Presidio Equine Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation

04/28/2024

So great to be back in my old Kentucky home for the best weekend all year!

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04/28/2024

We had a wonderful time assisting on cross country at the Defender Kentucky 3-Day Event! Good luck to all of today’s competitors during stadium jumping.

04/05/2024

"Poor performance in horses is a very broad term and can include anything that falls short of a rider’s expectations for the animal’s physical abilities."

These causes may include:
1) Lameness
2) Respiratory problems
3) Muscular disease or injury
4) Neurologic deficits
5) Cardiovascular restrictions
6) Gastric discomfort
7) Reproductive or behavioral challenges
8) Lack of fitness
9) Lack of talent

“After ruling out physical causes for your horse’s poor performance, take a realistic look at his and your own athletic potential,” says Ursini. “Consider your equine partner’s current fitness level, age, breed, and conformation to determine if your riding goals are achievable with that particular horse.”

One expert shares 9 reasons why your horse might not be meeting your expectations and recommends taking a realistic look at both his and your athletic potential.

03/06/2024

"Horse enrollment by owner/rider was voluntary, with 299 horses enrolled: 58% show jumpers; 35% eventers; and 12% dressage."

"While 77% of show jumpers and 82% of racehorses are sidelined for orthopedic pain during their careers, veterinarians identified incidental lameness in up to 75% of horses not presented for lameness issues."

"The team saw no evidence that a certain degree of lameness negatively influences performance. This supports the idea that a horse can be serviceably sound despite some lameness issues... While mild single and multi-limb lameness is common in FEI-level horses, Contino said it does not appear to be performance-limiting."

At the 2023 AAEP Convention, Dr. Erin Contino described a study that analyzed the prevalence of lameness in FEI horses.

12/16/2023

"The 30mLs of platelet-poor plasma generated by the Pro-Stride APS and Restigen PRP devices contained the same concentrations of 16 plasma proteins (including A*M) as the final output of the Alpha2EQ device."

The study compared the concentration of Alpha-2-Macroglobulin in Pro-Stride® APS, Restigen PRP® and Alpha 2EQ® devices.

10/10/2023

"... the FEI is indicating they are looking to impose stricter noseband rules in 2024, with a plan to move away from fingers to a form standardised measurement. The change, recommended by the FEI equine ethics and wellbeing commission, would also include elimination and a yellow card for those found to be using over-tightened nosebands in competition."

https://www.eurodressage.com/2023/10/07/vital-signs-untightening-question-noseband-fit-and-measurement?fbclid=IwAR0Gp_FjAvYjIG0qz3qUUj-UZwZqCJN6HQYpcRJVu1Pw5SWIhNrhyG9yAog_aem_AZ_bK7U4jeJIWxPez00wJ4fO-cPUe4PSenenTa64fHwqglg6QBZwJvDsoeYXirAZMDk

Encouraging awareness and education about noseband tightness in Canadian competition with a review of the white paper and published scientific paper on the Equestrian Canada Noseband Pilot Project.

08/02/2023

“Even the majority of ‘acute’ injuries have, in fact, been developing for a time. If we examine how we work and train horses with this in mind, then the use of various surfaces allows for varying strains to be distributed across various musculoskeletal tissues—bone, ligament, tendon—thereby minimizing repetitive stress.”

Varying the surfaces on which you exercise your horse can help produce a strong, well-rounded equine athlete.

07/12/2023

Advances in equine diagnostic imaging have expanded rapidly in recent years. Acquiring the image is only part of the equation. Hospitalization, standing or general anesthesia, and image interpretation by a trained specialist all factor into the overall time and cost of a diagnostic imaging procedure. In some cases, more than one diagnostic imaging modality is required to identify the issue. Although diagnostics may involve upfront costs, they can also save money by ensuring an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Four diagnostic imaging experts share insight that can help owners and veterinarians with the diagnostic process.

06/26/2023

"Study results have shown that 74% of horses with back pain exhibit limb lameness, while 32% of limb-lame horses also experience back pain, King added. In a study of horses presenting with unilateral (one-sided) fore- and hind-limb lameness, researchers saw a direct correlation between forelimb lameness and multifidus muscle atrophy bilaterally (on both sides) at multiple spinal levels in the thoracolumbar region (the part of the spine that runs from the withers to the pelvis), and many horses had signs of long-term multifidus muscle adaptation in relation to chronic lameness."

Multifidus muscle pain and atrophy in horses can cause many problems, including back pain, poor core strength, and limb lameness.

06/08/2023

Dietary management is key to preventing squamous disease (frequent meals, adequate forage, alfalfa ration and pasture access), whereas rest days, consistent handling, and time with other horses (reduced stress) are important for preventing glandular disease.

What can you do to protect your horse’s sensitive stomach against gastric disease?

06/08/2023

If your horse has been experiencing a complex lameness, your veterinarian might recommend advanced imaging to further investigate the source of the problem. The most common modalities are magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer tomography (CT), and nuclear scintigraphy (aka a bone scan).

What should you expect when your horse undergoes an advanced imaging exam, and what do these modalities identify?

Learn what to expect when your horse undergoes advanced imaging exams using MRI, CT, and nuclear scintigraphy.

06/03/2023

Puncture wounds in horses might appear to be mere flesh wounds—small and minor. But the foreign objects causing these wounds can pierce though muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, blood vessels, synovial spaces, organs, and more, introducing pathogens that can set up infection. Close observation and early intervention, taking care not to remove the piercing object until consulting a veterinarian, can help horse owners prevent the sometimes-dire consequences of puncture wounds.

They might appear minor on the surface, but puncture wounds can involve dangerous underlying damage and infection.

05/12/2023

“For conditioning horses, I recommend utilizing swimming, an overground treadmill with an incline, or an underground treadmill,” said Adair. “When rehabilitation is the goal, I use an underground or overground treadmill and adjust the height of the water based on the individual horse’s needs. I start by having them walk slow in higher water for 15-20 minutes, three to five days per week, and gradually build up to 40-45-minute sessions over a two- to four-week period.”

Water treadmills and swimming can be useful when rehabilitating or conditioning horses. Learn how to choose the right option for your horse based on your goals.

05/03/2023

Dr. Chris Elliot talks about the role of being a veterinarian at the LRK3DE:

"Each veterinarian on the course has their own section of fences that they’re responsible for. Far from being overloaded with multiple fences per vet, there’s almost one vet per fence. For example, there were 28 fences on the CCI5* track, with a little over 20 veterinarians on course. The main role of the treating veterinarians is to react if there’s an emergency situation in their section, but they can also radio the veterinary delegate if a horse looks as though it is too tired to continue."...
.. "At a show as big as the Land Rover Kentucky Three Day Event, Dr. Elliott is one of a veritable army of veterinarians. The USDA veterinarians are there to supervise and manage the quarantine process. The team vets are there to treat and care for horses on national squads, like Dr. Susan Johns, the current veterinarian for the American Eventing Team. Then there is the veterinary delegate, or chief FEI veterinarian. This vet supervises and manages everything that’s going on at the horse show and is the decision maker. At LRK3DE, this role was filled by Dr. Anne Baskett. There are the treating vets who stand along the cross country course, ready to jump in at a moment’s notice to help. Last but not least, there are private athlete veterinarians that travel with each rider to supervise the care and treatment of their horses specifically.

According to Dr. Elliott, “There was probably somewhere between 30 to 35 veterinarians present at the Kentucky horse trials, with probably another 40 or so veterinary students as well.”

https://eventingnation.com/undercover-superheroes-a-day-in-the-life-of-an-lrk3de-vet/?fbclid=PAAaYDFxDwF8oGw2MyUb_l99rgGTuu0Rp6eylKJUWi84tORpQNcDSIe99-KqE

While we’re all staring wide-eyed in wonder at the horses and riders who tackle the unbelievable challenge that is the Land Rover Kentucky Three Day Event, there’s an unseen hero hiding in the background. You

04/30/2023

Yet another wonderful day on cross country at the Land Rover Kentucky 3-day Event. Until next year!

04/29/2023

Wishing all horse and rider teams an uneventful day on cross-country during tomorrow’s CCI4*-S and CCI5*-L at the LRK3DE.

04/27/2023

Gold beads as a means of acupuncture stimulation? Acupuncture induces a local response by increasing blood flow to the acu-point and relaxing the surrounding muscle and soft tissues. It also elicits a response at different levels of the nervous system, and affects the endocrine (hormone) system by changing the level of natural chemicals and opioids in the central body.

The implantation of gold beads at acupuncture points has been reported in the US in veterinary medicine since the early 1970’s. In 1992, a veterinarian out of Indiana developed a technique for inserting gold beads as a therapeutic for degenerative joint disease. Although the actual mechanism of action is not well understood, studies have shown a significant improvement in mobility and a reduction in clinical pain in canine patients with osteoarthritis.

The gold beads identified in this patient were found incidentally during pre-purchase examination.

03/08/2023

“Many horses, if not all, present at least some percentage of asymmetry, almost invisible to the naked eye … but it’s not systematically a sign of pain,” Chateau told The Horse. “Simply put, it’s like when humans are more right-sided or left-sided. We can all have a little bit of asymmetry without these being necessarily pathologies.”

Horses might show a slight asymmetry in their gait without being truly lame.

03/07/2023

Did you know that the outermost layer of the cornea is hydrophobic (water-repelling)? Staining the cornea with fluorescein dye is a routine procedure used to evaluate the health of the corneal surface. When the superficial most layer is lost, the dye will seep into the deeper stroma ultimately revealing the injured (ulcerated) region as a bright green spot.

02/23/2023

“PPS at 3 mg/kg is both safe and effective for OA in horses when administered IM once a week for four weeks. The data also suggest that this product can be used prophylactically (preventively).”

“Treatment success rate was 60% in PPS-treated horses compared with only 36% of saline-treated horses, meaning that horses improved at least one lameness grade over the course of the 28-day study,” relayed McClure.

A field study of the drug showed it significantly improved lameness in horses and induced no clinically relevant adverse effects.

02/10/2023

“When I say a horse has a neck problem, I don’t necessarily mean he has disc disease or articular process joint arthritis. I may simply mean he has fascial (connective tissue) pain. The pain could even be due to a vaccine they got yesterday. Localizing the pain and dysfunction to the cervical region is simply a place to start, to then try and narrow down what tissues may be involved and then how to treat it. Even if there is something wrong with the neck, it doesn’t mean there is terrible pathology and the horse needs retiring or injections. Again, a full physical exam—a whole horse exam—is necessary.”

Veterinarians discuss how they radiograph, ultrasound, and treat neck problems.

02/08/2023

"Many sport horse injuries are caused by inappropriate warm-up or stretching, inadequate or inefficient patterns of movement, excessive range of motion of a particular joint, a high magnitude of acceleration or deceleration, excessive duration of activity, and extreme impact forces placed on body parts making contact with a surface or object.

Injuries arise in two general categories. The less common cause of injury in sport horses is the acute overreaching injury, when the force applied to the tissue at a moment in time exceeds what it can tolerate. This can take place when riders and trainers misinterpret the readiness of the horse’s body to handle the task in front of them, most often when the training did not prepare the tissues for the stress of competition, said Worden.

More common is the chronic, or overuse, injury, which develops due to poor timing of work and recovery; the horse is not getting enough recovery time for the amount or level of work. This can also happen when trainers overlook biomechanical issues, allowing the horse to consistently work his body incorrectly and place excessive forces on tissues not designed to handle them."

Understanding how and why injuries in sport horses happen might be the best way to prevent them.

01/30/2023

It's that time of the year again! We can't wait to see you all at the Desert International Horse Park. Wishing everyone a safe and successful winter circuit!

01/23/2023

Fracture of the withers most commonly occurs when a horse flips over backwards onto a stationary object. This horse spooked while being bathed and struck his withers on a horizontal metal tie-bar in the wash rack.

Five dorsal spinous processes extending from T8 to T12 were fractured and cranially displaced (shifted forward). Comminuted fracture fragments can also be seen within several spinous processes. Additionally, the T8 fracture occurred near the base of the spinous process which is close to both the facet joints and vertebral body.

Fractured withers often recover well with conservative management. Initial treatment is directed at reducing inflammation and pain management. Complications including osteoarthritis of an involved facet joint (arthritis of the back) and infection are less frequent, but can occur.

01/09/2023

When is a bump just a bump, and when is it something more? Ultrasound is an excellent “in-the-field” tool for evaluating soft tissue injuries.

This bump was first noted during a routine musculoskeletal exam. The horse was sound, however it had been on lease and out of the owner’s care for over a year. Ultrasound identified a large region of disorganized scar tissue between the skin and the superficial digital flexor tendon. Thankfully the tendon itself was minimally affected.

We suspect that a local soft tissue contusion, possibly from a hind limb striking a forelimb, resulted in the formation a hematoma under the skin. The body is often extremely efficient at breaking down and absorbing small hematomas, however sometimes they can become persistent blemishes with calcified components.

01/06/2023

"The cause of poor performance can be challenging to diagnose and treat... Horses are controlled by a bit in their mouth, so there should be a tie-in with pain, TMJ abnormalities, and movement of the horse."

The team determined that TMJ inflammation did cause rein lameness and might play a role in equine performance.

Temporomandibular joint inflammation might be an overlooked cause of poor equine performance.

01/02/2023

Ever heard of nuchal bursitis? A bursa is a fluid-filled sac that acts as a cushion between tendon/ligament and bone. The nuchal ligament helps support the weight of the head. It has two segments, with its primary portion extending from the poll to the withers.

The nuchal bursa lies below the nuchal ligament in the upper neck. Horses with pain secondary to nuchal bursitis may present with abnormal head and/or neck carriage, abnormal movement of the neck or head, as well as soft tissue swelling behind the poll. This swelling may or may not be painful to the touch. In extreme cases, mineralization of the soft tissues can occur.

12/30/2022

Congratulations to this years Presidio Equine Sports Medicine Scholarship recipient, class of 2022 UC Davis veterinary graduate Dr. Tara Doherty. We wish you and a long and prosperous career!

11/18/2022

"Desert International Horse Park (California) and Wellington International (Florida)—homes of the country’s two largest winter hunter/jumper show circuits—will offer on-site PCR testing for EHV-1 this winter season with hopes of avoiding a repeat of last year’s outbreak that sickened 30 horses at the California show park, led to dozens more cases statewide, and temporarily shut down horse shows."

Desert International Horse Park (California) and Wellington International (Florida)—homes of the country's two largest winter hunter/jumper show circuits—will offer on-site PCR testing for EHV-1 this winter season with hopes of avoiding a repeat ...

11/10/2022

"All orthobiologics use the body’s natural physiologic processes to reduce inflammation and facilitate the repair of injured tissues. The goal is to provide a better “heal” that allows the horse to function better and have a longer career."

The key concepts behind 6 orthobiologics available to equine veterinarians.