Symptoms can vary from mild soreness to extreme pain, depending on the severity of the laminitis and hoof wall separation. Reluctance to walk, “walking on egg shells,” shifting weight, and lying down excessively are all signs.

Help prevent laminitis with the following suggestions:

• Acclimatize your horse slowly to spring grass pastures. High-risk individuals like overweight and cresty necked horses should be restricted from lush, quickly-growing grassy areas. Once the growth rate has slowed, high-risk horses may be gradually introduced to grass pastures.
• Graze your horse on a pasture with more legumes like alfalfa or clover.
• Allow your horse to eat their fill of hay before turning them out to pasture for a few hours.
• Use a grazing muzzle on horses that are prone to spring laminitis.
• Restrict horses with a previous history of laminitis from grass pastures to prevent recurrence.
• Because hay also may contain high amounts of fructans (sugars), hay analysis can help reduce the risk of laminitis in high-risk horses. Use ration balancers or low starch concentrates for high-risk horses.