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Cancer isn't diagnosed nearly as frequently in horses as it is in humans, but approximately 80% of all white or gray horses will develop melanomas by the time they are 15 years old. Partly because of melanomas' preferred location (near the tail, anus, groin, or salivary glands) and partly because they often aren't diagnosed early enough, there...
Tuesday, March 27, 2012A horse in respiratory distress or displaying other signs of airway ailments warrants a prompt call to the veterinarian; he or she has tools and experience to attempt to resolve the problem. At the 2011 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, held Nov. 18-22 in San Antonio, Texas, Brett Woodie, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, a surgeon and own...
Monday, March 26, 2012Breeding season can mean a growth in acupuncture needle inventory for many horse reproduction specialists. Such veterinarians combine strategic insertion of tiny needles with Western veterinary techniques to address subfertility issues in mares--and even stallions. During a presentation at the 2011 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, ...
Sunday, March 25, 2012"Why does he do that?" "What is she so scared of … there's nothing there!" Most—if not all—horse owners have been there and asked those questions. Even though we don't always understand equine behavior, there's got to be a reason behind it, right? Absolutely. Horses’ behaviors date back to equine ev...
Saturday, March 24, 2012Experts report that this year's Eastern tent caterpillar egg hatch is about a week ahead of the past 10 years' average.
Saturday, March 24, 2012Local leaders in various areas of the equine industry will examine how the horse influenced their personal leadership development and career paths during a public panel discussion April 17 in the University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory auditorium.
Friday, March 23, 2012"The practice of equine dermatology is usually straightforward with clinical examination and diagnostic testing; it is a rare occasion for an equine skin condition to be considered an actual emergency," began Ann Rashmir-Raven, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, associate professor in the department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at Michigan State Universi...
Friday, March 23, 2012An analysis of data collected by The Jockey Club over a three-year period shows the race-related fatal injury rate was 1.91 per 1,000 starts during the period, falling from 1.98 per 1,000 starts in 2009 to 1.88 in 2011.
Thursday, March 22, 2012Sure, you can watch an exercising horse’s airways with an endoscope while he’s on a treadmill, but this technique does not account for travel over varying terrain or for the influences of rider intervention on his respiratory efficiency. At the 2011 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Nov. 18-22 in San Antonio, Texas,...
Thursday, March 22, 2012Wind Publications released the fourth edition of “World Rules for Equine Drug Testing and Therapeutic Medication Regulation” on Feb. 14 and has sold more than 100 copies. Thomas Tobin, MVB, MSc, PhD, MRCVS, DABT, professor at the University of Kentucky Gluck Equine Research Center; Kimberly Brewer, DVM, a private practitioner; and Kent Stirlin...
Thursday, March 22, 2012The University of Kentucky (UK) initiated its Horse Pasture Evaluation Program in 2005, which has since grown along with its number of participants. Sponsored by UK Ag Equine Programs, the program was started as a way to develop stronger ties with Kentucky’s equine industry.
Thursday, March 22, 2012Many equine caretakers have given or received these suggestions time and time again: "Just give him some Bute," or "a little Banamine should do the trick." While the use of these medications—both non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs—are indicated in some cases, it's not uncommon for the substances to be over...
Wednesday, March 21, 2012A recent recall of horse feed contaminated with the ionophore antibiotic monensin has prompted many questions about this feed additive and its risks to horses.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012An obese horse is often—though not always—an insulin-resistant one, and detection methods for insulin resistance can be tricky to time, not to mention labor-intensive. François R. Bertin, DVM, a resident at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital described a new testing technique that he has found useful f...
Tuesday, March 20, 2012Avoiding general anesthesia for surgery in horses, when possible, is not only safer for the horse and surgeons but also more economical for the owner. However, not all surgeries can be performed without anesthesia, partly because the procedure is too uncomfortable for the horse to remain awake (even if sedated and given pain medications) and also because ...
Monday, March 19, 2012If you think a hangnail is painful, then it's easy to imagine how a horse with a quarter crack must feel. Luckily, there is a warning sign to help owners catch it early--a sheared heel.
Monday, March 19, 2012Casts are veritable double-edged swords in equine practice: While they play an important role in stabilizing fractures and treating wounds and tendon lacerations, they can cause a variety of complications. Some horses don’t tolerate casts well, casts can cause pressure sores, and many veterinarians prefer to hospitalize horses with casts--an overwhe...
Sunday, March 18, 2012Certain things just don't mix: oil and water, or wearing metal during X rays, for instance. But what about diagnostic anesthesia (nerve blocks) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a combination that sometimes occurs because a horse undergoes an MRI study soon after nerve blocks in a lameness exam? A team of researchers recently examined whether diag...
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation's board of directors has approved funding for eight new research projects on problems that include foal pneumonia, laminitis, vitamin D's role in immunity, and stem cell therapy.
Friday, March 16, 2012Of the many ailments that can limit an athletic horse’s performance, lower airway inflammation is a top cause, affecting as many as 50% of young equine athletes. The good news about inflammatory airway disease (IAD) is the condition is treatable, and most affected horses can make a full recovery. During a presentation at the 2011 American Assoc...
Friday, March 16, 2012A horse’s prolonged sweating during athletic activity or travel means a need for fluid and electrolyte replacement, and horse owners commonly turn to electrolyte products for this purpose. A team of equine researchers examined one electrolyte supplement’s (ES) effect on fluid replacement and performance, and Michael Lindinger, PhD, associate p...
Thursday, March 15, 2012Just because a particular type of anomaly in a horse is rare doesn't mean it's not important to investigate and understand better: Take granulosa cell tumors (GCTs), for instance. While these only represent about 2.5% of all equine tumors and usually are benign, GCTs are most common neoplasm (tumor) found in the equine reproductive tract; further,...
Wednesday, March 14, 2012Little is known about what causes pharyngeal dysfunction—a defect in the muscle or nerve functions of the pharynx—in newborn foals. This important area of anatomy, where the paths for air and food or liquids intersect, was the topic of interest recently for a team of researchers who completed a study on the prognosis of foals with dysphagia (d...
Wednesday, March 14, 2012Inflammatory airway disease (IAD) in horses, which has been historically difficult to diagnose, might soon be easily detected via a simple blood test, according to a French equine respiratory specialist.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012Descendants of Triple Crown-winning Thoroughbreds Secretariat and Seattle Slew were among six horses killed when fire swept through their Round Lake, Ill., barn on March 10.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012A common approach to lameness in the equine athlete is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) treatments, such as phenylbutazone (PBZ, Bute) or flunixin meglumine (FM, Banamine) alone or sometimes in combination. At the 2011 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Nov. 18-22 in San Antonio, Jonathan Foreman, DVM, MS, Di...
Tuesday, March 13, 2012In most cases--if not all--a clearer picture is better. One would be hard-pressed to find a person who would walk into a store and ask for a television with a fuzzy picture. So when it comes to disease diagnosis, such as that for cervical stenotic myelopathy (CSM, also known as cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy), wouldn't a clearer picture that r...
Monday, March 12, 2012There's something not right with your horse. He's sweating, his muscles are twitching, and he can't seem to stand still. He just looks uncomfortable. You call your veterinarian and suggest it could be colic, but at the 2012 Western Veterinary Conference, held Feb. 19-23 in Las Vegas, Nev., one researcher suggested another ailment to consider: ...
Monday, March 12, 2012One approach to dangerous joint infections in the horse involves isolating treatment to the infected limb, a procedure that can be performed while the horse is standing and awake or "sleeping" under general anesthesia. So which is best? A group of researchers in South Africa recently sought to answer this question, and Arnold T. Mahne, BVSc, of ...
Sunday, March 11, 2012We'd all like to think that a mare's womb is a warm, dark, nurturing environment perfect for transforming a small fertilized egg into a healthy foal in 340 days. According to equine reproductive specialists, however, uteri can be lined with bacterial "biofilm" containing millions of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in a glutinous, jellylike...
Saturday, March 10, 2012Ridgling, crypt, cryptorchid. Call it what you want, but a horse with one or two testes that have not descended into the scrotum can present a diagnostic challenge. Anthony Claes, DVM, Dipl. ACT, a graduate student at the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Center, discussed a new way to diagnose cryptorchidism during the 2011 American Asso...
Friday, March 09, 2012As winter ends and spring begins, most horse owners start thinking about vaccinations. Which ones should my horse receive? How often should he be vaccinated? Does he need any risk-based vaccines? Confused? Don't worry. One equine veterinarian and researcher distilled the broad topic of vaccinations down at the 2012 Western Veterinary Conference, held ...
Friday, March 09, 2012The United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) and Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, both based in Lexington, Ky., are collecting donations for horses and horse owners affected by the severe storms and tornadoes that ripped through several states last week.
Thursday, March 08, 2012Your performance horse is lame, and while your veterinarian has narrowed the problem down to the animal's fetlock, no abnormalities are visible on radiographs (X rays). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has long been used as a diagnostic tool for lameness and performance issues in horses, and your vet says that's an option. Could that modality help...
Thursday, March 08, 2012There are upsides and downsides to administering dexamethasone, just as there are with most drugs. For instance, dexamethasone is a potent anti-inflammatory but can cause life-threatening laminitis in some cases. And while dexamethasone can be used successfully to treat mating-induced inflammation of the uterus (endometritis), some veterinarians believe i...
Wednesday, March 07, 2012The Kentucky Horse Council (KHC) is providing coordination for the U.S. Equine Disaster Relief Fund to support horse owners affected by last week's tornadoes. The KHC has experience responding to equine crises through this fund and the Save Our Horses Fund.
Tuesday, March 06, 2012Performance horses can develop a host of upper respiratory problems that can cause exercise intolerance, abnormal respiratory sounds, and poor performance. Fortunately, veterinarians have fine-tuned numerous methods for evaluating the upper respiratory tract for abnormalities. An equine surgeon recently reviewed these in a presentation to veterinarians at...
Tuesday, March 06, 2012Western Feed, LLC, is voluntarily recalling two lots (M718430 and M720280) of Kountry Buffet 14% horse feed because it might contain monensin sodium (Rumensin). The feed is packaged in 50 lb. bags bearing the Payback logo with the attached tag identifying the product as Kountry Buffet 14%. Monensin sodium is a medication approved for use in some live...
Monday, March 05, 2012Researchers at the Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil, recently completed a study identifying circulating cell-free fetal DNA (ccffDNA) to determine fetal gender in pregnant mares. While ccffDNA has already been explored in humans, this is the first study to successfully demonstrate its presence ccffDNA--and thus aid in sex determination--in horses.
Monday, March 05, 2012Seeking to reduce its $16 billion deficit, the Ontario government is considering one of economist Don Drummond’s recommendations to cut the “Slots at Racetracks” program, which could result in the downfall of horse racing in Ontario.
Sunday, March 04, 2012“Supporting limb laminitis (laminitis developing in the hoof opposite a severely painful limb) can be one of the most challenging and often times unpredictable complications in horses with severe, unilateral lameness.” began Joanna Virgin, DVM, currently of Oakridge Equine Hospital, in Edmond, Okla., at the 2011 American Association of Equine ...
Sunday, March 04, 2012“I challenge you to every day to improve your powers of observation,” began Ric Redden, DVM, founder of the International Equine Podiatry Center in Versailles, Ky., during the 2011 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Nov. 18-22 in San Antonio, Texas. “Believe half of what you see and everything you understand.&r...
Friday, March 02, 2012USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Bruce Nelson announced Feb. 29 that equine operations that breed, raise, and sell certain types of horses are now eligible for loan assistance under FSA's emergency loan program.
Thursday, March 01, 2012While phenylbutazone (PBZ), commonly known as "Bute," is one of the oldest and most commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in horses, studies about optimal dosage are scarce in the scientific literature. Working to further cumulative veterinary knowledge about Bute dosing, Jonathan Foreman, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, and his col...
Wednesday, February 29, 2012Using acupuncture to manage severe pain in horses and other animals is not a novel concept, but veterinarians have been hard at work lately combing research studies to better understand this complementary therapy's usefulness, efficacy, and safety. During a presentation at the 2011 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Nov. 18-...
Tuesday, February 28, 2012The hyperbaric oxygen chamber at the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington is back in operation after being shut down following an accident involving a similar piece of equipment in Florida.
Monday, February 27, 2012By Christopher E. Kawcak, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, Professor, Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, and Iron Rose Ranch Chair in Musculoskeletal Research.
Sunday, February 26, 2012The mild winter weather and excellent soil moisture have resulted in rapid growth of many cool-season weeds this year in Kentucky. Weed growth is currently about three to four weeks ahead of "normal" development. This means pasture managers need to scout fields now and be prepared to initiate control tactics sooner than normal. Henbit, purple de...
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Trainer: Albert M. Stall, Jr.
Owner: Claiborne Farm and Dilschneider, Adele B.
Jockey: Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
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