Chuck/Steve
 

What's the deal with Sumwonlovesyou? Do you think she's race again? If so, how much longer?

Spyder

If we don't see Spydee on the board again for awhile, we'll know why

Sending an Email out to partners this week. There is no timetable for SWLY. She has to grow an entirely new frog (solel) on her left front, and that will take several months. As Chuck said to me the other day, "I don't want to speculate too much, but there's no reason to think she couldn't get back to race after this."

thanks for the laugh.:)

the frog and sole are not the same thing....and she needs to regrow both.

Yeah.. what Pais said.

I was a little worried that something happened to Sumwon's soul.

what, if anything, does she have to wear now to protect the foot while all the growth process takes place??? thanks in advance... !

Good things come to those who wait.....

Something tells me, she'll be back :)

remember when.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJYqrEYqVLQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_XKIwHpJKk

she is fitted with a special shoe that has a steel "treatment plate" that screws into it to protect her foot, under the plate she has dental impression clay to lend support for the underlying structures while she recovers. Both the vet and the farrier are impressed with how well she is recovering.

It's been a while since I've watched those races. Thanks for reminding us Hoffy. That is one game filly and I would love to see her back at the races if she can regain that form. It was also the first time I heard the replay of a race that Luke called since his passing. Very sad. IMO he was the "BEST" in the business. I could never understand why his call of the Derby wasn't used on the T.V. coverage.

Okay! Had no idea was the current protocol was for that type of situation nowadays - thanks for the explanation and a special thank you for looking out for her [and all the rest of your charges! ] best to all...

Here's the Arlington race which completed the trio of placements:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNZq4...eature=related

For those that want to see what's being discussed here, go to

http://www.equusite.com/articles/bas...tsOfFoot.shtml


I didn't realize this was so serious an issue for Sumwon. I went back and read Chuck's blog that took her from a stone bruise to an abcess to the changing treatments, etc but I didn't consider it to be anything out of the norm of popping and letting it drain.

I look forward to reading more detail in the email you'll put out this week, Steve!

Thanks!

The hardest thing to deal with horses feet is that most things start out rather minor and most of the time get better but because of the inability to see what is going on inside, they can get worse. There is really no way of telling or even much prevention once thier is infection in a foot. Most of the time it pops out as an abcess, sometimes quarter cracks develop and in pretty rare cases as in the case of the filly, the infection spreads throughout the entire foot and kills the underlying tissues.

Surprised to hear it is so serious.

Chuck and Riot,

A friend of mine has a business in MD doing equine thermography. Would the use of thermal imaging of a hoof be something that could help in diagnosing an infection that you can't see? Given the imaging seeks hotspots, how advanced would an infection have to be before it starts to heat up?

Hope that doesn't sound like a stupid question...... :)

I spent the better part of two days at the Timonium sale in May watching my friend image horses right before they walked into the sales ring. It was amazing to see some of the live imaging of the legs as they went by. I made note of some really hot ones and put them in stable mail to watch for when they work. Of the 30 names I wrote down (those with the hottest legs), only 5 have worked since May.

Yes, thermal imaging could work well, I'm for it and like it for equine use. Most interior hoof abcesses are pretty painful on their own as first sign, however (think bamboo stick under your fingernail, or blood blister under your nail).

As far as the yearlings, remember that leg paints, taking bandages off, alcohol, water on the leg, ShowSheen, etc. can affect the image you see.

But interesting, what you say about what horses with hot images are turning up working, and who is not? :rolleyes:

I know Chuck has a thermal imager, don't know if he has put it on SWLY.

not very, the key however is that you need to have baseline images of the area to discern changes. Since every animal you use it on is going to be different you need to know what is "normal" for that animal in order to know what is abnormal.

in Sumwonlovesyou's case thermography was not used. She exhibited classic signs of an abscess, when she did not produce results from soaking and packing the foot, digital x-rays were taken which revealed the area of infection so that the podiatry team could dig in and get it out.
Again, she is healing ridiculously well, and I am not concerned about her in the least. She actually broke loose today while she was being walked and had a good gallop up the aisle until I stepped out of the office in front of her and spoiled her fun.

You don't need a baseline of "normal" to use thermography.

"Baseline" is influenced by ambient environmental temperature, wind, the metabolic state of the horse, what substances are in the horses coat (shampoo, water, etc), how long ago the horse had a bath (cooled, heated, etc), drugs the horse is on or has taken recently, exercise (peripheral or superfical vasodilation), and many other factors.

Thus "normal" changes minute to minute, day to day, week to week.

Because thermography reads what is current at the time, it's best and most accurate use for injury detection and continued monitoring of injury in the horse is simply comparing what you are seeing now in a bilaterally symmetrical animal.

I'm not really sure how you can say that...obviously the temp of an animal will change over the course of the day, and in differing environments etc. but one can't just take a single picture (as referred to in the earlier post) and make a determination about the health or soundness of the horse overall. For example: my own horse always has one hot ankle...because he has sh*tty ankles....but that's normal for him. A person who has never seen the horse, looking at him one time would think perhaps that he had some new injury rather than decades of abuse.

Think of it differently. Thermography isn't used to make a determination about overall health or soundness of the horse.

It's simply a diagnostic aid. Used to try and find areas that are abnormally warm. It is far more sensitive to detecting and pinpointing physical warmth than palpation.

If something is found, the diagnostician then determines how to proceed: additional diagnostic workup for a newly suspected problem; change in management (or not) for current known injury.

Example: I would use thermography on a young racehorse being considered for purchase. The horse moves well enough, lameness exam normal, palpation feels normal, pre-purchase routine rads are normal.

But thermography after all that shows that one tendon definitely appears hotter than the corresponding tendon.

Thermography has alerted to a potential problem that needs further investigation. Now do an ultrasound.

Something we never would do routinely prepurchase, and something the other diagnostic aids (rads, hands, eyes) didn't give any indication was needed.

And because something might be going on in there, don't work the horse - or purchase it - until we find out if it's anything to worry about.

None of the above required previous baseline thermographic images.

In the case of your horse with his old ankle injury that always lights up, you still don't need baseline images, you just need a history to know why.

But if you want to use thermography to help in management of that chronic injury, do this:

Measure the differences in temperature gradient between the bad ankle and the contralateral limb on the same day at the same time (include in same image), and compare the variability of the temperature gradients week to week (not the images).

For example, if the horse is trotting sound enough for that horse, and moving well enough for that horse, but has that known old ankle injury that lights up significantly when you look at the horse with thermography - maybe consider increasing the bute dose, or increasing the daily cooling sessions, to decrease the chronic inflammation in that ankle.

Because thermography is showing you that even though the horse is not clinical, there is inflammation there.

Then see if there is an improvement (decrease) in the temperature gradient between the sore ankle and the contralateral ankle after a week of that.

Don't compare to previous pictures (hard to do, due to inability to duplicate all the confounders), but DO compare the measurable temperature gradients between the bad ankle and the contralateral ankle (the machine should be able to do this for you)

Here's a site provided by Phystech if anybody wants to see some good thermography images of horses. It's pretty cool. www.savingthehorse.com