SARAH: Hi, SmartPak fans.
Welcome back to SmartPak's Ask the Vet video series.
Normally, I'm accompanied by Dr. Lydia Gray, our Staff
Veterinarian and Medical Director.
But today, we have a special bonus episode
with a very special guest, Dr. Andy
Kaneps of Kaneps Equine, which is a practice specializing
in equine sports medicine.
At SmartPak we've been lucky enough
to work with Dr. Kaneps on a few projects including
our SmartFlex IV research study, which we were very proud of
and you can find the results through a link
in the description on this video.
And thank you so much, Dr. Kaneps for joining us today.
DR ANDY KANEPS: It's good to be here.
Thank you.
SARAH: We're very happy to have you.
And we've gone through the archives of questions
back to January 2016 and picked some questions
that Dr. Kaneps is uniquely qualified to answer, which
would actually be all of them.
But we did want to handpick a few
that with the specialization in sports
medicine would be really applicable for you to come
in and help our viewers out.
So without further ado, let's jump into the first question.
This one is submitted by A Puhala on YouTube.
And they're wondering, "I have a horse that
has been put on a month of stall rest
due to a strained deep digital tendon in his hind leg.
While his vet is allowing for hand-walking
on solid, flat ground, I was wondering
if there are any additional exercises that we
can do in his stall to keep him engaged and limber?"
DR ANDY KANEPS: The most important aspect
of healing of soft tissue injuries
is controlled exercise.
And that control is important so that we don't over
stress the soft tissues that have been injured.
Some stress is very important because without it,
for example, if we had a horse in bed rest,
tendons or ligaments wouldn't heal correctly,
they need some degree of stress, such as walking, or standing,
or other exercises that we'll discuss
to strengthen those tissues and align the fibers.
You think of soft tissue injuries
like you would with a rope.
And a rope is very organized with the strands
of the rope making up the strength of that structure.
In a soft tissue injury, some of the strands, in this case,
the tendon fibers burst, and there's hemorrhage.
The hemorrhage just fills the gaps between those burst
strands and then starts to heal.
But the healing is in various orientations,
not organized at all, until you put stress on the structure.
Additional exercises, other than hand-walking,
would include things like moving from a firm surface
to a softer surface, say from a hard pack
to depth of three to four inches.
That will put some additional stress on the structures.
But usually, before we get in the saddle and start riding
at the walk, all we'll do to increase
exercise is increase the length of time the horse is walked.
SARAH: So not necessarily more diversity
in terms of in-stall activities, but just
a gradual increase in the duration of the walking
and then the type of walking, like
you said with the surfaces.
DR ANDY KANEPS: That's exactly right.
SARAH: And so working with her vet, and sounds like she's
on the hard flat part right now, and maybe more depth or more
time will be coming later.
DR ANDY KANEPS: Yes, that's correct.
SARAH: All right.
Well, good luck, and we know stall rest can be tough.
So hang in there, and you'll be back in it in no time.
Our next question is by CinBen also submitted on YouTube.
And they're wondering "What can you tell me about Degenerative
Suspensory Ligament Disease?
Most particularly what activities, if any, should
we avoid?"
DR ANDY KANEPS: Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Disease
is a really destructive process.
It's challenging because there's no specific cure.
Once the ligament starts to essentially fall
apart, and by fall apart what I mean
is that the chemical links between the fibers
of the ligament are not as strong as they need to be,
and essentially the ligament stretches out.
So you see the clinical sign of Degenerative Suspensory Disease
most frequently as a drop of the fetlock.
SARAH: And so thinking of the rope example
in the last question, like the strands are getting--
they're losing their strength sort of.
DR ANDY KANEPS: Losing their strength,
yeah, and stretching out.
They can't support the weight of the horse normally.
There is no specific cure, like I said.
We can help by modifying the biomechanics of the limb
with an extended heel shoe.
So that decreases the stress on the structures of the leg.
But there's a restriction of this horse based
on the amount of degenerative change you have
and the comfort level of the horse.
Certainly, things like real active riding
on rough ground, up and down hills, and that sort of thing
may not be in the horse's best interest.
SARAH: So kind of the exact opposite,
as we talked about with the last question, where
you want to gradually increase the stress.
Here you want to be avoiding any kind of injuries and stress.
DR ANDY KANEPS: That's correct.
SARAH: OK.
Well, good luck.
Our next question is dressagegirl101
asked on Instagram.
And she's wondering, "What's the difference between bone spavin
and bog spavin?
How do each affect the horse, and how can they
be prevented or treated?"
DR ANDY KANEPS: Both of those items, bone spavin and bog
spavin, involve the hock.
Bone spavin involves the joints and the bone,
and it's usually osteoarthritis.
And osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition
of the cartilage and bone that results
in proliferation of new bone in the horse's attempt
to fuse the joint.
Bog spavin is extra fluid in the upper joints of the hock.
And that can be also associated with osteoarthritis
or inflammation for another cause in that joint.
Bog spavin may also be present in the cases in a young horse
of OCD or osteochondrosis.
There, taking radiographs and finding the specific diagnosis
will help identify the cause of that.
Treatment of those conditions would be for the bone spavin
as you would any osteoarthritis.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications.
Sometimes topical anti-inflammatories.
And in some situations, joint injections.
SARAH: And is there anything anyone
can do it like a preventative measure for either condition?
DR ANDY KANEPS: Maintaining good body condition of the horse.
Strength.
Good muscle tone is very, very important.
Good shoeing.
Also working your horse on good footing.
Rather than a rock hard ring, have something
with nice cushion to it.
Those factors are the most important parts of prevention.
Supportive things that may help, but it's not
research-supported, are items like
the oral joint supplements, medications that
may be injected in the muscle or in the joint may help limit
the progression of osteoarthritis
once it is there.
SARAH: I think a lot of horse owners,
it's really common for them to think of it as an acute problem
because it's a problem you find in one area.
And so they think, oh there's something wrong with his hock.
But to your point, it's really about thinking
about the whole horse and how his whole life is affecting
the things that led up to that problem.
And so that's the body condition, how you're
shoeing, how you're riding, all of those things
are where these types of problems can come from.
DR ANDY KANEPS: That's very true.
I mean it's wear and tear, and it's
going to happen to different degrees in most horses.
It's doing the best you can to give the horse the best
type of life.
SARAH: Yeah, set him up for success.
DR ANDY KANEPS: Yes, set him up for success.
SARAH: All right.
Our next question is from Dallas6101 also on YouTube.
And Dallas is wondering, "What is cellulitis
and how can it be treated?
I recently almost adopted a 10-year old thoroughbred
gelding who has cellulitis in his right hind.
He flared up last fall and despite the best efforts
of his trainer who used antibiotics
and other forms of treatment the swelling never went down.
Is there anything that can be done
to treat chronic cellulitis?"
So what is it?
What can we do about it?
DR ANDY KANEPS: Cellulitis is a challenging condition
in horses.
And what it is is an abnormal amount
of trapped fluid under the skin.
Often times that's associated with an infection.
But usually, even when we look for a site of the infection,
we don't find it.
We look for wounds and that sort of thing
but rarely do we find an inciting cause.
It's a vicious cycle because infection and inflammation
starts under the skin then damages the circulation,
both the lymphatic circulation and the vascular vessel
circulation.
And the body can't clear that fluid.
First steps are treating the infection,
just as the individual suggested,
the veterinarian put the horse on antibiotics.
That's common practice.
Then the working as vigorously as we
can to reduce the inflammation as early as possible
is important to prevent this chronic damage
to the circulatory system.
Once that chronic damage has occurred,
recurrence, such as again was mentioned, of cellulitis
is not uncommon at all.
And oftentimes, even once the condition is as quiet
as it's going to be, the limb will remain larger
than the normal limb.
SARAH: It's almost like with the suspensory
or the suspensory ligament we were talking about before
where it loses that elasticity.
It loses the ability to go back to normal.
And so that sounds like with that chronic recurrence
that's what you're seeing.
DR ANDY KANEPS: That's exactly right.
SARAH: OK.
Our last question submitted by Cameron and this one
came from Facebook.
And Cameron is wondering, "What should I
do if I have an accident prone horse who
constantly hurts herself?"
I think we've all known a few of these horses in our lives.
Keeps you busy for sure.
DR ANDY KANEPS: An accident prone
horse is definitely frustrating, both from--
I'm sure the horse is frustrated with it as well,
I mean not just us.
But you have to try to identify why the horse is
running into these accidents.
I mean it's one thing to have-- if you
have a single strand of the electric fence for the paddock
and the horse gets tangled up in it.
That's obviously too obvious.
But you do want to set the horse,
as you mentioned earlier, set the horse up for success.
Make sure that the environment is as safe as it can be.
Make sure the horse is understanding its environment
especially on things like, if you're on a trail ride
and the horse has never gone down a steep rocky slope
and crossing water, you want to make
sure that you don't throw that whole challenge at the horse
all at once.
You might want to go down a rocky slope alone first.
You might want to cross quiet water first.
Don't throw all the challenges possible at the horse at one
time.
Stepwise understanding of the needs
that horse needs to accomplish.
And stepwise training is really important in helping
prevent injuries.
Beyond that, general conditioning of the horse,
making sure that, again, no matter
what the horse is used for that the horse
has the body condition, cardiovascular strength,
all of that to easily accomplish its tasks.
I can't run the Boston Marathon, at least not in this shape.
Maybe in nine months I could if I was trained correctly.
Same thing for your horse.
SARAH: Yeah.
I think it, kind of going back to the bog spavin and bone
spavin, before where we talked about,
it's all of the other things that you're
doing that result in those sorts of things.
And I think it's the exact same thing here.
You don't necessarily think of it the same way.
You just think, oh, he's stocked up again, oh, he's hurt again,
but it's because you did something out of the ordinary.
You did something he wasn't prepared for.
We can challenge our horses in ways
that we don't realize is challenging.
DR ANDY KANEPS: That's exactly right.
SARAH: Well that is all the questions we have.
Thank you guys so much for submitting fantastic questions.
Dr. Kaneps, thank you for visiting us here at SmartPak.
DR ANDY KANEPS: Thank you.
SARAH: We're always happy to have you.
As you guys know, we are always on the hunt for new questions
to answer.
So we'll be taking questions until May 11
for our next video.
And if you ask your question on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram,
Twitter, on our blog, in the comments,
you can email CustomerCare@SmartPak.com use
#askthevetvideo so we can track down all those great questions.
And if your question was answered
in this or a previous video, you can
email CustomerCare@SmartPak.com or direct message
us on YouTube, and we'll make sure to get you squared away
with your gift card because people
win for getting their questions answered and voted to the top.
So as always, thank you guys for watching.
Dr. Kaneps, thank you again for sharing your expertise with us.
Don't forget to subscribe, so you
don't miss a video because you never know who
could stop by SmartPak next.
Have a great ride.