Well that is good.
Quite a few things can cause laminitis/ founder but the most common is usually feeding related. A horse doesn’t have to be overweight to founder. Sometimes all it takes is a different type of hay( usually richer) or feed. That is why it is best to always gradually transition new feed slowly.
Might that have happened where she was kept?
Never a bad idea to cut the sugar but bad overall management, including overgrown feet with bad angles, along with malnutrition, certainly can lead to founder. So can lack of movement caused by sore feet and/or long confinement in too small a space with no exercise.
BTW, malnutrition does not (necessarily) mean starvation but inadequate nutrition to support healthy body function.
So can work on hard surfaces. Road founder. (I haven’t had a horse with it. Is Road Founder different from feed founder?)
I knew a horse as a kid who got road founder after a very long ride on asphalt and he had straight up terrible founder and dropped coffin bones all around to the end of his life. Very sad. He was older when this happened and now I think he might have been Cushings too. Care for all this was minimal and ignorant back then.
From an Internet search
"Road founder” is a term referring to a type of laminitis that may be seen when sudden hoof stress occurs (such as a horse running for an extended period of time on a hard surface or an inexperienced person trimming hooves too short). "
Just moved her to her new boarding barn a few days ago. She’s in a single paddock right now but will be able to go out with the larger herd as soon as there’s snow on the ground. It’s a really lovely place where there’s a lot of attention to detail, so I’m happy so far. I am to help feed on the weekend which is fun I love feeling useful.
She apparently is feeling good- at the last place she escaped into a larger field and entertained the poor barn owner by bucking and showing off her zoomies before she’d allow herself to be caught so we know she must be feeling a whole load better. I dont know if it was cleaning up the abscesses, the previcox, or the change of food, but I’m here for it.
My farrier hurt himself so I need a different farrier to come out and do her feet again, which Im nervous about but I probably shouldnt be.
I’d love to ride her. I think I’ll wait until her feet get done one more time at least. I’ll keep everyone updated. Thanks for letting me share my little mare’s stories.
I’m going to go with “all of the above”. I’m glad to hear she is settling in well with her new lifestyle.
Laminitis has several possible causes, some potentially related to each other. Mechanical or road founder from physical stress to the hooves (mine tried this after a bout with white line disease that was more extensive than the farrier or I realized). Endocrinopathic related to hormonal issues or insulin resistance. Then sugar overload, which can happen with or without the fore-mentioned hormone or insulin issues: sugars (simple or complex) fermented in the hind gut, disrupting the gut biome, killing off the bacteria, with the resulting endotoxins entering the bloodstream and leading to inflammation of the laminae.
Time for an update? 
Agreed!!
Hello! Time for an update indeed. Mare mare and I have been doing a whole lot of nothing. Her black gelding friend on the other side of her fence is madly in love with her and she wont give him the time of day. I have been hand walking her and she has been surprisingly spicy! I cant wait to ride her but we (vet and i) are waiting out an abscess that has blown out but isn’t in the nicest spot (but growing out on her toe now!) we had a scare that said abscess had spread to the coffin bone because my farrier didnt like that it felt weird when he pushed on it (what?) so I did the xrays and the clinical examination and prognosis: it’s an old abscess that has already blown and to do nothing. Bye 800$, nice knowing yeah! My partner bought me a western saddle for christmas for our eventual trail riding life. It has silver all over it and it is the coolest thing I’ve ever owned. I hope it fits her- I still havent actually brought it out of my library to put it on horse yet- maybe I’ll do that this week and take photos for everyone!!
tl;dr: mare is spicy and full of life
Worth the $800. I lost my favorite ever mare to an abscess that everyone told me I was over reacting about that spread to her coffin bone.
I’m glad she is doing well!
as OP said - 19 looks different on all horses and may folks would LOVE a lesson or in-barn lease horse for clients that is well natured like this one.
I learned to jump 1.0m+ on a 19 year old former 3* horse - a horse of the OP’s descriptions sounds like an asset to someone whether they are good for the up down job or job of carrying an adult re-rider back to bopping around 2’3
im sorry that happened to you 
Hello everyone! Time for another update!
I finally got a spot in my trainer’s barn for her, so she’s over at “my” barn! She looks hilarious next to all the tall tbs and warmbloods haha. She has befriended a young throughbred horse and they go out beside one another.
She seems super sound after all the abscesses were fixed up, and the farrier has put one of her shoes on backwards (the abscess was on the toe) for a little while which seems to work really well for her. I didnt know you could put a shoe on backwards never heard of it!! The vet is coming on the 15th to give the go-ahead to start riding her. I know my western tack fits her well, and there’s a western dressage series this summer which Im considering doing if she passes muster. It would just be walk/trot classes. Im also excited to take her to some fairs for showmanship classes- shes so very pretty right now- her weight is perrrrrfect, she’s shiny, she’s loving life. I spent a few hours with her yesterday just brushing her and telling her how good a girl she is. I’ve been taking her on hand walks around the indoor arena(how very scary haha) and would love to take her on the trails in hand soon but it’s just been pure mud. I bought a grazing muzzle so she will be allowed out in some of the bigger paddocks with her new friend later in the summer (theres a tiny bit of grass in there but not a lot). I bought the thinline one- it’s supposedly more breathable for them- I think it looks daft haha But yeah- I’ll update on the 15th with news on if she can be ridden.
She looks wonderful!
Hopefully you have many happy updates for us. 
Great update! She looks so happy.
New digs, fashionable outfits, a bed of food… she’s living the life!
There’s that zebra everyone’s been looking for! 
She looks fantastic, you’ve done a marvelous job of rehabilitating her. I bet she is stunning standing in the sunlight with her beautiful coat shining like a new penny. 
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