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Mar 24, 2008 7:12 pm US/Central
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Touring The U Of M's New Equine Center
(WCCO)
The University of Minnesota's Leatherdale Equine Center has been open now for five months, and it's become so popular there's a waiting list for people and horses.
The center cost about $14 million, with $7 million coming from the horse community.
Besides high-tech medical devices the center also has some special sports clinics specifically for horses.
A horse walking on a high-powered treadmill is also normal fare for the new equine center. The treadmill can hold speeds as fast as 30 miles per hour, being used to check how well a horse is breathing.
"Sometimes horses have a problem breathing, and that's why race horses can't go as quickly as they should. And we can watch every breath they take as they're galloping at high speed by standing right beside them," said Dr. Stephanie Valberg, Director of the UMEC.
Besides the high-tech medical devices like lasers and MRI's, the center also has something that you can't get any where else in the country: a gait analysis system. Since horses can't tell you where it hurts, the device takes the guess work out of diagnosing ligament problems. The horse walks on a panel and a computer and several cameras do the rest.
"It's a system that will detect the force that the horses foot lands on the ground, simultaneously it has high speed cameras that watch them and will measure the angle of every joint as it strikes the ground," said the doctor.
A water treadmill is popular with all the horses because the warm water is used to soothe injuries.
"Helps take some of the weight off their joints. If we have very low levels of water we can actually get them to step up and do a lot of flexing exercises," said Valberg. "It brings them back to health much more quickly."
Minnesota ranks 9th in the country for the number of horse owners so having a top notch equine center is a bonus.
"This is sort of like going to the Mayo Clinic," said Chriss Renier, who owns 10 horses with two receiving therapy at the equine center.
"I bring them there because you can get the best of the best, in terms of the specialists," said Renier.
All of the head veterinarians are board certified, making the center one of the tops in the country. The University of Minnesota also plans on adding an intensive care facility for horses sometime in the near future.
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