Laminitis Research Moves to the Manure Pile

Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) laminitis researcher Nicola Menzies-Gow at the Royal Veterinary College is looking for manure from horses being treated with the Australian laminitis-preventative called Founderguard.

The product, which is not approved by the FDA for use in horses in the USA, has been shown to be effective in the prevention of pasture-associated laminitis — but can be difficult to obtain, even in the UK where it is available.

Our friends at the British horse magazine Horse and Hound have published an appeal for horse owners using the product to submit manure samples. H&H writes:

Menzies-Gow is looking into the consequences of long-term use of Founderguard, which contains the antibiotic drug virginiamycin. She is investigating whether the drug causes increased antibiotic resistance in equine gut bacteria.

Nicola said: "If we can demonstrate that any resistance that does occur is only temporary and not transferred to other bacteria, this will provide evidence that the product should be used for the prevention of laminitis, and possibly increase its availability."

If your horse is being treated with Founderguard and you would like to help with the research, email Nicola at nmenziesgow@rvc.ac.uk

The original research testing the efficacy of the medication was done at the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit, under the direction of Hoofcare and Lameness consulting editor Chris Pollitt.

Critics of the drug in the US pointed to the possibility, which may or may not be proved by Menzies-Gow, that the drug lowers a horse's response to bacterial invasion.

The Facts and the Fiction of Ruffian's Brace

Ok, so the comments so far are running about 50-50 on the Ruffian movie. It seems everyone (me included) wanted more Sam Shepherd, who played trainer Frank Whitely Jr., and less of the Bill Nack character, no offense to the real Bill Nack.

What threw me for a loop was when they showed the surgeon struggling to get what was obviously an actual farrier-made brace onto Ruffian's leg after the surgery.

I didn't remember any mention of a brace in Jane Schwartz's superb biography "Ruffian: Burning from the Start" so I pulled the book off the shelf and re-read the final chapter. What a surprise.

I learned that one of the people who showed up at Ruffian's stall after the race was Dr Edward B.C. Keefer, a human orthopedist who, in his retirement, switched his research to horses and pioneered an amputation technique that saved the stallion Spanish Riddle, stablemate to Secretariat. Keefer ran a nonprofit organization on Long Island called the Equine Preservation Society and used a technique he developed to make artificial blood vessels from Dacron.

According to Jane Schwartz, Keefer was standing by in case Ruffian's leg needed to be amputated. She writes that during the surgery, Keefer drove home to get one of his braces that he had built for a horse that wore the same size shoe as Ruffian.

Jane writes that Keefer went and woke up one of the shoers and together they labored for over an hour to try to get the brace onto Ruffian's leg. During that time, she had to stay under anesthesia, possibly increasing the chances of complications. Keefer and the farrier finally got the brace on and Keefer --not the veterinarians--cast the leg over the brace. When they were done, they had a package that weighed 40 or 50 pounds on the end of her leg. The year before the filly had refused to wear even a light cast on her leg for a minor hairline fracture.

You know what happened next.

But wait, what about the brace in the movie? It really was a brace. The producers called Dick Fanguy, longtime farrier at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and now vice president of the American Farrier's Association, when they were filming in Shreveport because they heard about the braces he made for the vet school. They actually rented a sample brace and invited Dick to the movie set. "The director said it was beautiful," Dick said.

What's interesting is that the brace was actually made for a hind leg. An Arabian mare "got hung up in a hog fence" according to Dick and severed all her tendons and cracked her cannon bone. The vets wanted to cast the leg but they needed to still be able to medicate the wounds.

"I took a sliding plate and welded a piece of angle iron back in the heels, and then welded another piece of angle iron to it," Dick told me tonight. "Then I built the cage coming up, with rings on the side. It was all padded. I nailed the shoe on and bolted the brace onto the shoe. The lady who owned the mare could lace through the rings with a length of inner tube."

"It was an Arab, so it survived," he quipped.

Dick said he spent a lot of time explaining about braces to the producer and crew, even though the brace is only shown on camera for less than 10 seconds. "These people were really trying to get things as accurate as they could," Dick said.

One More Thing to Worry About: Scrambled Signals on Electronic Doorlocks

Did you know that your cell phone has the power to scramble the electronic programming on your truck's door lock conrol fob? US Rider is warning people to keep cell phones at least an inch away from remote controls on key chains...or you may find yourself out in the cold. or the hot. or the rain. or the whatever. Be careful where you toss those keys! Don't toss your keys and your cell phone in a backpack or even your jacket pocket.

I wonder if US Rider has heard one of my favorite jokes, the one about the farrier who locked his keys in his truck? It took him an hour to get his apprentice out.

USRider offers nationwide roadside assistance designed especially for equestrians. The plan includes standard features such as flat-tire repair, battery assistance and lockout services, plus towing up to 100 miles and roadside repairs for tow vehicles and trailers with horses, emergency stabling, veterinary and farrier referrals, and more. (I didn't know that, either.)

American Farrier's Association Executive Committee "Road Trip" to Nashville, Tennessee Deemed a Success by Officers

(via press release from the AFA) The American Farrier's Association's first effort to reach out to its members proved a worthwhile success in Music City last week. "This will prove to be a turning point for the entire AFA," said Dave Ferguson, CJF, TE. "I think our membership will now see how the process works and that we make decisions that effect all AFA members."

Ferguson went on to say, "We want our membership to have ownership in this organization and this is a great way for them to be a part of the process."

The two day event featured an executive committee meeting where the committee worked tirelessly on a strategic plan for the association. "It was amazing to see how our executive committee conducted business, debated and ultimately came together to make monumental decisions for the betterment of the association," commented Steve Davis,CF the Music City host chapter President. "Due to the Town Hall meeting, we were able to address our concerns and questions to our elected body and we all came away with a better understanding of how our leadership works. As a result, several past members re-joined the AFA on the spot!"

A total of 12 farriers turned out for the Town Hall meeting with many more stopping in after work to the forging demonstration by President Elect, Andrew Elsbree.

"This was hugely successful at opening up the dialog with the people we serve," stated Dick Fanguy, CJF, AFA Vice President. "The feedback I got back with regard to the Town Hall meeting, and the shoeing demonstration was extremely positive. This was a good place to start and we already have commitments from our chapters in California and North Carolina to host future EC meetings. We are going to hunt down members one at a time."

Poetin: World Champion Dressage Star's Laminitis Trial Verdict Date Set

The German dressage magazine St. Georg is reporting that a date has been set to announce the verdict in a lawsuit regarding the death of World Champion dressage mare Poetin in France.

Poetin was sold at auction and foundered soon afterwards. St Georg is reporting that the mare was injected with Celestovet, a cortisone-based steroid, on the day of the sale. According to a statement from the mare's purchasers, the horse was unable to walk normally off the van that delivered her from the sale. The mare sloughed both front feet and was euthanized 90 days after the sale.

Laminitis caused by steroid reaction is a controversial subject and it is expected that arguments are being, or have been, presented from both sides of the courtroom.

At the time of her sale, Poetin was allegedly owned by the Dutch bank ING ("the orange bank"), as part of a debt settlement. ING had refused to turn over the mare's medical files to the court.

Selenium toxicity and Laminitis Possible Side Effects of Drought-Damaged Hay

Received via press release from the University of Missouri today

COLUMBIA, Mo. — While much of the Midwest has recovered from the drought that parched the area last year, horses are continuing to experience effects from the hot dry summer of 2006. Due to a bad hay crop, University of Missouri-Columbia veterinarians are reporting an increased number of horses with chronic selenosis and vitamin E deficiency, problems that can be fatal.

“Last year’s drought meant that Missouri’s hay crop, which is usually balanced very well for a horse’s nutrition, was much poorer than usual,” said Philip Johnson, professor of veterinary medicine and surgery. “Because of the poor Missouri hay crop, horse owners imported hay from other states nearby and possibly fed their horses hay that was too high in selenium. This can have very grave consequences for horses.”

Selenium is a naturally occurring element and is an essential part of horse diets. However, too much or too little can create problems for a horse. When chronic selenosis, or selenium poisoning, occurs from eating too much of the element, horses can lose the hair in the mane and tail and develop a form of laminitis, a painful condition that affects the hoof. If left untreated for too long, a horse with chronic selenosis may require euthanasia as a result of severe laminitis.

Johnson said that the amount of selenium in hay can vary by county throughout the nation, but that Missouri hay typically has just the right amount of the essential element. For a small fee, horse owners can have their hay tested to determine if it has the right amount of selenium in it.

“Usually, by the time the horse is showing symptoms, it may be too late to reverse the disease completely,” Johnson said. “However, if a horse owner has other horses that are feeding from the same food source, it’s important to have those animals treated before the damage is permanent.”

Photo of Dr. Johnson provided by University of Missouri. Dr. Johnson will speak on his important research on the subject of laminitis and represent his university at the Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot, a gathering of the world's leading researchers and field practitioners in West Palm Beach, Florida in November.