Josie - Quarter Horse

https://www.nanric.com/post/josie-the-amputee-mare

HIGHLIGHTS

• Foaled 1988 - Died June 2010（20yo）

• The Incident: August 17, 1992 (at 4yo)- US

• The Incident: Josie's right hind foot in the guide wire of a telephone pole while trying to evade some aggressive dogs on a Kentucky farm in 1992. Her pastern bone was severely damaged.

• The Leading Surgeon: Dr. Ric Redden

• The Outcome: A Success - Josie underwent amputation surgery and has been living with a prosthetic leg at Dr. Ric Redden’s International Equine Foot Treatment Centre for 18 years.

THE INCIDENT - 1992

Josie was a 4yo filly, she tangled her right hind foot in the guide wire of a telephone pole while trying to evade some aggressive dogs on a Kentucky farm in 1992. Her pastern bone was severely damaged.

Local veterinarians recommended euthanasia due to the extreme nature of the damage. Instead, on the advice of Dr. Dwight Hooten, her owner donated Josie to Dr. Redden’s charitable organisation to try a radical alternative.

THE SAVING EFFOR – led by Dr. Ric Redden

Dr. Redden checked her injury, the collateral ligament was the only thing holding the foot on, but the location made her an ideal candidate. And it didn't take her long to learn that people were trying to help, she trusted the people who were caring for her.

During a 1.5 hour operation, Dr. Redden proceeded an amputation to remove the remaining attachment of her damaged foot at the pastern, except for the’ frog’, a horny growth in the hoof that acts as a cushion, which he grafted to the exposed stump.

At the time, Dr. Redden had performed six prior amputations, but with Josie he developed a new technique using a small piece of germinal frog tissue as an autogenous graft to provide her with a natural, tough stump pad. It would offer her a healthier, tougher stump and better quality life.

The healing period for the surgery and frog graft procedure took five months, during which Josie was fitted with a temporary prosthesis that was changed every 2-3 weeks until the stump had healed.

The swelling had gone down and the transplanted frog was strong enough to support her weight. At that time she was fitted with an elaborate permanent prosthesis with a flex foot and leather top. It was constructed lightly in order to be more comfortable for her. But it turned out to be a mistake when Josie was so happy running again, she ran hard enough to pulverize her prosthesis.

Then Dr. Redden made several different designs, including more expensive models that were vacuum modelled and custom fit. Finally a fairly simple clamshell prosthetic was used, that made out of cast material, aluminium struts, a foot plate and high tech, shock absorbing silicon.

The prosthetic is easy to change and fairly low maintenance. Josie was bought in to have the prosthetic removed once a week, had stump cleaned and bandage changed. Her stump had to be trimmed every 2-3 weeks to make it fit in the prosthetic. Dr Redden routinely monitored the health of the blood supply on the good foot and used high level mechanics to protect it.

THE OUTCOME

Josie became a longtime fixture at IEPC, where she lived with her prosthetic happily for over 18 years more than an average horse. Despite of her age at 22 in 2010, she's still spry as a fox and races around her paddock like a three year old when the mood strikes her.

In Dr. Redden’s teaching symposiums and Equine Podiatry 101 classes, he presented an overview of the advancements in equine prosthetics, and demonstrated Josie’s case for veterinarians and farriers when amputation was yet widely practised.

Source: NANRIC