A well-established presence in the Harvard, Illinois, community, Phillip Kapraun, DVM, engages as the leader of a successful equine veterinary practice. His emphasis is on diagnosing and treating lameness in racing standardbred and quarter horses. Respected in his field, Dr. Phillip Kapraun did the research, provided the data, and co-authored the paper “Influence of Sire and Gender on Fluoroscopic Incidence of Bony Lesions in Illinois Standardbred Yearlings” (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008).
Explored were juvenile horse developmental joint abnormalities, which are commonly tested for using radiographic examinations. A central question is whether external bony abnormality symptoms such as joint effusion and swelling are accurate indicators of such afflictions. The study presented the hypothesis that gender would not be a significant source of joint abnormality variation, while sire would be a positive predictor of such.
With fluoroscopic scans undertaken on 315 yearlings, some 58 percent had lesions, among which 37 percent required surgery. The ultimate finding was that gender had no impact on lesion occurrence and sire was also not a significant predictor. However, sire did play a significant role in predicting whether the horses would require surgery to address bony lesions.
