Your horse’s joints are essential to his long and useful life. Here’s how to keep them healthy, pain-free and protected from disease and injury.

The equine joint withstands many forces of nature—compression, strain, shear and concussion. Your trail horse relies upon his joints to support him as he takes you down the trail—over mountains, through rivers and all types of footing—while keeping you safe. In this exclusive three-part series, you’ll gain a basic understanding of joint anatomy and learn valuable tips for optimal equine joint health. We’ll explore the equine joint’s remarkable interior design, learn how to spot the early warning signs of joints “going bad,” tell you which of your horse’s joints are most at risk, and give you the tools and skills you need to keep them sound and, if needed, restore them to health.

By Denise Steffanus for Thoroughbred Times

Eli the donkey’s recovery from incomplete quadriplegia could be the most important breakthrough in traumatic spinal-cord injuries and for the stem-cell treatment that restored his mobility—a breakthrough that could impact not only equids but all mammals, including humans.

Quadriplegia is considered incomplete if there is lack of mobility yet some sensory or motor function below the affected area.

On May 13, little Eli was inexplicably savaged by his longtime companion Watson, a jack nearly twice his size. During the attack, Watson grabbed Eli by the neck and shook him furiously like a rag doll, which caused severe spinal-cord trauma midway down his cervical spine.

Over the next few days, as Eli’s spinal cord swelled from the trauma, he experienced a rapid progression of weakness in his front end and hindquarters. With Eli’s condition quickly deteriorating, attending veterinarian Steve Goss, D.V.M., recommended that Eli be sent about 30 miles away to Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center in Los Olivos, California, for specialized treatment. Alamo Pintado’s staff is credited with overcoming nearly insurmountable odds to save the lives of major stakes winners Thorn Song and most recently Global Hunter (Arg).

Eli arrived at Alamo Pintado on May 18, weak and unstable on all four legs.

“We did a normal treatment of [dimethyl sulfoxide], anti-inflammatories, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, but he was deteriorating very fast right in front of us,” said Doug Herthel, D.V.M., Alamo Pintado’s founder and chief of staff. “So on May 22, Dr. Carter Judy did an MRI, and that gave us the definitive diagnosis.”

Eli suffered severe trauma to the spinal cord and its blood supply, and the resultant swelling caused compression of the cord within the spinal canal. The diagnosis was delivered by veterinary radiologist Travis Saveraid, D.V.M.

Herthel also sought the opinion of Mike Kistler, M.D., in Cortez, Colorado, a senior member of the American Society of Neuroradiology with more than 25 years of experience in human spinal trauma. Kistler also is a horseman who considered a career in veterinary medicine before turning to human neuroradiology.

“In a human, a comparable injury would have been sustained by diving into shallow water, and the majority of those injuries would have a poor prognosis, with paralysis,” Kistler said.

Kistler’s interpretation of the MRI results was that Eli’s spinal cord had suffered significant bruising and circulation damage, and that the prognosis was poor. Kistler speculated that it would be unlikely that Eli’s injury would resolve on its own, even with traditional treatment. Moreover, because an equid’s overall health declines when it cannot stand, he felt Eli most likely would not survive his injury or its complications.

Under the supervision of internal medicine specialist Tania Kozikowski, D.V.M., Eli received intense supportive care, treatment with anti-inflammatories to reduce the swelling in his spinal cord, and 24-hour-a-day nursing. Yet his condition continued to decline rapidly. On May 24, he lay paralyzed in all four limbs and could not lift his head, urinate, or defecate. He had developed pneumonia and was unable to maintain his body temperature, even with supportive care. Eli was on the verge of death.

Read the full article at Thoroughbred Times

The seven-year-old Jade Hunter horse, who broke down moments after winning the race, was thought to have less than a 1% chance of survival.

During a three-hour surgery on July 5 to repair midline fractures of both sesamoids and a dislocated fetlock in his right foreleg, surgeons Carter Judy, D.V.M., and Doug Herthel, D.V.M., used 17 screws, two wires, and a special locking plate to repair the damage, fuse the fetlock, and stabilize the horse’s suspensory apparatus…

Read the full article at Thoroughbred Times.

Become a fan of Global Hunter on Facebook.

Photo courtesy Marci Heacox.

See Alamo Pintado founder Dr. Doug Herthel and other leaders in the development of stem cell therapies present cases and new research.

Such curative value has not gone unnoticed by the veterinary world — and one of the pioneers in the use of adult equine stem cells to treat injured horses is Dr. Doug Herthel, owner and founder in 1972 of Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center in Los Olivos.

From humble beginnings performing abdominal surgeries in the front yard of his first home-office, not far from what is now the tasting-room capital of the Valley, Dr. Herthel has grown his practice to encompass internal medicine, lameness evaluation, diagnostics, physical rehabilitation, hyperbaric treatment and state-of-the-art stem-cell therapy on a sprawling 40-acre ranch south of town.

Read the full article: Healing equines with stem cells – Santa Barbara News-Press (PDF)

The 1st NAVRM Conference proved to be a remarkably successful gathering, bringing together hundreds of leaders in regenerative medicine and cell therapy.

Learn more about how Alamo Pintado uses nutrition to address common skin and allergy conditions.