The Soft Ride Team hopes you had an amazing Labor Day and got to spend a little time off down at the barn with your equine companions! We just wrapped up some of the busiest weeks of our summer with conferences in North Carolina and Kentucky the last two weekends. We were thrilled to get to sit down with both seasoned vets at the Equine Sports Medicine Symposium and to get to see the new faces in the field at the OEPS conference for vet students in Lexington. As we head toward our longest event of the year, the AQHA Congress in Columbus, Ohio we want to make sure all our equine friends are safe and happy at the end of summer. Read on to hear a little bit about the conferences as well as revisit a few topics like fall laminitis and preventing road founders. And as always, we LOVE to see photos of your horse in their boots or shoes and hear what you’ve been up to as well. Sending us photos and stories to socialmedia@srboots.com definitely makes our day!!
The Soft Ride Team |
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Equine Sports Medicine Symposium
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Soft Ride is proud to be a platinum sponsor of the Equine Sports Medicine Symposium. So many of the horses we work with are elite athletes in their discipline and we believe that our equine athletes should have the same level of medical care and consideration their parallel human professional athletes have. At ESMS a number of incredibly important topics were covered by some of the best in the field. From Dr Bitt Conklin’s discussion on podiatry application for injuries in Western Performance horses, to Dr Raul Bras’s topic of pastern and hoof injuries due to various footings, to Dr Sara Tufts’s research in microbial growth potential in publicly used equine hydrotherapy spas, there was plenty to learn and bring back to our product development team. Working with the cutting edge in the equine veterinary research field has allowed us to address these concerns before they become issues with products like the Soft Ride Ice Spa and SoftRider rockered shoes. We’re looking forward to reviewing the lecture notes from the symposium and seeing what else we can develop to help support your equine athletes and the vets that treat them.
A close up look at our casting display for SoftRider Shoes:
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Opportunities in Equine Practitioners Seminar
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Soft Ride is so excited to continue to support the growth of the future of equine veterinary medicine by being an educational partner for the Opportunities in Equine Practice Seminar in Lexington, Kentucky. The goal of OEPS is to encourage third year veterinary students to pursue specialization in equine vet medicine. The students attending this year’s meeting, received information about various avenues and disciplines of equine practice, employment, and practice ownership. Students were able to have face-to-face meetings with current equine veterinarians and practices, go on facility tours, and participate in wet labs.
Over 300 veterinary students attended the 2024 meeting due to sponsorship from industry partners, like Soft Ride, that have a vested interest in seeing the equine veterinary field grow and thrive now and in the future. We are also thrilled to see so many of the major practices that use and support Soft Ride sponsoring this educational program.
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Laminitis. It’s a word horse owners hope to avoid, but research shows 10-15% of all horses will suffer from laminitis in their lifetime. While laminitis can happen at any time due to a variety of factors, there tend to be spikes of laminitis diagnoses in the spring and fall particularly.
Fall pasture grass can cause laminitis because the sugar content in the grass can rise as temperatures cool. Cooler temperatures encourage faster growth and the new growth grass is often higher in sugar content. Horses with metabolic disorders are especially susceptible to pasture-induced laminitis because of the fluctuation of the sugar content in the grass and the horse’s inability to metabolize that sugar.
Most laminitic cases are either endocrine or hormone related. Fall laminitis can also be related to the natural rise of the hormone ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic hormone) which happens naturally from late summer through the end of autumn as days get shorter. ACTH stimulates the release of cortisol. In older horses and horses with early onset Cushing’s disease, this rise in ACTH can be excessive. This can cause or increase insulin resistance, which in turn can make the horse founder. These issues should be addressed by carefully monitoring the horse’s diet and paying attention to soundness. Fall laminitis is just as serious as spring laminitis. If you notice your horse displaying signs of sore-footedness or lameness get them in Soft Ride boots and call your vet immediately.
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Is there a Difference between Road Founder and Laminitis?
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Road founder is a type of laminitis that occurs when a horse’s hooves are subjected to excessive concussive forces, such as from working on hard or uneven surfaces for prolonged periods. Road founder can also be caused by hoof stress during trailer travel during hot weather and on poorly maintained roads. This condition can lead to inflammation and damage in the sensitive structures within the hoof, causing severe pain and lameness. It’s most commonly seen in horses that are overworked on hard ground without proper hoof protection. There is a difference between founder and laminitis, although they are closely related. Laminitis refers to the inflammation of the laminae, the tissues connecting the hoof wall to the bone. Founder is a more advanced stage of laminitis where the damage causes the hoof bone to rotate or sink. Essentially, founder is a severe outcome of chronic or untreated laminitis.
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NAEP Sarasota Vet & Farrier Conference
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Northeast Association of Equine Practitioners annual conference will include wetlabs and lectures on lameness and podiatry from Dr. Jenny Hagen, Dr. Travis Tull, and many more.
Event Information:
September 25-28
Saratoga Springs City Center
522 Broadway Entrance
Saratoga Springs, New York 12866
info@thenaep.com
585-205-5122
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All American Quarter Horse Congress
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The AQHA Congress is the largest single-breed horse show in the world. Congress is held in Columbus, Ohio, and hosted by the Ohio Quarter Horse Association. OQHA is committed to setting the standard in the equine industry by engaging equine enthusiasts through world-class competition, recreational activities, education, and engagement of the next generation of participants and industry leaders.
Event Information:
Soft Ride Booth - 602
September 29 - October 27
Ohio Expo Center
717 East 17th Ave.
Columbus, OH 43211
info@quarterhorsecongress.com
614-505-7200
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American Association of Equine Practitioners Annual Convention
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The AAEP Annual Convention & Trade Show is the world’s largest continuing education event dedicated to equine practice, anchored by more than 100 hours of continuing education and a 300-exhibitor-strong trade show featuring the newest products and services for practice.
Event Information:
Soft Ride Booth - 955
December 7th-11th
Location:
Orange County Convention Center
9800 International Drive
Orlando, FL
800-443-0177 (U.S. and Canada)
859-233-0147
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We LOVE hearing from our customers and getting updates on how your horses are doing! Please send us your story and a photo of your horse in their Soft-Ride products for a chance to be featured on our social media, in an upcoming issue of our newsletter, and to be entered in a Soft-Ride giveaway!
Email us here: socialmedia@srboots.com
Text us photos and stories to 419-469-5293 (this number only receives texts, for questions please call our main customer service number).
Tag us:
Facebook: Soft-Ride Equine Comfort Boots
Instagram: @soft.ride
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As we continue our drive to keep your horse on his feet, we've received more than 15 patents, ship to over 50 countries, and work with more than 6,000 veterinarians around the world, as well as every veterinarian school in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. And with horse owners from every discipline using our products, we can safely and proudly say, "The best in the world rely on Soft-Ride."
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