Video Clip: Thermography Out-Takes from "Recognizing the Horse in Pain" DVD

by Fran Jurga |30 November 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog




A few weeks ago, we introduced a new DVD on this blog. "Recognizing the Horse in Pain" is an interesting survey of subtle lameness problems in performance horses by Dr Joanna Robson, a veterinarian in the Bay Area of Northern California.

In this little clip, you will see a few out-takes from the section on thermography from the video. The Arabian ex-endurance horse was worked up at farrier Mike DeLeonardo's clinic in Salinas, California; his diagnostic protocol included scanning his feet with a thermographic camera, as well as radiographs.

After reviewing all the images with Dr. Robson, Mike was able to come up with a change in the horse's shoeing that would make her much more comfortable.

Dr. Robson's DVD "Recognizing the Horse in Pain" has been very popular and we will soon have the book that goes with it. If you'd like to order the DVD, it is $60 plus $5 post in the USA and $8 post to other countries. However, the DVD is only available in NTSC (North American) format which may not play in some DVD players in other countries. Click here to go the web page for the book or use the PayPal button to order directly.

Choose USA or non-USA Shipping

DVD ($60) + USA Shipping ($5) = $65.00 DVD ($60) + non-USA Shipping ($8) = $68.00

© 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.

New DVD: Recognizing the Horse in Pain

California sport-horse specialist Joanna Robson DVM examines problems of performance-related discomfort and subtle lameness in English and Western horses in this brand new 75-minute DVD packed with information on the effects of badly-adjusted or ill-fitted tack, lack of attention to saddle fit, poor condition in horses, and a long list of behavior and attitude problems that can be traced to musculoskeletal tension or pain. 

Chiropractics, acupuncture, electroacupuncture, thermography and farriery are just a few of the modalities that are touched on in this all-inclusive, holistic look at the horse in training. The filming is excellent and the horses are "real". 

As Dr. Robson says, these are the horses who aren't going to be helped by a prescription of "bute and stall rest". Their pain has a cause, and removing that cause will return them to the training regimen their owners and riders want them to follow. 

Note: This excellent DVD is no longer available from Hoofcare Publishing but hopefully you can find it elsewhere.

"Hot Walker" Redefined: Thermographic Video of Horse on Treadmill Shows a Horse of Different Colors

This video is a simple example of the product of a thermographic video camera. Thermography is a system for measuring the relative temperature of body tissues close to the skin surface of an animal. In this case, the video clip was provided by the Flir company, which manufactured the system.

Please don't ask me any questions about this horse because I don't know anything about it, nor do I know at what point the video was shot, so the relatively high temperature (see scale on right of screen) may be a function of the horse being "warmed up".

And don't ask if the horse was shod or unshod. No info, unless someone out there recognizes this video clip.

Watch this a couple of times and you will start to understand why thermography has been recommended for the detection of soring practices in Tennessee Walking horses, as well as in use to monitor therapy or as an aid to other modalities of diagnostic imagery.

Note: if you are reading this blog as an email, the videos will not show up; you need to click through to the actual blog post to run the videos.

Once you are bored with the horse on treadmill, click the play button on the next video, below. What do you notice? (I don't know if the settings on the two videos were comparable, so this is just for fun.)



Thanks to Flir and Science Photography for these videos.