Hoof Pathologist and Educator Dr. Roy Pool Honored by American College of Veterinary Pathologists

Today the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) will bestow an honorary membership to Roy R. Pool Jr., PhD DVM, director of the Surgical Pathology Service and director of the Osteopathology Specialty Service at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM).

This award -- only given to a select few individuals -- will be presented to Dr. Pool for his many important contributions to his professional discipline over his more than 40-year career as a veterinary musculoskeletal pathologist at the ACVP's annual meeting.

Honorary membership is bestowed upon a nonmember by a majority vote of the Council, and confirmed by a majority vote of the membership of the College.

Over the years Pool has contributed a great deal to the understanding of the causes and pathological diagnosis of musculoskeletal diseases of domestic animals. A list of his research topics includes research on many species and especially the pathogenesis of biomechanical lesions of bone, joints, tendons, and ligaments of athletic horses.

Pool is the last of the original five veterinary musculoskeletal pathologists still active today in academic practice in this country. He has taught numerous courses, in several veterinary institutions across the United States and Europe including the University of California at Davis, Cornell University, and Mississippi State University.

Dr. Pool was recruited by the Texas A&M seven years ago where, in addition to his diagnostic duties, he teaches lectures in his specialty to professional students in the veterinary curriculum.

"Although I am a clinical professor of pathology with primary diagnostic and teaching responsibilities, I continue to be involved in orthopedic research (e.g. healing of defects in articular cartilage and in tendons facilitated by stem cells)," said Pool.

I will never forget meeting Dr. Pool. He was so interested in Hoofcare and Lameness, and I was so interested in a project he was working on, related to navicular disease. One of the first sentences out of his mouth was, "I just love the navicular bone!" and I could tell he meant it. He went on to tell me that he had collected hundreds of them, and that he never tired of looking at them. Over the years, he also has never seemed to tire of answering my questions, and offering advice for deeper reading or where to find someone who might know the answer to my question.

Dr. Pool opened his lecture at the AAEP convention in San Francisco with one of the best lines ever: "Some people collect stamps. I collect navicular bones!"

Hoofcare and Lameness has tried to keep up with Dr. Pool's research. In 1996, Hoofcare published a summary of 15 years of his equine research, Equine Joint Mechanics: An AAEP/H&L Report, after his presentation at the AAEP convention in Lexington, Kentucky.

In the 1980s, Dr. Pool was the first to notice the incidence of what was then called degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (DSLD) when he was at the University of California at Davis. What may have been an observation on his part helped veterinarian Jan Young DVM formulate the first articles on the conditon, which were published in Hoofcare and Lameness. In 2002, he was the co-author with Dr Jeanette Mero of the paper, Twenty Cases of Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis in Peruvian Paso Horses, presented at that year's AAEP Convention in Orlando, Florida.

Not only students and the research community have benefited from Dr. Pool's research, his studies and his affection for the navicular bone--we all have benefited from his generosity and his curiosity. We should all give him an award for helping us understand what happens when something goes wrong with the musculoskeletal systems of athletic horses.

Thanks to Texas A&M University for assistance with this article.

© 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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Amy Tryon Found Guilty of Abuse in Le Samurai Case But...

Note: the transcript below is from the Federation Equestrian Internatioanl (FEI), the ruling body of worldwide Olympic-discipline horse sports. The case invovled a US rider at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event whose horse broke down at the finish of the cross-country course and was subsequently euthanized. At question was whether or not the rider abused the horse by continuing on course after the injury happened. This has been a hotly debated issue in the horse world.

The FEI Tribunal has taken its decision in the case of alleged horse abuse committed by US rider Amy Tryon on her horse Le Samurai while participating in the cross-country phase of the 2007 Rolex Lexington Kentucky 4-Star Event on 28 April 2007.

The case involved the riding of an apparently lame horse in the final moments of the course, and the state of the horse when the last fence was jumped. A hearing was held in this matter on 25 June 2007, at which the parties presented a substantial volume of evidence including testimony from a number of very experienced members of the international eventing community.

The dilemma which the Tribunal had to resolve was a very difficult one. The main issues to be decided were (a) whether the competitor committed an “abuse” as this term is defined under the applicable rules (see note to the editor) and, if an abuse was committed, (b) whether it was an intentional act or an unfortunate omission to take action and stop the horse, as signals of discomfort were not correctly perceived by the competitor.

The Tribunal came to the conclusion that the competitor's behaviour at the end of the cross-country phase of the event objectively constitutes abuse according to the requirements of the applicable FEI regulation. The competitor acted, by continuing to ride after the horse was objectively lame and injured. Conversely the competitor omitted to act, by failing to pull up the horse when she could have. This caused or was likely to cause pain or discomfort to the horse.

The Tribunal expresses its opinion that “abuse of horses constitutes an offence that violates the most fundamental rules of the equestrian sport and is, as such, highly reprehensible from a moral point of view”. The Tribunal determined that, had “the competitor intended to ride a lame or injured horse, a suspension for life would not have been an inappropriate or a too severe penalty”.

The Tribunal’s decision indicates, however, that it determined in this case that there was a “significant disconnect between what Amy Tryon felt and what was actually occurring.” While Amy Tryon was negligent in not stopping the horse, the Tribunal determined that she did not understand that the horse had been injured until just as she pulled him up. The decision states that “[t]he Tribunal believes that in the state the competitor was in – tired, focused on completing the course and without the benefit of video and ability to observe matters or analyze them logically - she did not realize that the injury had occurred, and thus never intended to continue on course with a lame or injured horse. The Tribunal believes that the competitor clearly realized that the Horse took quite a number of uneven strides, but could not determine their cause or likely severity. The Tribunal believes that the competitor should have nevertheless stopped earlier to understand the severity of the lameness.”
The determination that there was no premeditation and no actual awareness by the competitor that she was riding a lame or injured horse is taken into account in imposing sanctions on the competitor.

After careful examination of the parties’ submissions and evidence, the Tribunal confirms the disqualification of horse and the competitor from the above-mentioned event and imposes the following sanctions on the competitor:
- suspension from competition for a period of two months (to commence immediately and without further notice at the end of the 30-day appeal deadline, or sooner if the right of appeal is waived);
- a fine of (Swiss francs) CHF 1,000;
- a cost contribution of CHF 1,500 towards the legal costs of the judicial procedure.

The Tribunal decision states that Mr. David O’Connor, President of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), Member of the FEI Eventing Committee and Chairman of the FEI Eventing Safety Committee, phrased the dilemma and the conclusion well in remarking: “Premeditated abuse is an action that should, and needs to be dealt with in the most severe actions that we as a sport can take by our judiciary side. Similar cases to this [the present case] are much harder to judge and I feel should be dealt with on a whole different level. Should this be taken seriously – yes; career changing – no.”

The full text of the decision (30 pages) is available on the FEI website under LEGAL/DECISIONS.

FEI Investigates Possible Abuse to Horse Injured on Cross-Country at Rolex Three-Day Event

At the Rolex Three-Day Event in Kentucky on Saturday, Amy Tryon's horse Le Samurai was injured at the last fence of the cross-country course at the Kentucky Horse Park. The horse continued and crossed the finish line, where he was immediately examined by veterinarians and transported to the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute nearby.

While no real diagnosis has been disclosed, it sounds like the horse may have ruptured his suspensory ligament or somehow disrupted the suspensory apparatus. The injury is not life-threatening.

Yesterday the Federation Equestrian Internationale (FEI), which is the governing body of world horse sports, announced that they had launched an investigation into possible horse abuse in this incident.

Here's the official statement from the FEI:

The FEI was notified of an alleged case of abuse which occurred during the CCI 4* Lexington, Kentucky USA on Saturday 28 April involving competitor Amy Tyron (USA) and Le Samurai.

The preliminary investigation was conducted according to the regulations, whereby the Ground Jury met on Saturday 28 April following the cross country to investigate an incident of alleged abuse before fence 34. The Ground Jury collected written statements from the Fence Judges and Sector Steward and reviewed the video as well as interviewing the FEI Veterinary Delegate, Dr. Catherine Kohn. The rider, Amy Tyron, was interviewed on Sunday immediately after the Sunday morning horse inspection and gave her account of the incident. Following the interview, the Ground Jury referred the matter to the Appeal Committee. The Appeal Committee, in full possession of all the written statements and video recording, took the following decision:

According to article 164.4.5 of the FEI General Regulations: “In serious cases, immediate disqualification with one or more horses from a competition or from the whole event with a referral to the Secretary General (for referral to the Judicial Committee)."

Once the FEI has collected all reports and evidence, the case will be submitted to the Tribunal (the former Judicial Committee) and all the relevant evidence will be reviewed prior to any decision being made.

The FEI takes these matters very seriously and endeavours to ensure that the welfare of the horse is a priority.

(end of statement)

I will keep you posted on this one. Amy Tryon was Bronze Medalist for the USA at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany.