Zac March and Robin
Hurst with Prime Lure at Out2Pasture, which became a TRF satellite
farm in January 2001.
Dr. Rucker soothes incoming stallion Man Down before doing an
overall evaluation and lameness check with veterinary students Dean
Morgan and Kyle Creech.
| You
can tell a gelding, you can ask a mare, but you must discuss
it with a stallion.
~~Anon. |
Marina
Girl gives Kyle a friendly nudge while Dean does a lameness
check.
Once a week, Dr. Rucker and her students bring
a truck equipped with diagnostic and other equipment to the farm,
where they do X-rays and other health checks.
 Home
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| With boundless love plus 120 acres in Missouri’s
Ozark hills, Dr. Robin
Hurst and her husband Zachary (Zac) March were
already rescuing needy and abandoned animals of all
sorts and sizes, from cats to cows to potbellied pigs,
when they learned about the TRF. Volunteering their
Out2Pasture farm as a TRF satellite was second nature
for the couple. For veterinary care at reduced fees,
Robin and Zac called on the University of Missouri,
where both are on the faculty.
Veterinary students, limited to three at
a time on six-week rotations, line up for Dr. Amy
Rucker's course in ambulatory care. (You could think of
it as making house calls.) They are eager for “real
world,” hands-on experience in preparation for their
future
practices.
| |
|
Dean and Kyle remove Blanc's surgical staples.
|
| Blanc d'Blanc (above) arrived with a chronically
draining throat wound, a complication from an operation to
make it easier for him to breathe.
Missouri University's veterinary college
donated costly, and successful, corrective surgery so that a
veterinary intern could learn how to do the intricate
procedure by assisting a surgical specialist.
|
|
The Lameness
Project
In November 2001,
the University funded Robin's and Zac's study of lameness in
horses, with Dr. Rucker as principal
investigator.
Organized by Zac
into videotaped computer modules, the findings will be
available to students and veterinarians everywhere as
educational and diagnostic tools, with no need to transport
the horses.
The project fulfills
a longstanding TRF goal that veterinarians will learn from our
Thoroughbreds' racing injuries how to make life better for
racehorses in the future.
| |
Dean Morgan, overseen by Dr. Cross, an assisting vet from the
University, tends to Sid's head scratch.
Plastic
sweat wraps can reduce swelling and inflamation overnight and
prevent its spread to the entire leg. Overseen by assisting
veterinarian Dr. Cross, Kyle applies a wrap.
Dean and Dr. Cross
evaluate Jett's progress; the dog has no interest in the
proceeding.
As
part of the lameness project (left) Kyle and Dean use sophisticated
equipment, like this radiograph.
Besides radiographs,
lameness exams include flexion and evaluation, palpations, walk-trot
moves, and ultrasound pictures.
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