From the time of Secretariat's death due to laminitis in 1989 to present day, there have been significant advances made. The goal of this year's the International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot was to balance presentations of the latest scientific research and practical information.

In a bid to counter the deadly effects of laminitis, QUT is conducting a worldwide study to understand what predisposes horses to repeatedly fall prey to this chronic disease.

Colic and laminitis, two of the most common equine ailments, can both result from overconsumption of high-carbohydrate concentrates or lush grass. Research has supported this cause-and-effect relationship, but the full story is more complicated.

Laminitis, a serious hoof condition that cripples many horses, can be caused by a number of different things. Ingestion of moldy feed, retained placentas in mares, and colitis or other gastrointestinal tract infections are only a few of the scenarios that can result in inflammation that affects the sensitive tissues within the hooves. The result is pain, swelling, and disrupted circulation, often leading to untreatable tissue damage that eventually causes the horse to be humanely destroyed.

Ask anyone who suffers from arthritis what it's like, and you'll hear just one word repeated and repeated - pain. And you won't have to look very far to find people to ask. In some cases, you don't even need to ask - you can tell just by watching them move; they don't like to because it hurts.

Equine veterinarian and farrier Raul Bras's talk on laminitis will help farriers treat horses suffering from various stages of the disease.