I have a mare with DSLD, and I am going to have to put her down very soon. After she is euthanized, my sister and I would like to remove, dissect, and preserve one of her hind legs. (Example of what we wish to do can be found in the attached document, credit to www.dsldequine.com) We are a bit lost going into this, so I was wondering if anyone here could outline the process for me. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!
-Dissected lower front marked up and labeled (1).doc (44 KB)
Welcome to COTH.
uh…Good luck with that. Get a really big tarp because it’s gonna bleed like a son of a …
Well that certainly is one heck of a first post.
OP, be prepared, if this is a serious question, to get some skeptical responses. When someone comes to this board and their very first post is a high drama, or otherwise way out there (as you have to admit this one is) we get a bit suspicious.
If this is a serous undertaking, I would recommend reaching out to Dr. Deb Bennett, who is a highly skilled anatomist and has dissected hundreds of horses, taught dissection lectures, etc. You can Google her and find her institute website and check out her forum and get her contact info from there.
Now since I’ve taken this seriously, I have to ask…why do you want to preserve your horse’s leg?
Talk to your vet. This sort of thing is fairly common among the vet school and specialty farrier crowd, and they will know how to accomplish it and can bring or find the tools.
My vet ran a lower leg dissection clinic a few years back. Lots of young science or pre vet students with better kniife skills than me. I think Deb Bennett would be a good resource, also your own vet. He has done lots of dissection in his training.
It’s not that odd a thing, just unusual outside a actual medical, necropsy, or educational setting. If OP has some good high school science skills it could be interesting. If not, you might not see much.
I suppose it is an odd thing to ask for a first post. It is a serious question, though. Thank you, I will look her up. My sister and I want to preserve her leg because we want to observe the differences in her leg as compared to a horse that does not have DSLD. Furthering that, we would like to educate the local 4H club, etc, about DSLD. To put it simply, she is certain that she can do it and I think it would be a informative project.
I will talk to her. Thank you!
I will look up Deb Bennett, and talk to my vet. Thanks!
So, are you going to dissect a non-dsld leg too?
Why on earth ask COTH first instead of your vet?
More than just dissected, you will want the leg freeze dried as well. My vet, before I went to vet school, used to bring a leg along with him to show owners.
Well that 'splains it.
In that case, good luck to you, and I am sorry for the soon to be loss of your horse.
Anatomical science is seriously cool stuff, I think… more horse owners should learn some basics.
Nope. I don’t have access to a non-dsld leg as of right now, and we’re just doing it to satisfy our curiosity and hopefully educate others. I’ve been asking around for advice, I will certainly talk to my vet when she gets back from vacation in a few days.
Dissection isn’t overly diffcult.
Preservation is another ball of wax entirely.
Plastination would be the Cadillac of methods, but unless you’re near a veterinary school, isn’t likely to be possible.
Does your horse have DSLD in all 4 legs? If say the front limbs are OK, you could dissect one front and one hindlimb
Definitely ask your vet, they are often a curious bunch and might help you with the dissection if they have time (or know of a local vet student that would). Also be warned that it can take a fair bit of effort to separate a leg from a horse (think large saw) and consider whether you are able to do that with your horse - some people will be totally fine with it, others are fine with anonymous horses, but not their own. When I was in school I made a few model legs and would say a single leg dissection done well would probably take 3-4 hours. Be sure to have appropriate protective equipment (eg lab coat, gloves) and clean up/disposal plan. If you do it yourself, make sure you really know your anatomy!
If you have a vet school near you, the anatomy professor may be able to help you with options for dissecting and preserving it (eg pay a vet student to dissect, pay anatomy lab to preserve it). A local taxidermist might be a good bet too - the hardest part will be preservation and I’m guessing they have the tools and knowledge for that. The picture you posted looked like a fresh dissection, which can be a great learning experience but won’t last more than a day or two (unless you keep it in a deep freezer, and one NOT used for food). Freeze drying is probably the best way to preserve soft tissue, but it will tighten up all the tendons and ligaments a bit so it may be harder to see the DSLD effects. The simplest thing for you might be to get someone with a bone saw, cut the leg in half and then freeze dry it, like these models: http://www.horsescience.com/horsepix2-Aug99/LHS_04.htm . Again, consider if you’re ok with it being your horse, or if you have someone who can help you do the parts that might be uncomfortable.
Hmm. I don’t think so.
OP, I dissected out the fubar hock and some other stuff on a horse of mine that I euthanized. I had done some proper dissection at a vet school in the past. There, we got a diagram or textbook as you have and then gently cut in with scalpels. If you just want to see the tendons and ligaments, it won’t be a big deal to cut in through the skin, pull the blood vessels aside and take a look-and-a-feel around.
I suggest you study lots of the anatomy first. For your purposes, get some really good pictures of healthy ligamentous tissue first.
With those in hand, it won’t be hard to feel through the skin and know what you are looking at when you cut in. IIRC, I made a horizontal cut in the skin around the joint I wanted to see, and then used the scalpel to gently cut the fascia between the skin and the inside structures, just as you would if you were skinning a deer. Keep the blade just about parallel to the skin and you won’t nick things you don’t mean to.
If the horse has been dead for awhile-- like and hour or so-- I don’t think you’ll have too much blood coming out of any blood vessels you do hit down there.
If I were dissecting this out, I wouldn’t waste the opportunity to teach myself a ton about what all of the tendons and ligaments that I can feel on the outside actually look like on the inside. I’d see how high up the hind suspensories attach vis-a-vis the outside “landmarks” we see on live horses. I’d also cut into a simple joint like the fetlock so that I could see how what the cartilage looks like and appreciate the stoutness of the annular ligament there.
If you horse has some arthritis that shows up on films, I think it’s awesome to dissect out those joints and lay your personal eyeballs on the exostoses or holes in the cartilage that comes with arthritis. Comparing X-rays to clinical pain to the damage you see in those joints is incredibly humbling and informative. It has made me appreciate much better the stoicism and generosity of these horses and made me a more cognizant student of x-rays.
If you want a comparison and the front legs aren’t too bad, or there are fewer lesions high up, you can take a look at those structures on the same horse.
Good on you for wanting to do this. I think every horseman should take the opportunity to study anatomy as best they can. I think you might find that your vet is supportive of your effort. I’d like to see the normal- and pathological ligaments that you will see.
Even waiting an hour, if you hit a blood vessel, it’s going to bleed. We did fresh horses’ legs in vet school, and they bled, like a son of … That was the day after euth’ing
Hmm. I did avoid the honkin’-big femoral artery, lol. These are large animals with an excess of all kinds of fluids.
But the good news for you OP (and sometimes bad news for horses… but sometimes good news, for them, too), is that the tissues you want to see have a very poor blood supply. They’ll be a glossy creme-white. When you see ligaments fresh, it would be a color your might paint the baseboards and trim of your dining room. Really, dissection will reveal a great deal of beauty.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
