Final Post from Equine Analysis Systems

This is my last week in Kentucky with Equine Analysis Systems. Since concluding my research project, I have had a bit of down time to explore research articles that interest me and ride along to some really neat farms in the area. Since we have heart scanned some mares recently, I have been able to work on my ultrasound skills (yearlings, two year olds, and race horses don't quite have the patience to be scanned by both a vet and myself). Today I even scanned well enough that the technician was able to use my scan for the measurement phase. It may not seem like a huge deal, but trust me, it is a pretty big feat to get the exact view in the correct scan plane, etc etc that they need to take accurate measurements. Overall, I am in shock that my summer here has passed so quickly and I will really miss Kentucky and my coworkers. I would suggest that future Equine Fellows consider this position if they are interested in Thoroughbred racing and research, are self-starters and ambitious, understand professionalism and the importance of confidentiality, and are looking to be a part of an exceptionally intelligent team for the summer. For anyone who is considering a career working in the Thoroughbred industry, this position provides important contacts and exposure to the inner-workings of the industry.

The Sun Shines Bright On My Old Kentucky Home...

 -Nicole

Last few weeks at Rood and Riddle

Hey everyone!

I know I'm a little late but we've been extremely busy the last few weeks at Rood and Riddle. But all the busyness has led to some great experiences! In addition to the pictures I have to share, I would like to give an overview of the things I became competent in over the summer under the careful guidance of Dr Friend. I have been able to give both IV and IM shots, draw blood, rectally palpate mares, find ovaries, find pregnancies, flush and infuse the uterus, artificially inseminate mares, sew caslicks, castrate colts, and I even got to inject some joints as well as do a few nerve blocks. I had a wonderful experience down here and can't thank Dr Friend enough for everything he taught me as well as the faith he had in me to trust me to work on some of his patients. I highly recommend this experience for anyone who wants to know what a busy ambulatory practice is like and who wants the chance to learn practical skills.

 A 3 month old foal with trauma to the eye, sent to surgery for an enucleation

 Horse who sliced a chunk of hoof out on a fence

 Uterine prolapse post foaling

 Barn cats and chickens

 Castrating

 Foal who went through a fence

Yearling who broke her maxilla

Thanks for reading along all summer!

Sarah

Greetings from Clinton Vet!

Hey guys!

Just wanted to give some updates on all that was going on in mid-Michigan the past couple weeks. While I am technically done with this externship, I still wanted to share some final, interesting cases.

Clinton is wonderful in that they offer so many different avenues into the world of large animal medicine. I'm sure all of the hospitals and clinics have a handful of amazing veterinarians, and Clinton has been able to show me the other half of that as well. While I know that this is for the Equine Blog, I wanted to share a little bit about the bovine world that I encountered. It's fairly standard, the farms generally like to have the same vet come out consistently, about once a week typically. They go and perform the standard herd healths; preg checks, palpations, ultrasounds, etc. However, there are always the emergency situations as well. I got to help with a DA (displaced abomasum) surgery on site. It was very clearly audible on percussion on the left side, and was a routine, common left DA. The owners did mention that they had already tried to "roll and toggle", which is basically just trying to anchor the abomasum in the correct place. However, she was still lethargic and ketotic. So Dr. Trierweiler went in on a right flank abomasopexy and attempted to deflate and reposition the abomasum. It was difficult and she could tell that she had been in this state for a while because the fat was very thin and tearing very easily. She got in the best position possible and just secured the omentum to the abdominal wall and closed her up. Based on the state of the cow however, she will most likely get culled from the herd, but we did what we could.

Another cow story, I went with Dr. Mike Trombley on an emergency calving. She had been in labor for over two hours by the time we got there, and as horse people, this might make us cringe..! I learned a lot of differences between bovine and equine delivery aspects, and there's a great deal of difference. The length of labor is drastically different, as well as the amount and frequency of dystocias. Cows are much more inclined to a dystocia because the fetus has no real restrictions in growth, and if the heifer is too small or has been bred to a large bull, this baby can be majorly disproportionate to mom! Also the angles and shapes of their pelvis leads to more complications. Another difference encountered is the retained placenta. Horses cannot stand to have it retained for more than a few hours without running into massive potential problems, yet cows can keep it for much longer, with no trouble.

A final case I wanted to mention was a yearling filly we met who had decided to try to jump a fence in between pens. She had failed miserably and ended up falling right on her chest. She immediately had massive swelling, and was far from her rambunctious self. The owners kept her on stall rest for the night, and believed she had a large hematoma. We traveled out to the farm and immediately took an X-ray. Even when we got there, she was markedly depressed and struggled to move, exhibiting some neurologic signs. She was eating and drinking normally though, which was a plus. The results, however, were not so optimistic.

This was a lateral projection of the neck at about C3-C4. You can see that the spinous process is just completely shattered. It seems that when she landed, her chin and chest just telescoped those vertebrae into each other, causing massive trauma. Based on the intent and purpose of this horse, it was clear that it was catastrophic. Even with a miraculous surgery and recovery, she would never be able to have a good quality of life. The decision was made to put her down, unfortunately.

That was definitely not a case seen everyday, and although it was with less than ideal results, the owner was very reasonable and did what was best for the animal. At the end of the day, I guess that's all we can hope for. I am very sad to have concluded my time at Clinton Vet, but incredibly thankful for what this summer had for me and am truly grateful to all the staff there and the Fellows Program for the opportunity, I hope you all have a great rest of the summer as well! Enjoy and see you soon.

-Taylor

Weeks 9 and 10 RREH in surgery

Hello Again! Surgery has been busy preparing for the September Sales! Kentucky has been experiencing a ton of thunderstorms this summer which unfortunately means lacerations.

The laceration pictured above was presented to RREH surgery on emergency. After taking radiographs and evaluating the edema it was confirmed that the laceration entered the joint space and there were bony chips that needed to be removed. Dr. Woodie decided to wrap the leg in a full limb bandage with an osmotic sweat to reduce the edema and then remove the chips via an arthroscopy the following day and repair the laceration.

The next laceration was on a yearling was repaired immediately and a drain tube was placed and the leg was wrapped. The yearling was placed on antibiotics and stall rest.

Along with lacerations there have been many foal colics. The foal pictured above was being treated in the hospital for enteritis for two weeks. The foal did not improve and therefore an abdominal exploratory was performed. Pictured above is feet of small intestine that was necrotic and infected. A culture was taken to try and discover what bacteria was causing the intestine to die. The small intestine on palpation was paper thin and would perforate easily in multiple places. The foal was 4 weeks old at the time of this surgery. Unfortunately, the damage was very severe with a guarded prognosis and a high chance of the foal being a chronic lifetime colic candidate.

Finally this foal that weighed only 150lbs was presented with severe angular limb deformities. The foal required transphyseal screws and wires to be placed correct the deformity. The screws are placed on the outside of the limbs to slow the growth of the outside so the legs will straighten and turn in.
Thanks everyone for reading!!
Jackie

Angular Limb Deformity and Mandibular Fracture

Last week a 4 month old filly came in for surgery to help fix her angular limb deformity. This can occur with a medial or lateral deviation of the limb. The cause of this deformity is multifactorial and can range from being born with it or multiple developmental factors after birth. Radiographs were taken to help determine the best therapy and as a prognostic indicator.

Pre- surgical carpus radiographs

Note the filly's right front is convex on the inside at the level of the carpus

Dr. Devine performed a transphyseal bridging on her right limb. This procedure is performed when the deformity is 15 degrees or greater. There are multiple techniques for this but the basic premise of is to slow the grow on the convex surface with bone plates, screws, or wires to allow the concave side to catch up. The implants are placed on either side of the growth plate. The down side to this option to correct her deformity is that it requires a second surgery to remove the implants once the limb is straight. If not removed in time, the limb can overcorrect.This filly will be monitored by her referring veterinarian until her screws and wire are ready to be removed. 

Post surgery radiograph of the carpus with bone screws and wires

Last Wednesday a 1 month old Quarter Horse colt returned with a suspected mandibular fracture. He actually foaled out at the clinic so it was sad to see him return. Radiographs were taken to confirm the fracture. It is suspected that the mare did it to him but the incident was not observed. 

The next day Dr. Devine performed surgery on the colt to insert a pin into his mandible to hold the bones in place while they heal. The pin will be removed in 4-6 weeks once the mandible is healed. 

Pin inserted into left mandible

Placing the pin

The foal woke up from surgery like nothing happened and was extremely eager to nurse. He is a tough little guy and never acted painful and has been extremely active since surgery. Unfortunately, Sunday the colt had a couple neurologic episodes such as circling only to the right and seizures. He was given diazepam (valium) IV and placed on oral Phenobarbital. Thankfully he has not had anymore episodes since Sunday and is back to his normal happy self. It is not quite clear why this occurred. His antibiotics were switched to one that can cross the blood brain barrier to hopefully take care of any possible infection that may be in his nervous system. He will remain on the oral Phenobarbital for 1-2 months in case there is some underlying neurologic factor that may have caused the seizures. 

Yesterday he was back to being a silly boy playing and giving kisses

Greetings from the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival

Hey guys!

I'm sitting in beautiful Traverse City, MI watching the hunters and jumpers show their horses.  This relaxing venue comes after several weeks of intense Arabian horse shows, followed by prep work to send horses to their national youth competition in New Mexico.  This trip began June 14th with a short two days in Cleveland, OH where we helped prep horses for an upcoming show in Springfield, OH.  This included our usual work of flexion tests, ultrasounding and radiographing limbs, joint injections, shockwave therapy, etc.  From there we traveled to the Region 13 Arabian horse show.  As Equine Athlete is the official show vet for this event, during the week we not only took care of lamenesses, but any and all emergencies.  In typical horse fashion, our best emergency occurred after a particularly slow day and close to midnight.  One of the horses spooked, got loose from her groom and bolted, only to later fall on the asphalt.  After all was said and done, the mare ended up with lots of road rash, a laceration to her elbow and a laceration to her stifle, both required suturing.

The following week took us to Lexington, KY for the Region 14 Arabian horse show.  This was held at the horse park, one of my favorite venues.  The last time I was at the Kentucky Horse Park, I was with one of the riders I groom for, Dale Dedrick, who was beginning her journey to the Paralympics.  Being classified as a para athlete at the 2010 World Equestrian Games was the first step down the road to the 2012 London Paralympic Games.  Having finally returned to our starting point, successfully completing our goal, felt as good as when I finally found out I had been accepted into vet school.  From one incredible journey to another, always going good in the right direction.

From Region 14 to Region 15 in Lexington, VA.  I should add that these horse shows are typically a week in duration. With riders and horses arriving on Monday or Tuesday and official showing beginning Wednesday and concluding on Sunday.  We try to arrive with the horses and leave when they leave to ensure that they have access to veterinary care at each leg of their journey.  Often times, these animals arrive from long, long trailer rides and need IV fluids and electrolytes.  During transition from traveling to new stabling, some can develop a mild colic, respiratory issue, or diarrhea.  Dealing with these issues requires special considerations in regards to which medications can and cannot use.  Show horses are frequently tested for drugs and the USEF places restrictions and time limitations on the uses of specific medications.

On the way home from Region 15, we stopped overnight in Cleveland to continue prep work for the next show.  I was able to enjoy a few days off at this point as the doctors of Equine Athlete traveled to MN, CA, and AZ to work on horses.   And lastly, while half of Equine Athlete travelled to NM for Youth Nationals, the other half ventured to Traverse City for the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival.

So enough chatter.  Here are some photos from some horses we've worked on.

This is a photo of a coffin bone fracture. Can you tell where the fracture line is? There are actually 7 types of coffin bone features categorized by where they occur and whether or not they involve the coffin joint. 

This photo is of a horse with laminitis.  The shot on the left is the most recent where the shot on the right is from when this episode actually began. As you can probably tell, we beat the disease process to the punch and while this horse was very sore on her feet, we were lucky to avoid any significant rotation.

Injecting the navicular bursa.

Ultrasound guided sarcoiliac injection

Research project blog-READ THIS IF CONSIDERING FELLOWSHIP AT EQUINE ANALYSIS SYSTEMS!

After presentation of my project to the vets at EAS, our office manager asked me to write a blog post for the company website about my experience here and the findings of my research. Please follow the link www.equinanalysis.com/news to find my post, and learn the results of my project. To anyone considering applying for this internship in the future, please please take the time to read this, as I believe it explains the views of the company quite well and will give students an idea of what to expect when coming to Equine Analysis Systems. Cheers from Kentucky,
Nicole

Week 8

Hello again! We never slow down is the official theme at Rood and Riddle! Surgery has stayed busy with some great learning experiences! It is weaning time in Kentucky which unfortunately results in many lacerations and sadly fractures. A foal was presented at the clinic to fix a complete calcaneus fracture. The picture to the right is of the fracture prepped and ready to go in surgery before Dr. Ruggles fixed it. You can see the severe angle and swelling of the leg.












Dr. Ruggle place 2 plates to fix the fracture and allow the foal a chance to grow normally.

 

My favorite thing will always be colic surgeries! I was able to help out with some late night colic surgeries where one horse had a small intestinal torsion. 

 Pictured above is about 10 feet of necrotic small intestine that needed to be resected!

Finally there was another Ovariectomy performed on a mare with a tumor. Unlike the surgery that was performed earlier in the summer where the horse was not placed under general anesthesia, this mare was placed under general anesthesia and placed dorsally on a table and the ovary was removed. It was really interesting to the see the same surgery performed in 2 drastically different techniques. If there is one thing I have learned it is to keep an open mind and learn as many techniques as possible! 

  Ovary after it was removed! 

 

On that note, I would like to end this week with two of the amazing hard working interns at RREH! Dr. Lauren Mundy and Dr. Liz Anderson! They are flushing a septic joint on a foal! Working hard day and night! 

Thanks everyone for reading!! 

Surgery Case

Although Cleveland Equine doesn't have a surgeon on staff, we do have an induction stall, hoist and anesthesia equipment, so once every month or two a surgeon comes in for a day to do a few surgeries if we have some cases. This month, we did a cryptorchid castration & umbilical hernia closure on a colt, a tie back surgery, and also a sort of "rhinoplasty":

This horse had managed to lacerate its nostril on a waterbucket. After being repaired, the nostril began to constrict over the following months until it was so small that it was limiting air intake and affecting performance.

Below is the right nostril for a size comparison:

So the horse was taken to surgery, where the alar fold and cartilage was removed and the nostril opened up so it was no longer restricting airflow.

Week 8 at Littleton Equine

This Monday I spent the day with Dr. Toppin. We had a referral for a 19 year old Quarter Horse gelding with a shoulder injury.  The owners found the horse with the injury after being out in pasture for a few days so we assume that he was kicked by one of the other horses. The referring veterinarian pulled pieces of bone when exploring the wound and recommended they came to Littleton for shoulder radiographs to know the extent of the damage. The leg was extremely swollen all the way down the leg to the fetlock.

 

Based on radiographs, we could see 2 bone chips off the humerus with the larger piece being the deltoid tuberosity. Dr. Toppin was able to pull out the small piece of bone, but the larger piece of bone was still attached to too much muscle to pull out. He recommended that the gelding stay so one of the surgeons could perform a standing surgery to remove it. Tuesday night Dr. Murray along with Dr. Robinson removed the piece of bone. Dr. Murray was nice enough to let me put on sterile gloves to feel the bone chip and the humerus. The chipped piece was very sharp and the humerus was very rough. No wonder the sweet guy was so painful!

He was such a good patient during the procedure and his entire stay in the hospital. His little girls were so excited he was able to go home Thursday! 

On Monday,  we also went to do a recheck on the paint gelding that had pericarditis. I am happy to report that he is doing wonderful! His heart looks great on ultrasound and his heart rate is down to normal. It was so nice to follow up on him after caring for him during his stay in ICU. 

Presentation at EAS

Yesterday I presented my findings from the last 8 weeks of research to the veterinarians at Equine Analysis. In attendance was also Dr. Mikael Holmstroem from Sweden. Dr. Holmstroem's is a veterinarian in Sweden as well as holds a PhD in equine conformation and performance analysis. He is also the developer of our FotoSelect system, which analyzes conformation and was a major tool in my research, so his attendance was very important. Talk about a little pressure!! The goals of this presentation were not only to share my work, but also for me to practice presenting my research concisely to a group of people whose time was worth much more than mine. It was an interesting experience, and I am glad to have reached some conclusions from this project. With 4 weeks left of my time here in Kentucky, I am looking forward to delving into some fun little projects that will hopefully result in a project for next years fellow!

A day at Rood and Riddle,visitors, and the upcoming sale

Here at Equine Analysis Systems, we have had a bit of down time to collect data and work on some of the company's other research goals. However, today starts an uphill climb into a very busy week, as we prepare for the Fasig-Tipton Keeneland Select Yearling Sale, as well as trips overseas for our veterinarians. In this unique sector of veterinary medicine, our veterinarians get the opportunity to not only work with elite horses, they also get the opportunity to travel the world in search of these elite horses for our clients. The yearling sale is an event in which consignors and breeders bring out their yearling crop that they wish to sell. Now, this does not mean that these are the inferior horses. Many operations breed with full intention to sell every young horse, while others may keep some and sell others based on bloodlines, build, etc. Often, elite horses are sent to the sales as yearlings because the owners know the horse will bring a high price now, and the new owner will take the chance of seeing how well the horse will perform. That new owner takes a big risk, but with big risk can come big reward, so the system works. Our role at this sale will be to look at horses for clients, take photos for analysis, and scan hearts for measurements. We then will produce a report that will help our client decide whether the horse in question is likely to fit the role they are selecting it for, be it a sprinter, turf runner, broodmare, or Kentucky Derby hopeful. While our hours at Equine Analysis are typically 9-5, sales are the time of year when we work like "real" equine vets and log long, busy hours. Cheers to late nights and early mornings!

But before all of that starts up, I'd like to share my "holiday" at Rood and Riddle this past Friday. The office was closed to observe the 4th of July, so I tagged along with Sarah Morelli and Dr. Friend at Rood and Riddle. We started the morning palpating and flushing mares, and ended it with a neurological case, a colic, a lameness at the Kentucky Horse Park, and a hoof wall injury. Somewhere between all of that, we stopped for lunch well before some people even have breakfast, laughed a lot, and learned a lot. Oh yeah, and I got peed on by a mare while I was flushing her uterus post-foaling. (Read: my arm entire arm was in her vagina while she urinated.) Needless to say, I was tired and smelly by the time I made it home. It was a great day though and a much needed break from my research computer. It is amazing the variety of careers a veterinary degree can lead to!

Until next time,
Nicole

Weeks 6,7 and 8 at SVEC

It appears I accidentally got a little behind on my blog posts!  I assure you, my negligence doesn't mean that nothing happened over the past few weeks.  I can't believe that we are already done with week 8 of the program and only have 4 weeks left here at Saginaw Valley Equine Clinic!  

In the past three weeks, I have had the opportunity to scrub into a few surgeries.  The funniest was a colt who was supposed to be a cryptorchid, meaning that one testicle had not descended into the scrotum.  However, when we anesthetized him and got him on the surgical table, his testes was clear as could be.  Instead of having a cryptorchid surgery, Dr. Williams was able to do a simple open castration.  Of course I was disappointed to not see a more interactive surgery, but the owners were quite pleased at the difference in their bill!  My favorite surgery was a hock OCD removal.  I really enjoy arthroscopic procedures so any time I get to scrub in on an arthroscopy I'm a happy girl! 

One thing that really struck me was how many horses have already begun developing Potomac.  I'm accustomed to seeing it later in the year so I was surprised to see our first case present in the middle of June.  We've already had five cases!  I had not had any prior experience administering oxytetracycline to horses intravenously, so having so many cases gave me plenty of opportunities to practice treatments.

Happy fourth of July everyone!