Barbaro Update: Morrison Casts Foundered Foot for Stability

Left: Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Scott Morrison DVM finishing tendon surgery on a laminitic horse.(Hoofcare & Lameness Journal photo)

On Wednesday, January 3, Scott Morrison DVM of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky traveled to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Rattling around in his briefcase were strips of 3M Fiberglas casting tape, Goretex fabric, thick felt, Betadine and a large aluminum bar shoe. One can only imagine what that jumble looked like on the security screen. For once, TSA inspectors waved the veterinarian through.

Morrison used those materials to create a temporary supportive foot cast for Barbaro, the champion 2006 three-year-old colt whose right hind leg shattered soon after the start of the Preakness Stakes last May. Since then, Barbaro has been a patient at the University of Pennsylvania's Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the university's rural vet school campus called New Bolton Center. In July and August, the colt fought the painful disease of laminitis in his "good" hind leg. He was left with one broken leg and one hoofless one, but he struggled to survive. The damage to his laminitic foot continues to be the greatest concern.

Laminitis is the devastating disease that ended the lives of great racehorses like Secretariat and Sunday Silence, the Standardbred champion Nihilator, and more recently, the two great European champion dressage mares, Annastasia and Poetin.

Morrison, who heads Rood and Riddle's innovative podiatry clinic, was sought as a consultant to assist with the foundered (a common term for a foot that has been ravaged by the disease of laminitis) foot. He first saw the horse on December 20 for an evaluation, then returned on Wednesday to try to help stabilize the foot.

On Friday, January 5, Dr. Morrison told me that the cast was applied, "because the foot is so unstable. He's just not growing enough wall on the medial (inner) side, and he's bearing most of his weight on the arthrodesis (surgically-fused) leg."

Morrison padded the bottom of the foot with thick felt soaked in Betadine (iodine solution); the hoof wall was padded with Goretex fabric padding which was then covered with 3M casting tape. The cast extends up over the pastern area to just below the fetlock, according to Dr. Morrison.

"He lands on his toe when he walks," Morrison commented, "and that needed to be addressed. I had asked them to take radiographs before I got there, and they showed demineralization (thinning or actual deterioration) of the coffin bone (pyramid-shaped bone in the base of the foot, encased by hoof capsule) at the toe and on the medial (inside) wing.

"I attached a big aluminum bar shoe to the bottom of the cast to help with derotation, to try to get that coffin bone more parallel to the ground."

Morrison observed that the horse was uncomfortable at first with the change in footwear, but that surgeon Dean Richardson reported the horse was more comfortable with it the next morning.

An ancillary purpose of the cast is to stabilize the foot in the event that the horse needs to be moved out of his intensive care unit home at New Bolton Center. Speculation is that the horse will be moved to an as-yet unnamed farm, possibly in central Kentucky, to continue treatment in a more active setting. No date has been announced for his discharge from New Bolton.

Dr. Morrison is the founder and head of the podiatry clinic at Rood and Riddle; his unit is the largest such clinic in the world. The clinic currently employs four foot-specialist veterinarians and five lameness-specialist farriers, as well as a staff of technicians and administrative support staff. Morrison is a specialist in laminitis and consults on cases all over the world. He is also a consulting editor to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal.

His most recent article chronicled the transplant of frog tissue on the bottom of an injured foot via the punch biopsy tool method; he was able to create a germinating bed of new frog tissue in a damaged area. Ironically, he is probably most renowned for an article detailing his use of sterile maggots to debride many cases of infected hoof tissue. That article can be downloaded at http://www.hoofcare.com.

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Barbaro Update: Richardson Explains Limb Deformity

As supplied today by the University of Pennsylvania:

“The shoe on his right hind foot was further modified as his strength improved,” said Dr. Dean W. Richardson, Chief of Surgery. “We are aware that there is some public concern about his abnormal motion on the right hind limb, however, this is not unexpected. His gait may be abnormal as he learns to adapt to having fusions of two major joints in his lower limb and to the special shoe. In addition, the fracture had some collapse on the medial (inside) part of the pastern region after he developed laminitis on the left hind foot. Although this is visually unattractive, the mechanics of the lower leg are not seriously affected because the pastern and fetlock joints are fused.

“The right hind has healed well enough that we are optimistic about that possibility,” said Dr. Richardson. “However, Barbaro’s left hind foot, which had laminitis, remains a more formidable long-term challenge. The foot must grow much more for him to have a truly successful outcome.”

Mike Nolan Resigns as American Farrier's Association Executive Director

Hoofcare & Lameness received word today that Michael J. Nolan, acting executive director of the American Farrier's Association in Lexington, KY, has resigned.

"I have submitted my resignation effective January 15," was Nolan's only comment when contacted today.

He later added by email, "There is a critical need for an AFA, since no other organizations can offer what AFA can. However, there is so much animosity, so little trust, and so many structural problems that it is going to be very difficult to get back on the right track.

"Still, the AFA has been through very bad situations in the past and survived, and I hope it can do so again. The AFA is very important for the welfare of all farriers, and I regret that there was so little progress during my brief time in the office."

No news yet on how his departure will affect the AFA or who will assume administrative leadership. AFA President Dave Ferguson has been contacted for a statement, but we have no comment from him as yet.

Nolan took the reins of the AFA office last spring on a temporary assignment, and then extended the agreement until the AFA Convention in February, when the organization hoped to have a permanent executive director in place.

Presumably more details will be announced by the AFA next week, when the office re-opens.

Let's hope 2007 is a better year for the AFA. Hoofcare & Lameness wishes Mike Nolan the best for his future endeavors.

Who Pushed the Ejector Button? Matt Goins Wins 2006 Eclipse Award for Photography

Matthew Goins, freelance photographer for the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky, snapped this Harry Potter moment at Keeneland last spring; the NTRA just announced that it was the Eclipse award-winning photo for the year. The photo is the December 2007 image on the big 2007 Thoroughbred racing wall calendar from ST Publishing (which I was delighted to receive in the mail the other day). If you don't already have a wall calendar for 2007, and you like racing photographer or racehorses, this calendar is stunning. It's just a shame that so few of the horses in it will be back to race in 2007.

American Hoof Association: New Organization Will Require Proof of Skill and Philosophy of Healing, not Hurting

Meet the American Hoof Association. The newly-formed organization of professional hoofcare providers states that its primary goal is the maintenance of sound, useable barefoot horses. Membership will only be offered to applicants who submit proof of work that demonstrates the quality and parameters of sound trimming principles outlined by the founding members.

According to information released by the group on December 27, trimmers who seek membership in the organization will believe firmly in the concept that horses must not be harmed in the trimming process and will strive to improve the health of the horses in their care and to improve their skill for the benefit of all trimmers and their horses. They will also need to submit proof of their professional skill via case studies in photographs and on videotape.

The organization’s catalyst was author and trimmer Pete Ramey of Georgia; he invited trimming professionals with whom he was well-acquainted to join him in a new qualifications-based organization.

In October, 15 founding members became the incorporators of the American Hoof Association, Inc. (AHA). Cliff Mortimer of Highland, Michigan was elected president. Credentials of some of the founding members includes certification by the American Association of Natural Hoof Care Practitioners (AANHCP) and membership in the American Farrier’s Association (AFA).

In addition to Pete and Cliff, other incorporators include: Vice President Linda Cowles (California), Secretary Kay Stowers (Oregon), Treasurer Gil Goodin (Texas), Communications Facilitator Kim Cassidy (New York), Member at Large Paige Poss (Virginia) and Member at Large Alex Sperandeo (Georgia).

Additional members are Chad Bembenek (Wisconsin), Janet Hagen (Minnesota), Mark Jeldness (New Mexico), Sue Mellen (Vermont), Cindy Meyer (Colorado), Ivy Ramey (Georgia), and Bruce Smith (North Carolina),

Beginning in 2007, the group will consider applications from trimmers who wish to join. The official list of materials required to be submitted with an application has been posted on the AHA web site, which will include an interactive portal for the upload of all materials except a video that is required and must be sent via mail.

From among the incorporators, a team of seven evaluators was selected. Their job will be to carefully and thoughtfully consider all applicant materials against the standards of the American Hoof Association.

In their introduction letter, the AHA states, “We ask for your patience as we address the myriad of issues before us and work to produce the most smooth-running application process we can. It is our fervent desire that all like-minded trimmers have full opportunity to successfully complete this process and become members of the American Hoof Association.”

How It's Done: New Zealand Farrier's Global Career Climb

I'll never forget my one and only trip to New Zealand, more than ten years ago. Everyone I met, it seemed. had a global network of friends made during carefree world adventures. It's as if a new generation of the Kiwis swarms out each year to explore the world and make friends. So when you are a visitor in their country, they are extremely welcome and sympathetic to travelers.

An article forwarded to me from the Taranaki Daily News in New Zealand tells the tale of a very focused farrier from New Zealand who set forth to learn his trade from the best in the world, and seems to be succeeding.

Click the link and enjoy the global adventures of Andrew Reader-Smith AWCF:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/print/3912078a6551.html