Conference noted::equitation

    This is from the Chicago Tribune dated Dec. 2, 1987.
    
    
    FOR THE WELL-BRED PATIENT
    
    Kennett Square, Pa.
    
      To be sure, the new $2.25 million medical center here will use
    lasers and computers, but it will also have a special monorail system
    to hoist patients from the operating table to the to the recovery
    room.
    
      Patients' rooms will contain television monitors, piped-in music
    and advanced climate-control equipment.  And for newborns, floors
    will be heated and padded.  
    
      Nothing is too good fro the patients at the University of
    Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center.  That is because many of them
    are champion race horses worth $5 million or more.
    
      To better the odds of patient survival, Penn's school of Veterinary
    Medicine last week dedicated a new intensive-care unit and neonatal
    section at the center.  Penn officials say they are the most advanced
    in the nation for the treatment of horses and other large animals.
    
      "This is kind of the Disneyland of veterinary medicine," James
    Orsini, assistant professor of surgery, said of the 11,200-square-foot
    facility that officially opens its doors to four legged patients
    eary next year.
    
      The new animal hospital will "no doubt be used as a model for
    large-animal intesive-care facilities for the next two decades,"
    said William Donawick, professor of surgary at Penn's veterinary
    school.
    
      The hospital will not cater to just the run-of-the-mill cow or
    horse, however.  Clientele will include the creme de la creme of
    the animal world: prize winning bulls and racehorses worth as much
    as $50 million each.
    
      "The old adage that a horse with a broken leg is shot is no longer
    necessarily the case," Orsisni said.  "Many of these animals are
    very valuable, and we do all that we can to assist in their recovery."
    
      The new facilities are part of a center for large animals that
    consists of of 70 buildings on 1,000 acres of rolling farmland near
    Kennett Square, about 20 miles southwest of Philadelphia. Its staff
    of 325, including 80 veterinarians, treats more than 5,000 animals
    a year.
    
      Among the patients are cows, sheep, goats, pigs and an occasional
    llama, camel, lion and tiger.  Without a doubt, though, the equine
    is king: 80 to 85 percent of the animals treated are horses.  
     
      The new hospital sections, known officially as the Connelly Intensive
    Care Unit and the Graham French Neonatal Section, are the most
    comprehensiveanimal-care units ever designed for large animals,
    Orsini said.  They will be intergrated with other veterinary services
    at the center that already are among the most advanced in the nation.
    
      Among the devices in the complex is a special electric monorail
    system to hoist horses weighing more than 1,000 pounds from an
    operating room to a recovery room and to a special 15-foot-deep
    swimming pool.
    
      The circular pool, which is heated, disinfected, and filtered,
    has been used by prize winning racehorses such as Mystic Park, sire
    of this year's Hambeltonian winner.  Mystic Park had lost all four
    of his hooves because of complications stemming from a bout with
    Potomic horse fever.  By swimming in the pool, the horse was able
    to build leg muscles while keeping weight off its recovering hooves.
    
      Veterinarians used aspecial black-rubber jacket amde from a rubber
    raft to lower Mystic Park into the pool.  They also wore crash helmets
    to protect themselves during the procedure.  
    
      "He loved the pool," said Wendy Vaala, a Penn veterinarian who
    treated the $5 million racehorse during his one-year stay more than
    three years ago at the center.  "In fact, the pool is so tempting
    that we sometimes have trouble keeping the people out of it."
    
      Many amenities are patterned after those found in modern hospitals.
    For example, a nursing station that will operate 24 hours a day
    has been builtat the center of the intensive-care unit, giving nurses
    clear views of of horsesrecovering in nearby rooms.  
    
      To ensure smooth recovery, air in each patient room will be changed
    10 times an hour to remove germs.  Oxygen and compressed air will
    be available from wall units.  Music will be piped in to soothe
    the nerves of healing animals.
    
      "Caring for a horse in intensive care is much like caring for
    a human in intensive care," Donawick said.  "We have specially designed
    machinery for electronic monitoring of heart rate, pulse and blood
    pressure.  But a horse thrashes around and weighs five times more
    than a human, making it much mor difficult to treat."
    
      Among ailments that afflict horses are colic, botulism, kidney
    failure, cardiac disease, eye disease and laminitis, or the
    inflammation of hoof tissue.
    
      In the neonatal section, floors of the rooms will be padded and
    heated to keep foals comfortable.  Mares and newborns will be kept
    together in the same room to encourage bonding, Vaala said.
    
      One of the most difficult ailments to deal with among newborns
    is a temporary form of brain damage that makes them become "dummy
    foals," Vaala said.  "They can't suckle.  They walk into walls.
    It is a real nursing nightmare."
    
      To keep the neonatal section as germ-free as possible, veterinarians
    will wear disposable hospital gowns, and animals will be bathed
    before they are brought in.  A special manure-disposal system also
    has been designed that will drop wastes doen a chute to a recepticle
    on the floor below.
    
      Edwin Andrews, veterinary school dean, said it would be common
    for a horse to be treated by specialists such as surgeons,
    anesthesioologists and cardiologists.
    
      "The day of James Herriot's practice of veterinary medicine, in
    which a vet knows everything about every animal, is long gone,"
    he said.  "This is now the era of the specialist."

    Gee, do you think Blue Cross would cover this? I'm still thinking
    of ways to get Jasper on as a dependent.
    			Cindy
    

    This is from THE BLOOD HORSE dated Dec. 26, 1987
    
    COLIC AND COMPUTERS by Rhonda L. Williams
    
      Horses suffering from colic might have a better chance for survival
    as a result of a recent study involving 2,000 equines which suffered
    from colic of various severity.  Preliminary results from the study,
    conducted by the Morris Animal Foundation and compiled at Colorado
    State University, have pin-pointed major areas of consideration
    for veterinarians and horseowners.
      The study's goal, as well as the objective of the Morris Animal
    Foundation's ongoing colic research, is the developement of a computer
    program which can predict wheter a horse will need surgury to survive.
    The program is referred to as a predictive equation or scorecard,
    and it is described as a tool for the veterinary profession that
    ultimately will help the horse owner make decesions about the horse.
    Information from the study was transfomed into the computer program
    by a team of veterinary scientists and epidemiologists at Colorado
    State University.
    
      "Many colics start out as mild cases, making it difficult initially
    to discern whether they will become serious as time passes," said
    Dr. Ted S. Stashek, professor of large animal surgury in the Department
    of Clinical Sciences at Colorado State University.
    
      The scorecard is not completely efficent as yet, but as it is
    used more, predicting whether a horse will require surgury will
    become a more refined process.
    
      "When the model is ready, we can look at the symptoms and tell
    whether a horse will live or die.  This is the first time these
    techniques have been used anywhere in veterinarymedicine on this
    scale," said Dr. John S. Reif, assistant dean of veterinary medicine
    in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at
    Colorado State University, where he is also the professor of
    epidemiology.
    
      With veterinarians using the colic scorecard, owners will have
    a better idea of whether or not a horse needs surgury and can make
    a quicker and more educated decision about letting their animals
    undergo operations.
    
      "If you tell an owner the horse has a 50-50 chance of surviving,
    the owner might not select surgury," said Dr. Nat T. Messer of the
    Littleton Large Animal Clinic in Colorado.  "But if you tell the
    owner the horse has a 75 per cent chance of coming through the surgury,
    based on statistical evidence, then the horse is probably going
    to surgury.  We are probably going to see more horsesbeing sent
    to surgury, and more horses surviving due to the additional information
    available."
    
      Veterinarians using the colic scorecard, after examining a sick
    horse, will enter information such as pulse rate, capillary refill
    time (the time it takes for gums to return to normal after pressure
    is applied), color of gums, rectal exam data, and other findings
    into the computer.  The computer program (scorecard) then predicts
    whether the horse needs surgury and what the outcome of the case
    is likely to be.
    
      The horse's circulatory system plays a significant role in determinig
    the severity of colic.  Elevated heart rate and slow capillary refill
    time indicate the need for surgury, as do abnormal color of the
    lips and gums.
    
      Influential in determinig the outcome of a colic case is the
    condition of the peritoneal fluid in the abdomen.  Fecal material
    in the fluid puts the horse at a very high risk, as does abnormal
    color.
    
      Symptoms of sever colic include falling and rolling, self-inflicted
    injuries, shock, and pain.  The last named can be continuous and
    uncontrollable, even with drugs.
    
      Findings from the Morris study did not reveal major developements
    concerning the treatment of colic.  The scorecard does, however, take
    colic treatment out of the realm of subjective findings or an
    individuals practitioners' impressions and uses the information
    from a routine exam for a statistical program.  This give the
    veterinarian a scientific basis for making decisions.
    
      "The thing that is new is what the combination of risk factors
    means- predicting whether a horse lives or dies," said Dr. Charles
    R. Curtis, assistant professor in the departments of Clinical Sciences
    and and Environmental Health of the College of Veterinary Medicine
    and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State.  "There will always be
    a gray area in the middle range of the probable outcome of colic
    predictions.  The scorecard will be great at either extreme in
    predicting the outcome of a colic case."
    
      "The survey highlights some areas which need further research.
     That is exciting and is one of the things we hoped would come out
    of it," said Dr. Messer.
    
      A limitation of the study was the fact that information gathered
    centered on horses with colic only.  Therefore, the scorecard cannot
    predict which breeds of horses are particularly susceptable and
    what practices might contribut to colic.  Obtaining that type of
    information, Dr. Curtis said, would require a survey of a control
    group-horses without colic-to compare against against horses with
    colic.  
    
      "We are still dealing with colic after the fact," he said.  "We
    need to look at the 'before', which is how to prevent it."
    
      A reassuring finding from the survey was that most of the scorecard
    information indicating serious colic corresponded to the symptoms
    used in everyday practice to sort out serious cases from milder
    cases.
    
      "These are things we have all felt were important," said Dr. Stashak.
    "It is not a feeling-now there is the data to support it.  In the
    past, it has taken considerable experience to make a diagnosis for
    surgury.  With the predictive values of the scorcard, we have objective
    guidlines which we can all use to make decisions for the colic
    patient."
    
      "There will still be a lot of art and experience that goes into
    predicting the need for surgury and potential for survival," said
    Dr. Curtis, "but we hope the scorecard will make it more scientific
    and quantified." 

    Let's hear it for modern technology - keep at it guys!!!!!!!!!!!!
    

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Original Note by:           
GENRAL::LEECH "Pat Leech CX01/02 DTN 522-6044"       21 lines   5-DEC-1989 10:42
                          -< Veterinary compensation >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
    The mean starting salary is $23,270 for persons who graduated from
    veterinay schools in the spring of 1989 and who subsequently accepted 
    positions as employes in private practices specializing in equine care.
    The mean additional compensation expected in the first year for these
    new equine practioners is $6,456, according to an annual survey
    conducted by the American Veterinary Association.
    
    The mean starting salary for all 1989 veterinary graduates was $23,627,
    slightly higer than the mean starting salary for new "equine
    predominant" veterinarians.  The mean additional compensation of equine
    practitoners in the first year, however, is expected to be nearly
    double the mean additional compensation of all veterinary school
    graduates ($3,565).
    
    Nearly five per cent of new veterinary graduates are involved 
    predominantly in equine practice.  the highest percentage of graduates, 
    39.1 per cent, is engaged in "small animal exclusive" veterinary care.
    
     

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Original Note by: 
GENRAL::LEECH "Pat Leech CX01/02 DTN 522-6044"       11 lines   5-DEC-1989 10:55
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
    Dr. Mary Rose Paradis has been named acting chief-of-staff of the
    Hospital for Large Animals at the Tufts University School of Veterinary
    Medicine.  Dr. Paradis has been assistant professor of large animal
    medicine at Tufts since 1983 and chief of the section of large animal
    medicine since 1987.  She also directed the school's neonatal intensive
    care unit.
    
    From The Blood Horse dated Dec. 2, 1989.
    

             <<< DELNI::WORK$01:[NOTES$LIBRARY]EQUITATION.NOTE;2 >>>
                      -< - Equitation Notes Conference - >-
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Note 1121.4                  Veterinary Medical News                      4 of 4
GENRAL::LEECH "Pat Leech CX01/02 DTN 522-6044"       42 lines  17-JAN-1990 10:53
                              -< New Equine Drug >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
    Detomidine, which could prove helpful to veterinarians in dealing with
    colic, received federal approval late in 1989 for use in the horse. 
    The drug is a strong sedative and analgetic, the latter meaning it can
    make a horse insensible to pain without the horse losing consciousness.
    
    Dr. Charles E. Short, a professor and chief of anesthesiology at
    Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine in New York, has
    studied the effects of detomidine on horses.
    
    "The horse with colic pain may have such extreme pain that it becomes
    violent," Dr. Short said.  "The drug helps prevent self-trauma, and by
    relieving the pain,  it calms the horse so that the veterinarian can do
    a complete examination and perform various tests.
    
    "If the veterinarian then needs to follow the process of the colic for
    a while to help determine whether it is a medical or surgical
    condition, the drug keeps your horse comfortable.
    
    "If you decide to operate, the drug can serve as a pre-medication to
    general anesthesia.  If you decide to treat the colic medically, you
    can keep the horse on the drug anywhere from an hour to four or five
    hours while you administer your treatments."
    
    However, Dr. Short cautioned that the relief of the animal's pain does
    not mean the colic has been cured.  Treatment is still required to
    overcome the condition.  
    
    Detomidine also can aid the veterinarian in performing minor surgeries
    and diagnostic procedures.  
    
    "For example, take a horse which has suffered an injury," Dr. Short
    said.  "You want to be able to clean that wound, repair it, close it
    with sutures, and so forth.
    
    "Detomidine allows you to do all that in a standing horse.  You don't
    have to anesthetize the horse, put it in a recumbency, and deal with
    all the problems of recovery."
    
    
    From The Blood Horse dated Jan. 13, 1990. 
                                    

    I know that somewhere in this note there's a discussion of
    coughing horses, heaves, bronchitis, etc.  I have recently
    acquired some information that could be helpful if you're
    dealing with any or all of these problems.
    
    My vet, *Dr. Gill, strongly recommends switching to an Agway
    complete feed called "Respond".  This sweet feed has been
    scientifically developed specifically for horses who have
    problems with dust and/or allergies.  He also strongly
    recommends using a hay substitute called "horsage".  I've
    seen this stuff and it's like hay that's been pickled or
    turned into silage.  It's moist and smells a little bit
    sour.  Horses love it!  I called someone I know who feeds
    horsage.  It's available from a dealer in Connecticut -
    Hill 'n Dale Farm, phone 203.774.8171.  The price as of
    December '89 was $240/ton.  It comes on a plastic wrapped
    one-ton pallet.  Two tons will feed one horse for a year.
    (The $240 is a delivered price to Harvard, MA.)
    
    -----------
    *Just an aside about Dr. Gill.  He is VERY conservative.  He
     doesn't have any use for fads and, in the 15 years that I've
     known him, I can probably count on the fingers of one hand
     the products that he has strongly recommended.  So, I guess
     when he says that he strongly recommends something, I'd do it.
    
   

Thought this info was worth repeating in this topic...
================================================================================
Original Note by:           Thoroughbred Horse Racing                 
GENRAL::LEECH "Customer Services Engineer ** We do " 26 lines  28-FEB-1990 14:48
                                -< Hay alert. >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
    According to a report in the Feb. 15 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VETERINARY
    MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, a problem with botulism in horses in California in
    late 1989 was attributed to contamination with a Clostridium botulism
    organism in alfalfa hay cubes.  Forty-five horses were reported to have
    been affected, with 32 deaths.
    
    The toxin interferes with proper function of a horse's nerve endings. 
    Symptoms of botulism can range from mild locomotor abnormalities to
    death within a short period of time.
    
    Contamination with a Clostridium botulinum organism can occur in
    decaying or decomposed animal or plant material.  If hay is baled too
    wet, and is baled compactly (which prevent oxygen from entering the
    bale), then it could promote growth of the organism from the
    contamination source.
    
    Animals, such as rodents, occasionally are killed in the process of
    baling hay, and dead animals are a prime source of the Clostridium
    botulinum toxin.  Therefore, all tightly baled hay should be broken
    open and inspected for animal skeletons or skins before being fed to
    horses.  Hay that contains animals should be discarded.
    
    From The Blood Horse dated Feb.24, 1989.
    

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GENRAL::LEECH "Customer Services Engineer ** We do " 39 lines  15-MAR-1990 21:36
                           -< Roaring and Sleeping >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
    New information has been provided to help decide whether left laryngeal
    hemiplegia (roaring) is inherited.  The Cornell University College of
    Veterinay Medicine's March issue of ANIMAL HEALTH NEWSLETTER reported
    researchers in Switzerland have issued a preliminary report on a
    possible genetic basis for the condition.
    
    The research involved endoscoping 47 offspring of an affected stallion
    and a control group of 50 unrelated horses to compare the occurance of
    the condition.  The researchers reported 47 percent of the related
    group were affected or suspected of having the condition, compared to
    10 percent in the control group.  the result seems to support the
    theory of a genetic link.
    
    Researchers also noted the affected offspring were "significantly
    taller than the sound offspring, reaffirming the long-held association
    between laryngeal hemiplegia and height."
    
    The Cornell publication also included a report on a study by Linda
    Hunter and Katherine A. Houpt on bedding prefeneces of equines.  Using
    ponies and video monitoring, the researchers determined the animals
    preferred bedded stalls over non-bedded concrete stalls.  There were
    some individual preferences in type of bedding such as straw vs. wood
    shavings.  The keynote to the study was that although equines spend
    only a small porion of their time lying down, that time is critical.
    
    "REM (rapid eye movement) or paradoxical sleep can only take place when
    the animal is lying down, and REM sleep is essential for good health,"
    the report stated.  "Thus, a bedded stall can be considered a
    prerequisite for REM sleep.
    
    "A horse given only concrete or a muddy paddock may well wind up not
    getting adequate REM sleep.  And it might well be that some of the
    so-called behavorial problems seen in horses stalled without adequate
    bedding are due to insufficient REM sleep."
    
    The Blood Horse Mar. 10, 1990.
     

    
    
    Equine atheletes can now hop the shuttle--the Tufts shuttle-- to the
    Equisport Sports medicine center at Tufts New England Veterinary
    Medical Center near Worcester, Massachusetts.
    
    As of March 1, Tufts Equisport Equine Shuttle Service provides
    transportation twice a week between Tufts and New Jersey and downstate
    New York's training centers, show stables and race tracks, including
    Garden State Park, Monmouth, Freehold, the Meadowlands, Yonkers Belmont
    and Aqueduct.
    
    Currently, more than 20 percent of Tufts' equine patients are from
    these areas.  "The shuttle should make it even easier for owners and
    trainers to transport their horses to Tufts for sports medicine
    evaluations and other hospital services," said Dr. Howard Seeherman,
    assistant professor of surgery and director of the Equisport clinic.
    
    Lorraine Horse Transport of Rockland, Massachusetts, and Miami, Florida,
    operates the shuttle with modern 15-horse tractor trailers.  In
    addition to the northestern service, weekly transportation is also
    available from Miami with stops along the Interstat 95 corridor.
    
    For more information about Tufts' Equisport Sports Medicine Clinic, or
    to schedule an appoitment, call (508) 839-5395.  For a reservation on
    the shuttle, call Lorraine Horse Transpot at 1-800-533-5771.
    
    The Quarter Horse Journal April 1990.
    

    WHERE IS CORNELL UNIVER.?
    
    also does anyone have the number for the Rochester n.h. clinic?
    
    thanks ..
    
    wendy..
    
    

    RE: .9
    
    The phone number for the Rochester Equine Clinic is (603)332-6482.
    
    

    I believe Cornell U. is in Cornell, NY.
    
    Mary

	Cornell is in Ithica, NY.

    Make that Ithaca, NY and you've got it right!

    
    
    thanks..
    
    

    well I had the right state, anyway!
    
    Mary ;-)

    
    
    Corticosteroids and overfeeding of clacium to horses causes breakdowns
    on the race track, Dr. Lennart P. Krook of Cornell University told the
    California Horse Racing Board's Medication Committee on Jan 24.  DAILY
    RACING FORM reported that Dr. Krook, a research professor of veterinary
    pathology, also told the committe that breakdowns could not be
    attributed to the condition of a racing surface.
    
    Dr. Krook's conclusions were based on a three-year study performed at
    New York Racing Association race tracks.  The research indicated that
    there was no significant difference in breakdown occurance between
    off tracks and fast tracks.  Temperature and seasonal differences had
    no bearing, and horses were just as likely to break down on turf
    courses as they were on dirt surfaces.
    
    One major factor in breadowns is introduced before a horse ever
    competes.  Overfeeding of calcium, Dr. Krook said, causes
    osteochondrosis (the failure of cartilage to convert into bone), and
    the accompanying structural weaknesses in the bones lead to injuries.
    Mares which are in foal generally receive 7.5 to 10 times the amount of
    calcium they need, according to Dr. Krook.  The resulting foals also
    are given too much calcium in an effort to get them to grow quickly for
    yearling sales.
    
    Structural weaknesses in the equine athlete also are caused by
    treatment with corticosteroids, no matter how they are administered,
    Dr. Krook reported.  Tendon degeneration results and those structures
    become less elastic.  Cartilage and bone break down and eventually
    crumble.  Dr. Krook said that just one treatment with corticosteroids
    can cause irrevocable damage to a horse.
    
    The Blood Horse Feb. 2, 1991.
    
      
    

    Couldn't find any appropriate topic for this so I started a new one.
    From the November 1992 issue of Cornell Newsletter:
    
    "A clue to the cause of equine shipping fever
    
    The term "shipping fever" gained widespread use during World War I when
    vast numbers of horses were transported across far-flung battlefields.
    The term is still, unfortunately, in use, referring to the type of
    pneumonia(most often mixed infection with gram-negative organisms like
    Klebsiella and Pasteurella along with gram-positive organisms like
    Strptococcus and Staphlococcus) that attacks horses several days after
    they have been transported.
    
    research recently done in Australia points to a predisposing factor in
    the development of this pneumonia: how the horse is restrained during
    shipping. If the horse's head is restrained too tightly or held too
    high, upper respiratory tract secretions containing the pathogenic
    organisms cannot be expelled normally. With lung defense mechanisms
    compromised, pathogens cannot be expelled. The bacteria eventually
    destroy lung tissue as well as entire lung lobes."
    
    In plain English, if you tie your horse high or tight, snot runs down
    into its lungs. If the snot has bad bacteria in it, the horse gets
    shipping fever.