Short-term effect of therapeutic shoeing on severity of lameness in horses with chronic laminitis.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the short-term effects of 4 therapeutic shoeing systems on lameness and voluntary limb-load distribution in horses with chronic laminitis.

ANIMALS

10 horses with chronic laminitis.

PROCEDURES

A clinical trial was conducted that used a concurrent control, crossover design to evaluate the relative effectiveness of a standard flat shoe, fullered egg-bar shoe, heart-bar shoe, and modified equine digital support system to alleviate chronic lameness in horses. Therapeutic success was assessed during a 7-day period by use of subjective (Obel grade and clinical score) and objective (force-plate data) evaluations.

RESULTS

Comparison of pretreatment and intertreatment control data indicated that disease status of the horses did not change during the course of the study. None of the therapeutic shoeing treatments used resulted in a significant change in severity of lameness.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Results were interpreted to imply that substantial clinical improvement should not be expected during the first 7 days after therapeutic shoeing for the specific shoes tested in this study. On the basis of our results, we hypothesize that when used as the lone indicator of therapeutic success, severity of lameness may not be a valid indicator.