The following is an example of founder in older show mare named Magie Ann Browns.  Within a couple of days after acquiring her she had a flare up after she was loaded and taken to the vet for a check up. The pictures taken (shown below) were before I did any work on her.  Her condition when her chronic laminitis flared up was so serious that I had 2 veterinarians advise that with her age, then 27, I should consider putting her down.  Maggie didn't seem ready for this as she is a horse with great spirit and desire to live and a real fighter. After thoroughly examining Maggie and looking into her eyes for a clue as to what "she" wanted I was convinced by Maggie herself that she wanted to live if she could live comfortably.

Maggie and I made a pact that as long as she showed me she wanted to fight this, I would help her fight her battle to recovery. I have worked on foundered horses so long that I never thought to take pictures of the process, but I do have pictures before and after.  Below are the before pics.

First I worked to get Maggie as comfortable as possible while I began a process that would get Maggie ready for  "re-sectioning." To give Maggie a substantial amount of relief I used a forge to building special heart bar shoes for her to wear to help take the pressure off the sensitive part of her feet, and give support to the entire boney column of her legs. During the inflammatory part of laminitis, the foot is in constant change and this requires resetting and readjusting the shoes as often as twice a week. This process is very time consuming and labor intensive, and is, unfortunately, very costly if it is hired done.

In resectioning a new hoof must be grown to replace the old. The front of the old hoof wall is removed and the area under has to be debrided thoroughly so that the new hoof wall can attach to the sensitive laminae. Resectioning is similar to a person having a finger or toe nail removed so that it can grow back healthy. Through proper corrective shoeing Maggie was made comfortable throughout the process which is as important as the resectioning process itself.

In a little over a years time Maggie could be ridden lightly.

At the Missouri Fox Trotter Celebration in Ava, September, 2002 five years after Maggie was so badly foundered that it was thought that she could not recover, Maggie Ann Browns, went through 2 veterinary cheeks of her feet and passed inspection with flying colors. The veterinarians who examined Maggie were impressed with her age and condition as well as the condition of her feet.  At the age of 33, 21 years after she had won her World Champion class at Ava in 1981 at the age of 12, Maggie re-entered the show ring, possibly the oldest horse demonstrated that year, and was ridden for 2 laps around the ring for the introduction of Board of Directors.  Old timers say she won her "class" with her classic and natural old time fox trot, natural head shake, and rythmn.

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