Discussion Board Archives from 2000

Name: Christy WestSubject: Treat laminitis only with turnout??

Email: cwest@lesspub.com

Hello all! The following appeared in the HealthWatch column of this month's Blood-Horse, and American Farriers Journal wants to know what you think about it! Please respond to this message or e-mail your comments to me at cwest@lesspub.com . Thanks!

"Quite opposed to the 'traditional' approach to laminitis, with its emphasis on high-tech appliances, is the school of thought championed by German veterinarian Hiltrud Strasser, writes Karen Briggs in the March edition of The Horse. Strasser claims to have had astonishing success with seemingly hopeless chronic laminitis cases simply by pulling their shoes, putting them on 24-hour turnout (the better to encourage pedal circulation) and performing frequent trims (2 to 3 times per week) to lower the heels and encourage a foot that more closely resembles those of wild horses.



"Hoof care specialist Sabine Kells of British Columbia trained with Strasser and acted as a translator for his book A Lifetime Of Soundness, and now teaches the techniques to owners of laminitic horses.



"'It's 100 percent opposed to traditional methods of treatment,' Kells said, 'but I've seen so many hoof problems—not just laminitis, but quarter cracks, navicular, you name it—alleviated just by more closely mimicking the horse's natural lifestyle. I generally don't see horses until the owners have tried everything else. By that time, they may have been wearing heart bar shoes for 2 years, and their hooves are so deformed that the hairline at the coronet is higher at the heels that at the toes!



"'Healing takes circulation,' Kells continued, 'and if a horse is on stall rest, his circulation is not being stimulated. The horse may not be sound when you first put him on turnout, but his motion will gradually improve as will his attitude. Owners can get very concerned because further rotation often happens when you first remove the shoes. But in my experience, it usually corrects, by itself, within 6 months of 24-hour turnout. Movement is key to good hoof growth; that's just natural to the horse.'



"The low heels are crucial to Strasser's approach, according to Kells. Lowering the heels allows the resumption of a more natural slope to the hairline of the coronet, and the restoration of the bottom of the coffin bone to a ground-parallel position. The frequent trimming is necessary because as the normal hoof mechanism is restored to a foundered foot, new horn will grow rapidly and sometimes unevenly. The amount of horn removed by a single Strasser trim is much less than your farrier would remove in an average trim.



"The Strasser approach, which also emphasizes avoiding anti-inflammatory drugs and vasodilators, is not a quick fix, Kells said. 'It may be a 2-year rehabilitation in all, and during that time the horse will occasionally be in pain; his feet will abscess; he'll go through all the normal inflammation that is part of the normal healing process.' Sticking to the program under those circumstances requires a leap of faith from the owner, she said.



"In Kells' opinion, applying shoes to a laminitic horse is a mistake because shoes are inflexible and will limit the foot's natural expansion and contraction. Under the Strasser regime, appliances like heart bar shoes are considered useful in reducing discomfort, but rarely afford any real healing."

Name: Nate Allen

Email: allenk@sr66.com

Interesting article summary. Three principles of dealing with laminitic horses the article points out, increased circulation, lowering the heels to restore the coffin bone to a "ground-parallel position," and not restricting the foot, are all principles that many farriers use and have had success with.

Two points I thought were interesting involved these horses they have been treating are "chronic laminitis" cases and that after wearing heart bar shoes for two years, their hooves were so deformed that the hairline at the coronet is higher at the heels than at the toes." Certainly chronic laminitic horses are not normal or perhaps ever will be, but I find they are much easier to help than acute horses. The chronic horses have gone through the more serious challenges associated with founder and survived. I am also not convinced that heart bar shoes cause the hoof wall to grow longer in the heels than toes. This unequal growth is generally due to disrupted circulation from torn laminae blood vessels at the toe, pinched sensitive coronary band and lack of regular hoof care (neglect).

Many chronic horses that I have seen respond well to the first three mentioned principles. It's the acute horses that do not survive that we need to worry about. The problem is we do not always know which horses these are until it's too late. Because we are not ever sure of the outcome until the end, we should probably focus on the prevention.

A really good book on the subject is Explaining Laminitis and Its Prevention by Robert A. Eustace, 1992, published by Veterinary Data, Wildomar, CA (714) 678-1889. Eustace's book does a really good job of assessing indicators and factors that determine the prognosis of various stages of laminitis, founder, and sinkers. There really is a difference between all three of these.

Nate Allen, Instructor

Mesa Technical College

Tucumcari, NM

Name: Yvonne Welz

Email: wishingwelz@yahoo.com

For anyone interested in learning more about the Strasser method, please read her two books, "A Lifetime of Soundness" and "Shoeing, A Necessary Evil?" both available from Star Ridge Publishing: (870) 743 4603

There is also a website that deals specifically with treatment of chronic laminitis using the Strasser Method:

http://members.screenz.com/gretchenfathauer/Default.htm

Does the Strasser method work? You better believe it does. It also takes patience and hard work (it is alot more than just turnout alone!) But the healing that results from the treatment is genuine. The hoof regrows, and eventually becomes sound and correct.

To read my personal story:

http://members.screenz.com/gretchenfathauer/Inty'sStory.htm

Yvonne Welz

Name: Tree

Email: ovrdunit@aol.com

I just wanted to add to this thread my results with a navicular horse.

This horse belongs to a summer camp. He was given to this camp by another camp that had used this horse for jumping until he couldn't do it any longer. His present owner has a very basic riding program focused on simple flat work. They figured he could handle this type of work for a few more years.

When he began to show lameness, egg-bar shoes with a heel wedge pad were placed on his front feet for the length of the camp season (2 1/2 months). These seemed to help him as he no longer limped at the trot. This routine continued for 2 more camp seasons until he began to limp WITH the shoes on so they were left on him year round and he was given bute. By the 3rd year he wasn't sound at the walk with bute or the shoes. This is when I asked to take him to try Strasser's methods.

Mid August I pulled the shoes and lowered his heels. His hairlines were not horizontal to the ground but were coming close. For some time after the shoes were removed, he traveled with his toe touching on the worst foot. There was the typical stance of pointing the foot and not placing the heel on the ground. Trimming took time as it was difficult for him to stand on this foot to allow trimming to be done on the other fore. By 5 months, there was a notable change in his way of going. His walk was becoming more even and he'd even take spells to trot or give a quick buck and jump while cantering. The new growth in the affected hoof showed an increase in diameter. Heel contraction was still a problem. After attending a 3-day seminar in hoof trimming by Strasser, I soon realized why contraction was still present. I'd not been doing all that was necessary. Despite my mistakes, this horse was improving none the less. With the additions being made to my work on him, his frogs are already showing improvement in that they are not so pinched.

I took this horse on as I felt it was his last hope before being sale bound. I also took him on to prove to myself whether or not Strasser's method would really work. I also took this horse on with the hopes that it would prove successful that it might open some other's eyes in this area. For so long, we've been taught that navicular is not curable. We've been taught it can only be treated in a manner to make the horse comfortable until that's not possible any longer. How many horses have had to die for this? I'd hate to think. Nothing can save them now, it's too late. I think it's nice to now know there is something else that CAN be done to help these horses out in the future if someone is willing to give it a go. I did and now a good horse will continue to be of service in a summer camp. He was worth the try and as a result, there may be others who will benefit too.

While attending the 3-day seminar, I heard many things that were completely opposite from anything I'd ever been taught before. It's not easy to sit there and not think the woman is crazy! But! She made sense as she was not only speaking but also showing examples and proof positive of her works. I learned a lot during the lectures and hands-on portions of the seminar. Reading the books was not enough as proof of my missing some important key things with the trimming method. There's a lot to this and I think anyone could benefit by opening their mind and taking a look see.

Respectfully, Anne Coley aka "Tree"