Disappointment & Smiles-An Update

Last month Maark went to his new home. His new owner is an endurance rider who was looking for a new horse. She was looking for a project who was kind, calm, & wanting to bond with the human partner. She found what she was looking for in Maark. She picked him up on a rainy night & he was so good getting in the strange trailer in the dark. I did get an email the next day that said after the first few miles he travelled like a pro. She was very pleased with her new horse.

A week later I got an email that Maark was dead lame. His new owner & I were both devastated because her vet said he was not only foundering, but had a blown suspensorary ligament. To say his owner & I were shocked at the diagnosis is an understatement. We were both skeptical but since we aren't vets... I offered to take Maark back but she said she loved him & wanted to work him through whatever was wrong. Her farrier looked at Maark & pronounced that he was not only NOT foundered, but never had foundered. He thought maybe the trouble was an abscess. You can imagine my relief when I got a phone call a few days later saying an abscess had blown out at the coronet band. With that, Maark came sound & the leg swelling disappeared. Obviously the swelling was from the abscess & infection, NOT from a damaged suspensorary. Smiles all around.

Last week I received a holiday email with the awesome news that Maark's new mom had not only started saddling him, but she'd actually been sitting on him & letting him wander around the roundpen. I could hear the grin in her words. It made my day. What a great year end it's been for the fattest horse I've ever known.

Botox For Laminitis & Founder?

I read an interesting article in Equus magazine this morning & thought I'd share. The article was about using Botox to aid in the prevention & treatment of laminitis & founder. Botox is the trade name for a botulinum toxin. The toxin blocks muscle contractions & causes localized muscular paralysis. It's this property that makes Botox popular for reducing facial wrinkles.

A pediatric neurologist & a vet teamed up on a study of Botox use for laminitic & foundered horses. They also studied it's use as a preventative to these 2 devastating diseases. Their study consisted of 7 horses, 6 with varying degrees of laminitis & founder plus 1 horse who had a serious injury to a front leg. The premise for their study was to see if Botox injections would relax the deep digital flexor tendon so it didn't contract & pull the coffin bone into the classic, founder rotation. This would be equivalent to cutting the tendon, which has been the traditional method of treatment for rotation, barring euthanasia. The study horses were injected with Botox above the knees of each affected leg. After 2 weeks, x-rays showed that rotation in the affected hooves had stabilized. The horse who was given Botox as a preventative because of the severe injury never developed laminitis. The effects of Botox begin in a few days & peaks at 2 weeks, with about 3 months being the lasting length of 1 injection.

Botox treatments aren't cheap & depending on the severity of the laminitis & founder, multiple treatments might be needed. The article stated the cost between $1500-$2000 per leg. But when faced with laminitis & founder, there is now one more option that gives our horses a chance at life.