Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Chronic Laminitis Research: Comparison of Normal vs Chronic Laminitis Horses Shows Difference in Immune, Digestive and Laminar Proteins

"Laminitis is not limited to the foot and chronic laminitis should be considered a multi-system disease" -- Steelman, Chowdhary, 2012

Chronic laminitis treatment usually focuses directly on the feet. The authors define chronic laminitis as the condition of horses who survive acute laminitis but are left with after-effects like coffin bone rotation. They state that 75% of horses with acute laminitis go on to the chronic stage, which they describe as causing permanent lameness. (file photo, courtesy of Vetmoves)

A new paper from the world of laminitis research finds that the anti-inflammatory protein apolipoprotein A-IV (APOA-IV) is raised in chronic laminitis, which suggests that the chronic form of the disease is linked to a more general inflammation, especially of the digestive system, than was previously documented.

Most research into laminitis is conducted on horses suffering from acute laminitis, usually after the ingestion of a large doses of fructans or black walnut in a controlled setting. Chronic laminitis is usually studied because of links to insulin resistance and/or equine metabolic syndrome and Cushing's disease, with minimal testing of systemic findings in horses with lameness in their feet. The focus of most chronic laminitis research is on how the endocrine system's irregular function affects the laminar tissue of the foot.

According to research published this week in the open-access journal BMC Veterinary Research, Dr Samantha Steelman and Professor Bhanu Chowdhary from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University, found 16 proteins that have different levels in the blood of horses with chronic laminitis, but which are not reflected in normal horses. They compared nine foundered horses with 30 healthy control horses collected from horses residing at the private Hoof Diagnostic and Rehabilitation Clinic in Bryan, Texas, where horses are in treatment under the direction of David Hood PhD DVM.

Horses in both groups were in good health, apart from the laminitis. Eleven of the 16 proteins measured are involved in response to wounding, coagulation and inflammation. The remaining proteins included fetuin A and B, both of which are involved in acute immune response, immunoglobin, an indicator of increased antibody levels, and most importantly APOA-IV.

Dr Steelman explained, "APOA-IV is produced by the small intestine. One of its functions is to tell the animal when it is full. It also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which might explain the raised levels of APOA-IV."

At 2011's Sixth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida, Dr. Steelman presented a poster titled, "Characterization of laminar, gastrointestinal, and immune system dysregulation in chronic equine laminitis", which was related to the research detailed in today's paper.

In the abstract accompanying her poster, she wrote that it was her team's goal to study the immune system, the gastrointestinal system, and the integumentary system (laminar tissue) using a combination of proteomics, next-generation DNA sequencing, and real time PCR, rather than to focus solely on the foot.

Steelman and Chowdhary's comparative study found interesting variations in all three systems between the laminitic and normal horses. Ultimately, their results support their hypothesis that localized laminar inflammation may be linked to systemic alterations in immune regulation, particularly in the gastrointestinal system.

Research published in BMC Veterinary Research that laminitis is linked to general inflammation, especially of the digestive system, via elevated levels of an anti-inflammatory protein that was not present in horses that do not have laminitis. Proteomics is the study of protein's presence, type and activity level in a condition. (Image courtesy of BMC Veterinary Research)

In other words: Chronic laminitis may show up most in displacement of the coffin bone, prolonged or intermittent lameness and hoof capsule deformity, but the digestive and immune systems are also affected. Most treatment of chronic laminitis currently focuses on making the feet more comfortable.

"From these data we conclude that the pathology of chronic laminitis is not limited to the foot and that chronic laminitis should be considered as a multi-system disease," was Steelman's interesting conclusion in Palm Beach. She recommended that her data be used in developing a more directed therapeutic approach as an alternative to current treatment strategies.

To learn more: Increased Plasma proteomics shows an elevation of the anti-inflammatory protein APOA-IV in chronic equine laminitis by Samantha M Steelman and Bhanu P Chowdhary. (full paper, free download) in the journal BMC Veterinary Research, an open access, peer-reviewed journal.

Dr. Steelman is curator of the Equine Tissue Sharing Program at Texas A&M.

Dr Chowdhary is an expert on equine genetics and also collaborates on research at the Laminitis Institute at PennVet's New Bolton Center, where he collaborates with Drs. Hannah Galantino-Homer and Chris Pollitt.

Dr. David Hood Launches the Hoof Diagnostic and Rehabilitation Clinic in Texas

© 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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Monday, September 24, 2012

AVMA Statement in Support of USDA's Efforts to End Soring

The following text is published as provided by the American Veterinary Medical Association in a press release:

Sole bruising (pink/red discoloration) from possible pressure shoeing. Courtesy of USDA

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. --The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) issued the following statement in support of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) ongoing efforts to end the inhumane practice of soring.

"The American Veterinary Medical Association appreciates ongoing efforts by the United States Department of Agriculture's Horse Protection Program to keep its stakeholders informed regarding enforcement activities associated with the Horse Protection Act (HPA), including the recent posting of preliminary inspection results for the 2012 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration.

"Inspection results, when compared over time, can be an important measure of progress in achieving the goal of eliminating the inhumane practices associated with soring of horses. Unfortunately, these statistics from the 2012 Celebration reaffirm that soring remains prevalent in the industry more than 40 years after passage of the HPA. A violation rate of close to 10% is symptomatic of an industry that continues, decade after decade, to fail in its responsibilities to protect the welfare of these horses.

"Representatives of the AVMA attended the 2012 Celebration and observed enforcement activities in the inspection area. They found the USDA veterinary medical officers conducting inspections to be skilled and professional in the conduct of their activities. And, in contrast to allegations of selective enforcement at this year's Celebration that have been levied by some of those in the industry, congruence between violation rates for 2011 (9.5%) and 2012 (9.0%) suggests the USDA's approach to enforcement is consistent. Consistency among results provides further evidence that abuse within the Walking Horse industry is a systemic problem, not an isolated one.

"The AVMA urges the USDA to actively and effectively enforce the HPA while the agency continues to search for improved detection methods. Ultimately, the AVMA believes that elimination of action devices and the so-called performance packages from the show ring would be the most timely and effective way to stop this inhumane practice."

For more information about the AVMA and its programs, please visit www.avma.org.

Soring: Unethical and Illegal (AVMA Fact Sheet) (download)

Click to go to ordering page for full details; 3-D hoof anatomy educational software

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University of Tennessee Equine Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Center Rises in Knoxville

News broadcast from WBIR-TV in Knoxville previews the new equine orthopedic and rehabilitation center at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.

The University of Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine is growing. The well-established vet school on the UT campus in Knoxville expects to open an ambitious new 85,000 square foot veterinary medicine center by February 2013.

The equine hospital is the jewel of the campus's new crown, and will be next door to an impressive equine lameness diagnosis and rehabilitation facility, which is about twice its size.

Within the new campus of the Equine and Large Animal Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, an Orthopedic Diagnostic Center is nearing completion, as featured on the video. It is a state-of-the art imaging center with spiral CT scan capabilities for large and small animals, and new space for the vet school's ambulatory field service.

The new veterinary center at the University of Tennessee features the new equine lameness diagnosis and rehabilitation facility, shown in this drawing as the building at far right

New facilities require funds, and the new construction is expected to cost $20.9 million. If you'd like to be part of it, the university is offering naming rights to departments in exchange for donations. If you'd like to be known eternally in Knoxville, the farrier services unit can bear your name for just $150,000. A stall in the equine ICU looks like quite a bargain at just $15,000. Then again, for a $4 million donation, your name will be on the marquee of the Equine Orthopedic Diagnostic and Rehabilitation Center.

UT has always been recognized for its research and treatment of equine lameness, including laminitis, and rehabilitation. This is an older promotion video for the vet school. Notice that they promote their farrier's journeyman status. Dudley Hurst is shown rasping a hoof wall in the video.

You can keep an eye on the construction and watch the progress; the university web site posts a high-definition photo of the construction every hour.

Click for full page information on contents and ordering information.

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Sunday, September 23, 2012

Equine Gait Analysis: The Ghost of Muybridge's Racehorse Gallops Again

A vaguely-familiar and yet ghostly horse and rider gallop through the streets of Palo Alto, California in this trailer for next week's Palo Alto International Film Festival. Why this particular horse and rider? Because Stephen Jobs wasn't the first genius to live in Silicon Valley. The first one made his mark with horses' hooves.

Legend has it that it all started on a bet.

The year was 1878. A wealthy industrialist named Leland Stanford believed that there is a point in a horse's gallop when all four hooves leave the ground.

His opponents called him mad. Artists and sculptors argued that time does not stop and even if it did, how could something as heavy as a horse defy gravity?

They believed that one foot had to stay in touch with the planet at all points in the horse's stride. Horses didn't fly.

But how could you prove it? Or disprove it?

A funny thing happened on the way to proving what happens to horses' hooves when they gallop. From the pudding of that proof that resulted, the motion picture industry was born.

Equine gait analysis was born in Palo
Alto, California in 1878.

To prove he was right, Stanford imported English photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who had been experimenting with making the mechanism we now know as the camera shutter.

Back at that time, every photo required a long exposure, which is why you often see blurred photos. Cameras had no shutters. The photographer merely removed the lens cap and replaced it when enough light had entered to expose the sensitive plate. If you were posing for a portrait you had better hold your breath.

And galloping horses? Trotting horses? Their legs were just a blur in old photos, and even the word's finest painters had it all wrong when they depicted horse limbs at different gaits.

Muybridge set out to use science to prove that Stanford was correct. He set up twelve cameras connected to trip wires that crossed the horse's trajectory. Muybridge was anything but an overnight success with this method: he and Stanford struggled with experiments for five years until they mastered the method of stopping motion.

But they still had to be able to stop it in just the right phase of the stride in order to prove their point.

On the day of reckoning, horse racing fans and the curious press assembled at Stanford's Palo Alto Stock Farm in Palo Alto, California to see what Muybridge's results would be.

The series that made history that day was captured of a trotter hitched to a two-wheeled cart; the suspension phase of the trot was clearly illustrated.

All four of the horse’s hooves were off the ground at the same time. Victory was Stanford's.

Watch a horse gallop. Is it any wonder it took thousands of years for someone (and science) to figure it out? This is a still from the video of Occident.

It was a trotter that day but the galloping racehorse is the image most closely identified with Muybridge.

It sounds obvious to us today, but it was not obvious back then. Muybridge's flying hooves were the first recorded movement in visual history.

Studying Muybridge is something that film history students do. Equine gait analysis students do it, too. Animation students still use his frames as blank canvases for their own horses. The galloping horse and its flying hooves have become an icon.

And this week, their ghost gallops through Palo Alto again.

Note: the special trailer for the film festival was made with the assistance of French animators who would like viewers to know that there was no post-production involved.

To learn more:
June 15, 1878: Muybridge Horses Around With Motion Pictures (Wired Magazine)
Muybridge animal locomotion collection at the University of Pennsylvania

Click to go to order page and PayPal link. We'd love to send you this poster.

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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Paynter Watch: How Is Post-Colitis Laminitis Different from Common Chronic Laminitis?

TVG interview with champion Thoroughbred Paynter's owner Ahmed Zayat of Zayat Racing, taped the morning of September 19, 2012, explains the timeline of Paynter's illness and suggests the severity of the colt's illness.

All types of laminitis are similar in two ways: First, the epithelial cell system in the foot’s interlaminar zone is damaged.

Second, that damage causes horses great pain. The common analogy of standing and bearing weight on a ripped toenail is an apt one.

But the most common types of laminitis are rooted in the horse’s endocrine (hormone-producing) system.

Hormonal imbalances are aggravated by environment, diet, exercise and seasons. Damage to the laminar junction may be slow but steady, with varying intensity.

With this type, horse owners are stunned when told their horses have laminitis...and that they have had it for months or even years. It just didn’t cause enough pain for the horse to be noticeably lame.

The farrier may have noticed a stretched white line or hoof wall ridges, or that a normally-quiet horse is irritable while being shod. The rider might have thought the horse wasn’t as free-striding as he once was.

A horse that once was hard to catch is suddenly an easy catch. But the owners don't sense that these horses are lame--until they are. Then the subtle signs and the loss of performance start to make sense.

How can this be?

B0005542 Human HeLa cancer cell, apoptosis

The progressive stages of programmed cell death, or apoptosis, in a human cancer cell. (Image courtesy of Wellcome Images library)

Cellular death in endocrine-related laminitis is by the process known as apoptosis. Cells in the lamininar zone are under assault. Some may contract and die. Some may stretch and deform. Some may be unaffected and remain attached. One by one, the cells die.

The horse is more lame one day, less lame the next. The blood supply may be disrupted and the diseased hoof grows abnormally and loses its form. As the seasons change, the horse is better, or worse. Low-grade chronic laminitis can go on and on for months or years.

Another form of cell death is seen in the horse that has received a severe insult to its body’s system from the inflammation, shock and dehydration of colitis. Instead of the drip-by-drip influx of insulting factors into the foot, a flood arrives and the result is the traumatic cell die-off process known as necrosis.

Apoptosis and necrosis are flip sides of the coin of cellular death. Both are associated with the process known as laminitis, but one is a systematic death of cells, while the other is swift and deadly and immediate. One text described apoptosis as cellular suicide, and necrosis as cellular homicide.

The recent case of top three-year-old colt Paynter has been captivating the racing world. Paynter has been in a veterinary hospital in upstate New York near Saratoga since Labor Day weekend. His condition has improved but his owner reports persistent fever and diarrhea bouts, and the colt was diagnosed with laminitis in three of his four feet.

Equine podiatry specialist Dr. Bryan Fraley from Lexington, Kentucky went to New York to work on the horse; his feet are now in casts, which have been reported to be successful. Reports after the first week were that there was no rotation or sinking in the feet. The casts are due to be changed later this week.

Many of us have been there...and done that, when it comes to watching a horse struggle with the severe colitis and resulting dehydration of colitis. Too many of us have lost horses swiftly and tragically in the days following a successful survival--not to colitis, but to the severe laminitis that so often follows.

What is colitis?

Colitis: inflammation of the colon, usually due to infection. Diarrhea, colic pain and rapidly progressing dehydration are usually the result. Treatment focuses on relieving symptoms and preventing dehydration and shock while identifying and treating the underlying cause, if possible. (Definition: American Association of Equine Practitioners)

To understand colitis-related laminitis better, we turned to David Hood DVM, PhD of The Hoof Diagnostic and Rehabilitation Clinic, a laminitis research and treatment center outside College Station, Texas.

Dr David Hood during a panel discussion at the Sixth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in 2011. (Dick Booth photo)

One of the world's most highly respected laminitis researchers, Dr. Hood’s focus is on understanding the process of laminitis and, in particular, how the foot tissue is damaged by the disease.

Dr. Hood explained that the difference between apoptosis and necrosis is central to understanding why a horse has such a sudden and devastating form of laminitis after colitis--and why the laminitis doesn’t occur until the diarrhea has stopped.

Dr. Hood mentioned that the chief culprit in colitis is that the horse goes into shock. In response to the inflammation in the bowel caused by colitis, the horse’s system demands that a large volume of fluid be pulled out of cells all over the body. It is pumped to the bowel to replace the fluid lost there but, as a result, the circulatory system is left with a deficit of fluid.

When treated by a veterinarian, the sick horse will receive lifesaving intravenous fluids. The circulation is refueled or rehydrated. But that is the cue for laminitis to begin.

plastination of chronic laminitis limb/plastinate.com

This plastination specimen illustrates
chronic laminitis and typical hoof
capsule deformity.

As you can imagine, the dehydrated body system is shocked by the massive and sudden rehydration, which is necessary to counter the loss of body fluid through the diarrhea, but still a shock to the system. The reperfusion of the cells with the fresh fluid is connected to necrosis, or a sudden traumatic death of cells within the laminar interface of the horse’s foot.

It is in the reperfusion stage that necrosis in the foot tissue takes place. This is why the onset of laminitis seems to follow the diarhhea in the medical timeline of the disease.

Not only is laminitis by necrosis sudden and traumatic, the cellular death in the laminar zone causes a collapse of the foot’s ability to support the weakened horse, and severe pain is obvious and extreme.

“By the time you see that it has happened, there’s not much to do except start rehabiliation,” Dr. Hood commented. “It’s like a patient who just had a heart attack: the damage is done, and the patient’s prognosis depends on how much damage was done.”

Dr. Hood noted that post-colitis laminitis is also very different from the third form of laminitis, known as "support-limb" laminitis. “That’s also a slow onset,” he remarked. “And the cellular death is not necessarily necrosis. The foot is almost anesthetized while the horse is standing continually on it. It’s not until the blood flow comes back that the horse begins to show signs of pain.”

Do post-colitis cases tend to demonstrate sinker syndrome rather than the rotation type of coffin bone detachment seen in typical laminitis? “It all depends,” Dr. Hood said, “on the amount of damage and the percent of lamina that have experienced acute necrosis.”

Endotoxin has been implicated as a factor in post-colitis lamintiis but Dr. Hood discounted it. “Research data indicate that while endotoxin can make a horse sick and can cause shock,” he stressed. “it--alone--does not induce laminitis.”

Are there facts that are known about colitis in horses? Dr. Hood agreed that much is known about post-colitis laminitis and fired off a quick list: horses do survive it. It’s a painful condition. It’s hard to control. Horses undergo rapid and radical damage to their feet. There are different varieties. Rehabilitation of damaged hooves after colitis can take months or even years. The more the foot is damaged, the harder it is to fully rehabilitate the foot.

In endocrine-related laminitis, on the other hand, Dr. Hood said the situation is reversed. The feet are relatively easy to treat. It’s the disease condition that is difficult.

Laminitis, in any of its forms, is a medical emergency and a critical juncture in a horse's medical history and athletic potential.

We all hope that Paynter will continue to successfully fight both colitis and laminitis.

Thanks to Dr. Hood for his time and expertise in sharing and preparing information for this article. Plastination specimen courtesy of Christoph von Horst, DVM PhD.

To learn more:

Dr. David Hood Launches the Hoof Diagnostic and Rehabilitation Clinic in Texas
Paynter Watch: Top Thoroughbred Colt Diagnosed with Post-Colitis Laminitis in New York
Paynter Laminitis Watch: Podiatry-Vet Fraley Amazed at Progress Since Hoof Casts Applied

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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Jackie McConnell Sentence: Probation and Fine for Tennessee Walking Horse Soring Abuse Captured on Undercover Video

Jackie McConnell was not allowed on the grounds of the 2012 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration earlier this month. This horse, Walk Time Charlie from North Carolina, was the judge's pick for World Champion. If some lawmakers have their way, he may be the last world champion to be shod this way. (Randall R. Saxton photo)

By now, everyone knows who Jackie McConnell is.

McConnell was videotaped beating a Tennessee Walking horse on an undercover video. The video portrayed McConnell as a vicious horse trainer who demonstrated many of the heinous crimes against horses that had been at the center of rumors about the treatment of Walking horses for decades.

The American public saw it for themselves when the video was shown by ABC News last spring.

A federal court in Tennessee found McConnell guilty of violating the Horse Protection Act and the trainer appeared in court today for sentencing.

While the judge could have sentenced the former trainer to five years in prison, he instead sentenced McConnell to three years' probation and a fine of $75,000. According to the Chattanoogan newspaper, the court gave McConnell nine months to raise the money to pay the fine and his horse trailer, seized during the investigation, will not be returned.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that McConnell cried as he read a statement saying that he takes responsibility for what he did. His two associates--including horseshoer Joe Abernathy--received probation terms of one year each.

Abernathy claimed that he was not involved in soring horses but was transporting horses for McConnell. He told the Chattanoogan, "I do feel remorse and this will make me a better person in the end."

The three pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to violate the Horse Protection Act. According to the Walking Horse Report, McConnell pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Horse Protection Act. All other charges in the original 52-count indictment were dropped under the plea agreement.

Keith Dane, director of equine protection for The Humane Society of the United States, issued the following statement after the sentencing:

“Like many others in the Tennessee walking horse industry, Jackie McConnell has a long history of abusing horses for the sake of a blue ribbon and the profits that go along with it. He and his associates were caught on tape using painful chemicals on horses’ legs, and whipping, kicking and shocking them in the face—all to force them to perform the unnatural 'Big Lick' gait in competitions.

"The Humane Society of the United States is grateful that the U.S. Attorney took on this important case and sent a message that soring will not be tolerated. It was our hope that McConnell would do prison time for these terrible crimes, but there are gaps in the federal law that need to be strengthened.”

According to HSUS, McConnell and two others are also scheduled to appear in court later this month to face 31 counts of violating Tennessee’s state animal cruelty statute.

Public outrage over the McConnell video has led to renewed activism by lawmakers to strengthen the federal Horse Protection Act; the state of Tennessee has also expanded its animal welfare laws to include soring as a criminal act.

On the federal level, H.R. 6388, the Horse Protection Act Amendments of 2012, co-sponsored by Reps. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Jim Moran, D-Va., has been introduced to Congress with the aim of ending the failed system of industry self-policing, ban the use of certain devices associated with soring, strengthen penalties, and hold accountable all those involved in this cruel practice.

Thanks for great reporting to the Humane Society of the United States, The Walking Horse Report, The Tennessean, The Chattanoogan, and the Chattanooga Times Free Press from Tennessee today.

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