Hi, I have a 5 year old gelding and my husband and I suspected that he had possibly foundered before we got him because of the way his hoof grew, it looked like a horse that had foundered before but he had never foundered with us, and we have had him since he was 3. For the past few days he has been a little sore on that side when he would turn around (the other hoof looks normal), I knew that he was definately in need of a trim so we had the shoer come out today, (new shoer to us), and he said that the toe is a little seedy just on that side and the pink of the hoof when he used the hoof knife indicated that he had foundered at some time maybe an acute case. The point of this long story is I needed to know what would be a good diet for him, I dont want to cause him to founder. (he had been on pasture for 1 year until about a month ago). We are giving him 3 flakes of grass hay twice per day, select II, Natural Glo, and alfalfa pellets. Does this sound good or should I change it??? Thank You

Where are you from? Oklahoma

How did you locate this forum? horsecity.com

Hi Tamara,

He likely is not experiencing laminitis at this stage since it generally occurs in both front feet or all four feet, not just one (though there are exceptions). If he has the beginnings of seedy toe, you will want to treat him to get rid of this fungal infection.

About feeding to prevent laminitis… If he is getting 8 lbs alfalfa pellets, you’ll want to switch to Select I, for alfalfa-based diets. The hay is fine, and the Natural Glo stabilized rice bran is also excellent. The goal is to avoid grain, which you are doing. You can let him graze on pasture in the morning hours when the sugar (fructan) levels are at their lowest.

Keep up the fine work.

All the best,

Dr. Getty