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Are Hot And Cold Therapies Helpful For Tendon Troubles?

Owners of horses with tendon injuries are often told to cold hose their horse's leg to try to bring down inflammation. Occasionally heat therapy is recommended to improve the flexibility and extensibility of tendon tissue.

While human therapy often combines hot and cold therapy for an injury, it's not often done in equine veterinary medicine. Drs. Kevin Haussler, Shana Wilde, Michael Davis, Ann Hessa and Wayne McIlwraith wanted to determine if cycling between hot and cold therapies was possible, and if it might assist injured horses.

Called “contrast therapy,” the goal is to increase blood circulation using cold and hot therapies to force the injured area to cycle between vasodilation and vasoconstriction. For cold therapy to be of value, tissue temperature must be reduced to 50 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit. However, cold therapy generally doesn't penetrate beyond one inch of tissue, no matter how long it is applied. To be beneficial, heat therapy must get the tissue temperature above 104 degrees F, but stay below 122 degrees F to not cause damage.

For the study, the research team used four horses with no tendon issues. They placed temperature probes on the horse's skin and implanted them deeply in the subcutaneous tissue near the deep digital flexor tendons and near the superficial digital flexor tendons. This allowed the tendon tissue to be cooled to less than 45 degrees F and warmed to more than 118 degrees F. Each cycle lasted 15 minutes; each session applied three hot and three cold cycles for approximately two hours per session.

The scientists reported that the device was able to achieve consistent hot and cold temperatures in the superficial tissues, but could not reach the target temperatures in the subcutaneous tissue near the deep digital flexor tendons consistently. More studies will determine if longer treatment times or different hot and cold application ratios might allow the deep digital flexor tendon tissues to reach therapeutic temperatures.

Read the article here.

Is Cold Weather Hoof Pain Laminitis? Not Necessarily

Though cooler weather energizes most horses, dropping temperatures can be a pain—literally—for horses that develop hoof pain as temperatures drop. Though what is considered “too cold” can vary by horse, some horses become painful in temperatures just above freezing: 40 degrees F. Pain generally disappears as soon as the temperature rises above this threshold.

Though it's sometimes called “winter laminitis,” there's no evidence of inflammation and often no changes that can be discerned on an X-ray. The cause is a failure of the hoof to effectively respond to changes in circulation caused by the cold. This cold-induced pain is temporary, but can be significant.

In a healthy horse, cold temperatures will cause the blood flow to limbs and hooves to be reduced. Cold temperatures cause the arteriovenous shunts in the hooves to open and divert blood back to the horse's core to preserve body heat. This mechanism will also periodically close the shunts and send blood to the tissues so that oxygen and nutrient levels don't get too low.

This system doesn't work in horses that have cold-induced hoof pain; the tissues don't receive shunts open, but don't occasionally send adequate blood flow to the hooves.

Horses with cold-induced hoof pain can be assisted by blanketing them to help conserve body heat. Wrapping their legs can also help; lined shipping boots work well as they cover the heels and coronary band, preventing rain and snow from getting into the boots. Adding Jiaogulan, a Chinese herb, to an affected horse's diet may also help. Jiaogulan stimulates the production of nitric acid, which is turned into a potent vasodilator in the body.

Though painful, cold-weather hoof pain is temporary and can be managed to keep a horse more comfortable.

Tips To Prevent Winter-Weather Colic

Winter weather is rolling across many areas of the country and the vast temperature drops that tend to come with it make most horse owners anxious—and rightfully so. Certain types of colic are more prevalent when colder weather comes—specifically those that are impaction related.

An impaction colic is where ingested grain and hay ceases to move through the horse's digestive system. This blockage causes the intestines to distend and become painful. Impactions are often found in the pelvic flexure, where the large colon loops back on itself, but they can occur almost anywhere.

There are some management strategies can help keep impaction colic at bay:

Keep horses hydrated. It's imperative that horses always have access to unfrozen water. A bucket can freeze in six to 12 hours, if not sooner, so it's fair to say that a horse will be without water for part of the day or night in between when his buckets are refilled. The most important time a horse need access to ice-free water is the three hours after he has eaten.
Horses tend to drink more during cold weather when the water is warm; filling a bucket with warm water will also slow down the freezing process. Adding warm water to a horse's daily meals can also make sure he gets more water in his system.

Turn out horses as much as possible. The ability to move keeps a horse's gut going, as does continual grazing. Important to note, a horse that is moved from pasture to a stall is at an even higher risk of colic than those that are used to being stalled because of the dramatic change in management. A horse with a thick winter coat or a blanket, and access to shelter, can live outside comfortably even in single-digit temperatures.
Feed lots of forage. Though hay is much drier than pasture grasses, feeding hay constantly is easier on a horse than feeding hay just twice a day. Hay digestion also assists in keeping a horse warm.
Stay vigilant when temperatures tank. Though the correlation between plummeting temperatures and colic haven't been scientifically proven, vets report rashes of colic calls when temperatures drop. Try to keep horses in their normal routine and watch them closely for signs of colic.