Understanding Laminitis: Your Guide to Horse Health Care and Management

Laminitis elicits fear among horsemen. Here veterinary authority Ric Redden peels away some of the mystery surrounding the syndrome. Dr. Redden discusses how to spot the signs of laminitis, what happens inside the horse’s foot when laminitis strikes, and a step-by-step approach to shoeing and treating the laminitic horse. He also includes several case studies and answers to frequently asked questions about laminitis.

Understanding Laminitis was written by Dr. Redden as a basic teaching format for those seeking to understand more about this devastating disease. Laminitis is a very complex secondary syndrome that continues to hold many secrets but fortunately much progress has been made in this field.This book will help you better understand what is happening to the sensitive structures hidden within the equine foot.

Dr. Redden’s practice remains the sole equine podiatry practice in the horse world. His extensive experience with unprecedented numbers has carried him throughout the world working with difficult cases as farrier and veterinarian. Dr. Redden suggests a meaningful grading system that simplifies the classification of degree of damage to the digits. His treatment protocol is directly influenced by the scale of damage.

Ric Redden is considered one of the foremost authorities and pioneers on the subject of laminitis. A lifelong horseman, Redden is among the few equine practitioners who also is a trained farrier. As such, he has successfully welded his practical understanding of the horse’s foot with a scientist’s training. A Kentucky native, Redden spent much of his youth living on a farm. He went to work at an early age after his father, a minister, suffered a serious back injury. Redden graduated from high school in his junior year and attended pre-veterinary school at Eastern Kentucky University. During this time, he shod and galloped horses in Central Kentucky. While serving in the U.S. Army, he rode and shod the horses of the U.S. pentathlon team in San Antonio, Texas. Redden graduated in 1974 from The Ohio State University School of Veterinary Medicine with an award of excellence in equine surgery and medicine. After school, he started a racetrack practice focused on lameness. His success as a lameness diagnostician made him a sought-after consultant and he traveled to many racing centers to treat patients. In 1983, Redden fulfilled a longtime dream when he opened his International Equine Podiatry Center, the first and only clinic in the world devoted exclusively to foot work in the horse world. He wears a shoeing apron and works the fire, building therapeutic shoes, braces, and even prosthetic limbs. Redden was inducted into the International Equine Veterinarians Hall of Fame and has treated hundreds of horses over the years, including such famous Thoroughbreds as Nijinsky II and Habitat. He also has developed many foot products used by veterinarians and farriers worldwide. For seventeen years, Redden annually hosted the Laminitis Symposium, which draws an international group of participants. He is much in demand as a speaker and clinician. He and his wife Nancy and their children live outside Versailles, Kentucky.