Miniature horse gets special hoof .

Shine the miniature horse will trot into an exclusive club of Colorado equines with artificial hooves when he leaves the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital . After suffering a vicious dog attack that mangled a hoof and led to infection, Shine needed surgical amputation of his lower-left hind leg in order to survive. The owners, Jacque Corsentino and Lee Vigil, asked veterinarians at Colorado State University to “do whatever it takes” to give the 3-year-old horse a chance at a normal life on their ranch in Florence, Colo. radiograph shows Shine’s hoof and lower leg, which required amputation because of severe damage and infection. In mid-March, Dr. Laurie Goodrich, an associate professor of equine orthopaedics, led a two-hour surgery to remove Shine’s infected hoof and distal limb below the fetlock, the hinge joint of the lower leg.She placed two stainless steel pins through the cannon bone to help support Shine’s leg while the wound healed. Goodrich then used measurements from her patient’s radiographs and a 3-D printer to build an exact replica of his hoof, which helped Shine stay balanced while he healed. read more;http://source.colostate.edu/