Eye-D: The First Portable Equine Iris Identification System

At first glance, this new technology might sound like something out of a science fiction movie. However, Mark Clifton, the vice president of products and services at the Sarnoff Corporation, says the development of the GAM-Cam will revolutionize animal identification within the equine industry. The GAM-Cam will be part of the animal identification solution, Eye-D™.

            “Animal identification is not nearly as efficient or as simple as it needs to be,” Clifton says. “We are pleased to join forces with Global Animal Management and apply our many decades of research and expertise in iris recognition technology to develop the GAM-Cam for the equine industry.”

            Global Animal Management, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and market a non-invasive biometric iris animal identification system. They will be working in conjunction with Iristrac, LLC, a Kentucky-based animal identification company.  

            “We are delighted to provide this technology to GAM,” says Daniel E. Stewart, chairman and co-founder of Iristrac. “We have spent the last ten years researching and developing this technology. GAM has built the highway that this product needs to run on, and we look forward to working with them to bring iris identification to the equine industry.”

            The GAM-Cam, is a portable device that will capture the image of a horse’s iris with a low visibility infrared light source. The non-invasive device will help reduce the amount of stress on horses that can be brought on by present methods of identification, like tattooing and microchipping. 

            “The GAM-Cam will allow users to quickly and accurately identify horses without undue stress on the animal,” says Jim Heinle, president of Global Animal Managment. “The non-invasiveness of this device will present a friendlier method of animal identification compared to more invasive methods, and in turn, will help protect the health and well-being of the horse.”

            The GAM-Cam uses the unique features of an animal iris to establish an identification code in much the same way that iris identification has been perfected for humans. The technology has been of recent worldwide interest by helping to develop a non-invasive, accurate, low cost alternative to microchips, tattoos and phenotypic markings currently used by animal owners.

            “Accessible and fraud resistant methods of identifying horses will facilitate a more uniform standard upon which the equine industry can build data and valuable information services,” Heinle says. “The Eye-D solution will enable transactions, registrations, health management and related industry management practices.” 

     The Eye-D solution incorporating the GAM-Cam will be on the market in late 2010.

Troy Oakley Health Update

As of this morning, Vicki Oakley reports that Troy’s condition is slowly, but steadily improving.

A little over a month ago, the entire horse community was shocked to hear that renowned Quarter horse trainer Troy Oakley had been rushed to Baylor Heart Center in Plano, Texas with symptoms resembling a heart attack. Only later did doctors discover that Oakley was suffering from a Type A aortic dissection. After six hours in surgery and eight days in intensive care, Oakley was discharged and is now back at his home in North Carolina.

 “He is much better, but he is very weak,” Vicki says. “I think his pain is getting better and right now his weakness is probably holding him back more than anything.”

She says that Oakley is able to walk around the house some everyday, as long as he feels able.

“I think he is out of the woods now,” Vicki says. “The main priority is keeping his blood pressure under control.”

Vicki says that stabilizing his blood pressure is the chief concern of his doctors. According to a description given by the Columbia University Medical Center, “an aortic dissection, or dissecting aneurysm, is a tear within the inner lining of the aorta.”

The type of aortic dissection Oakley suffered from is considered to be the more common, but more dangerous of the two. This is because a Type A dissection occurs in the ascending aorta, the major blood vessel that supplies the brain. While a Type A is considered to be a surgical emergency, with a mortality rate of 3-5% per hour after the initial onset, Type B, which involves a tear in the descending aorta, can be treated with medication.

“What they repaired was the large aorta headed towards the brain,” Vicki says. “Now the aorta going toward his stomach is weak, but they can’t repair that, they can just control it with blood pressure medication.”

As far as a timeline for his recovery is concerned, doctors predict Oakley will be able to return to normal activities in two or three more months, Vicki says.

“He has improved a lot, he just doesn’t think so,” Vicki says. “But I can see him getting better.”

In fact, Vicki reports that Oakley has been catching up on his football as a way to alleviate the boredom of bed rest.

Vicki also commented on the outpouring of support their family has received from the horse community.

“We have had so many calls and letters, it makes you feel good that people you haven’t heard from for years are calling to see how he is doing,” Vicki says. “You don’t realize how much you need that or how much it means to you until it happens.”

More Monkey Business

 What kind of animals would you expect to see at a horse show? Horses? Definitely. Dogs? More than likely. But monkeys? Well, no one would’ve ever imagined such a thing, that is until now.

            If you frequent some of the major Paint horse shows in the Texas area you have probably become acquainted with Tohni Jones of Trademark Ranch and her one-year-old Capuchin monkey named Romo. Thanks to this modern day Dian Fossey, the sight of a tiny primate perched atop a horse has become a familiar one for Paint horse exhibitors.

            Jones says she has always had monkeys and currently operates her own wildlife rehab center just outside of Wise County, Texas. As a federally licensed rehabilitation specialist with a degree in zoology, the animals she treats include lions, tigers, baboons, cougars, owls and even snakes.

            “The animals we get are the ones that people have purchased for pets, that are now ill or that need to be pulled out of a zoo,” Jones says. “The goal is always to put the animals back into the wild.”

            However, Jones found herself in a difficult situation about a year ago, when a very sick 10 day old Capuchin monkey came to her rehab center.

            “I had him on me 24/7 for the first couple of months because baby monkeys need to cling to their mothers,” Jones says.

            After spending so much time with him, it soon became clear to Jones that since this baby monkey had become so attached to her, he would be better suited as a pet as opposed to being rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

            “His name was going to be Romeo,” Jones says. “But monkeys don’t do well with three syllable names and my husband really likes the Dallas Cowboys, so I named him Romo.”

            In fact, Romo is often seen proudly sporting his diaper cover with the trademark Texas star, perhaps to pay homage to his namesake, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

            Because Romo was so sick for the first few weeks of his life, Jones says he will probably only grow to be four pounds rather than the typical six to ten pound range common for Capuchins.

            Up until just recently, Romo was the only monkey in Jones’s life. However, with the addition of a new member to the family, Romo will have to share the spotlight from now on. Jones recently put in an order at a private breeder for a four month old female Capuchin, but what she received was a four week old baby who was so sick that she could hardly hold her head up. Jones says that she considered sending the tiny female back, but couldn’t once she looked into her “big seal eyes.”

            Romo’s new little sister Risky has already found her place alongside her big brother traveling around in the family motor home to local horse shows. When the pair isn’t in their two story cage at the front of Jones’s stalls, they spend their time in a playpen in the motor home.       “They’re just like having children,” Jones says. “Romo likes to string toilet paper throughout the motor home and on the way to the show he pulled all of the wet naps out of container and spread them all over the bedroom.” 

            Jones says that Capuchins won’t chew up your shoes and destroy things, like some dogs do. However, they do like to hide things from you, she says.

            Capuchins are the closest primate to humans, because they are the smartest and easiest to communicate with, Jones says. This breed of monkey is often used in the military to sneak into enemy camps to send messages to prisoners of war, and even as a service animal to help handicap people by brushing their owner’s teeth and microwaving food.

            In fact, Jones is very proud of the fact that on October 10^th Romo will receive his service animal vest and be able to accompany her everywhere she goes. The preliminary animal service training begins when a monkey receives its vest and is taken into the public so it can get used to being around people, she says. The goal is to teach them not to constantly seek the attention of others.

            “They are not like apes or other larger primates,” Jones says. “They don’t have super human strength and think more independently than apes do.”

            As far as Romo’s diet is concerned, Jones says that he eats meat, vegetables and fruit, but definitely prefers McDonald’s cheeseburgers to his monkey chow. Romo also drinks two bottles of baby formula a day and Risky gets her bottle every three hours.

            Looking toward the future, Capuchin monkeys have a life span of 40 to 50 years, so Jones has prepared by developing a trust fund for both monkeys and selecting guardians to care for them.

            While Romo does have many admirers at the horse shows, there are a few people who have expressed concern about the possible dangers of having a monkey around horses.

            “He is out at the barn and rides with me every day,” Jones says. “I have never had a horse be scared of him; he is more scared of them.”

            She says that Romo likes to ride with her as long as he is securely tucked inside her sweatshirt, but would never jump off because then he would have to actually touch a horse.

            “They chirp like a bird,” she says. “So if your horse isn’t afraid of birds, it won’t be afraid of a monkey.”

            Jones believes that Romo thoroughly enjoys going to horse shows and would be devastated if she ever left him at home.

            “If he sees me packing he pulls on my leg and throws himself down on the floor,” she says. “He doesn’t like to be left behind.”

Waco, Texas Wrap-up

According to reports from the “Warm-up for the APHA Fall World Championship Show” in Waco this weekend, several people will be filling out judge’s evaluation forms to comment on what they believe to be the unsatisfactory performance of a few judges.

As the last day of the show came to a close, the barns were a buzz of activity as a number of people passed out judge’s evaluation forms and insisted that exhibitors and trainers fill in their own comments on the judge’s performance and send them in to APHA.

Some of the complaints included a judge making inappropriate comments to youth exhibitors, setting up patterns incorrectly and numerous instances where cards had to be sent back down to the judges because some exhibitor numbers that were written down weren’t in the class.

Additionally, people commented on the questionable placing of several classes, a judge who altered his/her positioning in a showmanship class to accommodate different horses, a judge who asked an exhibitor his/her opinion about the setting up of a pattern and even allowed an exhibitor, who was competing in the class, to physically assist in the setting up of a pattern.

It is important to note that the opinions about the judges performance included within this blog are not those of the author or of The Equine Chronicle in general, but of the individuals who volunteered the information for this blog.

Another hot topic from the Waco show was the final results of the Super Horse Competition. The winner, who received a saddle, was Chris Schoeneburg with Instant Cowgirl. The second place exhibitor, who also received a saddle, was Chris Schoeneburg with Pepto Flyer.