TESTIMONIALS & CASE STUDIES

From Heidi Richardson 2007: CASE STUDY 1: Holly The following photographs were taken of a 3 year old filly that ran into a gate. Because of the location of the injury it was not able to be stitched. She had daily laser treatments for the first 5 days then was treated 3 times a week until it healed at day 28 post injury. Day 3 — The wound was big and open, a tear in the muscle was also noticed, and it was very painful for her to move. Day 13 — By now the wound had formed new tissue and was starting to dry out and contract inwards. The filly was moving around freely and there was no sign of proud flesh formation. Day 21 — The healing was nearly complete with only a small area still visible. Week 5 — This photo was taken at week 5 to show how un-noticable the wound is. The wound was completely healed at day 28 but no photo was taken. CASE STUDY 2: Eagles Eagles is a 3 year old standard bred filly. Her injury was sustained whilst fast working on the track. She ended up straddling the 1m high fence (next to the gateway), with her front legs on one side and her back legs on the other side with the sulky. Her injuries were; numerous cuts and bruises on all four legs, and in particular a large laceration on her off front forearm. The local vet was called and he first stitched the muscle back together then stitched the wound. Anti-biotics and an anti-inflammatory were administered. Eagles was confined to box rest. Day 3 — Laser therapy was started at day 3 post injury and she was treated for 5 days then 3 times a week until the wound had healed. Day 10 — Not a great photo but it does show how the stitiches had burst by day 7. This happened due to the swelling associated with the type of injury. Day 15 — Again not a very good photo but it does show the extent of the injury. All the stiches had burst and the wound was weeping pus. However, the swelling had gone down, and the filly was tolerating the laser probe being placed on and inside the wound. Day 24 — Only 9 days after the previous photo, you can already see a remarkable change in the injury. The wound was drying out with less puss formation and eagles was now walking comfortably. Eagles had been returned to the paddock at Day 21, which also improved circulation, essential for good wound healing. Day 30 — The wound was now half the size and good tissue formation was evident. Hair had even started to grow back around the already knitted scar lines. Eagles was now in the paddock full time and completely sound. CASE STUDY 3: Alex This 2 yr old standard bred filly curbed her right hock whilst in a pipe yard overnight. I was fortunate enough to be at the racing stable the morning that it was discovered. She was extremely lame and the hock was swollen. Along with the usual "curb" swelling there was also swelling and heat in the front of the hock joint, suggesting she may have injured the hock joint as well. Day 0 — The horse was lame and hock was swollen and hot. I treated her for 5 days consecutively, after the third day there was noticeable improvement in the swelling and she was comfortable at walk. Day 5 — Most of the swelling had gone and she was now trotting round the paddock with only the slightest hint of lameness. And the trainer was pleased with the result.

From Jane Davies 2002: "Sheza Breeze" - a.k.a. "Arnie" Sheza Breeze, or as we know her, Arnie, is a chestnut Australian Stock Horse filly, the first foal by Royal Champion Heza Bruce out of a mare who has produced Royal winners - so she had a big reputation to live up to! She didn't let us down, winning the weanling futurity at Sydney Royal this year. On the 18th of April we noticed that Arnie was in some sort of trouble. She was not interested in moving and was carrying her near-side hind leg and just pivoting in a circle. The vet was called and the prognosis was that it could be a fractured or broken hip, or torn muscles and ligaments, but without x-rays this couldn't be confirmed. X-rays would mean knocking her out and laying her on the ground, which could in turn cause more damage, so the decision was made to put her on painkilling drugs and see how she went for a month. The first two weeks saw very little improvement. She was extremely stiff, had very little mobility, and was not really interested in anything. She seemed to be in pain, but would still whinny at you and was still picking at her food. She had not lain down, which was very unusual for her. We started to ask around for different ideas to see if we could help her get through this, so we consulted an equine chiropractor who suggested laser therapy, so the search was on for a laser device. While searching the web we came across Peter Jenkins at Spectra-Medics. He kindly hired us a SpectraVET laser. With consultation from the chiropractor we worked out how to treat the affected area. Arnie was very happy to have the laser treatment twice a day. The difference in a week was amazing: she was getting back her mobility and finally laid down after 3 weeks, although she had to be picked up every morning until she was strong enough to get up herself. After two weeks the treatment was dropped to once a day and she was moving soundly, galloping and bucking around the paddock - which was unbelievable compared to just three weeks before. She is now back on her way to hopefully a continued successful show career! Click here to visit Ivery Park Stud.