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00:00Well, in this week's edition of First Things First,
00:02I actually caught up with The Connection's Scott Blasey
00:06and renowned veterinarian, Dr. Ryan Carpenter
00:09to talk about Echo Zulu and just see how she's getting on.
00:13I'll tell you one thing, boys, she loves her carrots.
00:15Dr. Ryan Carpenter did the surgery.
00:24He's one of the best in the land.
00:26You know, Dr. Carpenter and I have had a relationship
00:30for a long time, and he actually came to Kentucky
00:34to speak on this topic, and very thankful and fortunate
00:39that we had him.
00:42With a phone call away, was here immediately,
00:45did everything, the stabilizer that we could possibly do.
00:50Santa Anita veterinarians and staff,
00:53from the people on the horse ambulance,
00:55everybody did such a fantastic job.
00:57They were, you know, right there immediately.
01:00And, you know, we can't thank everybody
01:04enough for everything that they've put into it.
01:07So Ryan, how did the surgery go
01:09and give us a prognosis on Echo Zulu?
01:12Yeah, so the surgery went very well.
01:13We did a fetlock arthrodesis and we used a new plate
01:17called the distal femoral plate,
01:19which is an application from the human orthopedic world
01:22to incorporate the pastern joint in our repair
01:26because we're really worried about the integrity
01:27of the pastern joint, and our biggest fear
01:30with these kind of cases is that they subluxate
01:32their pastern in the weeks following surgery,
01:35and then that usually results in support limb laminitis.
01:38So we're very proactive to address that problem
01:41in order to help kind of hedge our bets down the line,
01:45but we still have a long road ahead of us.
01:47As I've said before, these horses really aren't
01:49out of the woods for the next four to six weeks.
01:52There's a lot that can go wrong,
01:54but we take each day by day,
01:56and so far she's done really well.
01:58She looks great, bearing equal weight,
02:01using her casted leg well.
02:02So we're very encouraged initially on how things look,
02:05and so we'll keep our fingers crossed
02:07that we continue to have positive days,
02:09and every good day is one day closer to a successful outcome.
02:13In your opinion, knowing the kind of champion she is,
02:16what kind of patient is she?
02:18She's been awesome.
02:19One of the things that I look for, honestly,
02:22right out of the gate is do they lay down?
02:25And she's spent a lot of time laying down initially,
02:26and she's even spent a lot of time
02:28laying down after surgery.
02:29She's up using her leg a lot more,
02:31so she's a lot more comfortable,
02:33but she still lays down and sleeps at night,
02:35takes care of herself.
02:36And really, when you're talking about these horses
02:38that develop laminitis, the best thing for a surgeon
02:43is a horse that lays down,
02:44because they just unload their legs,
02:46they take the weight off,
02:47they let the blood flow get to their feet,
02:49and that's just a real positive thing for us.
02:51So hopefully she continues to do that in the coming weeks,
02:53and that'll bode well for us in the end.
02:56A lot of people may have a heart attack
02:57when they hear laying down,
02:59because we hear horror stories
03:00about horses having accidents getting up.
03:04Yeah, so the accidents they have getting up
03:07are usually related to general anesthesia.
03:10And so you gotta remember, these horses are asleep.
03:13They're often uncoordinated when they get up.
03:16But if you look at a horse that stands up in a stall,
03:19it's actually a very slow, methodical process.
03:22They do it all the time.
03:23Horses lay down most of the time every day,
03:26and they get up really well.
03:27And you watch them,
03:28and a lot of times they'll protect their casted leg.
03:31They'll do stuff to help protect themselves.
03:33And so the laying down in the stall,
03:37in the barn, is a good thing.
03:39She looks pretty comfortable.
03:42We're on day three.
03:43She's very comfortable.
03:44She's getting around the stall well.
03:47She's getting up and down.
03:49She's got a very good appetite.
03:51Loving some carrots.
03:53She's pretty smart.
03:54So she's been laying down, which is a good thing, right?
03:56Yeah, which is what we want.
03:57You know, she sleeps well at night.
03:59And, you know, it's just a day-by-day thing.
04:02We'll change her cast in five days.
04:05And hopefully after that,
04:09we'll, you know, get from one week to the next.
04:13Unlimited carrots, I take it.
04:15All she wants.
04:16All she wants, and she deserves it.
04:21Really great to hear from those connections
04:24with some good updates on Echo Zulu.
04:26Do want to remind you that Santa Anita
04:28does continue this weekend.
04:30First post, 12.30 Friday, 12.30 Saturday,
04:33and 12.30 Sunday.
04:34There are still tickets left to the Breeders' Cup.
04:37You can collect them at breederscup.com.