I just rescued a horse that has foundered in the past. She is a big reg. Paint mare with lots of Thourghbred in her bloodlines. The person that had her fell on hard times and a few of her horses had to go. I was told that this mare had foundered in the past but is now sound and can be ridden as normal. I have ridden the mare and she is fine, no signs of soreness or pain. She does have shoes on but just everyday normal shoes. She is a little slower walking when on concrete or rocks but otherwise a nice smooth ride. I was told that this mare needs to be on a small diet of low protein pellets.

She has a small dent (for lack of better word) in one of her hoofs but that is the only sign of any kind of problem.

I guess my question is, are horses that have foundered in the past more prone to founder in the future? And what other problems will I have in the furture from this horse?

I only bought her to keep her from falling into the wrong hands but now that I have her I am getting real attached to her and just need to know what the future holds if I do decide to keep her.

oh yeah, I talked to the farrier that has been shoeing this horse since her founder and he said that she will be fine as a trail horse (which is all I do) but will never be a speed or roping horse.

Does anyone else out there have a horse that has these same issues?

I have had two trail horses that had been foundered.  Both went on to do hundreds of trail miles. 

Later in life, they had some joint stiffness which I treated with daily BL pellets and the occasional dose of bute.

I sold the gelding at the age of 19 to an older lady who just wanted to ride around her property. 

I still have the mare.  She is 25 now and is basically retired except for taking really little kids on short rides around home.  Her knees are very arthritic, so I don't ask her to carry more than about 60 pounds and only at a walk.  She always seemed to have an instinct about small children.   I rode her until she was about 18 and she was a ball of fire!  We could ride 20 miles and she would be ready for more.  But if you put a baby on her back, she turned into a puppy dog.

I think with a little extra care, you and your new horse will have a lot of fun together.

RIDE ON!

If you decide to keep her, You might want to consider a set of x-rays as a baseline for the coffin bone rotation. This becomes helpful should she founder again to see if any further damage has occured. Watch out for Spring grasses and high concentrate feeds. A drylot would be best for her. And of course plenty of exercise to keep her fit. 

Another thought too is how old is this mare? Cushing's disease and metoblic disease can cause laminitic episodes too, so if the horse did not founder from feed/grass or hard surfaces, then you might want to test her for these two dieseases also. Some Cushing horses do not get the long hair until later in the diesease, but you will see an increase in water intake, difficult to settle after being bred etc.

Founder can be successfully managed, but it takes diligence on protecting her from future episodes. I have heard of a product called Remission to control laminitis episodes, but have never used it - http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=d54319d4-0302-4385-932e-3ee2db9f7b2f

Hope you have a great time with her on the trails!

I second a good set of X-rays and you should check the rotation regularly to allow the farrier to maximize her comfort when rotation occurs.

Another note that hasn't been mentioned here is that you should be careful with her weight.  Don't let her get fat, the extra weight on her feet could speed the rotation process and cause her constant pain.

Be diligent in her feeding regimen, hay and feed should stay at the same protein levels as much as can be controlled to avoid future episodes.

Good luck!

My daughter's mare foundered 2 months after I bought her. It was spring and she was on grass the same as the rest of the herd.  The vet x-rayed and said he had never seen 18 degrees of rotation on a living horse. He figured she would only ever be 'pasture sound', yet never safe to be turned out on one.

She spent a week in styrofoam boots and bute until she could take the 3 hour trailer ride to an awesome farrier who follows the Pete Ramey school of thought, and other similar farriers.  He put her in natural balance shoes and gave me the list of what I could and couldn't do - NO oats, NO alfalfa, NO 100% turnout on the grass until it was so hot the stuff was barely growing. 

Three years later, the mare has never worn shoes again, and has never seen alfalfa or oats.  In the spring she spends equal time in my riding arena and on pasture (this works for her, but might need to be more strict with a different horse). She has been 100% sound ever since.  My daughter is not the kind of rider that wears out a horse, so it's probably a good match.  She uses her for horse shows, trail rides, team penning, and gymkhana. This little mare is worth her weight in gold, even with the extra work required to make sure she never founders again.