Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Equine Laminitis: 2012 Video Education Update from the Animal Health Foundation

The Animal Health Foundation, a non-profit organization that funds laminitis research at Dr Chris Pollitt's Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit and at universities in the United States, has assembled a quick course update for horse owners and horse professionals on preventing, managing and treating the disease of equine laminitis.

While there is still much that we don't know about laminitis, Donald Walsh, DVM has prepared a primer that should make clear the current state of practical information.

Please watch all five videos in the Animal Health Foundation's EQUINE LAMINITIS 2012 UPDATE and share these videos with everyone in the horse world. This is important information.

1 INTRODUCTION TO LAMINITIS
Does your horse have laminitis or founder? Would you like to prevent the disease? Are you concerned about the dangers of insulin resistance, obesity, over-grazing and hoof condition changes? Have you been told your horse is at risk for laminitis? If you answered yes to any of those questions, this educational video series could save your horse's life. Five concise, free, non-commercial videos from the non-profit Animal Health Foundation offer the latest practical and scientific information to help you help your horse avoid or overcome laminitis in its many forms. Your host: Donald Walsh, DVM, founder of the Foundation and a practicing veterinarian who specializes in laminitis and founder.

2 UNDERSTANDING EQUINE LAMINITIS: HOW DOES LAMINITIS OR FOUNDER AFFECT YOUR HORSE?
What happens in horses' feet during laminitis? What's the difference between laminitis and founder? You will learn three different ways that a horse gets laminitis and the many causes, including Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Cushing's Disease, or "PPID", and support-limb laminitis. The non-profit Animal Health Foundation and Dr. Donald Walsh offer the latest practical and scientific information to help you and your horse avoid or overcome laminitis in its many forms.

3 WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOUR HORSE HAS "ACUTE" LAMINITIS?
Can you recognize "acute" (sudden onset) laminitis symptoms? How can you help your horse during this medical emergency? Dr. Walsh encourages horse owners to employ the only scientifically-proven method to prevent laminitis: "icing the feet" , or "cryotherapy". Does your horse need blood insulin tests to find the cause of the laminitis? The non-profit Animal Health Foundation and Dr. Donald Walsh offer the latest practical and scientific information to help you help your horse avoid or overcome acute laminitis.

4 CHRONIC LAMINITIS AND FOUNDER
Chronic laminitis means a life of ongoing, crippling pain for horses. What can a horse owner do? Dr. Walsh explains long-term ("chronic") laminitis and current methods of hoof mechanics to support damaged feet. He explains abnormal hormones and that Cushing's disease ("PPID") or Equine Metabolic Syndrome may be the underlying cause. You'll learn about hay testing and benefits of soaking hay in water. Finally, Dr. Walsh speaks frankly about putting some horses to sleep because of advanced laminitis.

5 PREVENT LAMINITIS IN YOUR HORSE
What are the best horsecare practices to protect your horse from laminitis? What are the risk factors? Can icing the feet help? What might a cresty neck or hoof rings mean? You'll learn to recognize early changes in your horse's feet before laminitis occurs and how to correct hormone levels before horses go lame. Dr Walsh suggests ways to prevent supporting limb laminitis in horses with leg injuries.

LAMINITIS RESEARCH. This video, made in 2011, explains the priorities of laminitis research in Dr. Pollitt's Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit, which is funded in many of its projects by the Animal Health Foundation. It contains the core principles of the AHF concern to make laminitis research relevant and helpful to real people and real horses. Other studies funded by AHF have included genetic studies at Cornell University, endocrine studies at the University of Missouri and Cornell, and Katy Watts' innovative "Safer Grass" studies to analyze how grass founder might be prevented.

The Animal Health Foundation depends on large and small donations to fund research projects. All donated funds go directly to research; the foundation is run by volunteers including Dr. Walsh, whom you met in the video.

Further Animal Health Foundation research will enable us to prevent laminitis and "Free the Horse of this Disease".

Learn more about the Foundation and how you can donate or become involved in the fundraising process.

Thank you.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than that I serve on the Board of Directors of the Animal Health Foundation, which is a volunteer position. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Silent Anvil: J. Scott Simpson

The late J. Scott Simpson, horseshoeing icon of the Great West, is in the center of this photo, flanked by Danny Ward on the left and Walt Taylor on the right. This was taken at an American Farrier's Association demonstration in 1988. There must have been more than 1000 farriers watching them that day.

I'm writing this while I'm snowbound and icebound in my little house in New England. I should be 1000 miles away in Mobile, Alabama at the American Farrier's Association convention.

Today I found out I'm not the only one who's missing from the annual gathering of the hoof tribe.

Farrier educator, author, entertainer and raconteur J. Scott Simpson of Arizona and Montana has died but it's too soon to know much. All I can tell you is who Scott was. Or is, since his place in the farrier world is not likely to change just because he's not around. He's part of the fabric, the folklore and the family.

Scott was and always will be revered by possibly thousands of people who went through his farrier training courses at Montana State University, Walla Walla State University and his own Northwest Horseshoeing School.

He magnified his effect on the farrier industry by authoring several farrier books, including one of the overlooked classics of all time, The Mechanics of Shoeing Gaited Horses.

I may be snowbound, but I had these two photos of Scott on my laptop's hard drive; they were taken at Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company's first "Working Farrier Demonstration", held on a big stage at the AFA convention in 1988. I'm not sure why I have them so handy 25 years later, but I'm glad that I do.

Scott was completely at ease--you could always hand him the microphone and he'd take it from there, whether it was at a shoeing demonstration or in the ballroom at night when he'd sing and play guitar.

Scott began shoeing in the 1950s in California; he learned at Ralph Hoover's famous horseshoeing class at CalPoly University in San Luis Obispo, in the class of 1959, along with his long-time friend, Montana's farrier tool wizard, Mike Williams.

A few years ago, Mike and Scott organized a reunion of horseshoers who had been in Hoover's classes between 1959 to 1961, and they managed to pull together 27 graduates and get them to Montana to take a photo.

Scott started teaching at Montana State in the early 1970s and left there in 1983 for a stint at Walla Walla before starting his own school. He wintered in Wickenburg, Arizona, where he seemed determined to play tennis and team rope in spite of repeated operations to replace things like hips--he was perhaps the first bionic farrier. It seemed like he was always in for replacement parts.

He was vice-president of the American Farrier's Association for several years and was an original mastermind of the AFA's certification program. No, he didn't always agree with people--especially people from east of the Mississippi.

But one of the things that Scott gave the farrier world is also the most enduring and most valuable: his simple, catchy "eagle eye" system of using visual memory to recognize five basic hoof shapes--good old Norman, Spike, Tag, Stubby and...well, everyone knows who the fifth one is.

By my records, J. Scott Simpson was 78 years old. In the last email I received from him, he told about his return to the Catholic church after a long absence and how much he enjoyed two perspectives on Catholicism between Montana and Arizona as he traveled back and forth.

I don't know what sort of funeral plans are being made, or where, but people will not just be saying good-bye to a great friend and farrier. They'll be saying good-bye to a legend of horseshoeing embedded so deeply in the great western tradition that his name is as close to a horse-hold word as you can get.

Ralph! That's the fifth shape from Scott's eagle eye discipline for recognizing hoof shape. How could I ever forget? That's how good a teacher Scott Simpson was. He helped me and countless others cut through the clutter at a time when farriery was getting very cluttered, indeed.

They ought to name a hoof shape, and a lot of other things, after our friend Scott Simpson. Not that anyone who ever met him is likely to forget him, ever. Some of us think of him, subconsciously, every time we pick up a foot. And we always will.

--Fran Jurga

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Farrier Model Dean Dibsdall Wins British Reality TV Show; Next Project Is Documentary of His Life Shoeing Horses

Farrier Dean Dibsdall has been in the news in England lately for his victory in a reality last-man-standing show called "Playing It Straight". He also works as a model and next month will be the star of a documentary about...himself. (Photo courtesy of Horse and Country TV)

You never know who your friends are. In this case, a perfectly nice farrier from England turned out to be have a second career as a model and, I found out, was even a finalist in the Mr England competition.

And the next thing I knew, he was on a reality show similar to the USA's "The Bachelorette" but with a twist--some of the eligible bachelors were gay. But which ones? And was Dean gay or straight?

I honestly didn't know which he was, but I was cheering him on from the USA anyway.

Dean Dibsdall DipWCF ended up winning the "Playing It Straight" show (was it his burnt hoof after-shave?) and a lot of money. Now the British network Horse and Country is planning a documentary about what it's like to be a farrier celebrity--they'll even follow him when he competes in the farrier events at the National Shire Show in a few weeks.

When I played "do you know..." with Dean, I found that he could rattle off at least three names familiar to American farriers: he lives next to Billy Crothers; he was apprentice to Carl Bettison's second apprentice, Daniel Harman; and he has worked for James Blurton in the past. That seems like the start of a great resume, or like meeting your second cousin, twice-removed, for the first time.

In the farriery world, Dean is four years into his career and shoes horses around Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, all north of London.

Dean Dibsdall really does shoe horses. "Being a farrier and working with horses is the most important thing in my life," he said in an interview. (photo courtesy of Dean DIbsdall)

It seems a long way around, but if the documentary comes out as Dean describes it, it could well be a great promotion for the farrier profession, as has been his smiling face on the reality show these past weeks.

Let's all celebrate his success and wish him well and hope that we can figure out a way to see the documentary in the USA.

Here's the press release from Horse and Country TV, and some information from the Hoof Blog files about other farrier models:

Dean Dibsdall, winner of Channel 4’s Playing It Straight series, is to be the subject of a documentary on Horse & Country TV (Sky Channel 280), it was announced today.

The hour-long show, Dean Dibsdall: Model Farrier, will be shown on the British channel in April.

Horse & Country’s cameras will follow Dean as he deals with his new-found fame while working as a specialist in horse hoof care. As well as being a full-time farrier Dean, 28, from Leighton Buzzard, also works as a part-time model. He won the title of "Mr Bedfordshire" last year and represented the county in the final of the "Mr England" competition.

“I’m very excited to be doing this show with Horse & Country TV,” says Dean, ”being a farrier and working with horses is the most important thing in my life.

“I hope fans of Playing in Straight will tune in and be really entertained while at the same time experience a world they wouldn’t normally get the chance to encounter.”

Dean's not the first British farrier
model; eventing specialist
Jamie Goddard was model for the
TeamGBR clothing line a few years ago.
He shoes for riders like Australia's Paul
Tapner, winner of Badminton Horse
Trials in 2010.
(Jamie Goddard photo)

Jonathan Rippon, Head of Programming at Horse & Country, adds: “Dean is a complete natural on camera and has a hugely engaging personality which will make him a hit both with our regular viewers and those new to H&C.”

The show will highlight the tremendous variety of Dean’s professional life including working with miniature Shetland ponies, alongside vets to help lame horses, visiting a range of livery yards and taking part in a farrier competition at the Shire Horse Show as well as following his new experiences as a fledgling celebrity.

Dean has been a farrier for four years, following in a family tradition that has seen three of his cousins become farriers too. After setting his heart on working with horses Dean underwent more than four years of intensive training at college as well as shadowing a qualified farrier.

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I left school so one day went out with one of my cousins who was already a farrier and I just took to it straight away,” says Dean, ”It’s a physical job and you get to work with animals outdoors in the fresh air – plus you’re your own boss.”

Working in such close proximity to horses isn’t without its dangers but Dean says: “I’ve had a few broken bones and cracked ribs but you don’t mind when you’re doing something you love.”

British farrier Nick Partridge was the star of a
full-page ad for Herring shoes in the magazine
for the 2011 Ascot race meet. I thought it
was a horseshoe ad. Fun to see such a well-
shod farrier!

On Monday night British television viewers saw Dean win the E4 network's reality TV series “Playing It Straight” in which straight and gay guys competed to win the heart of female contestant Cara.

If one of the gay contestants had successfully deceived Cara and been picked by her, he would have won the show’s £50,000 cash prize. Because she chose Dean, one of the genuinely straight contestants, the two of them split the prize, receiving £25,000 (approximately $40,000US) each.

The documentary has been commissioned by Jonathan Rippon, Head of Programming at H&C TV, and is being made in-house at H&C by the production team responsible for other series on the channel such as Top Marks, When Nicki Met Carl and magazine show Rudall’s Round Up.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Racing Two-Year-Old Thoroughbreds: Does It Promote Longer, More Successful Racing Careers? Kiwi Numbers Might Not Tell the Whole Story

Zenyatta was the exception to the rule, if judged by the New Zealand statistics. She began her phenomenal racing career in the fall of her three-year-old season. (Dave Cooper photo)

Just published: The association of two-year-old training milestones with career length and racing success in a sample of Thoroughbred horses in New Zealand JC Tanner, CW Rogers, EC Firth Equine Veterinary Journal. doi: 10.1111/j.2042-3306.2011.00534.x

New research, published this month the Equine Veterinary Journal (EVJ), has suggested that exercise early in life has a positive effect on musculoskeletal health and may have a positive impact on the future racing careers of Thoroughbreds.

The study looked at the association of two-year-old training milestones with career length and racing success in a sample of 4683 Thoroughbred horses in New Zealand. Retrospective data were obtained from the Thoroughbred foal crop born in 2001/2002. Three training milestones were observed: 1) registration with a trainer, 2) trialling to assess race potential and 3) racing.

The association of the training milestones with career length was measured by assessing the number of race starts and the number of years raced.

The results:

1. The horses that raced as two-year-olds had significantly more race starts during their careers from three-years-old onwards than those first raced as three-year-olds or older.

2. Horses that raced as two-year-olds had significantly more years racing.

3. Horses registered with a trainer, trialled or raced as two-year-olds were more likely to have won or been placed in a race than those that achieved these milestones as three-year-olds or older.

4. In addition, horses that first trialled and raced as two-year-olds had greater total earnings than those that first trialled or raced at a later age.

Jasmine Tanner of the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, who instigated the study, concluded: “Musculoskeletal injuries are one the main causes of wastage in racing and days lost from training. This early study indicates that horses in training or racing as two-year-olds may have better musculoskeletal health throughout life than those first in training or racing at a later age. This could have a positive impact on their future success in racing. If this is indeed the case then it may be possible to manipulate the initiation and structure of race training to reduce the risk of such injuries in the future.”

Tanner previously analyzed statistics of racing milestones for Standardbred racehorses. She is pursuing a Master's degree while also training Standardbreds and recently received an award for her achievements as a trainer. According to the university web site, her research is funded by the New Zealand Racing Board.

Before jumping to conclusions and overlaying this research on American Thoroughbreds, remember that there are environmental and medical differences in Thoroughbreds as you travel around the world. The way that horses are raised differs in the two countries, and in New Zealand, horses are racing almost exclusively on grass. They also are not stabled at racetracks but just travel to the track on raceday. The expectations placed on horses for a number of career starts differs around the world. Also, the medication rules for racing horses are very different from country to country.

It would be simple to say that these results from New Zealand are self-evident. A horse that misses its two-year-old career launch misses it for a reason, usually. It is true that some owners and trainers carefully delay a horse's introduction to racing because they want the horse to be physically mature, but most two-year-olds would have been started had they been healthy or sound enough to do it.

If comparing three-year-olds that have been healthy and in training with horses of the same age that have been unhealthy, it seems obvious that whatever caused the horse to miss its two-year-old start might turn into or be related to a chronic health or soundness issue that would compromise the horse's long-term career.

Hopefully this research won't discourage responsible owners and trainers from treating each horse as an individual and starting its training at the optimum time for that horse.

Take heart: Champion mare Zenyatta did not start in her first race until the end of her three-year-old season. Likewise, Australian champion Black Caviar did race three times as a two-year-old but kept up her undefeated record after a seven-month layoff in her three-year-old career.

Many routes can lead to success in racing. Comparing the statistics from New Zealand with comparable data from the United States and other countries would be fascinating.

How do different countries or even different owners define "success" in terms of a horse's race career? How do you define it? And what about the bigger picture of racing: should we be judging success on the status quo of racing ten years ago?

How can we use this data to help Thoroughbred racing move into a more sustainable future?

The paradigm of "success" needs to evolve to meet a new standard that includes a horse's exit status as well as its entry age.

In an ideal world, research like Tanner's might look at both ends of a horse's career. Data should reveal how many horses exit their racing careers in a sound, healthy condition after an acceptable number of starts and with acceptable results. That would be a great measure of success and give us information we need to improve all the numbers in a horse's life.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Hallmarq Standing MRI and Chronic Equine Foot Lameness: What’s Going On Inside the Foot?

Sport horse lameness requires a diagnosis to pinpoint the injury site and a prognosis to predict when and if the horse might return to training. The veterinarian chooses from a set of alternative plans to gain recovery based on restricting the horse to stall rest, turning him out, or following a prescribed limited exercise program. The program is determined by the site of the injury and the clinician's knowledge of and experience in successfully treating that injury site. If the injury isn't properly or fully diagnosed, facets of the recovery plan--including medications and adjunctive hoofcare--might not be effective, time may be lost and the horse's chances at returning to his former level of performance are jeopardized.

The hoof capsule is the horse’s best friend: it’s a protective covering, a shield against rocks and bumps, and a tractable aid to locomotion. If the horse had to gallop on a soft digit, could he gallop at all?

The tough shell of his hoof wall is the horse’s best friend--until something goes wrong inside the foot. Then it takes sophisticated imaging equipment to see what’s going on inside that wall, and beneath that sole and frog. When we want to know what’s going on in there, it’s time for technology to take over.

The density of the outer hoof capsule protects the horse from many injuries. But when there is a problem inside the foot, the hoof capsule makes it difficult to diagnose the severity of injuries and make a definitive prognosis for recovery. (Nottingham Vet School photo)

A recent study at the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Virginia delved into some details of cases of chronic, unresolved foot lameness. Might these cases have something in common, besides that the horses were all lame in one front foot? The researchers wondered, and compared the horses’ records.


The study's lead author is Santiago Daniel Gutierrez-Nibeyro, DVM, MS, DACVS, now a clinician at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine

While many studies have logged in data about test-case horses with specific acute injuries revealed only by MRI--deep digital flexor tendon lesions in sport horses are prime examples--this study looked at a larger population of horses that had been lame for some time (from three months to five years) and which had not received the benefit of an MRI before they were referred to the hospital for further testing.

Each of the horses had responded favorably to a palmar digital nerve block in the lame foot, so the clinician was confident that the horse’s pain source had been isolated. MRI was performed if clinical and radiological findings did not provide a definitive diagnosis and if the owners elected further examination.

Another thing the cases had in common is that, after referral, each of the horses had been scanned using the same MRI technology: the Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging “standing MRI” system installed at the hospital in Leesburg in 2007.

Horses with chronic forefoot lameness were selected for the study. A Hallmarq standing MRI scan was employed to look for damage to soft tissue structures in the coffin joint and navicular zone.

The veterinarians selected 79 horses that fulfilled the selection criteria for the study and began to compare their records. The biggest thing that the horses had in common was that the MRI scans revealed that almost all of them--74 out of 79--were actually showing more than one structure in the foot with an alteration.

In most (52) of the 74 horses with more than one change, the multiple abnormalities were not of equal severity.

What types of injuries did the MRI scans reveal on these chronically lame horses?

• 78 percent of the horses had a navicular bone lesion in the lame foot, along with another injury;

• 58 percent of the horses showed evidence of navicular bursitis (inflammation to the bursa, or fluid-lined sac between the navicular bone and the deep digital flexor tendon at the back of the coffin joint);

• 54 percent of the horses showed evidence of damage to the deep digital flexor tendon;

• 53 percent of horses demonstrated some degree of effusion (excess fluid) of the coffin joint; and

• 39 percent of the horses were suffering from collateral ligament desmopathy of the coffin joint.

Who were these horses? Breeds included Thoroughbreds (24), Warmbloods (36), Quarter Horses (9) and others (10). Occupations comprised jumping (37), eventing (12), dressage (17) and pleasure riding (13). The mean age was nine years old, but ranged from four to 24.

What’s the take-home message from this research?

In standing MRI, the horse
does not require anesthesia

If you’ve been reading the Hoof Blog for a while, you already know a good bit about Hallmarq’s standing MRI technology, which is now available in dozens of veterinary clinics around the world. MRI was the next level of diagnostic imaging for horses whose injuries were not revealed by other systems or, in the case of navicular changes visible on radiographs, would benefit from a more detailed evaluation.

Not so long ago, we would have labeled these horses as simply having a chronic foot pain condition or, more likely “navicular disease”. Farriers would try different shoeing techniques or trims, hoping to hit on a magic combination of support and comfort. Pain medication, coffin joint injection and perhaps even neurectomy would be on the menu. Some horses recovered sooner, some horses recovered later, some horses stayed lame.

Having access to MRI is much like calling in Sherlock Holmes when the police have failed to solve the crime. MRI results can often be surprising, as we see here, when the scan is expected to yield a given result and does, but also reveals more information than anticipated.

The deep digital flexor tendon (arrows) is a common site of injury in sport horses. While some injuries or abnormalities of the navicular bone can be seen on radiographs, lesions to the tendon require imaging that reveals the soft tissues of the inner foot.
(Troytown Equine Hospital image)

The identification of multiple injury sites in the foot is critical if the lameness is to respond and recover. In 2003, papers by Dyson and Murray in Great Britain and by Schneider and Sampson in the United States used MRI to document that equine foot pain often can be traced to multiple structures. This important new consciousness has been a critical factor in the growing appreciation of using MRI as a diagnostic tool, and the Virginia study certainly confirmed those findings in a large number of horses.

A benefit of the standing MRI system for evaluating horse foot lameness is that the horse is not required to undergo anesthesia. The horse stands on all four feet throughout the procedure, which may be performed as an “out-patient” type of appointment at a vet clinic that is equipped with the Hallmarq system.

This research was part of a series of MRI-related studies on foot lameness conducted by Santiago Daniel Gutierrez-Nibeyro, DVM, MS, DACVS as a component of his Masters in Science degree. The entire set of research papers is a tremendous asset to anyone wishing to understand how MRI imaging fits into the bigger picture of equine foot lameness diagnosis and treatment.

To learn more:

Standing low-field magnetic resonance imaging in horses with chronic foot pain by Gutierrez-Nibeyro, Werpy and White published in March 2012 in the Australian Veterinary Journal

Outcomes of Medical Treatment for Pathologies of the Equine Foot Diagnosed with Magnetic Resonance Imaging by Santiago Daniel Gutierrez-Nibeyro, M.V.

To learn more about Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging and standing MRI technology for horses:

• Visit and "like" the Hallmarq Equine MRI Facebook page;
• Follow @HallmarqMRI on Twitter;
• Subscribe to the hallmarqvetimaging channel on YouTube.com;
• Watch for a growing equine distal limb Hallmarq MRI image gallery on Flickr.com;
• Visit the Hallmarq.net web site. (Plan to spend some time there!)

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Disclosure of Material Connection: This blog post is sponsored by Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Video: Rood and Riddle Laminitis Treatment and Stem Cell Therapy for Regally-Bred Rescued Racehorse

"Laminitis: Film at 11" was the message in Tucson, Arizona this weekend as the media framed the play-by-play of treatment to a rescued laminitic Thoroughbred by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Dr. Vern Dryden. Videos are posted at the end of this article. This slideshow is compiled of images taken by Kim Reis. The slide show in its entirety and the individual photos as well are © Heart of Tucson. Media facilitated by Greg Ambrose (thanks). Click on the "play" icon to start the show.

Somewhere in the desert outside of Tucson, Arizona, a horse is wondering "Where'd everyone go?" this morning. Film crews, spectators, new shoes, tourniquets and a big buzz have electrified life at the barn the past few days as a rescued, rundown racehorse received state-of-the-art treatment for his chronic laminitis.

A lost and sickly Thoroughbred taken in by the Heart of Tucson rescue and therapy group has turned out to be a quite royally bred son of the famed Three Chimneys Farm stallion Dynaformer, who also sired such great racehorses as Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro and Melbourne Cup winner Americain. His name in the Jockey Club record books is Dyna King.

But laminitis doesn't care who you are.

Vernon Dryden, DVM, CJF

Dyna King, whose identity was unknown when he limped off trailer at the rescue center after being found abandoned and lame in the desert, now goes by the barn name "Gifted". He was was slow to his feet yesterday, and slow to hobble down the barn aisle to the mats where he'd stand for two hours while far-from-home Vern Dryden, DVM, CJF of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Center in Lexington, Kentucky went to work on his feet.

The treatment, performed at state-of-the-art Bandalero Ranch near Tucson, included frog-support equipped Sigafoos glue-on shoes and dental impression material with a hospital plate--a standard treatment these days.

But this treatment had something else. In addition to Dryden's world-class expertise in treating laminitis, analyzing the radiographs and preparing the foot for his special shoes, the horse felt both his front limbs get wrapped. A catheter was inserted and Dryden pumped millions of stem cells into the horse's lower limbs.

Rood and Riddle's regenerative medicine program's stem cell project uses specially-harvested umbilical stem cells collected from blood in the afterbirth of foals.

Dyna King's story caught the imagination--and support--of local television station KGUN9-TV in Tucson. A production crew followed Dryden on the job and the horse's treatment has been featured on Tucson television news over the weekend.

KGUN9 and Heart of Tucson kindly shared the videos and slide show so they can be posted here for Hoof Blog readers around the world.

Intro TV News video:

If you'd like to donate to help Dyna King, click here for the Heart of Tucson donation page. Note: Dr. Dryden's treatment and services were donated, but the costs of caring for Dyna King will be high.

To learn more:

KGUN9-TV news article and more recent video than shown

Hoof Blog report on umbilical stem cell treatment at Rood and Riddle Podiatry Center

Call 978 281 3222 to order your copy; always in stock!

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