Page 91 - September 2020

EQUINE HEALTH
Many horses have gone on to race well after surgical treatment.
Clinic and that’s where he came up with the first of his many medical inventions – the “Bagby Bone Plate” – which facilitates healing of fractures in humans.
He pioneered and developed the Bagby bas- ket in the early 1970’s for human spine surgery. He was involved with improving his implants when he found there was a need to apply them in Seattle Slews neck. “Dr. Bagby and veterinar- ian Dr. Barrie Grant (formerly from Washington State University and now practicing in Califor- nia) performed this surgery on Seattle Slew. The Seattle Slew basket implant is still used for this procedure in horses,” says Schramme.
“I don’t want to suggest that we can cure this condition completely, but we can improve the horse’s neurological deficits, usually by one or two grades. There are four grades, from one to four (the latter being so uncoordinated that the horse can barely stand up on its own). There is obviously no point in doing this surgery on
a horse with grade four Wobbler Syndrome, because at best you can only make it a grade two, which is still too abnormal to function normally. But if a horse has a grade two neuro- logical deficit before you consider the surgical correction, there is hope of turning him into a grade one or maybe a grade zero--in which case he could go back in training and race.”
There is some debate as to whether this type of surgery is safe, and whose responsibility it would be if an accident happens while racing
a horse with a neurological deficit. “Let’s say the horse has a crashing fall in a race, and the jockey gets killed, for instance. This is one of the reasons veterinarians in Europe were slower to start performing this surgery. In the U.S., this surgery has been accepted for about 25 to 30 years and there are hundreds of horses that have had this done,” Schramme says.
Today there are also more ways to help a veterinarian diagnose wobbler cases, doing neurologic exams, taking blood samples and radiographs or myelogram. Then you can determine whether it’s a mild, moderate or severe case, and what the horse’s chances are, and can make a plan accordingly. If it’s a horse that only has mild signs, maybe there would be hope—with treatment. Many horses have gone on to race well, or go on to grand prix dressage or jumping, after surgical treatment.
For horses with wobbler syndrome, the most common surgical procedure is cervical stabilization also known as vertebral stabilization. It involves fusing the affected vertebrae with a metal basket.
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