Weston Davis Equine Surgery

09/26/2025

Navicular Bursoscopy (key-hole surgery for navicular disease)

Case Overview: 

History: 
This horse has a long-standing history of intermittent fore limb lameness.  While initially responsive to corrective shoeing and conservative medical therapies, the lameness returned - raising concern for deeper soft tissue pathology.  

Clinical Summary: 
Diagnostic blocks localized the lameness to the foot and a foot MRI was performed standing - under light sadation only.  

MRI Findings – Right Front Foot
Multiple significant abnormalities within the podotrochlear apparatus, including:
1) Moderate to marked deep digital flexor tendinopathy – core lesions in both medial and lateral lobes extending to the insertion, with dorsal surface disruption
2) Chronic navicular bursitis with probable adhesions
3) Flexor cortical defect of the navicular bone with surrounding bone remodeling
4) Moderate to marked synovitis of the distal interphalangeal joint

Next Step: 
Navicular Bursoscopy
A navicular bursoscopy (key-hole surgery into the navicular bursa) was  used to address adhesions and tendon damage. This minimally invasive approach allows direct visualization and debridement of affected structures, with the goal of restoring function in this apparatus and improving long-term soundness.  

Surgical video coming soon!

07/24/2025

🎉 Congratulations Dr. Chanutin for the completion of a huge project and contribution to our veterinary literature!!!

📚Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, this is a great read for expected performance outcomes in the sport horse following colic surgery. 🙂

Great work.

04/16/2025

Charlie, one of the stars of Bit By Bit Therapeutic Riding Center did what horses do and found trouble:)…. Seems only he and God will know what he got into.

He presented with a rostral mandibular fracture and one lost incisor tooth.

*Pics of repair in comments*

He was sedated standing and a local berve block performed. The fracture was cleaned, lavaged, and debrided of all feed material and unhealthy tissues. The fracture was realigned nicely and the teeth were stabilized with interdental wires (horse braces). An additional pin was placed from left mandible to right mandible for extra side-to-side stability. The sharp ends of the wires and pin were covered with a conforming hydroplastic. The missing incisor socket was packed with an absorbable dental plug followed by antibiotic impregnated plaster.

He has been eating well since surgery and we wish Charlie a speedy and uncomplicated recovery!

Bit By Bit Therapeutic Riding Center is accepting donations to help with is medical expenses and post-op care so feel free to look them up:).

02/26/2025

Dr. Chanutin, Dr. Janes and Becca had a little work vacay:) Visiting some of our horse friends in Nassau!! 🇧🇸

Side note: Dr. Janes has an unhealthy and irrational fear of chickens (evidenced that she was not anywhere in sight for pictures with chickens) 🐓😰

02/04/2025

** Important Notice: Temporary Phone Service Disruption**

We are currently experiencing issues with our SMS text messaging. Our team is working diligently to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, please CALL us for any urgent mattes, appointment scheduling, questions, etc. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

01/06/2025

01/01/2025

Nothing says Happy New Year like a cecal balloon🤣. A couple of interesting surgeries already logged for 2025!

Many thanks to our awesome clients and staff. We had a blessed 2024 and are looking forward to 2025!

08/02/2024

Did you know horses can form stones in their intestines! Although enteroliths are uncommon, they can pose a serious health risk.

Equine enteroliths, also known as intestinal stones or calculi, are mineral masses that form in a horse's gastrointestinal system. They form around ingested foreign objects that horses eat but aren’t able to digest, such as pebbles, metal, hair, etc. Most are made up of magnesium-ammonium-phosphate (struvite) crystals that build up in thin layers around the object over the course of multiple years.

Enterolith risk factors include certain diets (high in calcium like alfalfa), breed predisposition, management practices and geographic region (Florida and California). They are more common in animals over the age of 10, but can occur in horses as young as a yearling or as old as 25 or more.

Enterolith’s can go unnoticed for years until they become large enough and move to areas of the intestine with smaller diameters, such as the small or transverse colon, and obstruct the passage of feed. Symptoms can range from mild, intermittent colic episodes to more acute, severe episodes of colic.

Abdominal radiographs, abdominal ultrasound and re**al palpation can be helpful in diagnosis, but false negatives are common. Definitive diagnosis and treatment consists of exploratory laparotomy and removal of the objects.

We hope this little pearl of information was interesting 😉

07/24/2024

**Important Notice: Temporary Phone Service Disruption**

We are currently experiencing issues with our inbound phone service. Our team is working diligently to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, please reach out to us via text and we will give you a call back as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding!