If the horse is worked repeatedly on hard ground or pavement, laminitis may develop. Dr. Martinelli notes that there are also cases where there is no apparent reason for the horse to have laminitis, but it is lame. Most cases of laminitis are treated with drugs that reduce the pain as well as the swelling. Heavy bedding of straw or sand may be used in the horse's stall to help relieve the pressure on the foot. Laminitis can result in founder.
Founder is often a result of laminitis.
The disruption of the support becomes severe enough that it allows the bone to either sink down into the hoof more, or change the angle of alignment with the hoof wall. Both of these changes are permanent and make laminitis a chronic problem. Once this kind of a change has occurred, the owner must continually have the animal's hooves correctively trimmed. The farrier shapes the hoof to regain the correct orientation of the bone to both the hoof wall and the ground. Lock up the grain and make sure the horse can't get into it to guard against grain overload.