Why Would Prolonged Travelling Cause Founder?

newforest

newforest

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Mar 15, 2008
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I have put this question here as I guessing in the 1930's that the horses would have predominantly been shod.
I have just got this little book written in the 1930's on ailments etc.

It states-"Founder results from prolonged standing in railroad cars, over exertion and then exposure to prolonged winds and storms, over feeding and allowing the animal to drink his fill of cold water while heated"

It talks about hoof bound-this meaning lack of circulation due to contraction of the heals.

So question in the title and would this be relevant today with the amount of travelling some horses do? Or has this cause long since been dismissed?
 
Maybe a stress link? Primarily mental, but possibly also physical since I should imagine the horses would get a rough ride.
 
Laminitis is triggered by metabolic stress. Travelling theses days is much easier, in the olden days horse carying wagons were attached to trains and the horse would often be shunted around and switched to different trains at junctions...imagine being on a train in a wooden wagon with little padding and not knowing what is going on, must have been a very frightening experience

Well designed lorries provide a temperature controlled environment often with air suspension and are designed for ride comfort...a very different means of transport!!
 
Stress is the biggest cause of problems for us, sounds the same for them.

Finding the book interesting, not totally convinced that whatever was in this bottle would cure everything with the exception of founder. They did offer a money back guarantee if it didn't work. Not many if any companies do that today?
 
I think in those days 'tonics' were the order of the day weren't they? And am I imagining that some of the human 'tonics' actually contained a cocaine substance?
 
My instructor taught me uses for gunpowder ( hoof abscess), turpentine (worm control), alcohol ( colic drench).....that was in the 50/60's!! Even in the 70/80's routine treatment for most leg ailments including laminitis involved standing in water or sea water and turning away for a summer!!

I hate to say this but most of them still work.
 
I haven't got to the products at the back yet. It does look as if a lot could be bought over the counter or through this company who would post to you.
How many vets were there in they 30's and I can guess we didn't have specialist horse vets?

Actually when I got into horses we didn't have horse dentists either.

Yes I recall standing a pony in the stream with lami, think the theory was that it would reduce the inflammation. We didn't buy fly spray I do recall it was made up. In fact we didn't buy that much to be honest! You didn't need it.
Iodine solved everything.
 
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I confess I had a pony that had had a serious attack of laminitis as four year old. I kept her in fairly serious work, lunged for 30 minutes every day if not ridden, fairly thin and any sign of heat in feet she would stand herself in buckets of water if offered. She never had another lame day and lived well into her late 20's grazing with the herd unmuzzled, nothing except grass and normal dry hay to eat, putting on weight in spring but losing it in winter.

Do we perhaps complicate things too much these days??
 
Or is everything more commercialized so you are made to think you need to buy or do xyz.
We only ever fed beet and nuts, we didn't have all these complete mixes. I don't recall supplements and I don't recall sick horses either.
With the cob the vet said I wasn't to feed anything other than fibre and that shop bought supplements hadn't been proven.
 
newforest said:
With the cob the vet said I wasn't to feed anything other than fibre and that shop bought supplements hadn't been proven.
Click to expand...

Funnily enough that's what our vet said yesterday as well, when it was mentioned what supplements he was on for his arthritis, vet agreed about them was a bit dismissive of any when I asked if my cob needs anyway and was told ' Feed him plenty of fibre and as he's out on good pasture he'll get everything he needs from that' (but he does know the lie of the land at my yard as soil samples have been done and he was involved in a feed regime for the yard)
 
Soil analysis is something new isn't it. Never heard of it until someone mentioned it. The thing is different fields have different soil, even one part to another woulda different. That's the same with bales of hay.
I don't personally see the point of it. We never used to need to think of it?
 
Only supplement I've used with success is biotin and that was on the advice of my farrier for malaikas feet and she has been on it well over a year now and I have to admit even I can see a difference in her feet and he is really pleased with them too,she is now comfortable with only front shoes on,not sure I'll ever be brave enough to go the whole hog though.
I do think a lot is pushed on you with regards to advertising of all these fancy supplements that promise the earth but I guess its down to personal experience and horses for courses.
My vet isn't against them as such but he is more of the old school (sugar and iodine mixes and Manuka honey been 2 favourites) and he too says plenty of fibre in the diet.
I think sometimes as people we do complicate things more especially now there is such a wide market of products available,a yard I used to work on had more supplements than hay and feed in the feed room it was like a chemist!
 
Haha, one of my feed bins is literally like a chemistry set. But I've had our grass and hay analysed and we're seriously low in some things and seriously high in others. Maybe it's complicated but I've seen a definite improvement since I started feeding balanced minerals, and it's not expensive either.

I think we need to beware of too much rose tinted specs, ignorance is bliss and horses that can be helped now because we know more would just have gone to the knackerman back in the good old days. Stuff like saddle fit too, muscle wastage was (and still is sometimes) taken for granted as normal in a mature horse, and any resistance put down to 'cold backs' and 'personality'. The owner may have been keeping things simple, maybe using the same saddle on different horses without a care in the world, but it still wasn't doing them any good.
 
Hope I didn't cause offence the chemist in the feed room unfortunatly was not in the way yours was,no tests etc or knowledge unfortunatly and most owners didn't know what half the supplements even did for their horses they had just seen it and bought it.ts horses for courses but I firmly believe you shoudnt just add things because you can which is more what I ment.'re muscle wastage I totally agree,the well the horse is old phrase is all too common around here and I know people who havnt had saddle fit checked for years!beggers belief really in this day and age!
 
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