30/05/2026
Farrieritis?
There has been a discussion on social media suggesting that many horses traditionally diagnosed with chronic laminitis are not suffering from laminitis at all, but instead from mechanically distorted feet with capsule divergence caused purely by years of imbalance and trimming so called ‘Farrieritis”
I understand that hoof imbalance and mechanics influence forces on the foot and can worsen outcomes.
I struggle to agree with the concept that laminitis is not real and that we are looking at long term poor hoof trimming when looking at hooves that are conventionally labelled as Laminitic.
I wanted to share a case of a horse who suddenly became lame.
No obvious cause was found and she was eventually euthanised after a couple of weeks of the horse not improving and in obvious distress.
I was gifted the feet to study. This was years ago and I took many photos of my studies even though at the time I was not too sure what I was looking at.
Now I see clearly laminitis. The laminar zone that is between inner hoof wall and bone is disorganised.
It’s epidermal lamellae appear to be tearing away firm the dermal laminae. I see gaps, and these were originally full of fluid.
There is a yellow colour present and the dermis appeared swollen.
Over the coming weeks I’ll be showing dissections from horses with documented metabolic disease and hyperinsulinaemia where the feet were, clinically and internally, screaming laminitis.
Not theory, internet debate or ideology.
I’ll show real tissue, real pathology and clear structural change appearing in the feet.
Because I believe we need to return to first principles:
anatomy, pathology, biomechanics and evidence.
These images show healthy lamellar architecture beside pathological change.
I cannot see how this catastrophic event that took her life is due to years and years of poor hoof trims.
If that was the case, why do we not see similar findings on xray in hind feet?
How can years and years of supposed unbalanced trimming cause an acute catastrophic event? What was the tipping point?
Fore feet seem to suffer much more with the mechanical effects of laminitis than hinds. If it were the trim, why are we seeing this?
Lindsey
