Equine Laminitis Research and Therapy

Detailed In New Book by Leading Scientist

GLOUCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, USA-"Difficult, but not impossible" are the words that leading researcher Christopher Pollitt BVSc PhD uses to describe his mission to solve the mystery of how the disease of lamintiis affects horses. Pollitt has compiled the latest information on the disease in its many forms, from grass founder in ponies to full-blown systemic laminitis as an adverse toxic reaction to medication. "Equine Laminitis", a book first published in Australia, is now available worldwide through Hoofcare Publishing, publishers of the Hoofcare and Lameness Journal, and the web site www.hoofcare.com. Funding for the volume was made possible by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) in Australia, which has been a key funding resource for many of Pollitt's research projects in his Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit at the University of Queensland. Hoofcare Publishing worked with RIRDC to make the book available in North America and to customers in other parts of the world.

In compiling the book, Pollitt created a well-rounded and objective overview of the disease, including coverage of many theories of laminitis that may be considered contradictory to his own research.

The book's eleven chapters include an in-depth look at the causes of laminitis and the process by which the disease initiates a painful structural breakdown of the horse's foot. Endocrine factors in laminitis, including the role of glucose and the links between chronic laminitis and the condition known as "Cushing's disease" in older horses, are covered. In the practical section of the book, Pollitt looks critically at how better radiographs may facilitate laminitis therapy, and discusses different courses of medication, and early intervention therapies such as intensive icing.

Therapeutic shoeing is a key chapter in the book, including important points in the use classic heart bar shoes, the modular EDSS laminitis shoeing system, and a hybrid shoe used in Australia that incorporates a heart-bar shoe with a trimmable "silicone rubber support cast" of the bottom of the foot.

"Equine Laminitis" is an in-depth but concise and objective overview of what is currently known about laminitis, and will serve as a catalyst for helping funding organizations or concerned individuals realize all that is not known about laminitis,as well as fully explaining what is known. Owners of horses, ponies, and donkeys afflicted with laminitis will find it comforting to know that researchers of Pollitt's caliber are at work on this crippling disorder affecting thousands of horses each year.

http://www.equiworld.net/uk/ezine/0702/pollitt.htm

courtesy of Hoofcare Publishing, www.hoofcare.com