Performance Tools & The Evolution of Health Care

Equine health care has evolved by leaps and bounds. Not long ago a thorough health care plan consisted of one or two yearly physical exams with vaccinations, regular de-worming and a teeth float.  Today, health care takes more of a total approach based on the needs and career of the horse. This includes a total evaluation of the rider’s plans for the year and how to best accomplish those goals with a sound happy and healthy horse. New tools allow your veterinarian to do this more effectively.

Here’s an example:  Hoof care used to be simple; don’t let them get too long or too short, keep the thrush out and put on shoes if you need to.  By comparison, today’s’ farrier work is a complex combination of art and science. It can ease pain, mitigate damage from poor conformation and improve athletic performance. Wow. What about teeth? Knock the points off every now and again, right?  Sure, that’s one level and it may be all your horse requires, but many of us expect more from our horses these days and we are willing to give them better care in order to get it.  “Performance Dentistry” is a specialized area of veterinary medicine offering proper bit placement to improve the riding experience and the horse’s level of comfort. Thorough dental care is also important in minimizing colic and maintaining good overall health.

OK cool, so does your horse really need all that? All horses are individuals, that’s why health care programs work. They are the foundation that allows you and your veterinarian to discover your horse’s particular needs and stay current when those needs change. Below we have focused on three tools your veterinarian can use to improve performance.  The EponaTech system of hoof care evaluation, saddle fit to prevent and correct back related pain and High Speed Treadmill evaluations to determine and improve conditioning.
 

Epona Tech

Recently a new software system called Metron was introduced by a company called EponaTech. This software was specifically developed for veterinarians and farriers to use as an aid to hoof & leg care.  It is used in conjunction with digitized photographs and radiographs of the equine foot.  The most basic way to understand the software system is that it is a measuring and communication tool.  It allows accurate measurements of hoof lengths and angles. These measurements are then overlaid on the original image so they are easy to understand. 

These measurements can be helpful in allowing your veterinarian to look back and see how the hoof looked several months in the past.  If the veterinarian and farrier are making changes to a problem (e.g. a club foot, or an excessively low-heeled horse) the ability to go back to how the foot looked in the past can be useful. 

The Equine Center uses this new technology to evaluate hoof conformation and how it relates to soundness.  When the hoof becomes out of balance many lower limb lameness can occur.  With regular evaluations, we are better able to maintain a sound hoof with proper angles and balanced joints which can decrease the risk of lameness.
 

 Saddle Fit

The role of tack and proper saddle fit has gained renewed attention as a source of diminished performance. While the concept that an improperly fitting saddle could cause pain is not new, few owners regularly evaluate the effect their tack may have on their horse’s performance. To put the concept in a human perspective; would you run a race in shoes that didn’t fit? Would you go back packing with a pack that was too large for your back? Would wearing more socks or putting a pillow on your back really solve the problems?

The laws of physics tell us that when two objects of different firmness and density are in contact during motion, the softer of the two will give way to the shape of the harder surface.

If you compare the density of iron or steel (horse shoes), wood and leather (a saddle), and flesh (a horse’s body) it is easy to realize that when they come in contact  it will be the horse’s body that will have to give way or adjust if there is an improper fit from the other two. Unlike pain from improper shoeing or originating from the legs, back pain is much more difficult to demonstrate because horses vary in their response.

Recently Thermography (Thermal Imaging) has offered the first truly accurate way to evaluate saddle fit as the horse is performing. The concept is simple; where excess motion, pressure and contact occur between the saddle and back, friction results. The heat produced is detected in both the panels of the saddle and the horses back and viewed with thermal imaging following exercise. The results are evident immediately and changes to the saddle’s tree or flocking can be determined. In this fashion the saddle can be adjusted to create a custom fit to the individual horse. Because of the speed, ease, and relative economy of these evaluations, riders may evaluate saddle fit two or three times during the show season to adjust for changes in the horse’s back associated with increasing muscle mass or loss fat.
 

Treadmill Conditioning

We are amazed at the results we have had using the treadmill as a conditioning and strengthening tool. It has proven to provide a variety of benefits.  The design of the treadmill encourages horses to travel straight which helps strengthen both sides of the body evenly. The support bars that run down both sides of the treadmill provide guides to help keep the horse straight.  The treadmill can accelerate up to 33 M.P.H. and can be raised to a 10% incline. Working on an incline increases back and hindquarter strength that would not be easily attainable otherwise and helps obtain fitness in a shorter amount of time.  This is especially beneficial for keeping older horses fit without the miles.  The ability to adjust speed and incline provides multiple workout capabilities for all horses.  In several cases, the treadmill has proven to increase the quality of the gaits, as well as increasing power and suspension. Horses that have minor problems such as going slightly haunches right or left can be corrected without rider involvement. This allows a horse to use its body on its own without relying on a rider to help.  Independent, controlled work is the key to even muscling and strength. Visible muscle changes have been apparent in many horses over the back, hindquarters, and upper leg, as well as overall muscle tone.  Lora, the owner of the Trakhener stallion “Savant” who has been on a treadmill conditioning program says, “He (Savant) feels so different, he’s so much stronger in his gaits.”

In addition to conditioning and strengthening, the treadmill is used as a tool for rehabilitation and diagnosis. The controlled environment for footing is great for evaluating lameness and building strength for horses that are returning to work following an injury. Some horses may have injuries that do not allow them to be ridden so the treadmill helps the horse gain strength and muscle without the weight of a rider.

The treadmill can also be used to put foundation muscling on young horses before they are ridden. It is an effective way to build fitness in young horses because it builds muscle symmetrically improving the body composition for showing in hand or starting a more balanced young horse!

Rhiannon, a Percheron/Thoroughbred mare, successfully recovered from a back injury with the help of a treadmill conditioning program designed by Dr. Waldsmith.  Rhiannon’s injury was the result of an ill-fitting saddle.  This is a not uncommon problem that can go undetected or misdiagnosed for long periods of time until an injury develops that requires veterinary attention. In Rhiannon’s case the muscles and ligaments that run along her back were torn.  She was extremely sore to the touch and did not want to move in any way that could hurt her back further. 

New Hope for Horses with Suspensory Disease and Arthritis

It is a diagnosis every horse owner dreads.  Suspensory disease calls up visions of lengthy rehabilitation, limited return to intended use and automatic reevaluation of future plans. The problem with injured suspensory tissue is that it often heals to a certain point and then “stalls out” before it is completely restored.  In cases of arthritis regeneration of tissue may continue but it may not produce the type of tissue we want and calcification within the joint results causing pain and limiting range of motion. The Equine Center is currently using a therapeutic method that shows real promise in stimulating healing as well as interrupting and reversing the production of scar tissue and calcification.   

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT) delivers minute shock waves into the tissue creating an inflammatory response that re-ignites the healing process. At the same time, the frequency of the waves targets the “bad” tissue and literally breaks it up creating room for the good tissue to form. This is important both for bony calcification in a joint as well as the scar tissue that can form within a tendon leaving it brittle and less elastic. Other “regeneration” methods, like injecting bone marrow stem cells into the affected tissue are being studied at other clinics and teaching hospitals. These therapies are each based on the same idea of stimulating activity within the tissue. Since the traditional method of dealing with tendons has been stall rest and crossed fingers, therapies like ESWT may help us put the healing process back in the veterinarian’s hands. 

This form of therapy has been used with great success on humans with conditions such as heel and shoulder spurs as well as tennis elbow. It works by sending shockwaves to a bone, thus stimulating surrounding tissues into “thinking” that a severe trauma has taken place. This “turns on” the most active phase of the healing process.

By taking the painful area of the horse’s body “back in time” in this manner, the painful area is stimulated to heal in a more complete and non painful way. It seems to work best on conditions of abnormal calcification such as ringbone and bone spavin in hocks. It is also effective in areas where bone and ligaments meet such as splints, sesamoids and suspensory ligament origins. Seventy percent of the horses treated show improvement in their lameness. Of those that become sound and return to exercise less than 10% have a relapse of lameness. This treatment offers a much higher success rate than has ever been obtained in these conditions before.                     

Currently The Equine Center is using this therapy in several cases of sore hocks and heel pain as well as sore backs and a fractured navicular bone. We have also seen good results with cases of ringbone, suspensory origin injuries and splint bone pain.  ESWT might be the first really promising therapy to offer hope for horses with these notoriously difficult ailments. The studies and the literature are important but what is really encouraging is the improvement we are seeing first hand in our clinic. Please contact us if you feel your horse has a condition that might benefit from ESWT.