We are very excited to start seeing our Wellness patients (new and old!) for their first visits! In addition, the staff, in particularly Dr. King, is ecstatic to be coming into breeding season.  She is ready for sleepless nights, bouncing foals, and the reward of pregnancy (for the mare)!! The year of 2012 promises to bring many exciting events for Springhill, continuing our old traditions, refining our current favorites, and adding new features to our packages and services. We can’t wait to see what new faces and old come through our doors this year!

The year of 2011 was a great one for Springhill as well, despite a rocky ending. An overall successful breeding season ended with the addition of Dr. King and our technician Danielle. Our other technician, Amber, moved into our office manager position, and has done a great job as our clinic crusader – along with our staff handling everything from answering your calls, preparing medications, and keeping your reminder cards coming! Our current team was complete with the addition of Michelle, who has worked for a long standing Springhill client for many, many years!  The overall excitement of the Springhill team, however, was sadly dashed to the ground in November when a tragic attack left me crippled for the remainder of the year. Hopefully the morale of the group will peak up a bit after my cast is removed in 2012.

Thanks for being loyal readers of my blog in 2011, and please help me come up with ideas of what you want to read about in 2012!  Feel free to email blog ideas to the clinic, vets@springhillequine.com.  I’m feeling quite comatose from all these cookies that you have been bringing by the office (THANK YOU!!!!!) – so I think I am going to tuck in for a warm winter’s nap and hibernate until 2012!!  May your litter box be clean until then, and your food bowl be exceptionally, holiday full!  See you next year!

Happy Thanksgiving from the counter top!!  I hope everyone had too much to eat.  I got a plate of leftovers from Dr. Lacher and boy they were good.  My broken foot is coming along well.  I have a recheck visit Tuesday to get my splint redone.  In the meantime I feel much better when my tummy is rubbed followed by treats in case you should stop by the office this week, hint…hint…Anyway on to the topic at hand this week:  Laminitis

Dr. Lacher and Shawn Jackson recently attended the Laminitis Symposium in Palm Beach.

We will start with new therapies.  There was lively discussion regarding Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) and Stem Cells.  There was some excellent work showing Stem Cells to be a potentially effective part of therapy for the worst type of laminitis known as sinking.  This typically occurs in very sick horses.  This form of laminitis involves failure of the lamina around the entire hoof.  Stem Cells were one component of aggressive therapy and it is important to note success rates were still only around 40%.  Other treatments used alongside stem cells included very specific trimming methods based on x-rays of the hoof and full hoof casts.  PRP was also discussed as a therapy for laminitis both early in the disease and in older, chronic cases.  PRP is thought to provide the framework for a horse’s own stem cells to settle on.  PRP also releases signals which call stem cells to the area.

Foot casts were also talked about as a way to support the chronic laminitis horse.  In fact, Dr. Lacher has already placed them on one horse.  They allow us to fully support the foot and transfer weight to the fetlock.   Chronic laminitis is always about trying to get the foot to grow out, supporting the hoof and keeping infections at bay.  This leaves the infection part to deal with.  Maggots are excellent for use as a therapy in this area.  Dr. Lacher has used medical maggots for this purpose before and learned several new uses while attending the conference.  One case used maggots to treat a deep puncture wound from a nail!

Many of the laminitis cases we see are because our horses have a metabolic disorder such as Cushing’s or Equine Metabolic Syndrome (also known as Insulin Resistance).  Dr. Nicholas Frank, a leading researcher in this area, talked about his experience managing a herd of affected horses.  One of the biggest things he learned was that horses with Equine Metabolic Syndrome are MUCH more susceptible to Cushing’s disease at younger ages than normal horses.  He found Cushing’s in horses as young as 12 years!!  Dr. Frank believes this is secondary to oxidative changes or perhaps insulin stimulating overgrowth in the pituitary gland.  The important take home point was to monitor insulin levels in suspected horses, control diet in affected horses and test for Cushing’s early in this population.  Because of discussion with Dr. Frank, Dr. Lacher added our Senior Preventative Package to the Springhill Equine Wellness Program.  She feels this will help us identify Metabolic Syndrome and Cushing’s horses early.  Radiographs of the front feet are included to help us identify subtle coffin bone angle changes and institute therapeutic trimming or shoeing before your horse has a crisis.

That is just a start of what Dr. Lacher and Shawn learned at the Laminitis Symposium.  It was an amazing group of some of the best researchers on laminitis!  For an added bonus ask Dr. Lacher about the research on the wild horses of Australia.

That’s the musings from the counter top this week.  Well the bench actually.  I can’t jump all the way up to the counter top right now.  May your food bowl be full and your litter box clean!

Tony here.  Having a rough week at the office.  Teeny cat and I got into a fight last week – she bit my foot and the vets are saying I broke two bones!  I had to go to Newberry Animal Hospital, got put under anesthesia, and had a horrible splint put on my foot!!  Woe is me! On the upside, I spent a weekend in a bathroom kitty condo at Dr. King’s house, got a new fluffy bed, and am getting many pets.  ::Sigh::  Anyway, enough complaining, we’re supposed to be chatting about CSM – part two!

Last week, our blog was introducing CSM, a group of orthopedic disorders that happens in the neck of the horse, causing neurologic signs similar to EPM.  Scroll down to read last week’s blog on Type I, which generally occurs in young horses.  Type II CSM occurs in older horses as a result of arthritis that occurs at what is called the articular facets.  Facets are normal bony projections off the main body of the vertebra – in horses, the facet from one vertebra forms a joint with the facet from the next vertebra.  When arthritis forms at this joint, the horse becomes stiff and has a hard time turning his head from side to side.  Eventually, the arthritis becomes advanced enough that it results in compression of the spinal cord, causing neurologic signs. This type of impingement is static – meaning it does not generally change with head position.  Like type I, this is a problem with cartilage and bone development. The arthritic bone is very brittle and may fracture off small pieces, resulting in further pain and worsening of clinical signs.

Symptoms generally start with signs of ataxia, dragging the back feet, and hind end weakness, similar to type I.  A “pacing” walk may be seen, and the signs may be asymmetric (eg, your horse may be stiff turning his head one way, but not the other).  The horse may have trouble getting over fences or begin tripping in the front end.  In this respect, shoeing can help tremendously.  By using a world wide racing plate, you make it easier for the horse to pick his foot up (like when you wear a pair of Sketcher’s Shape Ups!), and often times, the greatly reduces how often the horse trips.  Like type I, diagnosis is based on neck radiographs that we perform at the clinic.  Treatment is palliative – anti-inflammatory medication such as phenylbutazone (Bute) or banamine help manage the pain and inflammation.  Facet injections (performed at the clinic under sedation, and with ultrasound guidance) help to reduce inflammation in the joint, and can make your horse more comfortable for months or even years.  If you are interested in having your horse evaluated for possible CSM type II, you should consider bringing your horse to the clinic for the neurologic evaluation.   as we can then perform neck radiographs and injections the same day!  Thanks for reading, may your litter box be clean and your food box be full!