Equi-Pet

25/02/2023

A great article on ECVM

Authors: Christine Gee, Alison Small, Kathleen Shorter and Wendy Y. Brown Published: Animals 10:667 (2020) 1-11. www.mdpi.com/journal/animals Abstract (click on the link above to download full article): Equine Caudal Cervical Morphologic Variation (ECCMV) is a congenital malformation of the caudal c...

24/02/2023

Interesting find on a racehorse filly .. can you see what it is?
Below the nose piece on the headstall.. a loss of blood flow. More common to see this in western pleasure horses.

Without thermal imaging, it would have gone unnoticed ..as there is no pain and no sight of injury.

21/02/2023

PREVENTION...This is why I chose to become an equine thermographer. Let me explain.
Veterinary standard infrared imaging is one of the ONLY tools to help an owner, trainer, veterinarian, or track attendant non-invasively monitor the condition of the racing thoroughbred. I'm being selective on this group of horses because this is a PROVEN correlation.
What does the research PROVE:
-45 racing thoroughbred horses
-7 different trainers
-Thermography agreed with the trainer's concern at a rate of 88% accuracy
-Thermography agreed with the veterinarian's assessment at a rate of 95% accuracy (19 of 20 horses seen by a veterinarian.)
-In EACH of the injured horses, the SITE of injury was IDENTIFIED AT LEAST 2 WEEKS 💥BEFORE💥 the injury was diagnosed.
-In the three "sore" horses, multiple sites were evident 2-4 weeks PRIOR to the removal of training.
-This research indicated that thermographic changes could be detected in the joints and tendons of horses two weeks BEFORE there were clinical signs of a problem.
-3 horses were diagnosed with carpal chips
-1 horse was diagnosed with fetlock chips
-2 horses had tendon injuries
-Shin thermal asymmetries correlated to horse age
Second study:
-50 horses
-10 trainers
-Thermography agreed with the trainer's concerns at 94.5% accuracy
-Thermography agreed with veterinary assessment at 95% accuracy (20 of 50 horses seen by a veterinarian).
-Thermographic findings were positive in time frames of 1-13 weeks prior to clinically apparent lameness and the average of all horses was 2.3 weeks.
According to this study, correlations in thermographic findings and track surface changes were also observed.
We can be proactive rather than reactive and in the case of the racing thoroughbred, this is crucial for the success of the animal.
Does this correlate to track reputation, you tell me.
Source:
Turner, DVM, MS;, T., Pansch, DVM, J. and Wilson, DVM, J., 2001. Thermographic Assessments of Racing Thoroughbreds. Proceedings fo the Annual Convention of the AAEP 2001, 47, pp.344-346.

The journey and sad end of a gelding named Creative Plan has raised questions about safety protocols at Turf Paradise

21/02/2023

Get the whole picture with thermal imaging
..REAL IMAGES ..TANGIBLE RESULTS..

As therapists, we all strive to achieve a change after our treatments are completed. A few years ago year, I asked Pinpoint Thermal Imaging to join me for a thermography session with my clients.

The results were completely unexpected! The images below were taken only minutes apart. This horse is a chronic cribber and you can see the almost immediate decrease in inflammation with only 1 joint being mobilized.

Imagine how good your horse feels after an entire session!!! Thank you for allowing me to "see" my clients in a different way!!

19/02/2023

"IT ALL STARTED WHEN A RACEHORSE CALLED PERCY WENT DOWN MID-RACE. (Sharon )

went down the ECVM rabbit hole, the findings, and the knowledge of this disorder.are beyond words ...

18/02/2023

ECVM in horses .. it's a real thing ...genetic and over 50% of Thourobreds Have this disorder ..

I had the tremendous honor earlier this year to attend a dissection here in the states with Sharon May-Davis put on by -soma.com. For me this was a career bucket list experience and overdelivered in so many ways.

Our instructor was a 2013 OTTB who had 26 starts on the racetrack and then did some eventing. After multiple colics, some tough behavior and lameness he was diagnosed with ECVM and became our teacher. What an honor it was to work with these two groups and the pathology that this horse lived with was deeply troubling - besides the 18th rib coming off L1 and raising all kinds of havoc in the lower back this horse had fusion of intertransverse joints ( between L6-L5 ) and other L5-4 ( red stars ). He also had ECVM and fusion of the 1st and 2nd rib. He had large bony callouses on the scapula right where a saddle might be and so on.

The audience was mostly comprised of lay body workers and educators with a few veterinarians- the people who really needed this IMO. When we realized the extraordinary amount of pathology I tried to call in some of the local vets to have a free demonstration. I tried hard to emphasize the gravity of what this horse was trying to show us. Unfortunately I could not get them engaged - ( I consider this resistance to learning things outside the mainstream educational organizations with agendas funded by drug companies to be a huge issue in our profession. )
You don’t know what you don’t know.
Horses don’t have ‘attitudes’

04/02/2023

DID YOU KNOW THAT THERMAL IMAGING IS ..1 Of the best tests for back-related problems..
The radiographic diagnosis of kissing spines has become so prevalent that some veterinarians are making the assumption that it only matters if the horse is clinical. I’m assuming ’clinical’ means painful in the area that’s abnormal on the radiograph.
How does the body respond when things are rubbing against each other and it hurts? It tries to stop the rubbing by contracting around the area and adding more tension to the soft tissue structures. These will then start to pull on other areas as they work to stabilize the area that hurts.
This creates compensation.
When a horse tries to stabilize the withers they will contract lots of muscles. I just named a few in the picture - but these muscles will pull on other muscles. Soon the fascia around the lower part of the neck gets involved and the lower cervical vertebrae start to move a little ( red bones at the base of the neck). That movement causes the muscles in that area to contract as they must stabilize these vertebrae. Pretty soon those 1st couple of ribs also feel a tug - the second rib is red, you cannot see first. What’s in that area? Well, a giant nerve plexus. As the horse starts to press his leg into the side of his body to stabilize and he presses on this plexus and it gets inflamed and the horse starts acting girthy and short striding. At this point, the withers feel fine but the horse has compensated creating other areas of pain.
This is the problem with making assumptions about how a horse feels about something. They prioritize, they compensate, they internalize and shut down, and they act out.
Kissing spines are the result of too much tension in the system. Treat the whole horse when treating kissing spine.