Laminitis is one of the most painful and welfare-relevant conditions in equine medicine, causing acute and chronic hoof pain that can be debilitating and sometimes fatal. Understanding and preventing laminitis is critical for horse welfare.
Laminitis is one of the most acutely painful conditions in veterinary medicine. The coffin bone is tightly encased within the hoof capsule, and when inflammation increases pressure in this confined space, pain is severe and unrelenting. In rotational cases - where the coffin bone moves downward - horses experience the equivalent of a structural collapse of the hoof, causing extreme pain with every step. Chronically laminitic horses are often in persistent, undertreated pain that significantly reduces quality of life. The preventable nature of most laminitis cases - through appropriate diet management and grazing restriction - makes each case a welfare failure that could have been avoided with better owner education.