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RE: [SPAM] [RC] question for the vets: pinfiring/freezefiring - heidiGentle readers, I recently looked at a batch of OT standardbreds, many of whom had "cryo marks" on their legs. I'm told that freeze firing is standard practice when a horse has a tendon injury, and that the tendons thus treated will heal up cool and tight. My questions FOR THE VETS--the rest of you may state your opinions and I will read them, but I don't promise to believe you <G>: 1. What does the "freeze-firing" procedure actually entail? 2. Is there evidence to support or disprove the claims that freeze firing actually speeds and improves the healing process? I found anecdotal evidence to support this, but no real research. I found the same ratio of anecdote-to-research when I was searching for information about pinfiring. Is it superstition, or does it actually promote healing? 3. What is the soundness prognosis for a tendon-injured horse which has returned to soundness (either with or without freefiring)? Is the formerly-injured tendon significantly more prone to re-injury? 4. If a horse with "cryo marks" shows up in your vet line, are you (intentionally or not) more likely to pull that horse for lameness? I always tried to stay as far as possible from track practice, having worked for a TB trainer in my pre-vet days and being totally disillusioned, but oft-times the "firing" procedure (they did it the hot way back then) was more often than not for "shin-bucking" rather than for tendon injuries. Shin-bucking involved microfractures just under the periosteum from bringing horses up to speed too quickly without the long slow distance work to build bone first. Bone actually demineralizes in the first 6 or so weeks of training as it re-builds itself to fit the new paradiem of work, and often it was when bone was at its weakest that trainers would start adding the speed work. Given time to heal and to properly build bone, this usually was not a prognosticator of future soundness problems. As for being prone to pull or not to pull, I couldn't care less what kinds of marks/scars/whatever a horse has on its legs when it is presented. If it is a fresh injury, I'll watch it like a hawk--but if it is "old and cold" I just note that on the card at the vet-in, more to make the riders happy than for any concern I have with it, because it isn't difficult to distinguish old "trash" on the legs from new injury. Unless the horse is actually lame, there is no reason to pull him for lameness! Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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