When three-year-old racehorse Miz Pinnacle went unsound for no apparent reason, her owner Lesley Delaney spent a fortune on conventional diagnostic methods to establish the cause of her horse’s lameness. Not only was the horse unsound, it had undergone a complete personality change, becoming bad tempered and unpredictable – a sure sign of discomfort in equines.
Delaney, having heard of a revolutionary new technology that was being used by other owners to uncover potential causes of soundness problems in their racehorses, contacted Jeanri Mellanby of Comtest. Comtest is a southern African company that, in addition to being a distributor of test and measurement equipment, has also a trained professional (Mellanby) who uses a thermal imager to detect potential problems in horses.
Mellanby, a qualified Level II thermographer, explains: “Thermography is becoming increasingly popular as an aid to assist with the diagnosis of musculoskeletal and neurological injuries in horses, particularly non-specific lameness. As thermography is completely non-invasive, it allows the horse to be examined without being touched, thus causing no stress or discomfort to the animal. The latest generation of thermal cameras is small and hand held, enabling the examination of the horse to take place in its own environment, eliminating the need for costly transportation to a veterinary clinic.”
Mellanby worked together with holistic therapist Hein van Spaendonck to detect and treat the sources of Miz Pinnacle’s discomfort. By January this year Miz Pinnacle was sound and by February was ready to resume her racehorse training at Randjesfontein.
Van Spaendonck owns a wellness centre in Midrand and from there he offers various alternative therapies for people and horses. His background includes a combination of shiatsu and acupressure and he practices both laser acupuncture and laser therapy on horses and humans.
When Van Spaendonck first saw Miz Pinnacle in November 2008, he was confronted with a horse that was having an adverse reaction to a recent inoculation, showed symptoms of kissing spine and a slightly swollen near front fetlock. The racehorse also demonstrated energy disturbances on the heart, kidney and bladder meridians. After four laser treatments the horse was much improved, but still slightly unsound. At this point, Delaney suggested thermography as another route to analysing the horse’s condition.
On 30 November 2008 Mellanby used a Fluke Ti40 thermal imager to analyse Miz Pinnacle and the resulting images showed up some new problems in places previously not considered as problem areas, such as the point of the shoulder. Van Spaendonck treated the horse ten times during December, concentrating on the newly pointed out hot spots, and the animal’s progress was swift. On 02 January 2009 Miz Pinnacle was fundamentally sound although she was still slightly uneven, which was attributed to muscle deterioration owing to incorrect work in the past. The horse’s treatment continued through January and she is now ready to return to her training regime.
* Straight From The Horse’s Mouth
Officially recognized and used at the 1996 Olympic Games to assess that horses weren’t suffering from any strains or injuries that would affect their ability to compete, infrared thermography has proven to be invaluable in the hands of an experienced practitioner.
There are three main areas in veterinary medicine where thermography can play a major role:
1) Preventative Medicine – particularly effective for competition animals in detecting strains or areas of abnormal heat after an event
2) Diagnosis – assisting the veterinary surgeon by quickly and easily locating the source of a problem
3) Treatment – a visual method of monitoring the effectiveness of treatment allowing changes to be made as the case progresses.
Infrared radiation (heat) emitted from the surface of the skin is translated into electrical impulses that are shown on the image as areas of colour. White and red represent the hottest temperature and are found on areas where there is major blood flow, including parts of the head and the coronary bands on the lower legs. Yellow, green, blue and finally black represent the coldest areas. A blue streak indicating a lack of temperature can indicate pressure for example on a nerve root in the neck, while a pink or white area can indicate soft tissue, muscular or tendon damage.
As there is a high degree of thermal symmetry in the body, abnormal or asymmetrical changes are usually indicative of a problem. An experienced operator can interpret these images and advise the owner where there is an area of abnormal temperature, allowing a veterinary surgeon to diagnose and treat the problem.
Farriers are also starting to use thermography to look at the changes that occur in a horse’s foot and are developing methods of balancing and shoeing based on these results. Research based on thermography findings will also allow further understanding of problems in the feet caused by laminitis.
While nothing can replace the experience of vets and horsemen gained over many years of working with horses, thermography is now being recognized throughout Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia as an effective method to assist veterinary diagnosis.