Abby's xrays

These are the before and after radiographs of Abby the Percheron.
Money is needed for her foundation.

Abby

This is Abby the percheron who lives at HorsePlay Ranch in Corcoran, Minnesota. In June of 2008 Abby suffered a fracture of her hock which would require surgery to allow her to live a comfortable life. Because of financial hardship Abby's owner had to consider euthanasia. Luckily the wonder people at HorsePlay Ranch set up a foundation for Abby to allow her to have her surgery. Donations are needed to reimburse the foundation for the surgery costs. If you are interested in donating to the Save Abby Fund, please visit their web site at
www.save-abby-the-percheron.com

Taylor Martin

This is Taylor Martin and her family with "Hobson's Choice" at Carriage House in Hugo Minnesota.

Minnesota Winter

Merry Christmas from my yard.

Misty on a Mission

Grace and Sweetie playing

Playing

Anya

My two year old Anya.

Amazing Grace

My baby at 5 months old. Anya's half sister.

Sally Boyd

This is Sally Boyd and Scooter at Trot Brook. It looks like fun.

Farrier Competition

A competitor at the regional farrier's competion.

Mark Thorkildson

Forging a shoe.

Farrier Competition

This is one of Minnesota's finest, Mark Thorkildson, forging a shoe for a regional farrier's competions.

Dr. Steele

I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Dr. Steele this summer. He's one of the best in the equine veterinary feild.

Case of the Week

What is wrong with this stifle.
Hint, it's a surgical problem.

Mom and baby

Mom is checking out her new baby.

Amazing Grace

This is my new baby, only 30min old.
She's by Accord in Colorado.

Super Dog!!

Misty at the lake.

Dr. Donnell

I recently had the opportunity to meet Dr. Alan Donnell and Dr. Shayne Wilcox from La Mesa Veterinary Clinic, Pilot Point, Texas. Dr. Donnell is well known for his Equine Sports Medicine mobile practice and is a master lameness diagnostician. It was a great pleasure spending time with them and I hope to see them again in Minnesota.

New baby

Future Star!!

New baby

Laura Holen's new baby.

She's an eye catcher, that's for sure!

Answer Case of Week 10-11-06

This absolutely was a case of DSLD/ESPA (degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis/equine systemic proteoglycan accumulation) as several bloggers suggested.

Blogger Susan mentioned an excellent web site for very good information on this disease. Please check it out.

http://dsldequine.info/

What's on this horse?

Can anyone name the type of shoe that's on this horse and what condition it is used to treat?

AAEP convention Dec. 2006

2006 AAEP convention was in San Antonio this year. It sure was nice getting away from Minnesota for a week in the dead of winter.

AAEP convention Dec. 2006

I spent a lot of time at the lameness seminars at this years AAEP convention. This one was on Palmar Foot Pain

Lisa and Catalina

Catalina is coming along nicely.

My friend Laura

This is Laura Rohlfing on
Bear.

So spoiled

Enjoying football on TV

Misty at Christmas

Saddle and Tack Warehouse

This is my friends store. If you need tack, buy it here, great selection and prices.

Seminar

I gave a talk at the Saddle and Tack Warehouse in Clearwater Mn. on Dec. 9th. The subject was overuse injuries in horses and the benefits of sports boots. If anyone wants a copy of the notes, let me know.

Case of the week 10-11-06

What is this condition called/what's wrong with this horse? 

Sarah Becker and Ed

My friend and client Sarah Becker.

Ghosts in the building

I like to take action pictures with slow shutter speeds. See the horse? 

Misty

Misty begging for food from a cowboy at the Match Race. 

2006 Midwest Match Race at Rhino Arena

I was the show vet for this years 2006 Midwest Match Race at Rhino Arena in Hinckley, MN. Lots of nice horses and friendly people. 

Babies

Lots of weanlings at Fox Meadow Farm. 

Fox Meadow Farm

Some of this year's babies at Fox Meadow Farm in Maple Plain. 

Let's ride.

This is "Ed" and Doug getting ready for our trail ride at Lake Rebecca Park Reserve. 

Pimp my ride.

Look at this beautiful International truck all pimped-out. Pretty cool. 

Labor Day Weekend

The campfire. 

Labor Day Weekend

I love campfires. 

Labor Day Weekend

Misty getting some fish from my dad. 

Labor Day Weekend

My beautiful nieces. 

Labor Day Weekend

My brother Brian preparing the fish for our fish fry at the lake. 

Eggbar shoes

One problem I commonly encounter is shoes that are too small. This is a series of photos of a foot with a properly fit eggbar shoe. The shoe is designed to provide extra support for the heel region and should extend back to the heel bulbs. Of course, to prevent step-offs, one should keep the horse in bell boots all the time.

Case of Week 8/28/06

What is this called? You are looking into a horses eye. 

Answer Case of week 7/21/06

This is called "White Line Disease". This happens when damage to the middle layer of the hoof capsule allows fungus &/or bacteria to invade and separate the layers of the hoof wall. The infection can spread around the hoof and up inside the wall to make the horse lame. This disease is sometimes called hollow foot or seedy toe and can damage the foot severely if left untreated. Treatment in severe cases includes removing the damaged hoofwall to allow exposure to the air and easier access for medicating the infected tissue. This can be a long and tedious treatment process because if the foot is severely damaged, it can take many months to regrow healthy hoofwall. 

After suturing

Good as new. 

Laceration

This is "Owen". He tried to scalp himself so
I had to help out. 

Equisearch.com

Check out my new favorite web site,

www.equisearch.com It has a lot of educational information on it along with some interesting blogs.

This is a picture I took in Germany.

Lindsey

This is my very cute niece Lindsey learning to
paddle in the Boundary Waters.

Case of Week

This is a closer view of the case of the week for 7/21/06. 

Case of the week 7/21/06

What causes the hoof to get this way?
Note, the farrier has removed some hoofwall.
Post answers on my comments. 

Gastric Ulcers

This is a picture of a large gastric ulcer in a horse taken with a 3 meter endoscope. The red area is the ulcer. Gastric ulcers in horses are much more common than one would think. Many scientific reports give a prevalence of 50-90% depending on activity type, feed intake, and management. The clinical signs of ulcers can be quite vague and nonspecific, but probably the most common finding associated with gastric ulcers are related to feed consumption. Horses with ulcers typically take longer to consume their feed and owners/trainers report that it is more difficult maintaining good body condition in these animals. I also have seen depression as a clinical sign, ears down, dull look, are both signs of depression.
This is just a reminder not to forget ulcers if your horse is depressed and off feed. 

Chronic Suspensory Ligament Desmitis

Have you ever seen an old horse with it's hind fetlocks dropping down close to the ground? Well if you have, this is what's going on inside the leg. Inside the box is the branch of the suspensory ligament where it attaches to the sesamoid bone. The red area of the ligament is showing how inflammed it is and the attachement to the bone is almost gone. The function of the suspensory ligament is to "suspend" the fetlock up off the ground. When the ligament breaks down, the fetlock drops.
Inside the circle is fibrous tissue that develops secondary to the suspensory ligament breakdown. These horses are very painful and have difficulty moving around. 

Answer Case of the Week

Club Foot - A club foot is one that has a foot axis (angle created between the ground and the front of the foot) of 60 degrees or more. This horse has a hoof angle of 70.5 degrees. A club foot can arise in one of two ways. 1.) It can develop secondary to an injury that has prevented proper use of the foot, leading to contracture of the deep digital flexor tendon and the foot, or 2.) It can may be inherited or due to a nutritional deficiency/excess as a foal. This will lead to contracture of the deep digital flexor tendon, pulling the coffin bone back as it contracts. This condition can be helped if treated early when the horse is still young. There are medical and surgical treatments that can be performed, depending on the individual case. 

Anatomy specimen

This is a picture of a skull, looking from the muzzle, back towards the horse. It demonstrates how a horses upper molars overhang the lower molars. I put this picture in here to let people know that if your horses teeth become sharp from improper wear, the cheekpiece of the bridle can then cause pain by pushing the cheek into the sharp points that overhang on the upper molars. If your horse is doing a lot of head tossing when you pull back on the reins, this may be a sign that it's teeth are sharp and need to be examined by your veterinarian. 

4th of July

Cliffs overlooking Canada. Minnesota to the left, Canada to the right. It was so beautiful. 

4th of July

That's my niece Ashlee overlooking Canada from the cliffs we hiked to.

4th of July

Me and Misty. 

4th of July

Sunset at camp. 

4th of July

Misty had soo much fun. She loved it!! 

4th of July

The water was so clear you could see the fish below. 

4th of July

Hungary Jack Outfitters is owned and operated by good friends of my sister, Dave and Nancy S. 

4th of July Weekend

I went to the Boundary Waters for 5 days over the fourth of July. I'll share a few pictures with you. We went in off of the Gunflint Trail and were outfitted by Hungary Jack Outfitters. 

Case of the Week, 7/6/06

What is this condition called? Post your answers on my comments. 

July 4th weekend

A picture I took on my vacation to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area over the 4th of July weekend. 

Puppy number 2

Another Maggie baby. 

So cute

This is one of "Maggie's" babies. Maggie belongs to Ross and Terri Danielson, well respected Arabian breeders. 

"Lucy"

"Hello, this is Lucy, I can't talk long, I'm getting
my belly rubbed" (Sarah Lyons dog Lucy) 

Sarah Lyons and "Sammy"

Sarah and Sammy getting ready for their Open Hunter Pleasure Mares Class at the State Fair grounds on July 6th. I went to watch them at the Morgan show and they did well against the professionals.

Misty

This is what Misty does between appointments. 

Learning to ride

This is Claire Kirschner on Cash. Claire has been riding Cash for just a short time, and look at what great form and posture she has. 

Catalina

This is my friend and client Lisa Mills on her horse Catalina. Just warming up. 

Ultrasound

Placing the probe to ultrasound the superior check ligament on the front leg. 

Dr. Genovese

This is Dr. Genovese doing a demostration. He is known as one of the best ultrasonographers in the U.S. 

Dr. Genovese

This is Dr. Ron Genovese and me. It was a pleasure getting to meet him and watch his systematic approach to ultrasounding the limbs. 

Centenary College

I flew to New Jersey on Friday, June 23rd to participate in an ultrasound wet lab sponsored by Classic Medical and featuring Dr. Ron Genovese. The equestian center was beautiful and I really learned a lot. 

Anya & Misty

Misty is looking at Anya. 

Anya

Here's my pretty girl Anya. Only one year old. 

pyro

This is my nephew Michael playing with fire at our camp site over Memorial Day weekend.
If you look close you can see a fire ghost siting in the chair (and Misty nearby :) ) 

tooth after floating

This is a picture of a horse after floating the teeth with a power float. This horse had a large 2nd premolar hook like below. 

Fangs

Same horse as below, opposite side of mouth. 

"Fangs"

This is what happens when the molars do not line up. The tooth that does not have an opposing tooth below it will grow long. We call this a hook. 

Wry nose

This is a congenital (existing at birth) deviation of the nasal septum that causes labored breathing due to collapse of the nostrils and increased breathing noises. Some of these foals are humanely euthanized because the have diffuculty eating or develop aspiration pneumonia. This fella is coping well.

Misty

Here's Misty getting out of the sun.
She's so cute!! 

Apollo

This is my good friend Laura's colt Apollo down in Mason City. He's a half brother to my filly Anya, who looks just like him.
Isn't he beautiful? 

Young Holsteiners

This is a couple of young holsteiners eating haylage in Germany. Haylage is a cured form of hay that is slightly fermented. The fermentation allows the bacteria in the gut to more easily digest the hay and produce essential fatty acids for the horse to use.

Afternoon catnap

This is Susan in Germany. She was tired from all the traveling we did the day before and from looking at all the horses that day.
We did find some nice horses on that trip though. 

The Champ!

Here's Kid Rock after the Victory Gallop getting groomed. 

Mason City, Iowa Grand Prix

This is one of my clients Kim Barone on Kid Rock. She won the Grand Prix in Mason City last night on Kid Rock. There was a jump-off between Kim, Thomas Fahey on "Revel", and Nick Novak on "Malone". All three riders were clean in the jump-off and within 1 second of each other. Kim won by .2 sec. It was very exciting.
I'd like to congratulate Kim for a nice job. 

All fixed! 

eyelid laceration

This is what a bucket handle can do to an eyelid.

This is Misty!