While it might be easy to forget about the small accessory ligament that anchors the superficial digital flexor tendon to the upper foreleg bone (radius), acute desmitis (ligament inflammation) of this structure has now been shown to be a significant cause of pronounced, transient lameness in Thoroughbred racehorses.

“MRI has proven to be a valuable tool for making specific diagnoses in horses with performance-limiting lameness problems,” he stated. “Navicular disease is one of the most common causes of performance-limiting lameness in many types of athletic horses. Despite the high incidence of the disease, our understanding of the problem is relatively limited.

While some forum discussions at the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) annual convention are fairly small affairs, that wasn’t true of the 2003 podiatry forum. About 65 veterinarians and farriers filled the room to discuss diagnostic analgesia, pads, Strasser trimming, ultrasound, and much more.

Tracy Turner, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, a professor of equine surgery at the

Many options for treating equine ailments exist–some are more traditionally performed by veterinarians in some regions, and some are often labeled as alternative therapies and might tend to fall more to non-veterinarians. Who can legally handle the treatments that are not always performed by veterinarians can be a sticky problem, which is compounded by the fact that in the United

“The results of this study strongly support the use of ultrasound to diagnose soft tissue and bony abnormalities of the entire shoulder region,” Whitcomb stated. She also noted that lesions of the infraspinatus tendon and bursa had not previously been reported, but were found in this study.

“Ultrasound was the sole means of diagnosis (of pelvic fracture) in 13 horses and was corroborated by nuclear scintigraphy or radiography in the remaining 15 cases,” Almanza said. “Ultrasound was able to provide excellent detail of the bony contours of the fracture sites and was useful in identifying associated muscle tearing and hematoma formation.”

“We believe that this technique (MRI) could revolutionize the assessment of certain musculoskeletal lesions of the distal limb,” Mair said. “MRI has many advantages over other conventional imaging techniques. MRI does not use ionizing radiation and provides multiplanar, 3-D imaging capabilities.

Laminitis was the primary focus of the Second International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot, held Nov. 10-11 in West Palm Beach, Fla. This conference is held every other year and sponsored in large part by John K. and Marianne Castle, whose Appaloosa Spot had chronic laminitis secondary to Cushing’s disease and died from colic years ago. There are several other private

While you probably wouldn’t think of treating a foundered horse as a situation in which tough ethical decisions could crop up, the Second International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot held Nov. 10-11 featured a morning on just that topic.

A guide to laminitis terminology was presented by course director James A. Orsini, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, associate professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center. Universally understood terminology helps everyone communicate what is going on with a laminitis case, he noted.

Laminitis–a disease that strikes fear into the hearts of horse people everywhere–was the primary focus of the Second International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot, held Nov. 10-11 in West Palm Beach, Fla. This conference is held every other year and sponsored in large part by John K. and Marianne Castle, whose Appaloosa Spot had chronic  laminitis secondary to

In an attempt to avoid the rich diets that can worsen obesity and laminitis in insulin-resistant horses (those said to be suffering from peripheral Cushing’s disease), many owners feed hay instead of lush pasture or grain. However, Kathryn Watts, BS, director of research for Rocky Mountain Research and Consulting, has found that some hay isn’t a safe diet for insulin-resistant horses, and in

What exactly is breakover? Most would answer that it is the horse’s heel lifting off the ground and rotating over the toe as his foot leaves the ground. Breakover is simple in its definition, but pretty complex in its implications for your horse’s movement and soundness. And there’s not a lot of research out there yet to clearly define the best breakover for any horse.

In the meantime,

Since Aug. 10, 16 horses at Brookhill Stables in Goble, Ore., and two horses from a nearby private farm have shown respiratory and/or neurologic signs consistent with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), although not all were tested for the disease. At press time, three older victims had been euthanized–one from Brookhill Stables and two horses which visited Brookhill in early July from a

A proactive passerby helped save the lives of eight horses in a burning barn early Sept. 10 at Equestrian Park in College Station, Texas. Sixteen died in the fire due to burns and/or smoke inhalation and three more were euthanized shortly thereafter due to their injuries, said property owner Brazos Joe Varisco. Ten of the barn’s inhabitants were racing Quarter Horses (all of which died in the

While many farrier services and veterinary clinics will treat severe foot problems, and perhaps even specialize in them, very few can offer a veterinarian/farrier team available on a full-time basis to treat those horses. Although it’s still a month or two away from construction completion, the Nolensville Veterinary Hospital in Nolensville, Tenn., is already taking cases in its new equine