# Founder



## crackerjackjack (Jan 25, 2008)

If Lily is not pregnant, could she be foundering? I was searching the forum and looking at old post and now I am worried about foundering. She does has a crest on her neck. She come to use with that. The prior owners told me that she was over weight. Is that something that we should worry about?


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## JourneysEnd (Jan 25, 2008)

I'm a farrier, not a donkey person.

I own one donkey and one mule. Both have cresty necks and neither is overweight.

Neither one has ever foundered.

I can't think of a foundered donkey I've worked on. That doesn't mean they don't founder, but they must not tend toward laminitis like horses.

What I can tell you is if she starts acting lame on one or both front feet, I'd act quickly.

So donkey owners, is this cresty neck issue more common in donkeys?


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## JumpinJackFarm (Jan 26, 2008)

I am not an expert by no means when it come to Founder.

My first Donk was a recoverie from Founder.

Getting back to FAT Lily






A fat Hay "belly" tends to be soft.

A FAT "prego" belly tends to be tight as a drum





As for the Cresty necks .... Donks get them when they have been overweight ...they can loose that weight and still have the Cresty neck to show that they were on the FAT side at a point in their life.

There is a neighbor above me with two Jenny's ...one of the Jenny's has a Cresty neck that has fallen ... I mean it has just flopped over like a Fat lap. She is at normal weight now and it sure looks odd





I'll have to get pics of her next time I go visit.


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## MeadowRidge Farm (Jan 28, 2008)

JourneysEnd, the cresty neck is very common in donkeys. They are very easy keepers, and so many people have a tendency to feed them like a horse. OH! A donkey does not need grain (unless there is a reason, such as a skinny rescue, ready to foal, or nursing) I'm always telling people that the most grain they should give there donkeys is a very small handful a day.



Donkeys do not have a tendency to founder as easy as horses do either, so that is probably why you have never seen one, but they definitely can founder. I have a jenny here, that has the start of a crest. I can post a pic later, but I know someone else on the forum also has one which is alot more pronounced then mine is, and we both have posted pics in the past. maybe you can do a search and find it. Once you have a crest you will always have a crest, it might go down a little, but it will always be there.


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## Basketmiss (Jan 31, 2008)

Can anyone post a picture of a cresty neck. I am curious cause I dont know what it looks like?


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## Bunnylady (Jan 31, 2008)

Basketmiss said:


> Can anyone post a picture of a cresty neck. I am curious cause I dont know what it looks like?


I know a good example, but I can't show you 'cause she's not mine, so I'll try to describe it to you. Imagine a donkey where the area at the top of the neck (immediately below the mane) is the thickest part of the neck,in this girl's case, about 8 inches wide. The middle section of her neck has slumped to the right, so that, when viewed from above, her mane describes an S-shape, even when she is looking straight ahead. A broken-over crest like that certainly doesn't improve her looks!

Edited to add: Take a close look at Bill and Hillary in the post regarding them.


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## Cara (Jan 31, 2008)

my mare recently founderd, not a donkey a mini, but if there hoofs are hot then i think they might be foudnering, uh my mares hoofs were hot, and she was laying down, now foundering is when they have apin in there hoofs and thats y its hot, its like a feveer, but i cought chinas early and i was able to help her, foundering can trun really bad, they can even die if it gets bad enough, call ure vet or farrier, and get ure donkey or mini checked out, if there hoofs are hot, even if its only two of them, cold hose them 4 times a day for ten mins, that what i did and it went away in a week, keep ures off grain, and off ggras, i duno if ure donkey is for sure, but yes call ure vet or farrier if ure worried!!!


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