A horse that survived a vicious attack is making medical headlines thanks to a pair of historic surgeries to save him. Last summer “Northstar,” an American Paint horse, was approached in a pasture in Pennsylvania, doused with a flammable liquid and, inexplicably, set on fire. “Really severe injury over his shoulders and withers and back, all the way down to his pelvis,” said Dr. Samuel Hurcombe, assistant professor of Equine Emergency and Critical Care at The Ohio State University’s Galbreath Equine Center. “These are large areas of 3rd degree burns, right down to the cartilage and bone.” To try and help heal those wounds, veterinarians are teaming up with burn specialists from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “In human medicine, the team approach was founded in burn surgery,” said Dr. Larry Jones, Director of the Burn Center at Ohio State. “We took that same approach, and, using tools and techniques normally reserved for humans, applied them to this horse, in the hopes of making him better,” he said.
