Actress Glenn Close Speaks Out on the War on Laminitis

by Fran Jurga | 9 November 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

Her name was Rosie. She was a Morgan mare. She couldn't beat laminitis.

At that point, the horse owner's voice cracked. She caught her breath. Would she go on?

If you have ever owned a horse who suffered from serious laminitis--especially one who didn't make it--you know the pain. Your voice probably cracks too, when you talk about it. You probably catch your breath, too, when you remember the pain that your horse went through, and the pain that you still go through when you recall weeks, months, and maybe years of fighting a disease that has no rules, no heart, no charity.

But when Rosie's owner came forward this weekend, the world took notice. She is not just another horse owner, she is award-winning actress and animal lover Glenn Close.

Ms. Close agreed to work with the organizers of the Fifth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot to add her voice to that of leading sponsors and horse owners John K. and Marianne Castle, whose beloved Appaloosa "Spot" suffered from laminitis as well.

Spot and Rosie had something in common besides laminitis and generous, caring owners. Both were in the care of Conference chair Dr. James Orsini of the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center. Dr. Orsini brought Ms. Close and the Castles together, and a very special video about the horse owner's role in laminitis research and progress in treating the disease premiered at the convention. The beautiful video was narrated by Close.

Later in the Conference, Ms. Close received the Spot Castle Awareness Award for her work on behalf of the war on laminitis being waged by the Conference and the University of Pennsylvania's Laminitis Institute. In response to the award, Close provided her own video response, a tribute to Rosie's memory and a call to action to anyone and everyone who can help put an end to the pain and suffering that laminitis cause horses.

The Conference was held in West Palm Beach, Florida and consisted of three days of major presentations by leading researchers and practitioners. Attendees from Asia, Australia, Europe and South America, as well as from all over the United States and Canada, traveled to Florida to learn and share their expertise.

Photo from Glenn Close's Fetchdog.com blog called "Lively Licks", in which she interviews other celebrities about their dogs.

Remembering Secretariat: Laminitis Is Still With Us (But This Conference Will Help)

by Fran Jurga | 4 October 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

Can you imagine "the tremendous machine" that was Secretariat gimping around on sore feet? The Great One knew the horrible pain of chronic laminitis in his later years. (This great photo is featured on www.secretariat.com, where you can purchase it and stare at it for hours, which is what I plan to do.)

Today is one of the horse world's sad anniversary days.

I remember the shock I felt on October 4, 1989 when I received the news that Secretariat had been euthanized at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky.

All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Secretariat back together again, as the nursery rhyme goes. His feet were ravaged by a long-term fight with chronic laminitis, an insidious form of the terrible disease that often includes painful relapses, recurrent abscesses and hoof capsule deformation.

Secretariat probably had good days and bad days. How horrible it must have been to watch such a proud, great horse on one of his bad days. A lame Secretariat would break your heart.

Twenty years later, famous and not-so-famous horses still fight chronic laminitis as well as many other forms of the disease. We all remember Barbaro, who fought the support limb dysfunction form of laminitis. Aged horses and certain breeds like Morgans suffer from a form of insulin resistance that can cycle with the seasons and cause insidious low grade laminitis. Hospitalized horses are still at risk for laminitis following colic surgery and especially in conjunction with diseases like colitis and Potomac horse fever. Drug reactions cause laminitis. Retained placentas in broodmares cause laminitis. Extreme hoof concussion, such as running on pavement, can cause a horrible mechanical form of laminitis called road founder. The list goes on and on.

That's right. Twenty years after Secretariat's death and the list goes on and on. After all this time, not one form of the disease has been nicely tied up, with all its questions answered, from research to treatment. Not one has been solved. And there are so many.

Over the past 20 years I have raised a lot of money for laminitis research, both directly and indirectly. I have put most of the money I raised into the hands of the Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation and the Animal Health Foundation and hoped for the best.

And now I am going to find out what the best have to offer.

From November 6 to 8, I will be glued to a seat in the audience at the Fifth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida. For three days, I will be embedded with the world's foremost minds on the subject, both from the academic and field practice aspects of the disease.

Among the many advances in laminitis research and treatment to be unveiled at the 2009 laminitis conference in Florida will be 3-D CT imaging. These images are all constructed from CT scans of a single foot, a Standardbred with chronic laminitis in Queensland, Australia, and were taken at the same time. They were converted with Mimics, a commercial medical imaging software, by Dr Simon Collins at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, England, who will present this new technology at the conference. You can see both how the outer hoof capsule deformed and the inner blood supply and bone surface were damaged. These images grace the cover of the conference Proceedings book.

A roster of universities from four continents will present their latest research, and world leader Dr Chris Pollitt will convey his latest findings, along with his groundbreaking research on wild horse feet from the Australian outback, as he attempts to quantify truly normal hoof processes against which laminitis's hideously abnormal processes can be legitimately compared.

Farriers and farrier/vets will show new shoes and boots and bandages and trims and ways to tell how and if the hoof is healing. Forage expert Katy Watt will look at how and when and why we put our horses out at grass. She might even add "if" this time--should some horses be out on grass ever, at all?

This conference will be a giant step forward for laminitis, a sound stride in a shaky world where many of us know not so much exactly what to do, but that we are compelled to do something by the pain that we see in our horses' eyes. So often, owners of laminitic horses waste time and money and emotional energy; the money spent attending this conference is small compared to a year's worth of exotic supplements or medications or even a single fee for applying a designer shoeing system that may be all wrong for a horse at a certain stage in the disease process.

If you have an interest in laminitis, a foundered horse in your barn, or a veterinarian, farrier or vet student whose career you support, I hope you will see the value in this conference and consider attending or sending an envoy.

I'll save you a seat.

Learn lots more about the speakers, program topics, and the unique multi-disciplinary approach to learning about laminitis and hoof diseases at www.laminitisconference.com.

Wild Horse Population Control Forum in Australia

by Fran Jurga | 21 September 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

Australia is home to ten times as many wild horses as the United States. Australian "brumbies" are being studied by a unique unit at the University of Queensland that seeks to learn about the feet of these horses as well as their genetics, behavior, and feeding habits. A major presentation of the hooves of Australian wild horses will be presented in West Palm Beach, Florida at the Fifth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in November. Later that month, the university will host a conference on wild horse fertility control.

When the Bureau of Land Management of the United States Government set out to round up the wild horses of the Pryor Mountain Range in Wyming at the beginning of this month, they opened a floodgate of controversies. Everyone and anyone could pick their favorite issue related to wild horse management and comment loudly on the Internet. It was a Wild Web free-for-all without a moderator.

One of the subjects that came up was the treatment of mares to decrease or delay fertility and how this might affect behavior of individual horses and the stablity of small mare bands attached to a single stallion. The idea of "birth control" for wild horses is not new, but the widespread practice is, and many people hadn't heard about it.

Half a planet away, Australia is struggling with a massive overpopulation of wild horses. They would absolutely laugh at the numbers that the BLM cites: Australia is home to ten times the feral horse population of the United States. And it is growing exponentially each year.

To discuss the pros and cons of fertility intervention in the vast population, the Australian Brumby Alliance will host a conference at the University of Queensland on November 24, 2009. The conference will include participation by the RSPCA, Queensland Park and Wildlife Service, and scientists and veterinarians from the University of Queensland and its veterinary college.

Click on this link to download a flyer about the wild horse fertility conference: Fertility%20Control%20Seminar%20Flier.pdf

The University of Queensland's vet school is home to the Australian Brumby Research Unit, which is the only research laboratory known to be solely dedicated to the study of wild horses. The researchers are involved in tracking horses with GPS collars, studying their habits, genetics and diet, and particularly noting the distance covered by wild horses.

The Queensland researchers are involved in helping Aborigine groups re-connect with the wild horses in their regions and learn horsemanship skills.

Data on the wild horse hooves is being studied under the direction of famed laminitis researcher Dr. Chris Pollitt, of the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit, who hopes to glean insights on what the truly "normal" foot is and how a foot is influenced by its environment, exclusive of human intervention factors. To that end, wild horses are studied that live on different types of terrain and in different moisture zones. One recent study involve switching horses from wet to dry and dry to wet, and the scientists monitored the changes in their feet over the course of time.

Dr Pollitt will present a major report on the brumby hoof research and how it is applicable to domestic horse research and particularly laminitis research at the Fifth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida on November 6-8, 2009.

Still Riding with Barbaro...And You?

It was exactly two years ago this week that surgeon Dean Richardson of the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center announced that Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was suffering from laminitis as a complication of his surgery to repair multiple fractures in his right hind leg.

As they say, the rest is history. Five months later, Barbaro was dead; the decision to euthanize him was made when he developed laminitis in his front feet.

I can't tell you that our understanding and treatment options for laminitis have improved radically in two years. But I can tell you that progress has been made on the funding front. Pfizer Animal Health joined forces with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) to create The Barbaro Fund, which helps fund research into laminitis.

The University of Pennsylvania has created the world's first Laminitis Institute at the New Bolton Center campus, under the direction of Dr. James Orsini.

Information from the Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot, held in November 2007, is being disseminated to veterinarians, farriers, and horse owners in the field. Hopefully, horses are receiving better preventative and early-intervention care because of the conference; watch for news of the Fifth conference, to be held in November 2009, to be announced soon. Check www.laminitisconference.com for updates.

However you give and whatever you give, please do give. Pfizer has created blue memory bands for Barbaro, which can be purchased at tack shops and feed stores where counter displays of Pfizer wormers are used. For just a few dollars, you can join the Barbaro memory collective.

If you can give more and do more, please do. Watch this blog for lots more news about laminitis research that will help your horse, and every horse, avoid the most painful disease imaginable.

Secretariat, Affirmed, Sunday Silence, and Barbaro are just a few of the famous Kentucky Derby winners who died because of this terrible condition.

Your horse, my horse, and any horse could be next.

Laminitis: Is Global Warming at Fault?

This pony is demonstrating the typical stance of a horse that is in pain from laminitis. It is stretching its legs out in front to get weight off painful hoof tissue. If you ever see your horse or pony standing like this, and reluctant to move, take immediate action. Call your veterinarian. Laminitis is a medical emergency. (Photo courtesy of International League for the Protection of Horses)

Spillers, the British feed manufacturer, thinks the answer to that question might be “yes!”

In a press release issued this spring, Spillers is warning horse and pony owners of the impact that climate change could have on horses and ponies prone to laminitis. Here’s an excerpt:

In the coming years, laminitis really could be the single biggest risk to your horse’s health. The climate is changing and the seasons are beginning to merge into each other. Milder wetter winters are countered by unpredictable summers that bring about flooding or droughts and this can have a severely detrimental knock on effect to our horses and ponies.

Horses and ponies have evolved to eat a variety of grasses, plants and shrubs that are typically of low nutrient value and in particular are lower in soluble carbohydrate (sugar) but the pasture that we keep horses on today tends to be much richer. With our milder winters too, grass is tending to grow all year round now. Recent research worryingly suggests that the nutrient value of winter grass is now very similar to spring/summer grass.

This less seasonal and more consistent grass growth has many implications for your horse and the way you manage him. Laminitis is one such implication and although traditionally the condition is seen more often during the traditional seasonal grass growth in the spring and autumn, laminitis is now a real risk throughout the whole year.

Clare Lockyer RNutr, nutritionist and research and development manager at Spillers says: “Don’t ignore the predisposing signs in your horse or pony, such as a cresty neck, sore feet or a change in hoof shape, as these are all warning signs. It is at this time that you have the chance to take preventative action because waiting until it happens could prove disastrous for your horse.”

If you think your horse or pony could be prone to laminitis, it is sensible to provide a high fiber, low starch and sugar, low calorie diet and more exercise.

Note: In recent years, many laminitis-prone horses have benefited from a bagged forage product with low-sugar formulation criteria. Spillers makes a special feed just for this purpose; their “Happy Hoof” is the original complete chopped fibre feed to be approved by the Laminitis Trust. However, it seems that it is not sold any longer in the USA.

Late Great World Champion Dressage Mare Cloned by French Owner

One of the most bizarre horse news stories of recent years has taken yet another zany twist: a clone has been created of the late great world champion dressage mare Poetin, who died of laminitis in the midst of a stormy international sale transaction.

Here are some excerpts from the August 22nd press release sent out by Cryozootech, the French cloners-for-hire:

Cryozootech is happy to announce the birth of the clone of 2003 dressage world champion Poetin 2, a Brandeburg mare that died prematurely in 2005. This achievement illustrates the use of the cloning technique for genetic safeguarding.

Poetin 2 was born in 1997. This Brandeburg mare has an interesting life story:

Poetin 2 from Sandro Hit and Poesie by Brentano, was promised to a bright future: she won the German championship and the world championship in dressage for young horses, with so far unequaled scores (a 10/10 for her trot). She was sold for 2.5 million (Euros) in 2003 to an ING Bank / van der Zwan farm (Netherlands) consortium.

(French owner) Xavier Marie acquired Poetin at a dispersal sale in 2005 after the consortium broke up. Unfortunately, when she reached his place, Poetin 2 had acute laminitis from which she did not recover. She was euthanized in December 2005. A lawsuit ensured.

Knowing of Cryozootech's work for genetic preservation, Xavier Marie asked for her cells to be collected beforehand, with the objective in mind to get a replacement for his horse. Poetin's clone was born on March 30th, 2007. Now she frolics in paddocks of the Haras de Hus near Nantes on the west coast of France.

In other news: The firm reports that their first clone of a gelding has managed to successful breed a mare. Simultaneously, a research pony mare and the first horse clone to be born, is also pregnant, due to foal in 2008.

“BARBARO: A NATION’S HORSE,” PREMIERES SUNDAY ON NBC

On Sunday, NBC Sports will debut "Barbaro: A Nation's Horse," a special one-hour documentary look at the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, who touched the hearts of horse racing fans and animal lovers around the world last year with his fight for life before finally succumbing to injuries suffered at the Preakness Stakes.

"Barbaro: A Nation's Horse" looks back at the Thoroughbred's impressive six and a half length win at the Derby, his dramatic injury and his amazing will to live that captured the imagination of the public.

The program will air at 5:00 p.m. (ET) Sunday, the day that would have marked Barbaro's fourth birthday.

"Barbaro: A Nation's Horse" includes new footage of Barbaro's baby brother, who was born just last week. The as-yet unnamed foal shares both parents with the late Derby champion.

"Barbaro: A Nation's Horse," includes interviews with Roy and Gretchen Jackson, Barbaro's owners; Michael Matz, his trainer; Edgar Prado, the jockey who rode Barbaro during both his winning turn at the Kentucky Derby and at the Preakness; Dr. Dean Richardson, the head of surgery at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center; and Peter Brette, Matz's assistant trainer who worked most closely with Barbaro.

DVDs of "Barbaro: A Nation's Horse" will be sold on NBCSports.com, with 50 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Barbaro Fund and the Laminitis Fund at the New Bolton Center. The Barbaro Fund supports ongoing patient care and expansion of the George D. Widener Large Animal Hospital, Penn Veterinary Medicine's world-renowned clinical, research and teaching hospital. The Laminitis Fund is specifically geared towards researching the incurable hoof disease that ultimately took the life of both Barbaro and the great Secretariat.

(News courtesy of NTRA)

Barbaro's Owners Endow Chair in Equine Medicine to Honor Dean Richardson

(via press release)

Roy and Gretchen Jackson Endow Chair for Equine Disease Research at Penn Veterinary Medicine School

(Feb. 13, 2007--PHILADELPHIA, PA) A $3-million gift from Roy and Gretchen Jackson, owners of Barbaro, will endow a chair in the name of Dean W. Richardson at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

In acknowledging the gift, Penn President Amy Gutmann said, “Gretchen and Roy Jackson have already done so much for veterinary medicine through their commitment to giving Barbaro every possible opportunity to recover from his catastrophic injuries. People throughout the world now understand that veterinary medicine –- and Penn veterinary medicine in particular –- shares in the advances that define today’s biomedical science. Now, with this generous gift, Gretchen and Roy Jackson not only promote continued progress, but they pay tribute to the doctor who, like them, gave his heart to a magnificent horse.”

“This endowed chair,” said Joan C. Hendricks, the Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine, “is a strong recognition of the power of translating fundamental scientific advances into new real-world treatments. With a new faculty position dedicated to the study of equine disease, we will be better positioned to fight deadly conditions like laminitis.”

The endowed chair is the cornerstone of a major new Penn Vet initiative to fight laminitis, which afflicted Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro. Laminitis is a severe, painful condition in horses that can be fatal. The laminitis initiative will foster training programs and studies for new treatments of equine diseases.

“We are very pleased to make this commitment in support of the School of Veterinary Medicine’s research of equine diseases,” Gretchen Jackson said. “Our close relationship with Dr. Richardson over the last eight months persuaded us to name the chair in his honor. We are indeed grateful to him, and we especially look forward to a future without laminitis.”

Roy and Gretchen Jackson have a long and close connection with Penn and the School of Veterinary Medicine. Both are Penn graduates, and they have been dedicated supporters of Penn's athletic, medicine and veterinary programs for many years. In addition, Gretchen Jackson serves on the Penn Vet Board of Overseers.

“I am deeply honored by this generous and important gift,” said Richardson, chief of surgery at Penn’s George D. Widener Hospital and leader of the team that treated Barbaro. “The Jacksons’ remarkable philanthropy will translate into better outcomes for injured and ill horses in the future.”

External Fixation for Barbaro's Right Hind Leg

Left: Barbaro's right hind leg as it appeared on radiographs in November. This leg is now equipped with an external fixation device for support; pins were surgically implanted through the leg to attach to a brace.

A sobering statement from New Bolton Center this morning:

"On Saturday, January 27, Barbaro was taken back to surgery because we could not keep him comfortable on his right hind foot. That foot developed a deep subsolar abscess secondary to bruising when he went through a period of discomfort on the left hind foot. It is not laminitis but the undermining of the sole and part of the lateral heel region are potentially just as serious.

"We attempted to manage the right hind foot in a cast and then in a custom fabricated brace but it was impossible to have access to the foot for treatment as well as acceptable stability and comfort.

"We elected to place his right hind in an external skeletal fixation device in order to provide the foot a chance to heal. This means that two steel pins have been placed transversely through his right hind cannon bone. These pins are connected to external sidebars that in turn are connected to a lightweight alloy foot plate. This results in the horse eliminating all weight bearing from the foot; the horse's weight is borne through the pins across his cannon bone.

"There is significant risk in this approach but we believed it was our only option given the worsening of the right hind foot problem. The major risk of the external skeletal fixation device is that the bone bearing the weight can fracture. Unfortunately, we felt we needed to take this risk because this approach offered our only hope of keeping Barbaro acceptably comfortable.

"He had a perfect recovery from anesthesia and has been in and out of the sling since then. His left hind foot appears to be stable at this time. We remain concerned about both front feet. Remarkably, his attitude and appetite were excellent overnight.

"We will continue to treat Barbaro aggressively as long as he remains bright, alert and eating. This is another significant setback that exemplifies how complex his medical situation remains because both hind limbs have major problems."

External fixation for laminitis and other conditions is not an unproven technique for New Bolton. The hospital's Dr. David Nunamaker is probably the world's leading expert on this type of support. Photos of similar fixations from Hoofcare & Lameness files will be added to this story when I am back in the office.

From Gretchen Jackson, owner of Barbaro, on Saturday:

"He's got a lot of issues, and not any of them is bad enough to say goodbye. But put together it's not a good day for Barbaro," Mrs. Jackson told Mike Jensen of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Scott Morrison DVM, consultant on Barbaro's foundered left hind foot, was at home in Kentucky yesterday.

Journalist Jensen recently won an Eclipse Award, racing's highest honor, for his reporting on Barbaro. He is basically embedded at New Bolton Center, somewhere near the reception desk.

Exclusive! Dr. Morrison Describes Barbaro's New Hoof Cast for Laminitis Therapy

Left: Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Scott Morrison DVM finishing tendon surgery on a laminitic horse.(Hoofcare & Lameness Journal file photo)

On Wednesday, January 3, Scott Morrison DVM of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky traveled to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania to create a temporary supportive foot cast for Barbaro, the champion 2006 three-year-old colt whose right hind leg shattered soon after the start of the Preakness Stakes last May.

Barbaro has been a patient at the University of Pennsylvania's Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the university's rural vet school campus called New Bolton Center for more than six months. In July and August, after surviving several surgeries to repair his broken leg, the colt fought the painful mechanical form of laminitis in his "good" hind leg.

Known as "support-limb laminitis," this poorly-understood and often-deadly complication of fracture repair in horses can result in necrosis (death) of the fiber-like bed of tissue ("lamina") that bonds the hoof capsule to the bone. Unlike normal laminitis, which most often affects both front feet or all four feet, support-limb laminitis affects only the "good" leg that is overloaded when a horse favors one injured limb.

Barbaro was left with one broken leg and one hoofless one, but he struggled to survive. The damage to his laminitic foot, and the slow growth of new tissue, continues to be a grave concern of his caregivers.

Laminitis is the devastating disease that ended the lives of great racehorses like Secretariat and Sunday Silence, the Standardbred champion Nihilator, and more recently, the two great European champion dressage mares, Annastasia and Poetin.

Morrison, who heads Rood and Riddle's innovative podiatry clinic, was sought as a consultant to assist with the foundered (a common term for a foot that has been ravaged by the disease of laminitis) foot. He first saw the horse on December 20 for an evaluation, then returned on Wednesday to try to help stabilize the foot.

On Friday, January 5, Dr. Morrison told me that the cast was applied, "because the foot is so unstable. He's just not growing enough wall on the medial (inner) side, and he's bearing most of his weight on the arthrodesis (surgically-fused) leg."

Morrison padded the bottom of the foot with thick felt soaked in Betadine (iodine solution); the hoof wall was padded with Goretex fabric padding which was then covered with 3M casting tape. The cast extends up over the pastern area to just below the fetlock, according to Dr. Morrison.

"He lands on his toe when he walks," Morrison commented, "and that needed to be addressed. I had asked them to take radiographs before I got there, and they showed demineralization (thinning or actual deterioration) of the coffin bone (pyramid-shaped bone in the base of the foot, encased by hoof capsule) at the toe and on the medial (inside) wing.

"I attached a big aluminum bar shoe to the bottom of the cast to help with derotation, to try to get that coffin bone more parallel to the ground."

Morrison observed that the horse was uncomfortable at first with the change in footwear, but that surgeon Dean Richardson reported the horse was more comfortable with it the next morning.

An ancillary purpose of the cast is to stabilize the foot in the event that the horse needs to be moved out of his intensive care unit home at New Bolton Center. Speculation is that the horse will be moved to an as-yet unnamed farm, possibly in central Kentucky, to continue treatment in a more active setting. No date has been announced for his discharge from New Bolton.

Dr. Morrison is the founder and head of the podiatry clinic at Rood and Riddle; his unit is the largest hoof-specialist clinic in the world. The clinic currently employs four foot-specialist veterinarians and five lameness-specialist farriers, as well as a staff of technicians and administrative support staff. Morrison is a specialist in laminitis and consults on cases all over the world. He is a faculty member for the upcoming 4th International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot, to be held in West Palm Beach, Florida in early November 2007.

In his role as a contributing editor to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal, Dr. Morrison recently published an article chronicling his successful transplant of frog tissue on the bottom of an injured foot via the punch biopsy tool method; he was able to create a germinating bed of new frog tissue in a damaged area.

Ironically, he is probably most renowned for an unforgettable article detailing his successful deliberate implantation of sterile maggots in the foot to aid in the debridement of infected hoof tissue. That article can be downloaded as a pdf (Adobe Acrobat) file at http://www.hoofcare.com. No word yet if there are maggots in Barbaro's future.

© 2006-2007 THE JURGA REPORT: Horse Health Headlines. All rights reserved.

To view the complete blog, visit http://special.equisearch.com/blog/horsehealth/index.html

To email this post to a friend, simply click on the "envelope" icon in the tool bar below; to leave a comment or contact the author, click on the “comments” link in the tool bar.

Barbaro Struts His Stuff on ABC's Good Morning America; Next Stop Kentucky Horse Park?

Fans of injured racehorse Barbaro had a special treat this morning, when ABC's "Good Morning America" aired almost five minutes dedicated to the horse and his cautiously optimistic recovery from a shattered lower right hind leg and subsequent severe "support-limb" laminitis in the left hind.

Not only did they see the horse, they saw him without wraps on his legs and without any blankets. Yes, you can count his ribs. Yes, his fractured leg is bowed and unnatural looking. But, like the true champion he is, Barbaro walked along beside surgeon Dean Richardson just to show the world that he could.

Like most hind-limb injury cases, Barbaro exhibits what looks like almost a stringhalt gait behind. Commonly, these horses are reticent to break over on the foundered foot and so lift the foot and then flex the lower leg to move forward. But he did move forward, at a good clip.

The public waited exactly three months to see photos of Barbaro; the last images released by the University of Pennsylvania of their vet school's star patient were posted on 19 September.



Barbaro's demonstration of his prowess for the ABC camera crew followed a consultation on Tuesday with Scott Morrison DVM, head of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's special podiatry clinic in Lexington, Kentucky.

In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, owner Gretchen Jackson hinted that the horse may be moved to Kentucky in the next ten days, or in January. Obviously buoyed by the horse's chipper attitude and removal of a catheter from his neck, the horse's connections are joking about his possible ability to breed mares in the future.

Meanwhile, Kentucky's Lexington Herald-Leader contained a story today quoting Kentucky Horse Park executive director John Nicholson, who said yesterday,"We would be honored to welcome him into the Horse Park family.

However, Nicholson contends that he has not spoken directly with the Jacksons.

"We don't think it's appropriate for us to aggressively solicit the horse until his owners and his medical team feel that he's comfortable and stable," Nicholson said in the Herald-Leader.

Recurrent laminitis, or an onset of laminitis in other limbs is still a serious risk for Barbaro, and anything can happen to dash hopes.

In the footage, Barbaro appears to be wearing a Sigafoos glue-on cuff with support shoe on his fractured leg; his hoofless foundered foot is wrapped in a bandage inside a padded Soft Ride hoof boot.

The video footage is available on the Good Morning America web site; Adobe Flash 8 viewer is required, but can be downloaded. ABC News now has an entire page of links to its video and text coverage of Barbaro's injury and career.

The video and text files can be found on the ABC News site by typing "Barbaro" in the search box at the top right of any screen. Look for stories and videos dated December 21 to view today's video and story.

If you need to type a direct url, type the following text into your browser address window:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2742921

Photo captions: (top) University of Pennsylvania supplied image by Kathy Freeborn; Rood and Riddle image of veterinarian Scott Morrison taken by Haydn Price, courtesy of www.hoofcare.com.

Barbaro's Foot Doc: Morrison to Examine Colt's Foundered Foot Today

Scott Morrison DVM of in Lexington, Kentucky is headed to the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania today; he will be examining Barbaro's left hind foot, which was devastated by an attack of support limb laminitis this summer.

Dr. Morrison is the founder and head of the Podiatry Clinic at Rood and Riddle; his unit is the largest foot-specialty clinic in the world. The clinic currently employs four foot-specialist veterinarians and four lameness-specialist farriers, as well as a staff of technicians and administrative support staff. Morrison is a specialist in laminitis and founder and consults on cases all over the world.

It is not known at this time whether Morrison will be merely evaluating the damage to the colt's foot to provide a prognosis, or if he will actually treat the horse or act as a consultant.

Barbaro is still a patient at New Bolton Center but is expected to be moved to another facility this winter, according to interviews with owner Gretchen Jackson and with his attending veterinarian Kathy Anderson DVM of Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. The horse has been at New Bolton Center since shattering his right hind leg during the running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland in May 2006.

Links to news media stories about Barbaro's meeting with Morrison:

Baltimore Sun article about Morrison's appointment with Barbaro (19 December 2006)

Daily Racing Form article about Morrison and Barbaro (19 December 2006--Free registration may be necessary to view this article)

Thoroughbred Times article about Morrison's plan to see barbaro published 16 december>

Captions: Scott Morrison DVM outside the podiatry clinic at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky (Haydn Price photo/�www.hoofcare.com); Scott Morrison checking feet of a laminitis case at Rood and Riddle (provided by Scott Morrison/courtesy �www.hoofcare.com).