Page 98 - March_2022

Three-Legged Quarter Horse
Stallion Thriving With New Prosthesis
Story by Chelsea Hackbarth, Paulick Report
Copyright © 2022, Blenheim Publishing LLC. Reprinted with permission.
When Quarter Horse stallion Triple Vodka developed a septic coffin joint in 2021, Texas-based breeding farm Zerlotti Genetics had to terminate the multiple stakes winner’s breeding season early. Despite top-notch care, the debilitating issue worsened over the course of the year, and eventually became so serious that only two options remained.
Either Triple Vodka would have to
be euthanized, or he could be sent to Wyoming’s Yellowstone Equine Hospital to meet Dr. Ted Vlahos.
Vlahos has become an industry pioneer in equine limb amputation and prosthetics, completing over 100 cases across four con- tinents. Amputation is a last-ditch effort to preserve a horse’s life, Vlahos explained, and he only performs the procedure under strict circumstances.
“Our premise is that we much prefer that
a horse have four legs than three, but in cases where we can’t save the leg, we are able to save the horse,” Vlahos said. “We deal with the most severely injured horses in the world. We get the worst of the worst, so we’re eliminating that source of pain and disease.
“The procedure is well-tolerated by the horse and they can do very well, but it’s not for everyone. We thoroughly interview clients to be sure they’re fully committed, and that their horses are good candidates for it.”
Another consideration is whether laminitis has already progressed in the horse’s supporting limb. Initially, Vlahos and his team avoided cases with any signs of support limb laminitis, but after 22 years of performing the procedure they have documented mild cases resolving after removal of the damaged limb and addition of a prosthetic.
Triple Vodka’s easy-going demeanor made him an ideal candidate for the procedure, and the stallion was shipped to Wyoming in the fall of 2021.
Since Triple Vodka’s issue was in the coffin joint within the hoof, his right front leg was amputated below the fetlock.
“In the case of the distal limb, we preserve the sesamoid bones so we have a bulbous end,” Vlahos explained. “We also don’t want horses to walk on raw nerve endings on that stump, so we perform a neurectomy removing about three inches of nerve so they can’t feel the stump. We also perform a tendon flap procedure, creating a thick pad of tendon at the end of the bone that is then covered with skin.”
Both the neurectomy and the tendon flap procedure are well-described in human medi- cine, a fact Vlahos certainly appreciates due
to his incorporation of the expertise of human trauma surgeons into his practice. Vlahos hired Dr. Dale Larson, a cardiothoracic surgeon
with experience in Vietnam, for three years
as his assistant to learn about modalities that could be adapted to equine medicine, and he has worked with four other human surgeons to perfect his techniques.
Vlahos looks back to his early schooling at Ohio State as one of the motivating factors in pursuing amputation and prosthetics as an equine specialty.
“I had a pretty famous professor at the time who told us, ‘Never be afraid to fail,’” said Vlahos. “That was Dr. Larry Bramlage, and he’d just published his first group of fetlock arthrode- sis horses. I took that to heart and was fortunate to be trained by wonderful human surgeons who saw the worst of the worst in Vietnam. They helped me with my desire to advance our profes- sion and help the horse successfully.”
Vlahos’ mentor at Washington State, Dr. Barrie Grant, also performed several successful amputations on prominent equines, including a Thoroughbred stallion named Boitron. He had suffered a hauling accident that required a
Triple Vodka winning the Old South Derby at Delta Downs.
96 SPEEDHORSE March 2022
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