ENGLISH TEXTS from Switzerland and Alsace , will not ruin you with X-rays ! He likes to solve puzzles the old-fashioned way , trusting his encyclopaedic knowledge of the horse rather than scanning it from head to toe , as is often the practice : “ clinical examination first , imaging as support !“. The man is generally warm and approachable but does not give the client false hope . To Yannick Fouin , who presented a filly whose veterinary examination revealed a weak constitution , he asked :
• Do you train in Lourdes ?
• No ... Maisons-Laffitte
• Then don ’ t try !
Photo Sébastien Caure likes to feel his four-legged patients first .
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FABRICE ROSSIGNOL , INTERNATIONAL STAR OF SURGERY
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He is the maestro of the Grosbois clinic where he has been practicing since 1994 , the one who receives patients from all over Europe as well as racehorses injured on Parisian racecourses . Fabrice Rossignol also operates in Germany , Belgium , Sweden , the USA and the Middle East . The man is a specialist in respiratory surgery but also in fractures . He chose this discipline “ for the complexity of the field , because there are many things to invent .“ His latest innovations concern the treatment of roaring by nerve implants ( nerve grafts ) and the improvement of muscle prostheses thanks to new generation implants from 3D printing . Fabrice Rossignol also trains surgeons abroad because , according to him , “ a good surgical technique is one that is disseminated and used as much as possible elsewhere .“
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THE MIRACULOUS HORSES RUNNING ON RACECOURSES
More seriously injured horses are being saved than you might think . Some of them then embark on a racing career or return to the scene of their exploits . One of the most remarkable examples is that of Rhialco , who carried the colours of a true lover of horses , Pierre Coveliers . In 2012 , Rhialco fell at the small open ditch in the Prix Héros XII and shattered his nose into twentytwo pieces . He was , in principle , condemned , but Pierrot Coveliers had decided to save him , and he is not a man to tolerate contradiction . Rhialco was therefore transported to Switzerland where he was operated on by the famous Doctor René Aebischer and his team , for an unprecedented operation : the complete facial reconstruction of the horse , including the sinuses . Two titanium plates of a good twenty centimetres were screwed into him . After a long convalescence spent partly in thalassotherapy , Rhialco returned to his trainer Emmanuel Clayeux and then to Auteuil racecourse where he won again on his comeback and five times in a row from September 2013 , notably winning two Listed races and a Group 2 , the Prix Léon Olry-Roederer ! He finished third in the 2014 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris .
“ Many horses that we operate on for fractures race and win again , there are many more than you think ,“ says Tamara de Beauregard . “ Owners and trainers are more aware than before and ask for X-rays in case of an accident .“ The most seriously injured horses must be able to count on their lucky star : a loving and stubborn owner . The crack horse Bon Augure , carrying the MacLennan colours , had just won four consecutive races at Auteuil when another competitor stepped on him in the 2015 Prix de Maisons-Laffitte , severing the tendons in both hind legs . The horse was a gelding , but Lynne and Angus MacLennan still had him transported to Grosbois to save his life . The horse finally returned to the boxes of Adrien Lacombe ( where he is now retired ), his jockey Angelo Gasnier , and won at Auteuil on his comeback race in March 2017 , a year and a half later ! He then went on to win three more races . “ Our philosophy is to give every horse a chance to pull through , as long as it doesn ’ t cause them unnecessary suffering . We consider each case individually ,“ says Lynne MacLennan . “ Bon Augure was our champion and we wanted to save him even if he was only going to be a leisure horse or a retiree in the field . We really didn ’ t imagine that he could race again , and it ’ s a miracle that it happened . But it shows that great stories are possible if we don ’ t euthanize horses prematurely .“ This year , the MacLennans gave a chance to one of their foals , who suffered an open fracture of a hind leg in the field . The limb was hanging by a flap of skin . L ’ Héritier - that ’ s his name - was operated on at the CHVE in Livet by Dr Cyril Tricaud , who placed three plates not under
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