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| This is the time of year when some nonpaying and unwanted boarders start moving into stables. The evidence isn't always as obvious as on this mule's foot. (Kurt Fisk photo) |
Showing posts with label hooves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hooves. Show all posts
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Rats in the Stable? Check the Horses' Hooves and Your Grandfather's Stable Manual
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Equine Gait Analysis: The Ghost of Muybridge's Racehorse Gallops Again
A vaguely-familiar and yet ghostly horse and rider gallop through the streets of Palo Alto, California in this trailer for next week's Palo Alto International Film Festival. Why this particular horse and rider? Because Stephen Jobs wasn't the first genius to live in Silicon Valley. The first one made his mark with horses' hooves.
Legend has it that it all started on a bet.
The year was 1878. A wealthy industrialist named Leland Stanford believed that there is a point in a horse's gallop when all four hooves leave the ground.
They believed that one foot had to stay in touch with the planet at all points in the horse's stride. Horses didn't fly.
But how could you prove it? Or disprove it?
A funny thing happened on the way to proving what happens to horses' hooves when they gallop. From the pudding of that proof that resulted, the motion picture industry was born.
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| Equine gait analysis was born in Palo Alto, California in 1878. |
Back at that time, every photo required a long exposure, which is why you often see blurred photos. Cameras had no shutters. The photographer merely removed the lens cap and replaced it when enough light had entered to expose the sensitive plate. If you were posing for a portrait you had better hold your breath.
And galloping horses? Trotting horses? Their legs were just a blur in old photos, and even the word's finest painters had it all wrong when they depicted horse limbs at different gaits.
Muybridge set out to use science to prove that Stanford was correct. He set up twelve cameras connected to trip wires that crossed the horse's trajectory. Muybridge was anything but an overnight success with this method: he and Stanford struggled with experiments for five years until they mastered the method of stopping motion.
But they still had to be able to stop it in just the right phase of the stride in order to prove their point.
On the day of reckoning, horse racing fans and the curious press assembled at Stanford's Palo Alto Stock Farm in Palo Alto, California to see what Muybridge's results would be.
The series that made history that day was captured of a trotter hitched to a two-wheeled cart; the suspension phase of the trot was clearly illustrated.
All four of the horse’s hooves were off the ground at the same time. Victory was Stanford's.
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| Watch a horse gallop. Is it any wonder it took thousands of years for someone (and science) to figure it out? This is a still from the video of Occident. |
It sounds obvious to us today, but it was not obvious back then. Muybridge's flying hooves were the first recorded movement in visual history.
Studying Muybridge is something that film history students do. Equine gait analysis students do it, too. Animation students still use his frames as blank canvases for their own horses. The galloping horse and its flying hooves have become an icon.
And this week, their ghost gallops through Palo Alto again.
Note: the special trailer for the film festival was made with the assistance of French animators who would like viewers to know that there was no post-production involved.
To learn more:
June 15, 1878: Muybridge Horses Around With Motion Pictures (Wired Magazine)
Muybridge animal locomotion collection at the University of Pennsylvania
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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.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Deformity in Motion: Neglected Hooves Respond in Ireland
Horses and ponies and donkeys with overgrown hooves are not uncommon to find. We routinely see photos of them when they are rescued by agencies or brought to farriers and vets for care.
But Johnny and James are different because these are not still shots, these are videos. You can see not just how overgrown they are, but that these strong, adaptable donkeys can still get around. They've had to adapt their gait a bit, perhaps, but they're still on the move.
We are always taught that the hoof wall bears the horse's weight and that the weight is transferred down the bony column of the limb. But nature obviously has a plan B, so that the horse can transfer its weight to the heels.
Another thing we're taught is that the toe is the strongest part of the hoof and the heel is the weakest and most deformable. And yet in these donkeys and so many other neglected equines, the heels are standing up to the job. The foot doesn't collapse, the heels don't rupture.
The second video shows that Johnny began to recover once his feet were under him again. The sanctuary mentioned that the hooves were radiographed and that the trim would be fine-tuned over the weeks to come until his weightbearing and gait could be normalized.
The hoof has to be one of the most adaptive structures in nature, yet we always try to make it conform to our ideal--whatever that may be. Surely there is a sweet spot for every hoof, a place where that foot finds optimal function.
The trick is to find it, to find it before it is too late, and to keep the hoof shape and position under the limb within a range of that spot throughout the animal's life.
Visit The Donkey Sanctuary web site to learn more about the charity's work on behalf of donkeys in Ireland--and everywhere.
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Monday, February 06, 2012
Foal Defomity: SPANA's Video Postcard from a Developing World Clinic
This video is provided to give you an idea of the type of challenges that a charity like SPANA faces at its clinics. We do not have medical records or radiographs of this foal to document the severity of the injury. We all know that this type of deformity would be a challenge to any veterinary practice, and yet the treatment seems very simple and straightforward and the effect was almost immediate on this foal.
Far away in Morocco, a mule called Amina was born with a painful deformity to her fetlock joints which meant she was unable to straighten her front legs. Her worried owner, Bouishak, brought the foal, aged two weeks, to the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA) veterinary center.
In developing countries like Morocco, most donkeys, mules, horses and camels support the families who own them: they carry goods or produce to market, they plow land for crops or they transport people and their belongings.
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| Amina arrived at the clinic unable to stand on her hooves. |
If an animal is born with a condition that means they can’t work, they’re of little use. Their impoverished owners simply can’t afford to look after a lame animal, so if they're unable to work, they are usually abandoned or put down.
The wounds were cleaned with antiseptic cream, and then carefully wrapped with soft padding and bandages. Head SPANA vet Dr Hinnach then applied splints to keep Amina's legs in the correct, extended position while they strengthened.
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| The foal's pressure sores from "standing" on her fetlocks were at risk of infection. |
Over the next few days SPANA's dedicated team of vets closely monitored Amina’s care and her incredible recovery surprised everyone. Amazingly, Amina was able to walk a week later, but the splints were kept on for a few more weeks to allow the legs to fully strengthen.
Dr Hinnach filmed Amina’s first steps--Amina’s joy at being able to walk is clear to see.
SPANA vets gave this foal a future.
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| The low-tech treatment on this young foal used simple splints over bandages. |
We all know how expensive a treatment like this would be for a foal in a developed nation. The radiography, antiseptics, medication and orthopedic devices would run into the thousands of dollars. The foal would have to have a high potential value and it would need a good prognosis for an athletic future.
SPANA, however, estimated that it could offer this treatment for less than $50US to pay for splints, padded bandages, antiseptic cream, three rolls of cotton and penicillin.
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Farrier and vet innovators are climbing a high-tech ladder that towers high above the simple tenets of basic health and care of horses' and donkeys' hooves. We have reached a point where tech-based treatments and products are available to anyone with enough open credit on their cards to purchase them.
But what if the same brain power could be used to de-engineer hoof treatments? The world needs some simple low-cost solutions to the needs of working equids in less-advantaged nations. We also need low-cost ideas for hoof protection when natural disasters hit and hooves are in danger of heat or puncture damage.
The same low-tech, low-cost solutions could be put to good use by horse rescue and wild horse sanctuaries right here in the developed world, as well.
Please, don't stop thinking high-tech, but maybe some little part of your brain power can think about the horses and donkeys in need out there, wherever they are. I'm sure that groups like SPANA would love to hear your ideas, or invite you to be part of their programs.
I would, too...and I'll tell the world what you've developed for them.
Followup: Amina's treatment was done in July 2011. Dr Hinnich recently visited the family and was pleased that she was walking normally. If Amina needs any care in the future, it will be provided free by SPANA.
To learn more:
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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.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
St Patricks Day: It's Never Easy Being Green
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| Is there anything people won't paint green on St. Patrick's Day? Between blinders and check reins, maybe these horses probably can't see what's happened to their feet. Photo by chautauquatourist |
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Sunday, December 26, 2010
Montana Marathon: Farriers and Veterinarians Trim 31 Donkeys' Hooves After Years Of Neglect
The struggling Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue gave up. It gave up trying to go on taking care of more than 1000 hooved animals it had taken in. There are camels and llamas and horses and donkeys and cows by the dozens.
According to news reports, they ran out of money, then they ran out of hay and now the animals have been rescued from the rescue. They are in temporary shelters while organizations in the state try to figure out what they will do to re-home them.
What these animals do have, in excess, however, is hoof. It's been years since the donkeys, at least, have been trimmed.
That changed this week when the donkeys were moved and a group of vets and farriers joined forces to get their hooves back to some semblance of normal. That, of course, wasn't easy. Some may be suffering from laminitis. All may be sore after trimming, whether from the trimming itself or the redistribution of load on tendons and ligaments. Donkeys are also prone to white line disease, which would require medication if they are affected.
But the farriers just kept on trimming.
According to the television news report, each hoof was radiographed before it was trimmed, and a farrier spent an average of 15 minutes sawing and then trimming each hoof.
The Montana Animal Care Association, Montana Horse Sanctuary, Montana Office of the Humane Society of the United States and Western Montana Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation all organized the effort to help the donkeys.
It's interesting that about 75 inquiries have already been received to adopt the donkeys, which will be going to new homes in pairs to lessen the stress of having been in a herd for so long. Their plight--and their pain--touched a lot of people.
Donations for the animals can be sent to: Western Montana Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation, P.O. Box 1168, Corvallis, MT 59828 (indicate "for donkeys" on check).
To help the horses, please contact Jane Heath, Montana Horse Sanctuary executive director, via email: ht@mt.net. They'll also fix you up with a camel. Or a llama. Or...
Thanks to KAJ18.com, the website for Channel 18 in Missoula, Montana, all the volunteer organizations, and all the veterinarians and farriers who worked on this rescue and the hoof trimming marathon. Special thanks to anyone who takes in one of these animals and gives it a home, at last.
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Thursday, October 21, 2010
Overgrown Hind Hooves Gone Very Bad: Cruelty Case Video Used in Court to Impose Sentence on Horse Owner
I guess this video doesn't need any explanation. The mare was probably confined in a stall, although I don't know that for a fact, and may even have been born with bilateral hind limb flexural deformity.
This video was provided by World Horse Welfare, formerly the International League for the Protection of Horses. As a result of this prosecution, the owner was banned from keeping horses for ten years, and ordered to pay almost £10,000 in costs and compensation. They ordered that six other horses be removed from the owner's care.
When Mr Barnes of World Horse Welfare and the RSPCA Inspector first saw the mare in the video, named Florence, she was barely able to walk. A veterinarian who examined her decided that so much damage had been done that she could not be saved, and she was put to sleep.
The court magistrates watched video footage of Florence after she had been removed from the owner's premises, possibly the same footage shown here. They heard veterinary evidence that the horse’s feet had been in a bad state for most of its life.
After the hearing Ted Barnes said: “I have found this case extremely upsetting. Years of experience haven’t hardened me to this prolonged neglect to Florence. This horse did not deserve to live most of her life with her feet in this condition. This is something I have never seen before, and neither had the veterinary surgeon who dealt with it.“
The video was apparently shot when the mare had been heavily medicated so that she could walk at all and was probably on her way to be euthanized.
This video is horrifying but I was just as horrified a few weeks ago in Kentucky at the International Equestrian Festival. At an excellent seminar on foal deformities by Dr. Ric Redden, he showed case after case of foals and adult horses with problems as bad as this horse that are brought to him to be "fixed".
One can only wonder what happens to the ones that are never brought forward for treatment or that don't respond to treatment. In spite of the literature and expertise available to them, many breeders never admit that a foal needs expert help until it is too late, if they admit it at all. Some, like this owner, simply hide the evidence in a back stall, hoping no one will see and that the horse will miraculously improve.
There are many ethical questions about keeping animals alive: are they in pain? do they enjoy a quality of life that is suitable? The same questions have come up with horses that have received amputation surgery or that have simply survived severe laminitis rather than recovered from it.
Veterinary ethics is just beginning to explore the issues surrounding chronically lame horses and the ethics of who lives and who dies in the first weeks of life, but the emotions and psychology of horse owners may be a more complex aspect of trying to help young horses with hoof and limb problems than learning medical, surgical or mechanical treatments.
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Saturday, June 14, 2008
Another Country Heard From: Meet the Hooves of Japan's Casino Drive
Racing is full of "What ifs" and there were probably echoing off Casino Drive's stall walls when Big Brown failed to fire a week ago in the Belmont Stakes.
Casino Drive was visiting from Japan with the sole purpose of stealing the Belmont from Big Brown. He certainly stole the Peter Pan in a very dramatic run for the finish line a few weeks earlier, but a bruised foot caused his connections to be cautious and skip the Belmont instead of poking and prodding and poulticing and patching the colt's foot.
Meanwhile, my friend Sarah Andrew (a.k.a. "Rock and Racehorses") tracked the poor horse down to take photos of his feet for this blog. I wonder what the Japanese team thought of her pointing the camera not at his handsome head but at his feet and knees?
Casino Drive is out of the same mare who foaled the winners of the 2006 and 2007 Belmont Stakes. What if....
(Casino drive and his long feet have gone back to Japan, promising to return for November's Breeders Cup, which will be raced on an artificial track surface for the first time. I hope he can stay sound and healthy and show up with his race face--and feet--on.)
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