Aug 2, 2016 | Farriers, Hoof Care, Infections, White Line Disease
Tuesdays with Tony – White Line Disease
It seems there has been an awful lot of something called White Line around here lately. I decided if there was going to be a bunch of it, I was going to learn about it. As it happens, we had one of these horses come in to the Clinic to have his feet worked on, so I got first-hand experience.
This horse was seen by our Docs for a Wellness visit. Small shameless plug for our Wellness Program: It’s everything your horse needs for the year, it has built in discounts, there’s no emergency fee if you are on the Plan, there’s an awesome Kentucky Derby Party, and we take care of all the remembering of what needs to be done. I really don’t understand why everyone who has a horse isn’t on one of our Wellness Plans. Anyway, back to what we were talking about… While there, they examined him for a right front lameness. As with all lameness evaluations, the exam started at the foot. This guy had a whole flap of hoof wall that wasn’t attached! I have now learned this is a tell-tale sign that you’ve got White Line. Yes, I did purposefully make that rhyme. It’s called a Cat-ch Phrase!
I started my adventure by assisting with x-ray set up. I find there is no better resting place than atop a keyboard on a computer. Turns out the humans don’t like it much, but we compromised and I was allowed to observe from an adjacent table as long as I agreed not to touch the x-ray computer. They get sooo protective of their stuff. We started our work on this horse with an x-ray of the front feet. X-rays let our Docs and Shawn (the farrier) get an idea how much White Line Disease is present before they bring out the nippers, knives, and rasps. The x-ray also shows if there are any other problems going on, such as founder. I learned White Line can so compromise the structural integrity of the foot that founder starts. Scary stuff. I know from years of managing this Clinic that founder is very hard on horses. Turns out this guy had a little bit of a change to the bones in his leg and foot. The Docs and Shawn explained to me this wasn’t because of founder (looked the same to me) but was because this horse had something called a Club Foot.
The x-rays led to a lively discussion on the causes of White Line Disease. Apparently fungi and bacteria can be cultured from the nasty, chalky stuff that builds up under the loose hoof wall, but that’s not the heart of the problem. Physics is the real problem. The fungi and bacteria under there are just taking advantage of hoof wall that is being pulled away from the foot. Almost always, that hoof wall is being pulled away because the hoof has bad conformation or it has been trimmed/shod poorly. Usually the break-over is way too far in front of where it should be, which causes pull on the hoof wall with every step. That pull opens up tiny cracks where bugs can grow. The bugs then harm the hoof wall allowing it to open even more, which lets the bugs multiply. As you can see, it’s a vicious circle. Check here for more information on the physics of feet: http://springhillequine.com/part-1-everything-you-ever-want-to-know-about-your-horses-feet
What’s a cat to do? Let the air in and fix the physics. We’ll delegate the task out to fix the physics. I’m not one for physics. I lean more towards business management. Step one on White Line cases is to take off all that hoof wall that isn’t attached. The bugs hate fresh air. Take off the hoof wall, and they get more air than they can stand. Off to bacteria/fungi heaven they go. Next a shoe is put on that addresses any of those pesky physics problems.
Voila! The worst of it is done. At home the humans just have to make sure the foot stays clean. They can do this by hosing the foot off, brushing with a wire brush (gently), and the occasional squirt of hydrogen peroxide (not too often, that is some powerful stuff). The hardest part is time. The horse will now need time for the hoof to grow out and heal. Humans just don’t do patience well. I recommend a good nap in a sunny spot. It does wonders for my patience.
With all this talk about feet, I’m off to give myself a nice pedicure on the scratching post. I think I will follow that with some patience practice.
-Tony
Jul 26, 2016 | Competition Horses, Joint injections
Tuesdays with Tony – Joint Injections
This week I’m going to continue my foray into the athletic world. I figure once I’m on a roll, I may as well continue. This athletic thing is a fascinating topic I knew nothing about. Sleeping: now there’s a topic I am an expert on! Anyway, I have learned a ton watching Dr. Lacher and Dr. Vurgason work on these athletic horses. Lameness or poor performance seems to be a topic that comes up a lot. Personally, I think horses have not trained their humans well. No one talks about my “poor performance.”
Lameness appears to come in two categories as far as this cat can tell. There is the ‘trot them around and, yep, there it is on such and such leg’. Then there is the ‘my horse just isn’t doing right.’ This is also known as ADR (ain’t doin’ right). For the first kind the Docs perform nerve blocks to numb specific areas. Once the horse improves, they know the approximate area to look for the problem. Then they can pull out the x-rays and the ultrasounds to see what’s going on.
ADR lameness is more difficult. These will often require watching the horse perform under saddle. Sometimes, the lameness can only be seen when the horse is doing its job. I’m not sure what a job is, but it seems to involve work. A good video of the problem will often help the Docs out a lot. It seems some horses only have an issue if they are at something called a horse show. I have heard there is a similar problem with cars and mechanics.
All goes great, and the Docs are able to isolate a problem. Now what? Often the answer is an injection of an offending joint. What does that even mean? Never fear, I put my investigative hat on to find an answer. Turns out the answer is both simple and complicated all at the same time. There will be a serious nap after this blog. It has taxed my brain.
The simple part: a joint injection is injecting stuff into a joint. The complicated part: why and with what.
I assumed (you know what they say about assuming) that joints got injected because of arthritis. Turns out that is true in older horses. In younger horses, joints are injected to reduce inflammation from injuries and reduce soreness from training. It is very important to know why you are injecting a joint. If it is to help with an injury, then rest has to happen too. If it is soreness, it may be necessary to back down on the work for a few days. Arthritic horses can, and need to, go back to work as soon as possible. Why and what joint are very important for the future. Hocks can be injected for the competitive career of the horse. Every other joint that gets injected is at a cost to the long term health of that joint. Our Docs are always evaluating if that cost is worth it. For example, if the joint has inflammation that is harming the cartilage, then injecting it will cause less harm than leaving that inflammation in there.
Now for the what. Joints are usually injected with a combination of steroids, a lubricant, and some antibiotics. The steroid is chosen based on how much motion the joint does. For example, the fetlock does a whole lot of moving compared to the sacroiliac joint. Steroids are also chosen based on how friendly they are to cartilage, the lining of the joint, and any nearby important things like muscles. This means a different steroid is used in the stifle, than in the fetlock or the hock. The lubricant is almost always a high molecular weight hyaluronic acid. That is a fancy way of saying really gooey stuff. Sometimes the Docs will use Adequan, but that is reserved for the really bad joints. Last thing that goes in there is a bit of antibiotics. Joints do not handle bacteria well, so the antibiotics are there as a preventative. Our Docs are also super picky about scrubbing the area where the needle is going in to be sure it is really, really clean. Lastly, for those joints that are in really big trouble, our Docs go to what they call the “big guns.” These are called IRAP, PRP, and stem cells. They tell me these injections target the inflammation one step higher than steroids. They are pricey, but they do a very good job with minimal side effects.
Whew, that was a lot to say, and I only scratched the surface (pun intended). Joint injections are complicated and have a lot of factors involved. Want to know more? Ask away in the comments or check in with our Docs next time you see them. For now, I am off for a bite of food and a good nap. I haven’t had either for at least an hour.
Jun 21, 2016 | Athleticism, Farriers, Hoof Care, Lameness
This weekend I learned why I am best suited to my supervisory role here at the clinic. I monitored while Dr. Lacher worked closely with a farrier to determine the best treatment for a horse with a bunch of issues in her feet. I marveled at the way in which they worked as a team, batted around each other’s ideas, and came up with solutions that addressed all the issues. It was like watching TV in a foreign language. As a cat, I am not a team player. Heck, Teannie and I can barely get along. Turns out you need a team to manage your horse. High performance, senior, or just for fun. All horses seem to require a team. Not cats. We only require staff that will jump at our every request. I feel I have trained my minions well.
Anyway, Teamwork. Turns out teamwork is very important for performance horses. There is often a trainer, owner, veterinarian, and farrier at the very least. Trainers and owners need to feel comfortable talking to their veterinarian and farrier about how the horse is performing. It may be something as minor as a lift of the head in a transition one way, but not the other. Based on a trainer’s description of the problem, our Dr. Lacher will put her detective hat on and start investigating. Dr. Lacher uses her 30+ years of horse experience alongside her veterinary knowledge to help track down the source of pain. (We won’t tell her I talked about her 30+ years)
Treatment and rehab come next on the list. Again, teamwork is critical. I really don’t understand why there has to be all this teamwork. I would just impose my will; no questions allowed. Veterinarians today have a wide variety of therapies available. Joint injections with steroids are the most common treatment used. Problem is, those steroids come with some side effects. Hocks handle those side effects well, and can be repeatedly injected. However, every other joint doesn’t. Every steroid injection takes a little tiny bit off the end of a horse’s career. This means careful discussion with everyone involved to determine if injections will help the horse get better faster and cause less damage than the injury they have. Maybe some of the new, crazy advanced therapies like stem cells and platelet rich plasma should be used instead. Maybe rest and targeted exercises should be used. All of that has to be talked about and factored in. With all this talking, I’m going to need more nap time. And more food.
One of the biggest collaborations happens between our Docs and farriers. With the utterly ridiculous design horses have for feet, they need constant attention. Lots of horses need special shoeing to keep those feet comfortable or to help them heal from an injury. Our Docs use radiographs (x-rays) to help farriers line up their shoes perfectly. There is also a whole lot of discussion that goes on about what the Docs have found out from their exam and what the farriers think. There’s always tons of communication going on. I try to make sure I am nearby to assist with this process.
It can be a challenge to determine the best, right thing for these crazy horses sometimes. Making sure you have a winning team sure makes it easier. Until next week.
May 10, 2016 | Competition Horses, Events, Exercise, Leg issues
This past weekend was my opportunity to thank a select group of my fans: Our Wellness Plan Participants. Every year, on the first Saturday in May, we gather around a shrine called a TV to watch some horses run around in a large circle to the left. There is much fanfare, wearing of some very strange hats, good food, good times, and adoration of Tony. After all the partying died down, I hit the computer on our new faster internet connection and researched this crazy thing called Thoroughbred racing.
As someone who is not very fond of exercise, I found this running thing a bit much. When I found out these horses are only three years old, I thought that seemed like a bad plan. Then a rare thing happened: I was wrong. It doesn’t happen often in the cat world, but if you felt a shudder of the earth, or a sudden chill on Saturday evening around 10pm, that was a cat being wrong. I found numerous well-designed research papers on the influence of early exercise in thoroughbred racehorses. Training as a two year old was directly correlated with a longer career as a racehorse. The horses didn’t necessarily have to race, just being in race training was enough to cause a positive effect. Based on my research, this effect is due to remodeling of lots of structures in the leg due to exercise. The cannon bone, tendons, and ligaments were all found to be stronger when exercise was started at 2 years as opposed to 3 years. In fact, there are studies which show that exercise started as early as 21 days of age didn’t cause developmental issues. I will say that these horses were exercised under very exacting schedules designed to allow the tendons, ligaments, and bone to adapt. Another aspect I found interesting was that the comparison group of foals were allowed free range pasture access. This wasn’t standing in a stall compared to exercising. This was turnout compared to exercising. Made this cat think….
While researching the young horse exercise thing, I found a lot of discussions about racehorses breaking those ridiculously-designed legs they run on. I mean, who designed the “run fast on four sticks” system? Just by its very nature it is bound to break sometimes. I did find out that there are some very interesting reasons racehorses break their legs the way they do and learned about research by veterinarians to try to prevent these fractures. One of the biggest issues trainers, riders, and veterinarians face is the horse’s love of the job. Unlike cats, especially black ones named Tony, horses love to run and do a very bad job recognizing pain when running around a racetrack with eight to ten friends. This means that if the leg starts to fail while the horse is running they are unlikely to demonstrate a lameness or give the jockey any indication of a problem until the leg actually fails. So, veterinarians are working to use standing MRI, CT scans, bone density scanning, x-rays to assess joint geometry, and ultrasound to try to identify early changes in bone and tendon that indicate a problem is coming. There are also programs in many States that perform in-depth post mortem exams on any horse who suffers from one of these serious injuries. As a difficult-to-impress cat, I was impressed by the level of dedication the racing industry has to keeping the horses safe!
Coolest fact I learned while playing on the internet: During each stride a racehorse takes the heart beats once and they take one breath. Here’s how it goes down: front leg of the lead they are on hits the ground, intestines push forward on the diaphragm, this pressure collapses the lungs causing a breath out, and compresses the heart. As the weight is transferred back to the hind end, the intestines slide back, opening the lungs, and allowing the heart to expand and fill with blood. How amazing is that?!?!!?
It may be difficult to admit but I have a little more respect for the athleticism of horses. I have lost a bit of respect for my staff around here after all those funny hats, but since they provide food I will keep them around. Until next week, may your litter box be clean and your food bowl overflowing.
May 3, 2016 | Heat, Sweating/ Not sweating
Summertime, and the livin’ is easy (if you’re a cat)! I do love summer. I lounge around in the A/C, sleep on the porch bench in the shade, work on my tan in the parking lot. It’s a good time. Of course, life is always good when you are a cat. Now if you are a horse it’s a whole different story. I hear horses have to do this thing called sweating. It sounds dreadful. Not only do they get hot and stinky, it happens because they are working for you humans.
Sweating is one of the reasons horses are amazing athletes. Let me be clear here, cats are better, but horses are still pretty good. Sweating comes at a price though. Sweating causes a profound loss of electrolytes and water. Horses have to have a way to replace those losses or trouble comes fast. Horse sweat is different than human sweat in a few ways. First, it has a different electrolyte make up. Horse sweat is made up of potassium, sodium, and chloride, in that order. Human sweat is sodium, potassium, chloride. Small amounts of calcium and magnesium are also present in sweat. This means electrolyte supplements for horses need higher potassium concentrations than those for humans. It also means that while Gatorade tastes delicious, it is not an appropriate electrolyte replacement for horses.
Next, have you ever wondered why your horse lathers when he sweats, but you don’t? That is because horses have a protein called latherin in their sweat. I sometimes marvel at human scientists. You named it latherin. Seriously, couldn’t come up with something more original than latherin? Turns out latherin has a very important job. This protein helps the sweat move from the skin, though the hair, and out to the surface where it can evaporate as quickly as possible. Since humans aren’t lucky enough to have fur, they don’t need latherin.
Because horses have to be weird, some of them decide to stop sweating. This is known as anhidrosis. Anhidrosis happens when heat and humidity hits a certain level. Here in Florida we experience lots of heat and lots of humidity. So if it’s July, you are out riding, and your horse isn’t sweating, get them back to the barn and hose them down quickly. The brilliant human scientists aren’t sure why this happens but there are several products out there that help some horses. I would recommend talking with our Docs about treatment options. Management is really important with these guys. They adopt a cat-like attitude about life. They want to be in front of fans at all times and only work in the coolest parts of the day. Unlike yours truly, frequent hose downs will help them stay cool.
While I have no desire to experience this sweating thing myself, it is pretty amazing from a purely cat-curiosity standpoint. And as a cat, I know quite a bit about curiosity. To help your horse deal with all that sweat, be sure they are drinking and replacing electrolytes. Know what is normal for your horse and be ready to stop exercising if something seems off. And most important, if in doubt, take a nap on the porch.
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