The Animal Health Foundation has announced that it will continue to support horse health through laminitis research in 2013.
According to their spokesperson, "The challenge of laminitis is bigger than any of us, but it's not bigger than all of us. Please end your old year begin your new year by funding research that benefits horses who have laminitis today, and that will prevent future horses from getting laminitis in the first place.
Fighting laminitis on all fronts
Laminitis research through the Animal Health Foundation attacks the disease on many levels, from the most high-tech science to simplifying insulin resistance testing.
© 2012 by April Raine
Laminitis research through the Animal Health Foundation attacks the disease on many levels, from the most high-tech science to simplifying insulin resistance testing. We're fighting laminitis in the laboratory, in the vet hospitals, in the shoeing shops and--most of all--in your barn. And your neighbor's barn.
But AHF doesn't stop there.
Soon, horse owners and veterinarians will work together to test horses for insulin resistance, a common risk indicator for laminitis, with a simple, inexpensive test currently in research by the AHF.
"Our research is affecting what goes on in the feed store--and the seed store, too. On the hay truck. In that bucket of supplements you just ordered, or the contents of the horse treats you just stuffed in your pocket."
Preventing laminitis is accomplished through proper horse management, with consistent practices as to feeding, routines, disease prevention, and good health care.
Avoiding feeding excesses, making sure the horse is kept at a reasonable weight, and limiting time in pastures during exceptionally lush growth will help prevent the development of laminitis. Horses should have unlimited access to fresh, clean water, except immediately after exercise when the amount and temperature should be regulated./p
"The Animal Health Foundation attacks laminitis on all these fronts because everywhere we look, we see laminitis that could have been prevented--if we'd only known a year or two ago what we know now, thanks to the funds that you have put into the study of this terrible disease."
Please contact AHF if you'd like to know more specific information about our future research projects that are in need of funding support and remember that your donations--large and small--have made a huge difference in fighting this disease in the past and will in the future.
Learn more about Laminitis