Stifle OCD (osteochondrosis dessicans) comes in all shapes and sizes but this 2-yr-old STB filly takes the cake this week! Both stifles were very swollen on exam and each had multiple LARGE, loose OCD fragments dispersed throughout the joint. Fortunately, an arthroscopic approach allows for retrieval of all the fragments - it can be dynamic process as they are floating and darting around the large joint cavity but its really just a fun medical form of a video game lol😝. The interior of each joint was actually in good shape so she will be ok - but quite an impressive haul of bone fragments!

What a beautiful Fall it’s turning out to be! Take a look at how the rich colors 🍁🍂🍁🍂are coming out around the farm here - enjoy a few of our Pics Of The Week!

YEAH! It is officially FALL here 🍁🍂🍁- the leaves are changing and there's that wonderful crispness in the air - best time of year to be a horse! Sunny days, cool nights, and no flies! 🪰 Here are our Pics of The Week 📷

We are absolutely heartbroken to report that we lost this lovely filly late last week. Orthopedically, she was progressing in fantastic fashion and was a very happy horse. However, she developed unusual low-grade colic signs Wednesday morning and things did not make sense in our colic work-up. We shipped her that afternoon to our colleagues @pennvet New Bolton Center to do a deep-dive with diagnostics and the filly quickly crashed and expired shortly thereafter. Her post-mortem exam revealed she had multiple abscesses (likely hidden and dormant for months) within the vasculature of her small intestines and one large abscess had burst, causing acute septic shock. We just cannot believe it - after all the hurdles she overcame - to lose her to a silent timebomb like that. Does not seem fair at all - our only solace was that she was a happy, content filly for her time here with us and it was a joy to witness her turnaround once we addressed her severe tendon issues. She was much-loved by her owner and all of us here and it was a real privilege to be her caregivers 💔

A wet and windy week 💨🌧️☔️ here! But it’s why we have grass🌿 as green as Springtime and some dappled out retirees 🐴 heading into mid-Fall 🤩. Enjoy our Pics Of The Week!📸

Our little girl continues to defy the odds and has handled every hurdle with class - she’s a real sweetheart 😍. All sutures are out at the surgery sites, she can walk normally on her most severely affected leg (LF), and she spends most of the day now up and milling about in her double-stall. It kills us to restrict her diet to a low-energy one 🫩- in order to rein in her excessive growth rate - but she digs into her plain grass hay like it’s candy lol 😆. This Wednesday she gets her 3 other shoes on and hopefully will be finally heading home next week !🤞🏻

It’s a heck of a Nor’easter ☔️ for us all here in NJ - a few pics from the nature side of things …🌧️🌧️🌧️

This STB yearling got tangled up in an Equisizer (automated walker) and was referred for removal of a small corner avulsion fracture in her RH fetlock. However, on exam here we noted she has bigger problems as manipulation of her ankle, an ultrasound, and special "stressed" radiographic views of her ankle under tension, revealed that she had almost dislocated her ankle 😰- tearing the collateral ligament support and joint capsule attachments - resulting in marked instability. She will wear a cast for a while until the soft tissues heal in enough to restore stability but a racing career is no longer in her future. Fortunately, she is well-bred enough to eventually join the broodmare ranks.

Here are a few shots from our Pics Of The Week - cool nights, no more pesky flies🪰for the horses, and starting to see the colors of Fall coming on 🍁🍂

A very encouraging update on our 'problem child' here with the severely contracted tendons (to some degree in all 4s)😄We are 10-days post-op and today was suture removal and changing of her forelimb splints. She can now walk flat-footed on both forelimbs🙌, get up and down freely, and eat/drink like a normal horse. Next up this week - extension shoes on her other 3 feet (LF was the most severe and had to be done the first day), and she will start short daily walks to stretch things out. Eventually she will be weaned off the splint supports and let the special shoes do the work. So far so good - she is one very resilient and brave filly!😍

Part of being a referral hospital is the responsibility of rendering 2nd opinions on difficult cases. We are not always successful but when things do work out, it can be 'golden' 🤩We received this amazing update about JUNIOR today and it just means everything to give this wonderful horse and his person a chance at a great life and partnership together 💖

Great training job @Keri145 and just wonderful to see him thriving! Advances in veterinary medicine have given us more 'smarts' and tools to approach injuries in a tailored fashion for each individual. This horse had a complete and displaced condylar fracture of his RH. He was a very big horse, the fracture had a long extension up into the cannon bone, AND we have a very healthy respect for fractured HIND legs when getting up from anesthesia - much more vulnerable to complications. So the approach for this horse was a standing procedure-no anesthesia - just TQ and a local anesthetic 🔩🪛and in and out in 30-min. He rehabbed very well and healed his fracture nicely. Wonderful to see the final result! 🏇🏆

Its not an inaccurate statement to say that a 'bowed' tendon is generally a far worse injury than a fractured limb in a TB racehorse. Because a tendon tear results in an imperfect healing response and the resultant repair tissue is inferior to the original fiber structure. Therefore the risk of reinjury is high. But sometimes the stars align and a horse gets lucky! 🍀 This big beautiful TB filly incurred a large core lesion ('black hole' or complete tear) in her LF SDF tendon last summer. We injected the lesion with a biologic product (its no 'silver bullet' just a small help for healing), went thru a long and graduated rehab program, and then she made it back to the races this Spring. After 5 starts and no recurrence of her injury (phew!🤗)we are happy to see she is back now to enjoy her winter break with us 👍🏻

And here is Part II - some great looking ponies out there! 🐴🐴🐴 Enjoy 😊

Looks like it will be a double-header for our Pics Of The Week! 🦋🌻🐾🐴🐶🐿️🐝The last of the Hummingbirds and summer migrators have all left but the birds of prey have soared right in🦅 The weather could not be better and the horses are just loving it ! 🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂Enjoy🤩

This was a tough one - and very difficult to observe the pain and suffering on admission. 😢This fast-growing TB filly developed a severe bilateral tendon contracture this summer that took a terrible turn and she was referred last week for any possible option. Honestly, it was either euthanasia or a salvage surgical approach - that was IT. She could not stand more than 2 minutes, had many body sores, could not keep herself fed or hydrated, and was in great distress. We considered her an emergency case, and did some aggressive surgery on both limbs, applied cast splints, special shoes, and careful pain management. Remarkably, she is a different filly 3 days later. We still have some work to do but what a difference - today she stood up all day and comfortably ate and drank - a very happy and content filly 😅

Big week here for our resident birds of prey 🦅- they seem to be out and about in full force! They are nothing short of spectacular to observe. That and more - please enjoy a few of our Pics Of The Week! (full set can be found on Instagram📸)🐴🐾🌻🦋🦅🐶

A few leftover pics around the farm from our ‘August into September’ last week of summer …🦋🌻🐴🐾

Our favorite summer friends, the Hummingbirds, have fattened up and are about to head South for the winter - you can actually appreciate how ‘chubby’ 🐷they have become in the last few weeks! Leaves are already turning and Fall is on the way, bringing a whole new perspective to the nature around us. As we head into September, please enjoy a few snippets from our Pics Of The Week! 🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁

Arytenoid chondritis (inflammation/infection of airway cartilages) is an awful disease -rendering horses incapacitated, ending athletic careers, and in some cases, is life-threatening. JUNIOR was a much-loved OTTB with bilateral and severe chondritis-both of his arytenoids ("flaps") were severely compromised. He had such difficulty breathing that he made noise walking and lost weight from the effort of trying to breathe. A 'Hail Mary' option is to remove 1 of the 'flaps' - called an arytenoidectomy - to provide more airway space and remove the life-threatening threat of complete closure. Its a surgery not for the faint of heart!😵‍💫 Well we are almost 2 months out now and just had a wonderful report from his owner that Junior has healed up nicely, gained over 100 pounds, and has started light riding with no noise or distress 🙌