Plastinate Anatomical Tools Make Everything Perfectly Clear

by Fran Jurga | 12 October 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

It's Columbus Day, so you're invited to "discover" a new equine anatomy reference tool that will be a boon to your ability to creatively and constructively communicate with colleagues, clients and students no matter where you are.

Plastination is a tissue preservation process that gained worldwide fame this decade with the Body Worlds museum exhibit. The last I heard, Body Worlds was set to overtake King Tut as the most viewed exhibit in the world. It shows human organs and muscles preserved in various positions or medical conditions. But everyone I know came out of it saying, "Wow, if they could just do that for horses..."

And someone has. Germany's veterinary anatomy expert Dr Christoph von Horst has patented a process for preserving veterinary specimen in this way; he's done birds and rats and ticks and dogs. But thanks to the encouragement of people like Dr. Chris Pollitt and a loud cheer from Hoofcare and Lameness, Dr Von Horst is preparing spectacular hoof and distal limb anatomy specimen, and you end up with a hoof music video slide show on a day of discovery.

I remember for years how I struggled trying to learn anatomy from textbooks. I couldn't get the 3-D part. I believe that 3-D models from HorseScience are the absolute way to learn and study anatomy and that they revolutionized my ability to understand the hoof, to the extent I can say that I do.

These plastination models are a step somewhere between anatomy models and an x-ray. They come in different models, designed for more or less portability. Many will slip inside a briefcase or agenda planner...or even a jacket pocket.

I can't wait for you all to see these teaching aids. They are like living x-rays...in equally-living color! They are actual paper-thin slices of tissue vacuum sealed inside layers of crystal clear acrylic resin.

You can keep one in your briefcase, or collect a set to show different conditions like laminitis, a navicular cyst, ringbone, etc. or use them to show where a shoe will sit, where you will trim (or won't trim) or where an injection or surgery site will access a joint or problem.

This specimen illustrates ringbone quite clearly but, like most anatomy models, the medical history of the animal is not available for reference. (Dr. Christoph von Horst image)

The plastinate tissue is very clear and well-defined because it is paper-thin and light passes through, illuminating the details and edges of structures and their relative textures. (Dr. Christoph von Horst image)

The specimen come in two types: flat sheets, which are about 3/8" thick, or the block versions, which are about 3/4" to 1" thick. The blocks are stunning and look fantastic on a desk or bookshelf, particularly if there's a light nearby. They make a beautiful gift or presentation award.

Of course, no two are alike. Hooves are available in sagittal, coronal and transverse sections, with the vast majority being sagittal, since that is the primary view people are accustomed to using for reference.

Right now we even have a foal's limb and a huge draft horse lower limb with what Dr Von Horst labels as lymphangitis-type swelling. There's also a stunning example of pastern ankylosis.

Even a large joint like the hock can be encapsulated into a plastinate specimen. (Dr. Christoph von Horst image)

Also available are laminated posters of several popular types of distal limb and hock plastinates; you can write on the plastic, draw a shoe or cast on, or use the poster for teaching by asking students to fill in labels for specific structures. Plastic casts of the blood supply and plaster casts of hooves are available by special order.

The best news? Prices start at under $100, plus shipping, with the blocks selling for about $200 at the current exchange rate.

Be sure to visit the Hoofcare and Lameness booth at conferences this fall to see these amazing teaching and learning aids, or contact the office to arrange an order to be selected and shipped directly to you.

If you have trouble with my video widget, you can also view the slide show on Hoofcare's slowly-expanding video channel. The widget seems to be skipping over some of the images in favor of text slides.

© 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.

Friends at Work: Farrier Steve Stanley at the Red Mile

Farrier Steve Stanley -- 2009 Lexington, originally uploaded by USTrotting.

Thanks to the US Trotting Association for this nice photo of Steve Stanley working at the Red Mile harness track in Lexington, Kentucky two weeks ago. Steve wasn't looking up and smiling for the camera because he was working on a shoe for three-year-old filly Southwind Wasabi, who would go on to win the Moni Maker Trot that day.

The filly came from last place to win the race. She is owned and trained by the same connections as the 2009 Hambletonian champion, Muscle Hill.

Good work, Steve, congratulations!

Video: Relieve Discomfort During Hoof Trimming for an Arthritic or Foundered Horse

by Fran Jurga | 11 October 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog



Long-time University of California at Davis farrier Kirk Adkins shares some tips that may be useful when trimming or treating the hooves of older, arthritic horses or horses that have difficulty standing on three legs because of painful laminitis or neurological conditions.

This video may be helpful for some horses out there, and I thank Kirk for taking the time to put it together. I have also seen people stand horses on padding, put padded boots on the feet not being worked on, and keep thick scraps of carpet close at hand for cushioning.

If I had to guess, I'd say the "lean against the wall" option is the one I hear recommended most often, but that's not very safe for the horse or the humans around it.

None of us likes to see a horse go into restraining stocks like those used for a draft horse, but there are some interesting hoist rigs that people are making that, if used safely on horses that are well-trained or sedated, may be useful to just get the horse elevated enough to relieve the pain of standing on the opposite foot.

If you have ideas for solutions to this problem, please share them with Hoofcare and Lameness.

© 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.

Friends at Work: "Go Over to the Pub and Get Paddy the Farrier..."

Farrier at work, County Kerry, Ireland, originally uploaded by yetiger.

Here's a little humor for a Sunday.

Show me a photo of normal people doing something and I'll try to imagine the relationships between them, and what they were doing and saying before and after the shutter clicked. Just a little mental exercise.

This photo was made to order. All the information I have is that it was taken in the town of Boolteens in County Kerry in the west of Ireland in 2006.

My story is that the owner of the pony gives tourists rides somewhere around the Ring of Kerry and his pony lost a shoe so he went looking for a friend whose uncle's sister-in-law is married to a farrier.

Half a day later, after hunting down and visiting with the uncle and the sister-in-law, and promising to take along a grandchild, they narrowed down the whereabouts of the farrier to the village pub (the building in the background looks like it could be a pub). They went to the forge and got his shoeing box and hoof stand and stormed into the pub, much to the farrier's surprise.

Would he come out on the sidewalk and nail the shoe back on? Since they had all this gear, he couldn't refuse, just merely shrugged and asked, "What took you so long? We heard you been leading that lame pony all round the village half the afternoon?"

And the grandchild is still tagging along because, in Ireland, kids always tag along.

I love the wave of the horse holder, who could be the owner of the pony but his friendly expression makes me think he could be the landlord (bartender).

The intense gaze of the fellow in the white shirt makes me think he's the owner of the pony. He's thinking about all the money he's not making while the pony is unharnessed from the trap. And he's no doubt ready to haggle with the farrier over the price.

What story would you make from this photo?

Video: CNN Finds Out What a Farrier Is

Congratulations to Georgia farriers Doug Workman and Dave Purves for a great job introducing a CNN news crew to the finer points of horseshoeing. Explaining the rocker toe was probably too complex for the minute-and-a-half time slot...but maybe they'll be back!

Thanks to Allison Zeger at Farrier Products Distribution for her help with the ornery html code for this video!

Friends at Rest: Don Davis

If Macy and Woolworth and Bean and Sears are some of the great family names of American retailing industry, you could certainly make a case for "Davis" being one of the great names of the American farrier industry. The Davis family's Ken Davis and Sons in Richwood, Ohio is one of the largest and deepest farrier supply stores in the world. They carry everything...or will get it for you.

So it is with great sadness that we tell you that one of the family icons has passed away.

R. Don Davis was one of the two sons in Ken Davis and Sons when he started working with his father and brother Jon in the 1950s. I'm sure when he was going from farm to farm to sell horse supplies to the Amish back then, Don had no idea what his efforts would turn into, or that after 50 years, it would still be a family business. Don's sons Dean and Scott run Ken Davis and Sons today, and do a great job of it.

In the past ten years or so, many new farrier supply companies have sprouted up and some of the great old ones have passed to new hands. Ken Davis and Sons is one that always seems to stand with one foot in the past and one foot in the future...much like many of the great farriers I have known. It seems to be a surefire formula for success.

For information about services for Don, visit www.stofcheck-ballingerfuneralhome.com.

Australian Wild Horse Research: Brumbies Switched Between Terrain Types to Observe Hoof Transition in Hampson Study

Brumby Christine as she appeared when taken off her soft coastal habitat (top two photos) and after three months in hard substrate desert terrain (bottom two photos), as part of an experimental switch between herds in Australia. Her hoof wear was 3x that of another mare and she lost considerable condition (weight) during the period. Researchers decided to remove her from the experiment even though her feet, as shown, seemed markedly more healthy and robust by natural hoofcare parameters but welfare was of equal concern.

The Australian Brumby Research Unit has completed an experimental transfer of horses between different terrains, over 1000 miles apart. The results were recently announced after massive amounts of data, including hoof growth vs. wear measurements, were compiled. The purpose of the switch was for scientists to observe and document the transition that horses go through when environmental conditions change.

Pollitt's Laminitis Images Have a New Look: MIMICS Software Goes 3-D

by Fran Jurga | 27 September 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

The cover of the Proceedings of the 2009 laminitis conference is a compilation of images of one foot of a chronic laminitis case from the University of Queensland in Australia. The foot's CT scans were converted to 3-D images using Mimics software and the expertise of Dr. Simon Collins of the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, England. (Double-click on image for a larger view in a new window, but sorry that the web requires a low-resolution version of a very high-resolution form.)

When the end of the Fifth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot comes, attendees might remember proportionately less of what they heard...and more of what they saw.

The heightened visual aspect of the exciting biennial conference, which will be held November 6-8 in West Palm Beach, Florida, may lie in the technology side of things, but the impact will be an eyeful that everyone can appreciate.

Leave it to Dr. Chris Pollitt (photo inset at left), assistant director of the conference, to bring the latest and greatest technology to the conference and to enhance his presentations.

The new software is called MIMICS; it is made by a Belgian company called Materialise NV. In a nutshell, MIMICS converts CT scans into three-dimensional forms. I've also seen it used to model a nasal cavity for a surgery case at Cornell's vet school, and for a comparative study of the soft tissue structures of equine feet at Auburn University. Dr. Pollitt says that MIMICS software is used extensively for human skeletal reconstruction surgery and prosthetic implant design and simulation.

"Suddenly I can 'see' an individual horse’s foot from all angles and can virtually dissect it on the computer monitor," Dr Pollitt wrote in the Proceedings.

MIMICS was introduced to Dr Pollitt and to the world of laminitis by British hoof anatomy researcher Dr Simon Collins. Dr Collins will be in Palm Beach to explain how he uses computer modeling in his work at the Animal Health Trust, where he collaborates with lameness experts Drs Rachel Murray and Sue Dyson. His images will be dazzling.

Dr Pollitt wrote in his introductory essay in the Proceedings, "Analyses of feet with chronic laminitis clearly show that distorted tubular hoof growth, lamellar wedge formation and solar loading of the distal phalanx are relentlessly destructive to bone. It behooves laminitis caregivers to understand the unmitigated, severe chronic process and develop proactive, early intervention strategies that will measurably arrest the process. MIMICS in the hands of laminitis scientists will aid this process."

Does anyone besides me see great irony in the way that Dr Pollitt over the years has created stunning visual images of the terribly destructive disease of laminitis? The quality of his images is always worthy of Scientific American or National Geographic and yet the subject is the disease we all dread. Thanks to his artistic eye we all know what laminitis looks like, even though it's the disease we'd most like to see wiped off the equine map.

NOTE: The deadline for registration for the conference has been pushed back to September 28th, since the mail has been so slow in getting the brochures and registration forms to everyone. Brochures were sent to all subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Also, a reduced rate for two-person registrations has been added. Visit www.laminitisconference.com for more information.

Credit: Individual cover images were created by Dr. Simon Collins of the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, England using MIMICS software, and are used with permission; they illustrate pathology on the “Bronski” chronic laminitis case studied by Dr. Chris Pollitt at the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit in 2009. Cover montage and design by Fran Jurga will be published with Proceedings of the Fifth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida November 6-8, 2009.

© 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.

Friends at Work: Stanley Vasques Gives 40 Years to Kauai Horses

Stanley Vasques shoes horses on the beautiful Hawaiian outer island of Kauai; photo by Leo Dubois/The Garden Island

Wherever you are today, you are probably a long way from Stanley Vasques. But we all share an interest in horse hooves and their care. The only difference between most of us and him is that Stanley will wake up this morning and go to work in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Stanley has been shoeing horses on the Hawaiian island of Kauai for more than 40 years. An article about him was published in the island newspaper, and I thought you might like to get to know Stanley and see a little bit of his world.

Click here to read an article about someone who will wake up in paradise this morning and go out and shoe some horses.


© 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.

NEAEP Conference Preview: Patrick Reilly Will Report on Hoof Balance Studies

by Fran Jurga | 20 September 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

A last-minute addition to the 2009 NEAEP conference program is farrier Patrick Reilly from the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center. Pat is filling in for farrier David Farley; both Dave and Pat are on the board of the new organization, which has both farriers and veterinarians among its members.

Patrick's lectures will include interesting studies and observations of hoof balance. In the video clip above, you will see that he has been documenting comparative solar forces on the hoof during athletic activities. This video clip shows the extended trot, which will be compared to a working trot in both a straight line as well as on a 20-meter circle. Pat also has some interesting measurements of the solar forces during jumping, and a comparison of differing density rim pads during jumping.

Patrick's videos and the use of pressure-sensitive data collection media give him some opportunities to make observations that bring up plenty of questions. For example, the same horse might land toe first in one gait (such as the extended trot), but land heel first in the regular trot. Also, a horse might land laterally on one footing, but lands evenly with the same trim on another.

Data from the hoof is transmitted directly, rather than through a pressure-sensing plate in the ground

The rider in the video is Patrick's wife, Karen; the flashy horse is her own; they just won a national young horse title last month. Congratulations!

To read more about the NEAEP organization, click here.
To see the foot symposium program and find out about registration, 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.