Amaryllis has laminitis and I’ve been struggling with her condition off and on for several years. I should have known better than to get a donkey as a guardian animal for sheep that graze irrigated pasture but I did not realize the risk. Donkeys can thrive in desert conditions and can easily put on weight under any other situation. That, along with a multitude of other related factors, puts them at risk for laminitis.
She had a flare-up in October. I think it was a result of breeding season. I had the sheep separated into several different breeding groups and Amaryllis was getting little bits of alfalfa from under the fence that she shared with one of the groups. Maybe that had nothing to do with it but I thought that it might have been the trigger.
My regular vet was out of town and I called U.C. Davis. The equine vets came out and evaluated her. This radiograph shows that there is slight rotation of the bone, which should be parallel to the hoof wall, but the coffin bone has not dropped down to the sole, which can happen in severe cases. 
Temporary pain relief was provided by some cushy pads that were measured and then cut to fit.
A paste of betadyne and sugar was applied to help the foot dry out…
…and then the pads were taped in place. 
This was just to help cushion her feet until the farrier could get here for the next trim.
She was also prescribed a variety of medications to help with pain and weight loss, some of which I had used before.
This was a month ago. In the meantime I attended the Donkey Welfare Symposium at UC Davis. It was an excellent program but I came home more depressed about the whole situation. At home I was struggling with how little improvement I saw, even with all the medications.
The vet offered another idea–SoftRide boots. Those came today. They are an outer boot with a gel orthotics.
The instructions said to wrap the foot with plastic wrap when you first try the orthotics so that you can send them back if they don’t fit. 
That is easier said than done. I got the plastic on the foot OK but by the time I had her standing on the orthotics they weren’t in exactly pristine condition anymore. 
I decided that I’d just have to go for it and put the boots on.
What an amazing difference they made. This is the first time I’ve seen Amaryllis walk without obvious pain in weeks if not months. I don’t know if this is a permanent fix, but at least she is more comfortable now and will maybe be able to get a little exercise–even if that is just me leading her around the corral every day.
Meridian Jacobs' Blog 
So sorry for Amaryllis!! I lost the horse of my life this past year from laminitis/founder. It is a terrible disease and so painful. My guy survived 22years with the help of master farriers, constant diet and limited walking on hard surfaces.
I found that thinking of laminitis like it were Diabetes helped. Laminitis is much like diabetic neuropathy.
This meant absolutely no grain, no oat hay, alfalfa and no access to other farm animal feeds. No dog cookies, basically just grass hay. I wish you good luck with her maintenance plan. And I hold good thoughts for you all.
I’m sorry to hear about your horse. I’ve been pretty discouraged over this whole thing. The shoes seem to be great but it’s only been a day, and they certainly don’t fix the situation–just make her more comfortable. I don’t like having her to stay in this smaller pen but even with a grazing muzzle I don’t think I can put her out near green feed now.
Interesting! I’ll give those shoes a look. I deal with this problem with T-Bone :-/. I’ve had great luck with grazing muzzles. I use https://www.bestfriendequine.com/ Just watch the bottom because they’ll wear the hole bigger and then it doesn’t slow their eating down enough.
I had been using a grazing muzzle but not during this time while she was in a dry lot next to the sheep being fed. You’re right about the hole getting bigger. That also happened and I hadn’t realized it.
I just looked up that link. I like that they are making the grazing muzzle now with less webbing over the nose for hot weather. That seems much better (although a donkey would probably figure out how to get more food through that space).
I’ve never heard of these “boots” before. What a great invention. Good luck with her progress.
It makes me wonder if they’d fix my husband’s plantar fasciaitis problem!
It’s amazing what they can do & come up with ~ she looks really comfortable. I hope this helps Amaryllis! She’s a cutie!