SARAH: Hi, everyone.
Welcome back.
This is our bonus edition for February.
This is our second video of the month.
It's not our normal monthly Ask the Vet video.
We already did that one.
There's five really awesome questions in there, so--
DR LYDIA GRAY: And cooking.
SARAH: --you can check that out.
There is cooking.
DR LYDIA GRAY: There's cooking.
SARAH: There's talk of fecal balls.
This is a lot of really cool stuff here.
So we have that video for you, but for now, we're
going to be answering this holiday gift to you.
DR LYDIA GRAY: My favorite question,
your favorite question.
SARAH: That's exactly right.
We went through all of the questions
that you guys have submitted all over YouTube, Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, emailing them to our Customer Care team,
and we collected all of the hashtag #AsktheVetVideo
questions.
And Lydia and I looked through and picked our favorites,
and the ones that we thought, though they didn't make it
to the top, they were at the top of the list in our hearts.
And so we picked those two questions.
We're going to answer them for you.
And before you even ask, yes, if you
asked one of these questions, you
are eligible for a SmartPak gift card.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, I didn't know that.
SARAH: I know.
Since it was a real holiday gift.
And so you guys can reach out to our Customer Care team
to redeem that gift card.
So the first question is your question--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, good.
SARAH: --which is asked by shimmerss on Instagram.
Feels only fair to ask your question first.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I may have picked it by the name.
SARAH: Newman does likes things that shimmer, too.
DR LYDIA GRAY: He does.
SARAH: Sparkly.
And so shimmerss is asking, "if a horse is
broken in the third vertebrae, is the neck actually broken?"
DR LYDIA GRAY: So you know why I picked this?
I think it's a veterinary question, because it talks
about broken vertebrae, right?
But it really is a dressage question.
So now we get to talk about dressage.
SARAH: That's why Newman likes shimmers.
He has lots of blingy browbands.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So what does broken at the third vertebrae
mean?
It means horses are supposed to go around
when we ride them with their polls at the highest point.
So this is the horse head and this is the neck.
SARAH: Oh, he's looking at me.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yes, he's looking at you.
So the poll is the highest point.
That's the part right behind the ears.
Sometimes through incorrect riding, or other things,
their poll does this, and then their vertebrae
become the highest point.
So the break isn't at the poll, it's at the third vertebrae.
This is the third vertebrae.
So now his head is way down here,
and his mouth is almost a little bit looking back at the rider,
and his neck is at the top.
So it's not broken bone, it's broken--
it's the flexion is not at the poll.
The flexion is at the third vertebrae.
So not the poll, not the first vertebrae, the atlas,
not the second, the axis, but right behind the axis.
So it's a little bit to do with the horse's conformation,
but mostly correct--
incorrect riding.
And it can get real controversial at this point.
But this is where the biomechanics in dressage
comes in.
And we talk about the top line roundness and throughness.
All those words - behind the vertical - would describe this.
We want the, like I said, the poll at the highest point,
so we ride from back to front.
And it's just something that you're
going to have to read about, talk to your trainer about.
But the bone is not broken.
This flexion is in the neck, not the poll, where it should be.
SARAH: Well, the gauntlet has been thrown.
Because someone has asked a veterinary question
that is also a dressage question.
The next challenge is to ask a veterinary question that
is also a tai chi question.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, geez.
SARAH: And if you want to know why that would be awesome,
you have to find all Dr. Lydia Gray's blogs on the SmartPak
blog, because she talks about how tai chi helps you ride.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I do, yeah.
SARAH: So you got to check that out.
DR LYDIA GRAY: That is not what I
thought you were going to say.
I thought you were going to say a veterinary question,
driving question.
SARAH: Oh, it also would have been good.
No.
But I want to learn more about tai chi
and how it relates to hand horses.
So the second favorite question is the one that I picked.
And Kelly on YouTube asked, "I have
a horse who was recently diagnosed
with navicular disorder.
Can you explain this in simple terms?
He's being managed by the farrier
and is currently sound and ridable.
Would any of your supplements serve my horse well?"
The reason I picked this question is my Quarter Horse,
Cody, who is going to be 28 April 1st, has had,
since he was probably six years old,
on and off lameness issues in his front end,
which was initially referred to as navicular disease.
Was then referred to as navicular syndrome,
and then by later vets and articles
that I was reading, caudal heel pain syndrome.
And so has a whole evolution of names and terminology.
And this is something that I've done a lot of reading on.
And I think there are a lot of people out there
who could benefit from hearing this answer.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well, here's what I have found,
that navicular disease, it's generally
accepted that that refers to the actual navicular bone.
So progressive degeneration of the bone, usually because
of circulatory reasons.
When the term "navicular syndrome"
is used, then it refers to, like you said, can be heel pain,
it can be caudal third of the hoof pain,
it can be-- there's lots of terms for it,
but the point is it's more structures could
be involved than just the bone.
And what structures are we talking about?
And I don't know if you found this out,
but we use ultrasound.
We use x-rays or radiography.
MRI is very handy for this, and CAT
scans, to say that the coffin joint, the coffin
bone, the navicular bursa, which is a little fluid
filled sack between the navicular bone,
and the deep digital flexor tendon.
Could be that.
There's a couple of ligaments down there,
the impar ligament, the collateral sesamoidean
ligament.
So now we're learning through this enhanced imaging,
that we have now that we didn't have 10, 20, 30 years ago,
that it might not be the bone that's
causing horse's discomfort, usually in the front legs,
it could be one of these other structures.
And it could be a joint or soft tissue.
So now, the treatments that we've had, many of them
to increase circulation in the foot, some of them
for bone rebuilding, like the new bisphosphonates,
the Tildren and the Osphos.
If the problem isn't bone, then they're
not going to be helpful.
So my advice for anyone that's got a horse with navicular
is you've got to find out what structure
is affected, because you could be chasing squirrels.
Is that the saying?
You could be chasing things, and spending money,
and going around and around and not helping your horse
for a long time.
So that's why the ultrasound and the MRI,
it might seem like a lot of money upfront,
and a lot of work, because you have to go somewhere.
But it's worth it in the long run,
because they might say what your horse has
will be helped by a joint injection, tendon
support, something for the bursa specifically.
We need to get in there with some ingredients.
So there's lots of prescription medications
that your veterinarian can choose from, once they
know what the issue is.
And it will also help you tailor your supplement program
in conjunction with your veterinarian.
I think discomfort is something that we want to address,
no matter what it is.
So there's nonsteroidals for this
that can be given systemically or topically, like Surpass.
And then there's things people love,
Devil's Claw, and yucca, bromelain, MSM, Omega 3s hardly
ever wrong, maybe never wrong.
There's lots of ingredients.
And I would encourage you to go on our website
and read reviews, because I go on there and I read stuff.
And people choose maybe one of our SmartSupplements,
maybe another one, another brand,
and they found great success with their horse
in relieving discomfort.
So they're like "At least I can help manage him and not
have him feel so bad while we're working this out."
But you have to get your farrier involved
and work on trimming and shoeing,
and maybe a footing change, maybe a discipline change,
maybe you need to look at your turnout and your exercise
program.
So it's kind of a holistic view you have to take.
But we're learning, because of enhanced imaging,
there's a lot more to navicular than we used to think.
So there's lots out there.
I would encourage you to get a diagnosis.
SARAH: I strongly second that recommendation.
And I agree exactly with what you said.
It can seem intimidating upfront that getting
the right diagnosis seems really expensive.
Not more expensive than treating the wrong problem.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Exactly.
SARAH: I think that's good way to think of it.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Your horse will thank you.
SARAH: Yeah.
That's true.
So those were our two favorite questions that never made it
to the top of the voting.
Thank you, guys, so much for submitting them.
We love reading all of your questions.
And that's true whether or not other people
have voted it to the top.
We do read them all.
DR LYDIA GRAY: We read them all.
SARAH: And we enjoy all of the questions.
And we're so glad that you guys are out there
thinking about your horse's health
and caring about healthy horses as much as we do.
So for next time, we are accepting videos
until February 2nd.
And you can ask those on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
YouTube, email CustomerCare@SmartPak.com,
or you can comment right in this blog,
or in the video on YouTube, you can post right in the comments.
And use #askthevetvideo, so we can keep track of the answers.
And make sure that when your question gets picked--
voted up into the top five, and you'll
get a gift certificate, which is really awesome.
So as always, thank you, guys, for watching,
and have a great ride.