Could Chronic Laminitis Pain Be Due To Nerve Damage?

Besides the traditional pain caused by inflammation or pain perception, neuropathic pain may be an important part of the chronic pain often found in laminitic horses. Susan Fleetwood-Walker, a researcher at The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, says this finding may explain why horses with laminitis often don’t respond to conventional analgesics such as phenylbutazone.

She observed the behavior of seven laminitic horses via video surveillance for 72 hours and analyzed the microscopic structure of the nerves in the hooves of five horses with laminitis and four normal horses. She found abnormal behavior and nerve damage with the laminitic horses may be due to the foot’s sensory neurons.

Turn Off That Blasted Radio!

If you’re among those farriers who like to listen to the radio while trimming and shoeing, you may want to think about switching to another station or turning down the volume. The reason is that an Australian study indicates that racehorses kept in barns where radios were played were more likely to develop gastric ulcers. And talk radio had a greater negative impact than music when it came to ulcer concerns, says equine veterinarian Guy Lester of the School of Veterinary Medicine at Murdoch University in Murdoch, Australia.

Should Horses Wear High Heels Or Low Heels?

Bob Bowker’s research has shown the heel region plays a key role in sensing the texture of the ground, in absorbing concussion generated as…