Although the fat or obese horse is burdened with a form of metabolic illness, the appearance of a cresty neck signals further metabolic complications along the continuum of diseases associated with obesity.

The cresty neck that occurs along the upper curve of the horse’s neck is much different than the well-rounded and crested neck that can be found in a conditioned athlete.

The two are easily differentiated by general appearance and feel. A muscular ‘crested’ neck has a strong and vibrant feel whereas a cresty neck will jiggle, feel spongy, cushiony and/or boggy.

Its development is closely associated with the onset of a medical condition called equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), a cluster of metabolic derangements and endocrinopathies, including insulin dysregulation, obesity and/or regional adiposity, with laminitis or founder. Many horses with cresty necks are susceptible to chronic low-grade inflammation of the laminae within the hoof capsule and appear intermittently stiff gaited and ‘tender footed.’

If left unchecked these horses experience a gradual decline in hoof quality and functionality. Once horse owners become aware of its significance the cresty neck becomes a valuable tool to guide management strategies to reduce the risk of laminitis. Both the size of the cresty neck and its tissue quality have been found to be fairly accurate predictors for the onset of laminitis.

Researchers have identified and developed a scoring system to quantitate the risk.

Like abdominal fat in humans, neck crest fat in horses has been suggested to be specifically associated with metabolic disease. The novel cresty neck scoring system is on a scale of zero to five where a score of zero equals no visual appearance of a crest and a score of five equals enormous and permanently drooping to one side.

An appreciable hardening or turgor of the ‘crest’ tissue has also been found to coincide with the early onset of a laminitic episode. The crest of the horse’s neck is made of fibro-fatty subcutaneous adipose tissue similar in texture to high-density foam and its foam-like nature is very sensitive to electrolyte and water fluxes in the horse’s body.

As a result the tissues in the crest of the neck will take up water like a sponge becoming hard or oedematous with subtle electrolyte imbalance within the body. When the electrolyte imbalances are corrected the fluid then returns to its normal compartments and the crest softens.

At the basic level electrolytes are minerals dissolved in bodily fluids and the body’s electrolyte balances can be directly influenced by the mineral content of the horse’s pasture intake. Pastures are an ever-changing being and their mineral profiles on any one day are subject to many influences, one of which is weather. Weather drives growth patterns of the forage on pasture and can impart significant fluxes in the mineral profiles within the growing plant matter. This is especially notable during growth spurts in forage typically seen during the periods of early spring, fall, or heavy rainfall. The shift in the mineral profile of pasture grasses directly affects the horse’s own electrolyte and mineral profiles.

Although all the details of mineral imbalances associated with the rapid growth of pasture are not thoroughly understood, it is important to acknowledge ‘pasture-related laminitis’ is a much bigger picture than the traditionally held belief implicating the spike in sugars and starches in the new grasses. The ‘firming up’ and hardness of the crest from its soft and spongy state coinciding with periods of changing plant growth can be vital information just prior to a bout of laminitis.

Short-term management of affected horses involves immediate removal of the horse from the pasture on to a hay diet. It is also crucial to ensure the availability of mineral and salt resources for horses on pastures. This measure allows the horse to buffer the shifting mineral and electrolyte profiles as a result of fluctuating plant growth and mitigate episodes of laminitis.

The cresty neck on a horse needs to be regarded with a wary eye as it is a harbinger of metabolic problems including a risk factor for laminitis.

Identifying and addressing mineral imbalances is as equally important to the rehabilitation of these compromised equines as is the sugar and starch content of the pasture forage.

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Despite their separate labels these illnesses share many similarities in metabolic hormone imbalances and organ distress. The individual labels themselves imply separate and specific illnesses of the horse. However, it may be more correct to recognize that each of these illnesses represent a phase on a sliding continuum of the same disease.

Upon closer examination into the lives and lifestyles of these horses, they collectively share common perils — inappropriate dietary intake, namely the overfeeding of sugars and starches, insufficient physical activity, and lifestyle distress.

These horses are initially referred to as ‘easy keepers’ and are considered to be the ‘air ferns’ of the horse world. Without proper management many ‘easy keepers’ will progress to manifest excessive weight and/or obesity, ‘hard cresty necks,’ peculiar fat deposits (i.e. lumpy, bumpy fat distribution over the body), and over time become increasingly prone to what appears to be ‘unexplained’ reoccurring episodes of laminitis or founder.

They are also at a greater risk to develop Cushing’s syndrome as they age. The metabolic dysfunctions of the body are shown in the hooves. The external clinical signs the affected horses display betray the severity and depth of their internal metabolic derangements.

These are very sick horses with broken metabolic pathways, hormonal imbalances, distressed digestive tracts and livers and unusually high levels of inflammation in their tissues. Aberrant glucose, insulin, leptin (this is the hormone that signals the horse to stop eating) and cortisol levels are commonly cited.

Yet our understanding of the abnormal metabolic values is far from complete. In fact, the number and degree of metabolic derangements discovered in the blood work and at the cellular level of the metabolic syndrome horse continues to grow exponentially. This is a complex disorder for which more questions than answers currently exist.

Proper and early recognition of a young horse that may be susceptible to metabolic syndromes is important because prudent horse-keeping management can stalemate the expression and progression of many metabolic troubles. Generally without mindful intervention, the health of susceptible horses declines gradually over many years. However, the ‘at-risk’ horses can be recognized by a trained eye long before an ‘official’ diagnosis is made.

The ‘at-risk easy-keeping’ horse commonly begins as the ‘easy-keeping’ foal, weanling, yearling and young horse. These young horses easily become overconditioned, even more so if their diets are overly rich. Originally Morgans, Fjords, Icelandics, pony breeds, miniatures and draft horses showed a familial predisposition to metabolic syndromes, however, breed exclusion is no longer the case with more breeds becoming represented.

Moderate body condition in a horse is always an important management goal regardless of the horse’s age. Weight in excess of the horse’s ideal demands that the horse step up its metabolic and hormonal resources to properly maintain the extra tissue. Unfortunately horses do a very poor job at metabolically upkeeping excessive weight. If the burdensome weight is carried forward over many years, rather than subjected to the natural seasonal cycle of weight gain and weight loss, the health of the horse gradually suffers.

The most effective strategies in dietary practices aim to minimize and stabilize blood sugar levels in response to feed and feeding activity. These practices in turn maintain the integrity and functionality of insulin and other hormones in the horse’s body. Therefore, it becomes imperative to venture a fishing expedition which minimizes the sugars in a horse’s diet even at a very young age.

Beneficial practices include supervised grazing, a steady supply of free-choice, low-sugar, high-fibre forage hays, elimination of all grains, sweet feeds, extruded feeds, and complete feeds or any other feeds with added sweeteners — especially including treats/crunchies/cookies.

When horses are able to access a slow, steady supply of forage throughout their day it alleviates digestive distress, blood sugar spikes, hormonal swings, boredom and stress. Adequate mineral supplementation is often necessary to offset dietary insufficiencies. For example, magnesium deficiencies, iron overload and copper and zinc levels are well known for their ability to impact glucose and energy homeostasis.

Diet is not the only source of glucose spikes and hormonal fluxes in horses. Any stressful event will release the hormone cortisol, which in turn increases the blood glucose in anticipation for a survival strategy. Chronic and prolonged stress or stressors as perceived by the horse’s physiology and biology hosts a cluster of negative metabolic consequences. Underestimated sources of stress in horses include but are not limited to infrequent or interrupted meal feedings, physical pain, demanding training schedules, confinement, social isolation, boredom, neglect, and emotional and mental distress.

Exercise and the freedom to move in the horse is critical to stimulate digestive flow, improve digestion, increase circulation, ensure optimum metabolism, regulate blood sugar levels and decrease stress. The activities of eating and foraging are perhaps the greatest forms of body movement for the horse. When not available, the horse suffers both mentally and biologically.

Maybe the best and the worst part about this collection of illnesses is their resistance to respond favourably or be cured or reversed by medical management, pharmacological intervention or supplements.

This grouping of horses may be the ‘canaries in the mine’ pointing to the weaknesses in modern-day horse husbandry which identify those practices that are not in alignment with the highest health of the horse.

The good news is that there is a growing awareness about horse-keeping practices that do benefit the ailing metabolic horse, and if initiated early on in the lives of many horses prevents the occurrence and expression of metabolic diseases.

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A lot of these conditions of course are brought on by age. In order to get more longevity out of our cows, we need to look at lameness as it is one of the common reasons for culling.

In past years, the slightly arthritic cow was shipped but if we could prevent some of these injuries, or make it more comfortable for these cows, we can extend their productive life. The most common conditions are the stifled cow or ones experiencing lots of arthritic changes in their pelvis and hip joints.

The stifled cow only puts little weight on her toes and is usually quite swollen in the knee area. With very little usage of the leg muscles, muscle soon wastes away and the whole quarter becomes shrivelled. The ligaments holding the knee together have been damaged or ripped and often are irreparable.

Causes can be any sudden torque on the leg such as a breeding injury, getting stuck in soft terrain at a dugout, or bunted from the side when establishing pecking order. Trucking, loading, and moving cattle through narrow gates also predisposes them to these injuries.

We can eliminate a lot of these scenarios through good management practices.

Remote wind- or solar-powered watering stations around dugouts prevent cattle from having to slog through mud to drink. Not only does this prevent injuries, weight gains and health are better. Keeping the herd in good nutritional health and trimming bad-footed cows also minimize the chance for these kinds of injuries. Documenting when (the time of year) and where these injuries occur may shed light on their causes.

I realize some are totally a fluke and unpreventable. Producers have commented to me on rough breeding bulls knocking cows down or bunting them around. If one bull injures lots of cows, he may be one to put on the culling block. The same thing applies to overly aggressive cows or ones with horns. The cow with the extremely bad feet is more apt to get it caught or not have it pivot when it should, resulting in the stifle injuries just mentioned.

Once these injuries are permanent, allowing easy access to feed and water may allow you to keep them longer and get more calves out of them. Painkillers and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on prescription from your veterinarian can be used in acute cases. But once the condition becomes chronic, they are not practical to use and often not effective.

YOU must be the judge as to when the animal is suffering too much and decide whether you can get another calf out of her or not. If possible, synchronizing and AI’ing her may prevent further injuries.

Arthritis comes on with age, but in many cases longevity can be increased by keeping our calcium-to-phosphorus ratio at two to one and by keeping the cows in the right body condition.

In selecting replacements (bulls and heifers), we have always stated, “Select good feet and legs.” This increases longevity and may help prevent arthritis because of poor conformation and walking improperly. Also keep an eye on a straight back. Some calves are born with congenital spine abnormalities such as scoliosis (twisted spine) or torticollis (twisted neck) and should be avoided as replacements.

Problems at calving may result in separation of the sacroiliac joint (the point where the spine passes over the pelvis). Later this can lead to dropping of the spine and the bony points of the pelvis pushing up, which makes walking extremely difficult. If you hear a loud pop when pulling a calf, this may be what has happened. Selecting for easy calving, which most farmers are doing, can prevent these pelvic-type injuries from developing.

Treatment for all these conditions simply involves making the cow as comfortable as possible. Painkillers as mentioned can be used on a short-term basis and some can be mixed in with grain to make treatment that much easier. Some mildly stifled cows can last several years. For others, it may be trying to get that last calf out of them to orphan onto a needy cow.

Other arthritic conditions are septic arthritis of the P2-P3 joint with a severely swollen area above the claw. These may respond very well with amputation of the toe, while other techniques involving drilling out the joint are very successful long term.

Infectious arthritis involving the other joints often occurs in young weaned calves and often involves mycoplasma or histophilus organisms. These conditions come with a guarded prognosis for recovery even with extensive antibiotic therapy.

You can see arthritis comes in many forms and it is often in consultation with your veterinarian that the course of therapy or shipping is determined.

One must keep in mind that severely lame animals become an animal welfare issue, so it is critical to have them attended to — especially if weight bearing becomes minimal.

On rare occasions, we may get what I call a functional lameness where animals limp because of nervous damage, tendon injury, or conformational problems. In these cases, it takes experience to know when they are not in pain and don’t need treatment.

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Horses need suitable feeding to grow healthy hooves. Critical attention to the diet can dramatically improve hoof form. When the diet of a horse contains a disproportionate amount of grains, processed feeds, processed supplements and is high in sugars and starches the majority of horses’ hooves will not be healthy.

When a house is built, the quality of materials and resources used in structuring and assembling the house matters greatly towards the value of the final product. This simple principle is equally applicable to the growth and development of a horse’s hooves. The majority of raw materials offered in the horse’s diet for structural growth of the hoof needs to come from long-stem forages, otherwise structural integrity and attachment of the hoof capsule suffers. Due to the physical demands imposed on the hoof by carrying a 1,000-lb. animal, vulnerabilities in its structural integrity are quickly revealed and exposed if proper care, feeding, and management are not present.

The distinctive cross-links and molecular binding between substances of the hoof matrix demand a level of exactness in the minerals provided by the diet. Silica, calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc, sulphur, and selenium, to name but a few. The ratio of minerals to one another also has a direct influence on the bioavailability of any one mineral. The bioavailability of a mineral is of great importance because it determines the value the mineral itself has towards the horse’s health. If the diet offered to the horse is not of proper quality, quantity and balance it derails structural integrity and resilience of the hoof matrix and creates a “weak” -footed horse.

No trim mechanics will “fix” such. Growth and development of the hoof is very dependent upon the level of sugars, mineral profile, and antioxidants derived from the diet. Quality forage is of the greatest value to the diet of the horse and when well chosen, will meet the majority of nutrient needs. Then, abundant fresh clean water, free-choice loose salt, and minerals will generally balance out the remainder.

Another important consideration for hoof health is the horse’s body weight. Hooves function to absorb the concussive forces of impact upon weight bearing, therefore if a horse is carrying body weight beyond ideal, the hooves become burdened. Furthermore, adipose and/or fatty tissue is no longer considered to be just a source for storing energy, rather it is now recognized to be an organ with the ability to produce hormones and inflammatory proteins. As such, this generalized inflammation in the body has numerous ill outcomes, one of which is laminitis and/or founder.

The concept that the body is nourished by the diet is widely accepted. It is also becoming increasingly evident that movement is equally nourishing to the animal’s body and as such, movement is coming to be recognized as a necessary and essential nutrient to health.

Recent scientific studies in the rapidly expanding area of epigenetics is revealing that physical expression of form is strongly linked to mechanical stimulation. Although not readily obvious to the naked eye, the expansion, contraction, and distortion cycle of weight bearing on the hoof is necessary for creating and maintaining a healthy foot. The hoof relies on movement and/or physical stimulation to maintain its healthy elasticity and blood flow. Movement influences the form of the hoof that is expressed and is crucial for health and healing.

The hoof is the end point of a moving lever — the leg. Therefore the kinematic nature of the horse’s stride or the way the horse moves its entire body does make a difference to how the hoof impacts the ground. Irregular leg movement can be a source of imbalanced wear to the hooves. Dental work, ill-fitting tack such as a poor-fitting saddle, and horsemanship whether via groundwork or riding, all influence the horse’s movement. The hoof must respond accordingly. Saddle fit and rider balance can have dramatic effects on the growth and development of hooves.

The source of difference between a “good” -footed horse and a “weak” -footed horse can come from surprisingly and seemingly unrelated areas of a horse’s lifestyle and environment. Embracing these possibilities creates a broader understanding, connecting the whole horse to the health of the hoof — revealing how truly inseparable the two are.

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The coronet or coronary band refers to the area on the horse where the hairline meets the hoof capsule. This structure is responsible for continuous hoof growth over the horse’s lifetime. When the coronary band is injured, in any way, the future growth of a horse’s hoof wall is jeopardized. The coronary band of the horse is like the cuticle or nail bed of a human finger. This is the germinal centre that actively makes new cells, and so the growth of the hoof wall depends on the viability of these cells.

Inside the coronary band is the coronary corium, a blood-filled tissue which generates and feeds the hoof wall. New hoof wall cells produced in the corium gravitate downward from the coronary band in a spiralling configuration, giving the hoof wall its framework of strength and elasticity. Any interruption in this growth pattern will disrupt the integrity of the hoof wall. As a sequelae, the appearance and sometimes the functionality of the hoof wall is affected. Hoof wall defects as a result of coronary band injuries will run vertically from the site of injury. These defects can take the form of a cosmetic deformity such as a blemish, a crack, a fissure or a depression in the hoof wall. If severe enough, the cracks and fissures risk becoming inflamed or infected and can lead to lameness.

Horses sustain coronary band injuries following a number of unfortunate events. Entanglements with wire, and collisions with fences, metal sheds, old equipment, or trail debris to name a few. Coronary band injuries also commonly occur during trailer loading and/or while the horse is travelling in a trailer and attempting to negotiate its footing during travel. Further means of harm can come to the coronary band when horses overreach — when the back hoof connects with the foreleg below the pastern. This misstep can happen during training or with high-speed sporting events such as barrel racing, reining or jumping. The incidence of “clipping” the pastern and coronet is further increased during takeoff, landing and striding when corks are placed in iron shoes.

The treatment for coronary band injuries depends upon the severity of the injury. If the injury is not too serious, it may be gently cleaned with water and kept wrapped for the period of time necessary to heal. It becomes very important to keep this area as clean as possible for it offers the body the best chances of successfully resolving the injury with the least amount of permanent damage to the hoof wall. Injuries to the coronary band often bleed profusely due to their rich blood supply. Therefore bleeding may need to be controlled with a clean pressure bandage. A hospital bandage applied to the foot offers the wound the best opportunity to heal. Such a bandage may seemingly appear to be “in excess” yet an investment in “overcare” with injuries in this particular location is worthwhile.

More serious injuries may require veterinary exploration to assess the level of damage.

Debridement, surgical repair, or followup casting of the foot for a period of time may be necessary to minimize complications and improve the final outcome.

The close proximity of these wounds to the ground surface places them at a greater risk for contamination, and so the need to keep them bandaged while healing is pertinent. Healing is further challenged by the loading and unloading of the hoof which results in constant movement of the healing tissues. Therefore, an equally important part of healing coronary band injuries is proper trimming of the hoof. By sparing and easing the forces of weight bearing, proper growth from the coronet is encouraged.

Measures taken to prevent coronary band injuries include policing the horse’s environment for safety as well as acknowledging high-risk situations for injury. These include trailering, early stages of training where foot placement by the young horse can be awkward, and specific competition demands. Bell boots, which cover the coronary band, worn at these times will often avert injuries. Horses improperly trimmed or shod will also be at a greater risk for injuries to this vulnerable site due to increased chances of overreaching.

Early recognition and proper care of coronary band injuries favour a positive outcome for the healing process, and mitigates damage to this particularly sensitive tissue.

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These discoveries are important since horse owners and veterinarians are no longer left simply managing pain, but rather they are becoming increasingly empowered to manage the lifestyle and welfare leading to the ever-growing phenomena of lameness in the present-day horse population.

Lamenesses in horses rarely “just happen.” Whilst addressing the horse’s present condition or local lesion is very important it is equally important to question the root cause of the lameness.

“How and why did the horse arrive at this place of lameness?” Of course, some lamenesses such as hoof abscesses, stone bruises, or trauma to the limbs are more simple than others, such as developmental bone diseases, arthritis, bowed tendons, and laminitis which often have much deeper roots of cause.

Nutrition, living conditions, horsemanship, riding practices, tack, dental care, hoof care, and exercise programs (too little, too much or poorly executed) are factors which influence and contribute to the horse’s state of soundness and these are equally important factors to consider when evaluating lameness.

For example a youngster that is “overconditioned” to meet show and/or sale agendas and then asked to meet performance and training standards beyond its physical maturity is a prime candidate for lameness a few years later as it reaches four or five years of age.

One could certainly report the horse’s lameness to be the result of developmental bone disease or arthritis, however, these labels only describe the symptomatic pathology and do little to acknowledge the causative insults. Although the connection between an overly rich diet, an overzealous training program and lameness spans the time period of many years, these connections are nonetheless repeatable and predictable in the population of young performance horses.

On the surface, pain management appears to provide a reasonable means to improve the horse’s welfare, yet the horse’s welfare would have been better served by both a moderate and proper diet and a reasonable and patient training program.

Another example is the horse that is struggling with gastric and/or intestinal ulcers. These horses may present a confusing picture of mixed lamenesses exhibiting short striding and/or gaiting asymmetrically in an attempt to find a way of going which best suits their ailing gut. Ultimately dietary corrections and environmental enrichment are necessary to address the unsoundness.

From my perspective, even the riding horse that begins to buck is showing a form of lameness as the horse is no longer willing to move forward. A thorough investigation may reveal the source of bucking to be an ill-fitting saddle or dental discomfort. Once the source is found and corrected the horse no longer bucks.

Many lamenesses are in the process of happening when owners report issues such as resistance, or behaviour/attitude problems. These are often the beginnings of what eventually turns into pathology.

Lamenesses in the limbs can often be the result of a sustained duration of compensations and adaptations from loss of mobility in structures elsewhere in the body, such as the dental arcade, neck, shoulder girdle, back, or pelvis. For example, a sore back can lead to abnormal limb kinematics and thus the horse appears lame.

Hence the end issue of lameness often does not exist in isolation, rather, is rooted somewhere else in the body.

Pain and/or lameness is merely a messenger or an end point, seeking resolve and understanding. Changes at the root level capable of returning and ensuring soundness in horses can be remarkably simple practices such as proper nutrition, turnout time, improved tack or horsemanship, patience, rest, or proper dental/hoof care.

Pain management for lameness is only one small part in the recovery of the horse to soundness. Painkillers bear the unfortunate outcome of asking the horse to ignore the pain and continue using its body in spite of the horse’s own internal message to rest select joints, bones, tendons, or muscles.

So, although the reliance on painkillers may appear superficially beneficial and bring short-term results, their indiscriminate use may ultimately decrease the horse’s performance career.

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