Laminitis is a term that can send shivers down the spine of any horse owner or equine professional. Historically associated with catastrophic hoof failure, career-ending lameness or even life-threatening consequences, the word alone carries weight.

Beyond the high-drama cases is a more insidious, often-overlooked form of the condition — one that quietly undermines the performance and well-being of sport horses around the world. I refer to it as performance laminitis. It’s real. It’s common. And it’s too often blindly disregarded until the damage is already done.

Defining Laminitis in Context

Let’s start with clarity. For the purpose of this article, laminitis refers simply to inflammation of the laminae — the highly vascularized and innervated soft tissue structures that suspend and support the coffin bone within the hoof capsule (Figures 1a & 1b). These tissues act like biological Velcro, securing the inner surface of the hoof wall to the coffin bone.

When defined in its literal sense as inflammation of the laminae, laminitis is extremely common among sport horses. In fact, I argue that upwards of 90% of all sport horses experience some degree of…