PROSTHESIS COULD SPARE SOME HORSES FROM DEATH

It’s a practice so common in the horse world that it’s become a given: if a horse breaks or develops an infection in his leg, there’s nothing to be done other than put him down. That conventional wisdom, however, is being challenged by Riley, a female buckskin quarter horse living at Horse Haven at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Riley came to Best Friends with an awful hind leg injury; to treat her, specialists had to re-align her ankle joint and fuse her bones together with metal plates and screws. Eventually her body rejected the plates and she developed a severe infection. She needed a new solution and Best Friends’ was lucky enough to find a veterinarian with the answer: Dr. Ted Vlahos. In May, 2008, Dr. Ted transported Riley to his clinic in Sheridan, Wyoming, where he amputated Riley’s leg just below her knee and fitted her with a temporary prosthesis. Now, Riley has returned home to Best Friends, once again able to trot and wander the pasture. Each year, thousands of horses are ...

 

 

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