Showing posts with label Orthopedic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orthopedic. Show all posts
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Implanted Prosthetic Limbs for Amputee Horses: Be Part of Research!
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Racetrack Surface Research Video: Building a TTD for the Track in a Box at the University of California
3 February 2010 Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com
(Caution: You might want to turn down the volume on your computer before you play this video. The soundtrack is loud!)
This video shows the development and constrution of the University of California, Davis, J.D. Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory track-testing device (TTD). The TTD is instrumented with a load cell, accelerometer, and laser displacement sensor, and is used to compare the dynamic properties of Thoroughbred racehorse racetrack surfaces as part of the lab's "Track in a Box " project to simulate racetrack conditions in the laboratory.
The "box" in the lab acan be filled with layers of dirt, stones, asphalt and racetrack surface materials that could include wax, fibers or other materials. A drainage system allows the effects of rain to be testing. The spring-loaded mechanism simulates the impact of pounding hooves up to 100 times the force of gravity while measurements are taken to characterize surface behavior.
The finished TTD positioned over the box
The "Track in a Box" project is the work of Jacob Setterbo, a PhD candidate in the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group, and Dr. Susan Stover, director of the school’s JD Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory. The project is funded by the Grayson Jockey Club, the Southern California Equine Foundation, and the Center for Equine Health with funds provided by the State of California pari-mutuel fund and contributions by private donors.
I asked Jacob Setterbo about the fact that the TTD contained everything exect a shoe, and wondered about adding a shoe to the TTD, or even using it to test how different shoes load in different footing. Setterbo and Stover worked on a sensor shoe for racetrack testing which was featured on the hoof blog in an article last fall.
(Caution: You might want to turn down the volume on your computer before you play this video. The soundtrack is loud!)
This video shows the development and constrution of the University of California, Davis, J.D. Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory track-testing device (TTD). The TTD is instrumented with a load cell, accelerometer, and laser displacement sensor, and is used to compare the dynamic properties of Thoroughbred racehorse racetrack surfaces as part of the lab's "Track in a Box " project to simulate racetrack conditions in the laboratory.
The "box" in the lab acan be filled with layers of dirt, stones, asphalt and racetrack surface materials that could include wax, fibers or other materials. A drainage system allows the effects of rain to be testing. The spring-loaded mechanism simulates the impact of pounding hooves up to 100 times the force of gravity while measurements are taken to characterize surface behavior.
The finished TTD positioned over the boxThe "Track in a Box" project is the work of Jacob Setterbo, a PhD candidate in the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group, and Dr. Susan Stover, director of the school’s JD Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory. The project is funded by the Grayson Jockey Club, the Southern California Equine Foundation, and the Center for Equine Health with funds provided by the State of California pari-mutuel fund and contributions by private donors.
I asked Jacob Setterbo about the fact that the TTD contained everything exect a shoe, and wondered about adding a shoe to the TTD, or even using it to test how different shoes load in different footing. Setterbo and Stover worked on a sensor shoe for racetrack testing which was featured on the hoof blog in an article last fall.
"That is a possibility we considered," Setterbo answered. "So the TTD was designed so that a new interface to the load cell can be machined so that a shoe can be added, and things such as toe grabs can be compared. Because we first need to establish the functionality of the TTD we decided to first start with a simple impacting part, which is an aluminum piece which is approximately the same area of the hoof. But the answer is yes, it is possible to modify the TTD to test different shoes."
© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Video: Update on Blood Test for Thoroughbred Breakdown Risk Markers, Researcher McIlwraith Interviewed
by Fran Jurga | 20 December 2008 | www.hoofcare.blogspot.com
"How's his blood?" "Did you check her blood?" Questions like those might be the new mantra of racehorse owners when questioning a trainer before a race.
Colorado State University researcher Dr Wayne McIlwraith is bullish on the reliability--80% accuracy, he claims--of a blood test developed in his Equine Orthropaedic Research Center. This video is a good introduction to the concept of a blood testing protocol in the bigger picture of breakdown prevention.
The blood test will certainly not replace good horsemanship and monitoring of routine soundness and training issues, and there's no indication yet of what the test would cost, but this is a good news video for the holiday season.
Tests like the CSU protocol will do nothing to help accidents like the horrific death of a runaway filly at Aqueduct racetrack in New York last weekend. Nor will it help horses who go down from clipped heels or other stumbling upsets, starting gate mishaps or any number of accident-type situations that can happen in a race.
It's not clear how often racehorses would need to undergo the blood screening, or if McIlwraith would recommended that this test be a requirement for entry in a race. Breakdowns frequently occur during training sessions, although the public only sees the ones broadcast on television.
But I hope that the racing world does embrace this glimmer of hope, that it is found to be predictive, and that this is a legitimate step in the only viable direction left for racing: up. Up with horse welfare, up with safety, up with preserving the excitement and vitality of a great sport.
They should name it the Eight Belles Test. Passing the Eight Belles test would be a good thing.
Click here to download a pdf file of an article explaining more about the test, written by Andrea Caudill. This article appeared in the October 2007 edition of The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal, and is also posted online by the Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation.
Click here to download a PDF file of Dr. McIlwraith's recommendations for reform of racing to improve horse safety, as presented to a Congressional subcommittee in June 2008.
Thanks to ZooToo for sharing this video.
© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.
Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).
To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.
Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.
Click on the screen to launch the video.
"How's his blood?" "Did you check her blood?" Questions like those might be the new mantra of racehorse owners when questioning a trainer before a race.
Colorado State University researcher Dr Wayne McIlwraith is bullish on the reliability--80% accuracy, he claims--of a blood test developed in his Equine Orthropaedic Research Center. This video is a good introduction to the concept of a blood testing protocol in the bigger picture of breakdown prevention.
The blood test will certainly not replace good horsemanship and monitoring of routine soundness and training issues, and there's no indication yet of what the test would cost, but this is a good news video for the holiday season.
Tests like the CSU protocol will do nothing to help accidents like the horrific death of a runaway filly at Aqueduct racetrack in New York last weekend. Nor will it help horses who go down from clipped heels or other stumbling upsets, starting gate mishaps or any number of accident-type situations that can happen in a race.
It's not clear how often racehorses would need to undergo the blood screening, or if McIlwraith would recommended that this test be a requirement for entry in a race. Breakdowns frequently occur during training sessions, although the public only sees the ones broadcast on television.
But I hope that the racing world does embrace this glimmer of hope, that it is found to be predictive, and that this is a legitimate step in the only viable direction left for racing: up. Up with horse welfare, up with safety, up with preserving the excitement and vitality of a great sport.
They should name it the Eight Belles Test. Passing the Eight Belles test would be a good thing.
Click here to download a pdf file of an article explaining more about the test, written by Andrea Caudill. This article appeared in the October 2007 edition of The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal, and is also posted online by the Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation.
Click here to download a PDF file of Dr. McIlwraith's recommendations for reform of racing to improve horse safety, as presented to a Congressional subcommittee in June 2008.
Thanks to ZooToo for sharing this video.
© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.
Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).
To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.
Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.
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