How brave my boy was to come out of recovery and stand to be taken out of the harness! He even announced his arrival back in the barns to all the horses as he walked soundly back to his stall! New Bolton and the great Dean Richardson never cease to amaze! #patrickliterallyflying
Posted by Lainey Ashker on Thursday, August 8, 2019
We’re wishing Lainey Ashker‘s Call Him Paddy a speedy recovery after undergoing surgery yesterday to repair an injury to his splint bone. The surgery, performed by the under the hands of world-renowned large animal surgeon Dr. Dean Richardson at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, removes a portion of the injured splint bone, replaces it with a graft taken from the hip bone and then uses a metal plate and screws to fortify the area.
Patrick also to got for a little swim in New Bolton’s recovery pool, which is used to reduce the risk of injury during the horse’s recovery from anesthesia. Dr. Richardson sent the above video of Patrick being raised out of the pool and into a recovery area to Lainey. Patrick will spend a few more days recovering at New Bolton before Lainey takes him home early next week to continue his recovery.
Lainey’s “five-star hamster” will have a long road to recovery, but the prognosis after this procedure is good and it’s hopeful that Patrick will be able to return to full soundness and work. We look forward to his triumphant return to #GOTDs!
Veterinary medicine is a pretty incredible field and new techniques help keep refining the field are being researched all the time. Here are a few more headlines fin horse health news from the past week, presented by MediVet Equine:
This simple device could save a life. As you can see from the video above, it generally takes quite a contraption to lift and move a horse. It’s one thing to have a sling inside a veterinary hospital, but it’s a whole different ballgame when you’re working in a rescue situation in the field. Not to mention any contraption that can lift a horse is generally pretty expensive and cost-prohibitive.
Researchers at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis have developed an easy to use, low cost system that can be used to move or briefly lift horses in rescue situations. The device is essentially a series of straps that can easily be positioned on a downed horse in orientations tired and tested by trained equine technical rescuers. The kit is lightweight, portable, only costs $350 and comes with a manual that give step-by-step instructions for use. [Horsetalk]
You may have thought you knew all about white line disease, but are you ready to have you mind blown? Here are two paradigm-shifting facts right off the bat: white line disease doesn’t actually affect the white line and it may not even be a disease, per se. White line disease always occurs after some separation of the hoof wall which allows bacteria and fungi to enter the sensitive inner layers of the hoof. Those sensitive layers of the hoof wall, which sit right above the delicate laminae that suspend the coffin bone, then become infected. This infection eats away at the inner structures of the hoof and degrades the hoof wall, creating what we’ve come to know as white line disease.
And as far as it being a disease, no one is really sure yet whether there is a singular cause of disease or if there are several syndromes that cause a common endpoint. This article by Nancy S. Loving, DVM, sets the record straight on what we know about white line disease and how horse owners can combat it. [The Horse]
