Board certified in equine surgery
Dr. Daniel is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons meaning he is a board certified in equine surgery. (read more about board certified surgeons here – www.acvs.org) Specialists have completed a three year surgical residency program and must pass a rigorous examination before being accepted into the college. In addition to the surgical program at Colorado State University, Dr. Daniel also simultaneously completed a masters in science.
Pre-surgical consultations
A pre-surgical consultation is important so you fully understand the reason your horse requires surgery and to establish what steps are necessary prior to and after the procedure. During this consultation, results of lameness examination and diagnostic imaging are discussed so it is important to provide these to the surgeon ahead of time if they were performed by your regular vet. Sometimes one or more of these studies will need to be repeated, if sufficient time has elapsed between the original study and the surgery date.
After surgery
After the surgical procedure the incision site will need to be covered. Often your vet will provide this care for you, however in some cases we will recommend you gather the necessary bandage supplies.
A rehabilitation program will be provided for your horse. This may also include suggestions for post-surgical treatments. For example, it is routine to perform Hyaluronic acid/corticosteroid injections at 2 weeks post surgery following arthroscopic chip/fragment removal. When there is substantial soft-tissue or cartilage injury, we often recommend biologic therapies.
A recheck examination following the surgery is always performed at 2 weeks for suture removal. Additional rechecks are recommended when increasing exercise, for example prior to adding trot work.