causing by consuming too much sugars (like from fresh new grass or grain) that they eat too much of. those access sugars are not able to exit their body easily and go to their legs and hooves -which they affect the worst.

Answer 4

The term itself refers to 'collapse from within', but there's more than one cause for this debilitating condition.

In the related link below is a page that more fully explains founder: What it is, what causes it, and how to fix it.

Answer 5

Founder is laminitis, and it is mainly caused by consumption of too much green grass in the spring.

For information about the disease:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminitis