Texas Equine Veterinary Association

Page 15 | The Remuda | SPRING 2024 EDITION "Both of us had resolved in our minds, whatever it takes between our two clinics, we're going to make sure they don't get a bill." — Dr. Nathan Canaday Above: TEVA Past President, Dr. Leslie Easterwood (left) visited the 6666 Ranch, and Dr. Nathan Canaday (right), where she saw Peaches being cared for. She helped secure funding to cover the costs of care for the owners. Photo courtesy of Dr. Nathan Canaday. "She had a laceration on her back end, and initially we were worried she had involvement in the hock, but she didn't. It was actually her coffin joint on her back foot, and it was a lot more severe," Dr. Canaday said. "At that point, she had been out in the pasture for four or five days, so the infection was a lot further along. It was pretty clear that she needed help." As they continued to treat Peaches, it also became clear that he had some synovial involvement in his elbow. "He had lacerations everywhere, but one of them was a puncture wound in his elbow," Dr. Canaday said. "Peaches was this guy's best and favorite horse, his tried-and-true gelding. So we wanted to do everything possible." Dr. Canaday called Dr. Abbi Brock at Brock Veterinary Clinic in nearby Lamesa, Texas, about these complicated, joint-related cases. Once the gelding and filly were stabilized, they were loaded up and sent to Dr. Brock's clinic. Dr. Brock says the biggest concern they had with Feather was the filly's infected coffin joint on one of her legs, amongst many lacerations. "We did an arthroscopy on that coffin joint, and lavaged it out really well, and debrided it—all the things you do for an infected joint," Dr. Brock said. "We started the horse on antibiotics, regional limb perfusions to make sure we got the infection out as soon as possible." Feather received extensive wound care and treatment of the infected joint while at Brock Veterinary Clinic. She was there about a month, recovering. "We were able to thankfully get that infection taken care of," Dr. Brock said. "The horse was lame when it came into us, but went home sound and not lame at all on that leg. I was really happy that that happened." Feather still needed wound care when she got home. "There were wounds on the legs that we were concerned about being infected, but both of the horses had lacerations on their gluteal region and one had one on the chest," Dr. Brock said. "You don't really think about all of the things that fly around and hit when there's a tornado, but these poor horses, they were hit in multiple locations on their bodies." Peaches' infected elbow was painful and difficult to treat. "Unlike wounds on the lower part of the leg, you can't do regional limb perfusion to get antibiotics in there," Dr. Brock said. "So we laid that horse down and flushed the elbow a couple of times to get all the bacteria out and do everything we could." Peaches also had wounds on his other three legs that needed bandaging, and the veterinarian was able to do regional limb perfusions on two of his legs where wounds were over the fetlocks, close to the joints. He was kept at the clinic for about a month. "Thankfully after we lavaged the elbow, the horse got a lot more comfortable and started doing really well," Dr. Brock said. Foundations Dr. Canaday and Dr. Brock planned to waive payment for these horses due to the circumstances surrounding their injuries. "Both of us had resolved in our minds, whatever it takes between our two clinics, we're going to make sure they don't get a bill," Dr. Canaday said. "We didn't charge them anything—we didn't want them to have to worry about that aspect of taking care of their horses," Dr. Brock said.

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