Re: RC: Severely foundered horse

[flemmerl@rcbhsc.wvu.edu (Flemmer, Linda)]

> Rachel Ward wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> I have the opportunity to adopt a horse, who is severely foundered.
> He is extremely lame at the moment <SNIP>  I don't know what
> the rotation in his hoof is like, but it's got to be pretty darn bad.
> My question is, can anything be done for him at this stage of the
> game?

You need to decide how much time & money & heartache you want to pour
into a foundered gelding before you ever start.  It may be
considerable.  
If you really want to consider adopting him, ask for permission to get a
vet to obtain a foot xray to see what degree of rotation may be there. 
Ask the farrier &/or vet if they think that they can work with it.
Another thing to consider - Many founders tend to abcess pretty badly...
he may be sound if you find & rid him of abcesses, assuming he has
them!  At this point, you don't know what you're dealing with.

As for weight, conventional wisdom is to keep a horse who foundered on
the thin side (body scale of around 4).  I believe that this was aimed
at founder due to excessive carbs intake (grass founder).  I don't know
if it is different for other types of founder like road founder or drug
reactions...  Our old gelding road foundered & we still received advice
to keep him lean.

Good luck to both of you.  As hard as it may be, make the decision to
adopt this horse based on sound information and the depth of your
wallet.

Linda Flemmer


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