Plastinate: A Funny Name for a Fascinating View of Soft Tissue, Horn, and Bone

If you have visited a Hoofcare and Lameness trade show booth at any of the conferences this winter, chances are that you saw our display of plastinated samples of hoof tissue. If you haven't been to our booth, perhaps you have been to the highly successful (and somewhat controversial) museum exhibit called "Body Worlds," which also uses the plastination process to preserve body tissue. While we can be forgiven for studying closeup hoof tissue, the jury is still out on the ethics of human tissue manipulation.

We are working on bringing Dr. Christoph von Horst of Germany to the USA to share his delicate and precise representations of the hoof. Best guess is that he will be in Palm Beach for the laminitis conference in November.

In the meantime, Hoofcare and Lameness will facilitate orders for Dr von Horst. Each tissue sample is, of course, life size and sandwiched in inch thick Lucite. The sample becomes a living study object but it also is a work of art, and the play of light through the hoof tisue is dazzling.

One visitor to our booth at the AAEP convention was so enchanted that he offered to buy the entire display!

Each sample is treated to resist light damage and will not fade. The cost on most is around $200 including air shipment from Germany. I will try to mount some more images to share them with you, but please contact Hoofcare and Lameness if you are looking for a unique gift, award, trophy, or a real treat for your own study of the hoof. Navicular damage and P3 rotation samples are available but sometimes are in great demand and have a longer lead time.

What's the Antithesis of Natural Horsemanship? Meet No Horsemanship: Robotic Horse Training on a Sanitized Track

Call this the round pen backlash. Or high technology's answer to the average human's inability to train a horse. Several sources on the web have pointed me to a web site for what appears to be an Eastern European group that is promoting horse training systems that remove the influence of humans from the conditioning process.

Did you ever wonder what Disney World did with ride parts when they go through periodic renovations?

Kurt Equine Systems of course would appeal to a trainer who has more horses than exercise riders. Or someone who needs to condition multiple endurance horses but simply does not have the time to get them all ridden. There are also problems with weather and reliable help and many other variables in training that can make you dream of a "system" that would get all the horses moving and know when to quit.

Watching this video, I thought I was in a bizarre futuristic equine science fiction film. Dr Who goes to the racetrack? But the racetrack has been sanitized, and the only people in sight are in the control room--or are those robots, too?

The web site promo doesn't give many details; it tells us that these systems work for either horses or camels, so that is a broad hint to me that this prototype has been installed in the Middle East, possibly in Qatar, Saudi or The Emirates, although I think if it was in the UAE I would have heard about it. Someone would have called me from the World Cup back in March and said, "You MUST see this!"

I present this to you only as a wonderment. No comments, just wonderment. I knew when I posted the video of the Seawalker system for hoof rehab that someone would have to top it. And this is way over the top!

Link to individual video clips of horse monorail and robotic training systems.

For the time being, I think exercise riders still have job security but if Todd Pletcher's string gets much larger...

Pergolide Cleared for Equine Veterinary Use by FDA

This announcement just in from the FDA:

May 11, 2007

CVM Working to Address Concerns about Supplies of Pergolide for Horses

The Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) is aware that veterinarians and horse owners are concerned about the issuance of an FDA Public Health Advisory (PHA), www.fda.gov/cder/drug/advisory/pergolide.htm, detailing the removal of pergolide products from the market. Pergolide, a drug used to manage the signs and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in humans, is being removed from the market due to concerns about cardiac side effects.

CVM recognizes that veterinarians are prescribing pergolide for the treatment of Cushing’s Syndrome in horses. Veterinarians have been prescribing the drug under the provisions of the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act which allows veterinary practitioners to prescribe approved human drugs for “extralabel” use in animals.

FDA is working with the sponsors of the approved products and all other interested parties to ensure that pergolide remains available to treat Cushing’s Syndrome in horses until a new animal drug application is approved for that use. This includes trying to make the approved product available through veterinary distribution channels and exercising enforcement discretion as appropriate over the pharmacy compounding of pergolide. Bulk substance used for pharmacy compounding should be labeled for “animal use only.” All pharmacy compounding must be done under a valid veterinary prescription to treat an affected horse.

Although the sponsor has stopped marketing pergolide for human use, CVM will also work with sponsors who are interested in seeking approval of a new animal drug application for the use of pergolide to treat Cushing’s Syndrome in horses.

For more information, contact Christopher Melluso, DVM, at Christopher.Melluso@fda.hhs.gov or (240) 276-9065.

New Lameness Treatments: IRAP™ Therapy

One of several new high-tech treatments for equine lameness is the creation of an enriched serum injection for horses with potential joint damage. "IRAP" is not a new hip-hop group; it's a therapy that has quickly made its own place at the table of equine therapy, especially for sport horses and racehorses whose owners expect a return to the previous level of soundness and performance...in the shortest possible length of time.

Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist Protein (IRAP™) therapy works like this: the veterinarian, often a surgeon or lameness specialist, injects a horse’s affected joint with serum that contains anti-inflammatory proteins that block the harmful effects of Interleukin-1 (IL-1), an inflammatory cytokine that has been shown to accelerate destruction of cartilage during osteoarthritis. (A cytokine is a chemical secreted by the immune system to attack infections and damaged or dying cells.)

What makes the process a little complicated is that Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is a quite normal part of the horse's inflammatory response but it can sometimes be detrimental to a horse's joints and accelerate damage to cartilage there. IRAP™ creates a barrier that prevents IL-1 from having its damaging effect.

Since the serum sample is derived from the horse’s own blood, there is minimal risk of an adverse reaction. The incubated serum also does not contain any drugs.

The treatment process consists of drawing a blood sample using a special syringe containing glass beads. The blood is incubated for 24 hours and a centrifuge separates the serum from the red blood cells. The serum, now enriched with Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist protein, is divided into three or four doses. The horse receives one dose injected into the affected joint once weekly for three to five weeks.

A quick check around the web found that quite a few vet clinics are promoting IRAP therapy. Here are some comments from veterinarians:

Dr. Laura Werner of The Equine Center in San Luis Obispo, California: "The reason IRAP is so exciting is its potential for a long-term effect on battling osteoarthritis. Whereas some of the therapies might only have short-term effect, IRAP has the potential to stop the cartilage matrix from being degraded and increase healing. IRAP has the ability to stop the inflammation cycle and bring comfort to your horse. The research on IRAP is ongoing but the results have been very encouraging."

Dr. Laurie Tyrrell of Virginia Equine Imaging: "IRAP can also be used as maintenance therapy throughout a competition season to reduce the amount of steroid use. IRAP therapy is not for every horse. There are some factors that make a horse a less successful candidate; however the therapy shows great promise for horses that have become refractory to traditional management of osteoarthritis, as well as offering an alternative therapy for those worried about excessive use of corticosteroids."

According to the web site of Steinbeck Country Equine Clinic in Salinas, California: "Coffin joints and stifles that don’t respond well to steroid injections seem to be the most popular condition to treat (with IRAP therapy). Reactions are uncommon largely due to the fact that it is the patient’s own serum."

IRAP is one of the many therapies and treatments that will be on the program of the 4th International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot to be held in West Palm Beach, Florida, from November 2-4.

Pergolide Update: Resource Blog Launched for Horse Owners Concerned about Drug Ban

Above: a horse shows common signs of Cushings disease, including the telltale long coat that does not shed. Horse owners report a rapid improvement of the appearance of horses when they receive pergolide as a medication for Cushings disease. Photo courtesy of our friend, Dr. Christian Bingold.

A proactive horse owner in Pennsylvania has pleaded her case for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) release of the Parkinson's disease drug "pergolide" for equine veterinary use by enlisting the power of the broadcast media. Horseowner Judy Amick and her veterinarian were interviewed for a story that ran on the 5:00 news yesterday on WJAC-TV6, the NBC affiliate in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Pergolide is widely used to medicate horses suffering with Cushings disease. Many people credit oral pergolide medication with controlling their horses' Cushings symptoms, especially the periodic low-grade laminitis that is a common side effect of the disease.

Recently, pergolide was removed from the US drug market by the FDA because of side effects experienced by human users.

Horse owners say that their horses have no side effects, and that the drug is actually keeping horses alive that would have to be euthanized without the drug.

Click on this link to watch a clip from the segment: http://www.wjactv.com/news/13288711/detail.html?rss=john&psp=news

The withdrawal of pergolide has been a call to arms for Pennsylvania veterinary expert and author Eleanor Kellon VMD. She is the resident medication expert on the 5000-member "Cushings list" discussion group on Yahoo.com. The discussion group helps support owners of horses with Cushings or insulin resistance problems.

To mobilize of horse owners to take action in the pergolide situation, Kellon has launched a blog designed to give details on the drug's political battles, and to give owners resources for letterwriting and petitions.

Click on this link to go to the new blog: http://pergolideaction.blogspot.com/

"This site has been started to keep (people) current on the latest information in the fight to keep pergolide available for our horses," Kellon writes of the new blog. "There is at present no viable alternative to pergolide to control Cushing's Disease (PPID) or to stave off the debilitating, often painful and life-threatening side effects of this disease."

Kellon encourages horse owners to sign the "Save Pergolide" petition, and use the site's links to write to federal and state officials, elected representatives, equine veterinarian associations, state horse councils and groups.

Martin Deacon Wins 2007 Farriers Prize at Badminton Horse Trials

At the prestigious (and grueling) Badminton Horse Trials in the Cotswold district of England this weekend, one of the world's best farrier competitions was held, and there were no anvils or forges in sight.

Each year, Badminton presents The Farriers Prize, which is a "Plaque to Owner and Farrier of the Best Shod Horse." As I recall, the horses put forward for the prize are inspected and evaluated by a representative of the Worshipful Company of Farriers.

In the past two years, the winners were Welsh farrier teammates and world champion competitive farriers, James Blurton and Billy Crothers. Another year, I remember the prize going to Sam Head, son of Mac Head FWCF, for his shoeing job on one of William Fox-Pitt's horses.

This year's winner was Top 12 finisher Sarah Cohen's Hide and Seek II, and the winning farrier was Martin Deacon FWCF of Leicestershire, England. Sarah was also the highest-placed British rider this year.

Martin is a very well-known farrier in Britain, and a stalwart of the Worshipful Company of Farriers. He is also the author of one of the most popular books sold in the Hoofcare and Lameness library; No Foot No Horse (Foot Balance: The Key to Soundness and Performance) is Martin's treatise on using conventional balance paradigms to shoe both correct and crooked-legged horses. Portions of the book have been reprinted as articles in Hoofcare and Lameness over the years.

Photo of Clayton Fredericks presenting W P in Limbo at the initial vet inspection in front of Badminton House in Gloucestershire, England courtesy of Kit Houghton and Mitsubishi Motors. Yes, the game of badminton takes its name from this estate, although the game was brought back to England by British officers who had been stationed in India. When it was played at an 1873 party on the lawn on Badminton House, the home of the Duke of Beaufort, the nameless game became ever linked to the foxhunting estate.