A fifth horse recovered from her injury and has returned to training.
Two of the American Saddlebreds that were recovering from injections of a caustic substance in their left front pasterns, incuding former five-gaited world champion Wild Eyed and Wicked, were euthanized Thursday morning in Versailles, Ky."Wild Eyed and Wicked (former five-gaited world champion) and He's Prince Charming had both deteriorated with irreversible complications, and the decision was made this morning to euthanize the horses," said Ric Redden, DVM, founder of the International Podiatry Center in Versailles.Both horses had been treated with novel tissue restoration treatments, systemic antibiotics, and hyperbaric oxygen chamber therapy since discovery of their injuries on June 30. Redden is working with Carol McLeod, DVM, MS, the attending veterinarian on the case, and she'd described their deterioration to Redden since he had seen them last Saturday. Aside from their injuries from the injection attacks, the two horses began having problems in their opposite front legs from taking too much weight off the injured limb."(The two horses) werent too happy last night--I kind of saw the writing on the wall, because when the other foot starts to bother them, and they still have major complications, its not good," said Redden.Wild Eyed and Wicked had developed extensive vascular damage in his good (right) foot, confirmed through a venogram (which shows blood flow) Redden performed last night. He's Prince Charming's venogram had some vascular pathology as well, and he deteriorated through the night, said Redden.The remaining two horses are being treated with a combination of Lacerum (growth factor) and ACell (biologic scaffold). Lacerum had been used alone for five days, then ACell was used alone for several days. Now, "Were using them separately as well as together," Redden said. "The other two horses still have a long way to go," he said, adding that one of those horses, Cats Don't Dance, has been moved to nearby Hagyard-Davidson- McGee Veterinary Associates medicine facility in Lexington for treatment.