Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness: Walsh

Showing posts with label Walsh. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Laminitis: Video Lecture on Metabolic Pathway for Hoof Blog Readers

Please allow sufficient time for this video to load.

Settle down...You needed to get out of the heat anyway. Take an hour to catch up on the latest information about laminitis, with a special emphasis on insulin resistance and Equine Metabolic Syndrome.

What this is: a one-hour video Powerpoint lecture by Dr. Don Walsh on the latest research and horse management information related to laminitis, primarily via the metabolic pathway common in pleasure horses. A preliminary explanation of the septis-related form of laminitis is provided to differentiate between the two main forms of the disease.

Thanks to EquiSearch.com and EQUUS magazine for hosting "Laminitis Lessons: A Webinar for Every Horse Owner" with The Animal Health Foundation's Don Walsh, DVM, and for making this video archive available to readers of The Hoof Blog.

Dr. Walsh

The Foundation is a leading funder of laminitis research and education around the world; it relies solely on donations from individual horse owners and horsecare professionals like you and me to fund research at Dr. Chris Pollitt's Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit as well as at leading veterinary colleges like Cornell University's equine genetics lab and the labs of private professional researchers like Katy Watts of safergrass.org.

It's not enough just to soak up the information shared in this webinar. It's not enough even to share this video and the information in it with horse owners or horsecare professionals. Please help by sharing information about the Animal Health Foundation, too and by supporting it with your donation--no matter how small--and encouraging others to do the same.

Without a doubt, horses who have laminitis--and horses who might be risk for laminitis--have benefited from the work of the Animal Health Foundation. Directly or indirectly, you have too. Please give back; the Animal Health Foundation will put your donation to work immediately.

Click on the "Donate Online Now" button to go to the Animal Health Foundation PayPal donation page and click on the "donate" button for PayPal. Donations are fully tax-deductible in the United States and may be submitted from any country, in any currency, via a number of credit cards, any time of the day or night. Thank you.

Donation checks may be sent to:

Animal Health Foundation 3615 Bassett Rd. Pacific, MO 63069

Photo of Dr. Walsh by Julie Plaster. Thanks!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Monday, April 23, 2012

"Laminitis Lessons": Webinar by Animal Health Foundation's Dr. Don Walsh Will Be a Spring Tuneup on Practical Aspects of Research and Recognizing Laminitis in Horses

Dr. Walsh treating a horse with laminitis at his hospital in Pacific, Missouri

Mark your calendar and dust off your keyboard: We're saving you a seat at the first AHF laminitis webinar!

The Animal Health Foundation's Dr. Don Walsh will present a one-hour "webinar' (a seminar presented over the web) on Wednesday evening, April 25. The webinar will be hosted by EQUUS Magazine and Equisearch.com (home site of the magazines EQUUS, Practical Horseman, Dressage Today, Trail Rider, etc.) and sponsored by US Rider Equestrian Motor Plan.

Here's a chance to see and hear the newest, most important laminitis research explained in context; over 1400 horse owners have already signed up to watch and it will be fascinating to hear their questions for Dr. Walsh at the end of the video and slide presentation/lecture.

DETAILS

What: "Laminitis Lessons: A Webinar for Every Horse Owner"

with the Animal Health Foundation's Dr. Donald Walsh

When: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM Eastern USA time

Where: On your computer at a special "GoToMeeting" link! (see clickable link below)

Who: Donald Walsh DVM, founder of the Animal Health Foundation, along with an audience of horse owners from all over the world...and you and me!

How: Click on the link and sign up--it will take less than a minute. You'll receive a confirmation email with a link back to the same page to attend the webinar Wednesday evening.

Cost: It's Free!

REGISTRATION LINK FOR WEBINAR:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/960229774

Donald Walsh, DVM, founder of the
Animal Health Foundation;
photo by Julie Plaster

PLEASE FORWARD THIS (you should see a little envelope at the bottom of this post, which will allow you to email it, or you can use the Facebook or Twitter tools to share it) to horse owner friends, veterinarians, farriers, vet techs and anyone else who would benefit from or be interested in information from the Animal Health Foundation's "Laminitis Lessons".

About Dr. Walsh and the AHF:

Dr Walsh and his wife Diana founded the grassroots, all-volunteer, non-profit organization known as The Animal Health Foundation in the 1990s to fund laminitis research. Dr. Walsh was a full-time equine practitioner in Pacific, Missouri at that time. Since they began, AHF has been able to donate more than $1 million to research, primarily through small donations from horse owners who lost a horse to laminitis.

Early on, the Animal Health Foundation identified Dr. Chris Pollitt and his Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit at the University of Queensland as a primary beneficiary of support from the AHF.

After his retirement from active practice last year, Dr. Walsh traveled to Australia to conduct research with Dr. Pollitt and his team and has now returned to the USA to share what he learned there and from other AHF-funded projects around the USA.

Dr. Walsh recently received the Merial Lifetime Achievement Award at the 6th International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot. This year, Dr. Walsh is beginning a national tour of veterinary colleges around the world to educate students about laminitis. He is known for his straightforward, down-to-earth speaking style, has a great skill for explaining complex concepts in a meaningful way, and is a dedicated horseowner himself.

See you there!

Laminitis education links you can use and share:

Please find and "like" the Animal Health Foundation page on Facebook--and share a story from the page on your own timeline so we can build a bigger Facebook presence!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Animal-Health-Foundation/162860893750859

Follow the Animal Health Foundation on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AHFLaminitis

Watch or send people to watch the Animal Health Foundation's Laminitis Update 2012 videos, currently the #1 most popular post on the Hoof Blog this spring:

http://hoofcare.blogspot.com/2012/03/equine-laminitis-2012-video-education.html

The Animal Health Foundation informational web site and blog: http://www.ahf-lamintiis.org.

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Saturday, March 03, 2012

Equine Laminitis: 2012 Video Education Update from the Animal Health Foundation

The Animal Health Foundation, a non-profit organization that funds laminitis research at Dr Chris Pollitt's Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit and at universities in the United States, has assembled a quick course update for horse owners and horse professionals on preventing, managing and treating the disease of equine laminitis.

While there is still much that we don't know about laminitis, Donald Walsh, DVM has prepared a primer that should make clear the current state of practical information.

Please watch all five videos in the Animal Health Foundation's EQUINE LAMINITIS 2012 UPDATE and share these videos with everyone in the horse world. This is important information.

1 INTRODUCTION TO LAMINITIS
Does your horse have laminitis or founder? Would you like to prevent the disease? Are you concerned about the dangers of insulin resistance, obesity, over-grazing and hoof condition changes? Have you been told your horse is at risk for laminitis? If you answered yes to any of those questions, this educational video series could save your horse's life. Five concise, free, non-commercial videos from the non-profit Animal Health Foundation offer the latest practical and scientific information to help you help your horse avoid or overcome laminitis in its many forms. Your host: Donald Walsh, DVM, founder of the Foundation and a practicing veterinarian who specializes in laminitis and founder.

2 UNDERSTANDING EQUINE LAMINITIS: HOW DOES LAMINITIS OR FOUNDER AFFECT YOUR HORSE?
What happens in horses' feet during laminitis? What's the difference between laminitis and founder? You will learn three different ways that a horse gets laminitis and the many causes, including Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Cushing's Disease, or "PPID", and support-limb laminitis. The non-profit Animal Health Foundation and Dr. Donald Walsh offer the latest practical and scientific information to help you and your horse avoid or overcome laminitis in its many forms.

3 WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOUR HORSE HAS "ACUTE" LAMINITIS?
Can you recognize "acute" (sudden onset) laminitis symptoms? How can you help your horse during this medical emergency? Dr. Walsh encourages horse owners to employ the only scientifically-proven method to prevent laminitis: "icing the feet" , or "cryotherapy". Does your horse need blood insulin tests to find the cause of the laminitis? The non-profit Animal Health Foundation and Dr. Donald Walsh offer the latest practical and scientific information to help you help your horse avoid or overcome acute laminitis.

4 CHRONIC LAMINITIS AND FOUNDER
Chronic laminitis means a life of ongoing, crippling pain for horses. What can a horse owner do? Dr. Walsh explains long-term ("chronic") laminitis and current methods of hoof mechanics to support damaged feet. He explains abnormal hormones and that Cushing's disease ("PPID") or Equine Metabolic Syndrome may be the underlying cause. You'll learn about hay testing and benefits of soaking hay in water. Finally, Dr. Walsh speaks frankly about putting some horses to sleep because of advanced laminitis.

5 PREVENT LAMINITIS IN YOUR HORSE
What are the best horsecare practices to protect your horse from laminitis? What are the risk factors? Can icing the feet help? What might a cresty neck or hoof rings mean? You'll learn to recognize early changes in your horse's feet before laminitis occurs and how to correct hormone levels before horses go lame. Dr Walsh suggests ways to prevent supporting limb laminitis in horses with leg injuries.

LAMINITIS RESEARCH. This video, made in 2011, explains the priorities of laminitis research in Dr. Pollitt's Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit, which is funded in many of its projects by the Animal Health Foundation. It contains the core principles of the AHF concern to make laminitis research relevant and helpful to real people and real horses. Other studies funded by AHF have included genetic studies at Cornell University, endocrine studies at the University of Missouri and Cornell, and Katy Watts' innovative "Safer Grass" studies to analyze how grass founder might be prevented.

The Animal Health Foundation depends on large and small donations to fund research projects. All donated funds go directly to research; the foundation is run by volunteers including Dr. Walsh, whom you met in the video.

Further Animal Health Foundation research will enable us to prevent laminitis and "Free the Horse of this Disease".

Learn more about the Foundation and how you can donate or become involved in the fundraising process.

Thank you.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than that I serve on the Board of Directors of the Animal Health Foundation, which is a volunteer position. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Friday, July 01, 2011

Laminitis Research: Australian Breakthrough on Insulin Function in Equine Foot

(Text published as provided)

Researchers funded by the US-based Animal Health Foundation announced June 15, 2011, that they have made a major breakthrough in understanding how the insulin form of laminitis occurs.

Drs. Melody de Laat and Chris Pollitt of the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit at the University of Queensland have discovered that receptors designed to receive insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) may be binding to insulin instead if horses have high levels of insulin.

This groundbreaking discovery may enable scientists to develop strategies to try to block IGF-1 receptors from receiving insulin and prevent the disease from occurring.

The receptor also has been shown to be responsible for the metastatis of malignant tumors in humans, and drugs currently are being developed to block the receptor. These drugs may be of use in trying to treat horses that are prone to laminitis from developing high levels of insulin.

Insulin is important in regulating the blood glucose within animals, but horses that have Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Cushing’s disease often have very high levels of insulin.

Pollitt and his team, funded by AHF since 1995, previously showed that high insulin is one of the major pathways that causes laminitis, but, to this point, they had not understood how.

The equine foot is very dependent on glucose for metabolism, but it is not dependent on insulin to deliver that glucose. Horses have a large number of IGF-1 receptors in their feet, but no insulin receptors. Pollitt’s team now theorizes that these IGF-1 receptors are being stimulated by insulin that mimics insulin-like growth factor 1 and is binding to these receptors.

When this happens, the laminar epitheleal cells start to proliferate. Normally these cells in the middle of the foot don’t multiply. The cells are made at the coronary band and migrate all the way down to the sole without multiplying.

This type of proliferation causes the laminae to stretch and lengthen and the weight of the horse to ruin the bond between the external hoof wall and the bone. The bone changes position, and laminitis occurs.

“We’re starting to understand the pathway of how insulin really causes laminitis,” said Dr. Don Walsh, president of the Animal Health Foundation.

Journey from coffin bone to periople in a colorful detailed super-microscopic image! Click to order!

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Friday, March 06, 2009

Australian Wild Horses at Risk for Laminitis After Floods Turn Scrubland to Pasture

by Fran Jurga | 6 March 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

The Australian Equine Brumby Research Unit, led by Dr. Chris Pollitt, is hard at work in western Queensland, where the natural habitat of many wild horses is underwater, thanks to once-every-ten-years floods. Yes, as fires destroyed Victoria in the south of Australia, floods were inundating the North!

While laminitis is not believed to be common in wild horses, it apparently is quite a risk during situations like this and might even be thought of as a form of very painful population control. As the floodwaters are absorbed into the desert-like soil or drain into nearby dried-up lake beds, the desert will bloom and even sprout grass.

The foot of a wild horse with laminitis

The wild horses are accustomed to living on scrub weeds, and the researchers assume that the flush of grass causes laminitis. But they have to prove that it is the grass, and that they horses do have grass laminitis. Laminitis might also be caused by a poisonous plant or some other side effect of the environmental change.

The wild horse research group is the brilliant step-child of the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit, which studies laminitis in domestic horses and seeks both a way to prevent the disease and to understand the mechanism by which it attacks the inner hooves of horses.

Assisting Dr. Pollitt are several student researchers and, temporarily at least, the able-bodied American, Dr. Don Walsh of the Animal Health Foundation who is on sabbatical to perform laminitis research with the Australians.

The core mission of the brumby (that's Australian for "wild horse") research is to understand how environment affects the wild horse and how its feet change as the environment changes. To that end, the group is tranferring horses between herds and observing and recording the adaptation stages...and whether the horses can even survive the drastic extremes of Australian climates and terrains.

Dr. Pollitt and his group have plenty of wild horses to study: Australia has more wild horses than any other place on earth.

The group has a lively web site with down-to-earth research reports and monthly newsletters, and is a most worthy cause for anyone wishing to support equine research that will benefit horses everywhere, as we finally learn how our management of horses may need to change to maintain the healthiest hooves and the soundest horses.

Hoof Blog Recommends This Link: http://www.wildhorseresearch.com

To read the February Newsletter from the researchers, click here.

To purchase freeze-dried specimen feet of Australian wild horses, click here.

To donate to the research efforts, click here.

© 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.