Pony gets rare prosthetic limb
Surgeon performs rare surgery; equine has prosthetic limb
By
KRISTIN GRANT
Special to The Advocate
Published: May 12, 2006
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A team headed by a veterinary surgeon at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine performed the extremely rare operation of amputating a pony’s front limb in January and replacing it with an artificial leg, school officials said Thursday.
Based on the patient’s progress, the surgery was a success, the officials said.
Director Rustin M. Moore of LSU’s Equine Health Studies Program, a board-certified veterinary surgeon, said Thursday he performed the operation on a pony of the Americas, a crossbreed between a Shetland pony and Appaloosa.
Prior to the surgery, the pony, named Molly, remained stranded in a partially collapsed barn near St. Rose in St. Charles Parish for two and a half weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. She was moved to the nearby farm of Kaye Harris, a St. Rose resident who took in several rescued animals after the Aug. 29 hurricane.
At the farm, Molly was attacked by a rescued pit bull terrier. “She was lying down, and the pit bull was lunging at her,” Harris said during a return visit to the School of Veterinary Medicine with Molly on Thursday. “And as I got closer, I could see the dog had latched on to her jaw, and began ripping her jaw off. I just leapt in and got the dog off of her.”
As a result of the attack, Molly sustained injuries to all four legs, her belly and her jaw, Harris said. The pony’s right, front leg was so mangled that raw bone was exposed.
The usual course of action taken when a horse or pony loses use of a front leg is to put the horse down, school official said.
“Amputation is not commonly done on a horse or pony,” Moore said, “and the main reason is that adult horses are not very good at living on three legs, because the opposite leg of the one missing usually fails.”
Nonetheless, Harris said she persuaded Molly’s local veterinarian, Allison Barca, to pursue the unusual treatment of amputation. Because amputation is nearly unheard of in equine medicine, Barca brought the case to LSU’s School of Veterinary Medicine for consideration.
Experts assessed many factors, ranging from Molly’s size, behavior, and attitude to how to cover the costs of such a surgery, Moore said. For the team to go forward with the surgery, every component had to fall into place, he said.
After hours of consultation, including conferring with experts from around the nation, Moore and his LSU colleagues agreed to perform the surgery.
“There was a fair bit of skepticism in doing it among everyone, not just here, but everyone,” Moore said, “and I admit I had a degree of cautious skepticism, but that was before I met Molly.
“It was basically her attitude, her personality, and her drive that showed me she was the right patient,” Moore said of the injured pony. “It became pretty evident just watching her that if there was ever an ideal candidate to do it on, and if you could find the money to do it, then she was the one.”
So, on Jan. 16, while most businesses were closed for the Martin Luther King Day holiday, students, surgery residents, anesthesiologists, and scrub nurses gathered with Moore in the operating room in the Large Animal Clinic at LSU.
“We ended up doing it on a holiday, which was the only day I could fit it into my schedule,” Moore said, “and our staff was willing to come in on a holiday to do it. Particularly for a holiday, it was a pretty full room.”
Moore performed the surgery, amputating Molly’s leg just below the knee. Moore said that when Molly recovered from the anesthesia, she immediately began using her temporary prosthesis.
“She was able to walk and even lie down using this long, stiff leg, which she couldn’t bend.”
Four months later, now fitted with a custom-made prosthesis supplied by a commercial firm, Molly trots around her pasture and functions normally. “I don’t know that she ever has to come back here unless she has a problem now,” Moore said. “We’d like her to come back, but not for medical reasons — just to visit because we like her.”
The success of Molly’s rare surgery offers hope for other horses with similar conditions. “I wouldn’t hesitate to do it on another one, even a full-size horse, if everything was right,” Moore said.
Moore asserted that a critical factor in ensuring a horse meets the criteria for such a procedure does not involve the horse at all. “If you don’t have a committed owner who’s willing to comply with what’s needed, like taking off the prosthesis twice a day for the rest of the horse’s life, it will not work. Kaye Harris is that person.”
Harris’ commitment to saving Molly’s life is having a ripple effect. Since the surgery, Molly has been working with children with disabilities, demonstrating how she thrives with her own prosthetic limb, Harris said.
“The medical part is one thing, and yes, you learn things from that,” Moore said, “but it taught me how much one little pony can impact so many people, and really, I think her impact is just now starting to be felt as she is starting to go out and be a therapy horse.”
Molly’s owner said she has been inspired to start a retirement foundation for ponies called Pony Paradise.
And as for Molly, her turbulent life may have finally taken a turn for the better.
“Molly has a whole new future, she’s always happy as a clam, she has a really good life, and it’s going to be useful,” Harris said. “And you know what? I think she knows it.”
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