The Saginaw Valley Equine clinic hosted a Scott Morrison DVM seminar sponsored by the new Pfizer spinoff Zoetis (same drugs,same folks, now a seperate animal only company). Free breakfast and lunch; these folks really know how to get a good turn out. If there was free beer we'd of never left. The morning session: Scott did a good job of explaining the whys and hows of caring for foals' leg and hoof issues. Good video & pics following these horses over a period of time(some up to a yr). He had his collection of "Wins" but also the "loses". He also covered when to do something and when it's best to leave them alone. I'll admit to my own bias, when a clinician agrees with most of what I do; they're great... There was a commercial for their new oral dormosedan; the Rep cleared up lot of misconceptions about the product. There was a good explanation of how/why it works and when it won't. The afternoon session: Scott shod 3 lameness cases, club foot with contracted heel with pain, a medial & lateral collateral ligament damage both front feet and a clasic AQHA chronic heel pain. Can't say for sure that he "hit any of them out of the park" but the 3 of them stood and walked more comfortable afterward. If you get a chance to attend one of his presentations, I wouldn't pass it up.
Sounds great Brian! How did he shoe the club foot? What grade club was it? How did he treat club feet in foals?
The adult with the grade 2 club foot was trimmed from the widest point back ( to acheive more surface area) then got a direct glue( no glue in the toe, to permit expansion) on poly flex wedge shoe with rolled toe & heel. after it was cured he set a heel spring into the shoe (to counter act the contracted heel) with equipak even with the shoe from the point of the frog back & very thin layer under P3. The low heel was given a standard trim (gathered up) glued polyflex wedge/same rolled toe w/ mesh and equipak to ground level. At the start, this horse looked like the victim of "matching feet" technique; not happy. Walked off and turned without hesitation; didn't see him trot though. Morrison has the advantage of seeing most of these TB foals the first day and any other time he sees fit. He will put glue to protect their toes on 1 & 2 day olds if their heels on not solidly on the ground. If the heels much more off the ground they will be splinted for 3 to 4 days, changed daily. Stall rest or restricted area turn out are a big part of his protocol on any signs of contracture, also oxytetracyclene. Botox into the muscle is being tested; maybe get to the root cause. Older foals that don't come around, with stall rest and conservative treatment, get the check ligaments cut with lowered heels and slight toe extensions either plastic or aluminum and changed more often than every 10 days. Sorry Dana, for an old fart with dead slow dial up connection, pics don't happen
Dana, got a lnk for some pics http://saginawvalleyequine.com/news...west-gather-at-svec-for-2013-podiatry-seminar