Paynter Laminitis Watch: Podiatry-Vet Fraley Amazed at Progress Since Hoof Casts Applied

Paynter's Hoof-Specialist Veterinarian Fraley "Amazed At His Progress"

Paynter models his hoof casts: The colt is almost as big a star on Twitter as he was on the racetrack. This photo was tweeted by owner Justin Zayat yesterday and shows the three-year-old Thoroughbred colt outside the Upstate Equine Medical Center in Schuylerville, New York where he has been a patient since late August. He is wearing hoof casts to stabilize his feet after being diagnosed with laminitis in three of four hooves. (Justin Zayat Twitter image)

The Thoroughbred world has been enraptured by the cryptic Twitter messages chronicling the condition of 2012 Haskell Invitational winner Paynter. The three-year-old colt is recovering from colitis at the Upstate Equine Medical Center in Schuylerville, New York after becoming ill while training at nearby Saratoga Racecourse.

Colitis is an acute inflammation of the bowel and/or gastrointestinal tract, generally associated with a bacterial infection. According to Robinson's Current Therapies in Equine Medicine (2009), 90 percent of horses stricken by colitis will die if they are not treated.

Each Twitter message is like a cyber-message in a bottle. The air inside the bottle has inflated and deflated as the horse's illness waxed and waned. Hundreds of tweets and re-tweets punctuated with the hashtag "#Poweruppaynter" flooded Twitter over Labor Day weekend.

Unfortunately, the aftermath of colitis is often laminitis, and Paynter's case was no exception. The diagnosis tweeted by the owner stated that the horse had laminitis in three legs. The Twitterverse shuddered.

Bryan Fraley DVM

Kentucky veterinarian Bryan Fraley is serving as equine podiatry consultant on the case and attended to the colt, including applying casts to the affected hooves. Fraley heads a consulting equine podiatry practice in Lexington, Kentucky; his firm is an affiliate of Hagyard Equine Medical Center there.

Within a few days, optimistic reports started to chirp out of the owner's Twitter account. Apparently, Paynter liked the hoof casts.

Zayat posted--in short bursts via Twitter--that he had sent Paynter's radiographs to Dr. Larry Bramlage at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky for a second opinion.

"He confirmed to us what other vets have told us," Zayat tweeted. "That he believed, based on what he saw, that if the colt continues to improve, there is no reason why he shouldn't return to a full recovery as a racehorse...in his opinion that he has all chances to race again at top notch level."

Zayat's quote sent a surge of enthusiastic rapture through his fans. But if you've ever danced with the dreaded disease of laminitis, you know that the song is far from over yet.

Sometimes, life imitates Twitter. Dr. Fraley attempted to report on the horse's condition, but had to make three or four calls. His report is scattered across phone message sheets on the desk, much as the owner's tweets break each report into short bursts.

A blog post to follow will explain more about this type of laminitis, but first, the good news.

Dr. Fraley on September 12: "The colt’s out grazing in hand this morning...He continues to do well and (has) overcome some pretty amazing obstacles recently...

"From a foot standpoint, he appears to be quite stable at this moment. He is due for a foot cast change at the end of next week and I’ll have another report for you then.

"We’re just continuing to be amazed at his progress and hope for the best."

Note to readers: Dr. Fraley will be the featured speaker at a full-day "Standards of Hoofcare" seminar co-hosted by the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and the Southern New England Farriers Association on Sunday, November 18, 2012 in North Grafton, Massachusetts. His scheduled topics include his work on laminitis.

To learn more:

Paynter Watch: Top Thoroughbred Colt Diagnosed with Post-Colitis Laminitis in New York

Fraley Equine Podiatry web site

How to apply a (plaster) cast in case of acute laminitis by Hans Castelijn

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© 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 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.

Horse Protection Act Amendment Proposed: Bans Action Devices on Tennessee Walking Horses

Tennessee Walking Horse show regulation changes proposed
in Congressional amendment to the Horse Protection Act

The following document was received from Representative Whitfield's office this afternoon and is reprinted in its entirety without editing. 

For the purposes of this document, the amendment has been reviewed. The text defines action devices as: "any boot, collar, chain, roller, or other device that encircles or is placed upon the lower extremity of the leg of a horse in such a manner that it can—(A) rotate around the leg or slide up and down the leg, so as to cause friction; or (B) strike the hoof, coronet band, fetlock joint, or pastern of the horse."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (KY-01), and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09), today introduced H.R. 6388, the Horse Protection Act Amendments of 2012. The Amendment will make changes to the Horse Protection Act of 1970, to provide additional protection to prohibit the soring of horses, an abusive practice used by some horse trainers in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry. 

“Far too often, those involved in showing the Tennessee Walking Horse have turned a blind eye to abusive trainers, or when they do take action, the penalties are so minor, it does nothing to prevent these barbaric acts,” Whitfield said. “This amendment does not cost the federal government any additional money and is essential in helping to put an end to the practice of soring Tennessee Walking Horses by abusive trainers.”

Rep. Cohen said, “In Tennessee, soring horses is illegal and unacceptable. Those responsible for abusing these horses should be punished severely and banned from the sport.  How we treat animals is a direct reflection of our character, both as individuals and a nation.  There is no ribbon, no prize nor championship worth the price of one’s humanity.”

The proposed amendment will accomplish three major goals. First, it eliminates self-policing by requiring the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to assign a licensed inspector if a Tennessee Walking Horse show management indicates its intent to hire one.  The hiring of a licensed inspector is voluntary and not a mandate.  The incentive for show management is to ensure an honest and fair show, and protect itself from liability if soring is found at the show by a USDA spot inspection.   

Second, it adds a prohibition on the use of action devices on the horse breeds that have been the victims of soring.  Action devices, such as chains that rub up and down an already-sore leg, intensify the horse’s pain when it moves, so that the horse quickly jolts up its leg.   

Lastly, the amendment increases the penalties on an individual caught soring a horse.

Horses in the Tennessee Walking Industry are known for possessing a smooth, natural gait, but in order to be successful in competitions their natural gait is often artificially exaggerated to ensure an extreme, high-stepping gait. 

Some horse exhibitors, owners, and trainers use abusive and inhumane training methods to produce the higher gait.  The abusive practices are called “soring,” which is accomplished by irritating or blistering a horse’s forelegs through the application of caustic chemicals such as mustard oil, cutting the horse’s hoof painfully short, or the use of mechanical devices to inflict pain, so that it hurts the horse to step down. 

The USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit of the Horse Protection Act Program, finding that trainers in the industry often go to great lengths to evade detection rather than comply with federal law and train horses using humane methods.

The OIG made several recommendations, including stiffer penalties and abolishing the self-policing practices currently allowed under regulations, where the Horse Industry Organizations (HIOs) are able to assign their own inspectors to horse shows.

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© 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 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.

Paynter Watch: Top Thoroughbred Colt Diagnosed with Post-Colitis Laminitis in New York

Paynter in his stall at a vet hospital near Saratoga. (Zayat Twitter photo)

You could hear a collective moan rise from the world of Thoroughbred racing today.

Paynter has laminitis.

For the past month, the racing press has been reporting on the condition of top three-year-old colt Paynter, trained by California's Bob Baffert. Paynter is owned by Zayat Racing Stable.

After winning the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in New Jersey on July 29, the colt was transferred to a New Jersey vet clinic, then released a few days later. Few details about his condition were available but it was clear that both his connections and his fans hoped to see him run in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

Paynter was sent to Belmont to recover and then moved to Saratoga, where he was reported to be in light training.

Paynter (turquoise cap) finished a game second in the Belmont Stakes in June and then went on to win the Haskell Invitational on July 29. (Mike Lizzi photo)

However, last week Paynter was admitted to the Upstate Equine Medical Center in nearby Schuylerville, New York. It was confirmed that the horse was suffering from colitis, a severe infection of the horse's digestive tract that involves extensive and debilitating diarrhea. Severe and sudden laminitis is a common side-effect of colitis in horses.

A moving tribute to the colt spontaneously erupted on Twitter as hundreds of people tweeted the mantra-like hashtag, "#PowerupPaynter" throughout the weekend.

It seemed like a miracle when, on Monday, the owners tweeted that the horse was improving.

In what might be a new trend for news gatherers in horse sports, the horse's condition has been reported via the Twitter accounts of Justin and Ahmed Zayat.

Earlier this afternoon, Justin's flying fingers tweeted, in poignant 140-character bursts:

"Unfortunately we have a very sick horse who has developed serious complications in the last 24 hours. 

"Other than fighting bravely his colitis, he continues to have diarrhea as well as his protein blood level is very low. We continue to give him plasma to help him out. His blood work continues to be good as well as his temp so on a standalone basis he is fighting bravely and hard...

"...He is developing a new issue about his veins being swollen, a disease that is called DIC which stands for 'disseminated intravascular coagulopathy'.

"...The most concerning news is as of last night he started becoming sore on his left foot and was scared to turn around and walk on it..unfortunately we only thought it was some swelling...but it has worsened because today he has been diagnosed with our nightmare scenario of laminitis.

"...It seems it is rapidly progressing after...additional x-rays of the foot and discussing with some foot experts, Dr. Laura (Javsicas) (has) found out that he has developed it in three of his four legs, which is heartbreaking. 

"...Poor Paynter, I don't know how long he can fight this out so bravely without having pain and suffering. So far (Dr. Laura) is very conscious of that and having his pain under control. 

"But we need to look at all these problems. My deep concern is that if he is a healthy horse he can fight laminitis since it is the beginning but to be a sick horse and fight all these issues all at once, it is asking for too much. 

"We need to be compassionate and merciful and treat our star with the respect and love that he deserves while giving him the best chance in fighting for his life."

The prognosis for horses suffering from colitis is grim. Acute post-colitis laminitis can be especially sudden and severe and bears little resemblance to laminitis seen in otherwise healthy horses.

Ice baths have been documented in Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit studies to prevent laminitis in horses with colitis. As described by Mark Andrews MRCVS in Equine Sciene Update, 

"One treatment that (Dr. Chris) Pollitt has shown to be effective in preventing laminitis is cryotherapy, using iced water....

"'It is important that the ice water comes up to just below the knee. If only the foot is cooled laminitis still occurs.

"'We don't yet know how long this protective effect would last. But horses with toxic colitis (which often causes laminitis) have been treated successfully with an ice-water bath. The clinicians involved believe that it has prevented laminitis.'"

Paynter appears to be wearing ice boots on his legs.

To learn more:

Laminitis: What treatment at what stage? by Dr. Chris Pollitt (sign-in required)

Pharmacy sued over horse deaths at Saratoga

Veterinary Report for Miners Frolic: European Champion Event Horse “Stable But Seriously Ill” (London Olympic silver medalist event horse Miner's Frolic survived colitis a year ago and returned to competition)

Slide show of a post-colitis laminitis case in the care of farrier Adam Whitehead

Good article explaining colitis

Brush up on equine foot anatomy with innovate 3-D animated images. Order now!

© 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 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.

Autumn Laminitis: Prepare to Prevent--Instead of Treat--Seasonal Flair-Ups of Endocrine Conditions in Horses

This is what a foot looks like after laminitis...could this damage and deformation have been prevented? In Great Britain, a study found that 43 percent of horse owners waited more than a week after suspecting laminitis before seeking veterinary intervention. (Boehringer Ingelheim photo)

If Labor Day is over, can autumn laminitis season be far behind?

This summer's drought has been relieved in some states, but many of the horses in the United States are standing in parched pastures, munching on hay, as they have been all summer. The drought put a quick end to the grazing season in many states, and horse owners have been saddled with increased hay bills.

Horse owners who grow their own hay found that they were feeding it as soon as they baled it. Second cuttings were poor in many areas. And a third cutting probably isn't even going to happen.

Fall rains usually send a dark green growth spurt up through brown pastures and with this signal comes the warning to horse owners that the fall can be just as dangerous as spring for horses to develop laminitis as they gorge on the grass.

This video from the British Veterinary Association's Animal Welfare Foundation is a quick primer on the general disease of laminitis and features veterinarian Ben Mayes, president of the British Equine Veterinary Association.

Recent research has shown us that the lush grass does not, by itself, cause laminitis. If two horses had a grazing contest, it's possible neither of them would develop laminitis no matter how much they eat.

But if one or both horses has an endocrine system vulnerable to cycling hormones that may cause laminitis when and if they are pushed, the results can be a stretched white line, hoof rings, a gimpy gait, or full-fledged laminitis.

The time to be vigilant is now, while it is still technically summer and the nights are still pretty warm. But across the country, night-time temperatures are dipping, and snow will soon be showing up on high peaks of the mountains.

Laminitis is a wholly preventable disease, and in the case of endocrine-related laminitis, it is part of a larger syndrome that indicates the horse may have a problem in the way the body processes glucose, in that the condition of insulin resistance prevents normal glucose metabolism or that circulating hormones are elevated by pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID).

Is this your perception of a horse with Cushings syndrome (PPID)? While there are still plenty of older horses with the problem out there, the obvious change in hair coat is not seen in the early-teens horses whose blood tests yield information about high levels of the pituitary hormone ACTH. (Photo © Dr. Christian Bingold, Pferdeklinik Großostheim, used with permission)

Some of the recommended management suggestions include evaluating a horse's weight and condition and stepping up the exercise for horses kept at pasture during the fall months when risk is increased.

Another simple thing that horseowners can do is get their hay tested. Some hay can have as much or even more sugar than pasture grass. Soaking hay or feeding lower calorie hay to horses with higher laminitis risk quotients may be helpful.

Additionally, horse owners can ask for help from farriers this time of year. Ask to see or photograph the horse's feet after they have been trimmed--is the white line tight or is it stretched? Are there red spots in the line? Ask the farrier if the hoof wall is smooth and healthy or if it is ridged and has "fever rings" that are telltales of some disruption in the horse's diet or metabolism in recent months.

Finally, testing a horse's ACTH levels is now recommended to be done in the fall. Boehringer Ingelheim, manufacturers of the PPID medication Prascend, has recommended that the testing for Cushing's be done in the fall, when differences in test results would be most evident.

Dr. Don Walsh of the Animal Health Foundation explains the basic tenets of laminitis prevention, including insulin resistance and Cushings syndrom (PPID) in this brief video.

Current thinking and evidence suggests that 90 percent of laminitis cases occur as a result of an underlying hormonal condition(1,2) such as Cushing’s disease (PPID) or Equine Metabolic Syndrome. With this in mind, owners - particularly those with a horse over 10 years of age - are being urged to get their horses tested for Cushing’s as soon as possible if they suspect that the horse may be suffering from laminitis, or even if it simply appears a little foot-sore.

Despite the severity of laminitis, only two-thirds of laminitis cases reported by owners in Great Britain were treated by a veterinarian (3) and, in one study, 43 percent of horse owners waited more than a week after suspecting laminitis before seeking veterinary intervention (4).

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica's data shows that one third of laminitic middle aged horses (defined as between the ages of 10 and 15 years) test positive for PPID (Cushing's)(5).

Over 3,100 horses were tested for Cushings as part of the company's Talk about Laminitis campaign in Great Britain during the spring of 2012. The pharmaceutical company is offering free testing for Cushing's in Great Britain again this fall, thanks to the Redwings Horse Sanctuary, which is providing funding.

Horse owners may have to pay for the ACTH and insulin resistance tests in the United States, but there is no price that can be put upon the peace of mind of knowing more about a horse's potential risk for laminitis.

To learn more:
Visit the Animal Health Foundation laminitis web site and watch more videos there.
Boehringer Ingelheim's "Talk About Laminitis" web site is meant for British horse owners, but most of the information is relevant worldwide; Prascend is available in the USA.
Read "Six Steps to Prevent Autumn Laminitis".
Plan to attend the Laminitis West conference in Monterey, California in November 2012.

References from the text:

1. Donaldson, M.T., Jorgensen, A.J.R and Beech, J. (2004) Evaluation of suspected pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction in horses with laminitis.  Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 224, 1123-1127.
2. Karikoski, N.P., Horn. I., McGowan. T.W. and McGowan, C.M. (2011) The prevalence of endocrinopathic laminitis among horses presented for laminitis at a first-opinion/referral equine hospital. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 41,111-117.
3. Ireland, J.L., Clegg, P.D., McGowan, C.M., McKane, S.A., Pinchbeck, G.L., 2011.  A cross-sectional study of geriatric horses in the United Kingdom Part 2: health care and disease.  Equine Veterinary Journal 43, 37-44.
4. Knowles, E.J., Withers, J.M. and Mair, T.S. (2012) Increased plasma fructosamine concentrations in laminitic horses. Equine Veterinary Journal 44, 226-229.
5. Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica. Resting ACTH results of 724 horses aged 10 to 15 years. 

Do you know your way around the inner hoof wall? This wall chart will remind you of the layers of sensitive and insensitive tissue that make up the hoof capsule. Click this text to go to the ordering page.

© 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

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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.

Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Dr. Scott Hopper: Voices from the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration

Video courtesy of NewsChannel 5;
Background: The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration is going on this week in Shelbyville, Tennessee. US Department of Agriculture veterinarians are on hand to inspect horses for evidence of "soring", the illegal practice of artificially enhancing a horse's gait. Also on hand are representatives of local organizations who are conducting their own inspections to see if they agree with the USDA results.

Dr. Stephen Mullins, president of the local inspection group SHOW, says that USDA inspectors issued five times as many citations in the first six days of this year’s Celebration as in all 11 days of last year’s, according to the Nashville newspaper, The Tennessean.

This week, a press conference was held to publicly inspect two of the horses rejected by the USDA. This is shown in the video.
On August 30, the Walking Horse Report conducted an interview with Scott Hopper, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS from Rood + Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. The Walking Horse Report has kindly agreed to allow the interview to be printed on The Hoof Blog.

Dr. Hopper was at The Celebration on the first Thursday through Sunday nights of the Celebration and will be in attendance all three championship nights.

Dr Hopper of Rood and Riddle
Equine Hospital, Lexington, KY

Dr. Hopper is a graduate of the University Wisconsin – Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, holds a Masters degree from Washington State University, is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and currently works as a surgeon and partner at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, where he is head of the Rood & Riddle Stem Cell Lab.

Q - During your inspection of the horses after they were disqualified by USDA VMOs, did you find horses that should have been allowed to show?

A – I looked at approximately 30 horses the first four nights of the Celebration and yes many of these horses should have been allowed to show. The biggest area of concern I had was with the palpation of horses and those deemed sore by USDA VMOs. Approximately 70% of those cases, I disagreed with the VMOs and found nothing wrong with those horses. My initial exam was similar to those performed by the DQPs and VMOs and I could not elicit any response. I went one step further and performed a more aggressive deep palpation of the horse’s lower limb and again I could not elicit a response. These horses should have been allowed to show.

Q – In your opinion, is the scar rule being interpreted as the “Understanding the Scar Rule” pamphlet distributed as the training manual to VMOs and the industry HIOs?

A – No it is not. The scar rule is a very subjective rule and is not being applied consistently.

Q – On those horses disqualified for scar rule violations, would you in your professional opinion, deem those horses sore?

A – A scar rule violation could be called and the horse show zero signs of soring, nor would it necessarily mean this horse had been sored in the past.

Q – Given that to be a scar rule violation the horse must show bilateral (both feet) scarring, did you see horses called out that only had unilateral (one foot) tissue change?

A – Yes, many of the horses I looked at did not have any evidence of a scar rule violation in one foot and would be questionable on the second foot

Q – Of those horses that you inspected and those you saw enter inspection, in your opinion is soring required to participate?

A – I don’t believe that horses need to be sored to perform at a high level at the Celebration. Of the horses I examined I saw no signs of abuse. If any owner or trainer believes that this is still necessary then they should be banned from the profession, because there is no place for it anymore.

The Walking Horse National Celebration attracts thousands of spectators. Photo by Stephanie Graves.

Q – Would you be a proponent of more objective testing rather than the existing subjective inspections?

A – The industry needs to do everything it can to end soring. Yes, technology should be used to implement science-based, objective testing. The current inspections are very subjective, inconsistently applied and result in many unfair disqualifications. Sound horses are the only horses that should be allowed to show; but more importantly sound training methods should be the methods used in both the barns and at the show.

Q – Would you be willing to work with reformers in the industry to help restore the proud tradition of the Tennessee Walking Horse?

A – I have worked on many walking horses at Rood & Riddle, performing surgeries and lameness exams, and I know firsthand what a wonderful breed of horse the Tennessee Walking Horse is and can be. I have volunteered to serve in a capacity to help and would be willing to help with industry reformers that have a goal of ending soring and maintaining the welfare of the Tennessee Walking Horse.

Q – Is there a problem with soring in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry?

A – There are cheaters in every sport that think they can beat the system but I have no doubt that the inspections at The Celebration are doing everything they can to catch these individuals and put an end to soring. I did not see a problem with soring during my four nights inspecting horses at The Celebration.

Q – Who contacted you about inspecting horses at The Celebration?
A – Representatives from the Tennessee Walking Show Horse Organization contacted me through a mutual friend Dr. John Bennett. They asked me to come and examine horses to get my objective opinion on what I saw in horses that were disqualified from participation.

Q – Is it possible with improper palpation of horses to have movement indicative of soring when in fact the improper palpation is the reason for the movement of the horses foot?

A – It is definitely possible to make any horse move if that is the goal. Improper palpation techniques can be used to induce movement which does not mean that the horse is sore.

Q – Are those techniques being used in inspection?

A – I cannot speak to that directly as I am not directly involved during those initial inspections, however I would say several horses disqualified for sensitivity to palpation immediately came to me and I could not get the horses to show any sign of sensitivity to palpation, even when I aggressively palpated those horses. Palpating the limbs of lame horses is what I do for a living, if a horse was sore I would know it.

Original article appeared on the Walking Horse Report web site.

The Hoof Blog hopes to also have an interview with Dr. Tracy Turner, who is at the Celebration acting as a consultant to the USDA.

© 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

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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.

Back to School Video: Motion Capture, Equine Biomechanics and the Future of Horse Sports

Qualisys demonstrated its 3D gait analysis system at the International Conference for Equine Locomotion (ICEL) at Stromsholm, Sweden this summer.

It's back to school time in the USA. And it affects all of us. Maybe it's seeing all those three-ring binders in day-glo colors in the stores. Maybe it's the traffic jam around the mall. Maybe it's seeing little kids "learning" how to wait for the school bus.

But "back to school" resonates in each and every one of us, whether we are conscious of it or not. This time of year, our thoughts turn to self-improvement. Taking a class. Getting our lives in order. Clearing out the clutter. Making a plan. Finally learning Photoshop.

Maybe, like New Year's resolutions, the plans fall apart or fade. After all, for most of us it is a case of "back to work", not "back to school".

If you're looking for a secure future in the world of hoofcare and lameness, it is likely to involve some form of gait analysis or motion capture, and it's not too far off the mark to suggest that an understanding of gait and joint mechanics is deficient in most of our resumes.

For instance, Qualisys writes,"The work was made in cooperation with equine researchers attending the conference...We set up a 60 camera system indoors and in the outdoor setting seen here we used 40-something Oqus 3+ cameras."

Yes, you read that correctly: 60 cameras for the indoor test and 40 for outdoors.

Would you have any idea what they would need 60 cameras for, what they were pointed at or what they were trying to capture?

Here's Jens Frederikson, who rode for Sweden in the jumping at the London Olympics, schooling a horse for an audience of mo-cap cameras at the stables at Stromsholm. (Qualisys photo)

A few years ago, radiographs were big, clunky sheets of film that veterinarians kept to themselves. They slid in and out of envelopes, and there was always a worry about dust and dirt and fingerprints.

Today, we take them for granted. They become part of a horse's portfolio and the ability to be at least familiar with them is assumed to be part and parcel of being a horse professional.

A data collection session at the McPhail Center, where the equine biomechanics course is held.

We are coming to a point where the same will be true of a horse's biomechanics portfolio. Maybe our horses won't be lucky enough to have 60 cameras pointed at them at once, but some mo-cap footage from somewhere may follow a young horse far into his performance career. It will be important that any and all video footage of a horse enhance his gaits and movement, not detract from them, and the horse's mo-cap files will be most critical of all.

If you're a horse professional interested in equine biomechanics, the best immersion course offered in the world will be held the first week in October at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine's McPhail Center for Equine Performance.

Dr. Hilary Clayton instructs the course

 Dr. Hilary Clayton presides over a soup-to-nuts assay of equine anatomy, gait and the intersection of the two in the field of study known as equine biomechanics. Students enjoy a casual classroom environment, hands-on access to the joints of horses, and a chance to work in the setting of one of the world's premier laboratories for equine study.

The course is under the auspices of Equinology, which offers courses all over the world for aspiring equine body workers and affiliated professionals. Admission to the course has some prerequisites and requires advance registration.

Your future could begin when you sign up for Equine Biomechanics with Dr. Hilary Clayton.

Normally, this blog is a big advocate of conferences but the buffet-table style of education offered at most conferences with a big selection of speakers and topics can become diluted. After a while, people attend conferences to hear particular speakers or to have their own chosen theories or techniques reinforced or validated by the speakers. They don't go to hear what doesn't fit their agenda.

Sometimes you need to step back from the all-you-can-eat buffet and sit down for a serious meal. You'll find that your return on investment is manyfold, and your palate may be expanded. Horse professionals have few opportunities for continuing professional education that takes them back to the classroom--and back to thinking seriously and critically about their work.

This is one of those opportunities. So if the thought of a new pencil box can still make your pulse quicken, there's a course for you--if you get organized now...and if your pencil box always had a picture of a horse on it.

About the Qualisys video: Most of us are accustomed to horses who trot, rather than pace. Both the trot and the pace are two-beat gaits, meaning that pairs of limbs strike the ground simultaneously. In most simple terms, the trot requires pairs of diagonal limbs (right front-left hind), while the pace requires pairs of limbs on the same side of the horse (right front-right hind) to extend and land simultaneously.

This video shows an Icelandic being set up for a motion capture by Qualisys, and then shows the resulting imagery. The point of the video is that the horse is demonstrating the Icelandic's ability to pace.

Studies utilizing the Pegasus limb phasing system and probably other systems as well were also front and center at ICEL 7. 

To learn more: go back and watch "Equine Biomechanics Integrated with an Icelandic Horse's Disco-Rhythm Hoofbeats by Swiss Researchers" from the University of Zurich vet school, as shown on the blog in January 2011.

Click to instantly order your copy of this beautiful anatomy education reference poster of the inner hoof wall.

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