+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=472&keywords=vet-convention-reports&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')
Many fractures once deemed inoperable can now be surgically repaired successfully, but management approaches during the critical post-fracture window can have a major impact on outcomes. One equine practitioner reported that veterinarians must be prepared with the appropriate knowledge and equipment to help save these patients' lives.
YesterdayFracture stabilization is one of the most important steps in addressing potentially catastrophic injuries in horses. One of the staples veterinarians use to stabilize equine limb fractures is the Robert Jones bandage, a layered and padded bandage, sometimes used in conjunction with a splint layered inside the wrap, designed to limit limb mobility.
Monday, April 29, 2013Whether large or small, serious or innocuous, all wounds follow a distinct and complex healing process. During the 2013 Western Veterinary Conference, held Feb. 17-21 in Las Vegas, Nev., one veterinarian reviewed how wounds heal and how owners can help facilitate healing.
Saturday, April 27, 2013A horse’s head and neck position during radiographs might influence how veterinarians interpret the images when diagnosing spinous process impingements.
Saturday, April 20, 2013Although they don't tend to garner as much attention as infectious neurologic diseases, vestibular diseases (those that pertain to the balance mechanisms) are common and important causes of neurologic problems in horses. At the 2013 Western Veterinary Conference, held Feb. 17-21, Laurie Beard, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, associate clinical professor at Kans...
Wednesday, April 17, 2013Nutritional supplements containing probiotics are popular purchases for some horse owners, even if not all of these products' label claims are backed by research. But some researchers are working to better understand these probiotics' effects on horses. At the 2013 Western Veterinary Conference, held Feb. 17-21, in Las Vegas, Nev., one veterinaria...
Tuesday, April 16, 2013Veterinarians can typically diagnose a horse with late-stage pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID, or equine Cushing's disease) easily. Diagnosing early stage PPID and, thus, allowing treatment to begin earlier in the course of the disease, remains more challenging. Fortunately, research is ongoing and more reliable diagnostic tests are being d...
Monday, April 15, 2013Pregnancy loss in the early days of gestation perplex veterinarians and owners perpetually; after taking every measure to protect the embryo visible at Day 15 after ovulation, mares sometimes come up empty. And while scientists have learned volumes about getting mares in foal, there’s plenty left to decipher when it comes to keeping them there in th...
Sunday, April 14, 2013Getting a subfertile mare in foal usually often necessitates repeated veterinary examinations and treatments, such as medications and uterine flushes. Still, success is not always guaranteed. Researchers recently revealed that stem cells and other biologic therapies might also be useful in the quest to promote “sub” mares to fully fertile.
Saturday, April 13, 2013They might be on opposite ends of the spectrum, but hyperthermia and hypothermia in horses are more alike than one might think. At the 2013 Western Veterinary Conference, held Feb. 17-21 in Las Vegas, Nev., Amelia S. Munsterman, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, ACVECC, reviewed these two equine environmental emergencies and how to best manage affected horses.
Friday, April 12, 2013Ultrasound is a noninvasive tool veterinarians can use to diagnose myriad medical maladies, including those affecting either the lungs or the space around the lungs. Although practitioners perform thoracic ultrasound exams in referral settings routinely, they can also conduct these efficiently and effectively in an ambulatory setting, explained Virginia B...
Thursday, April 11, 2013Mares can make the entire birthing process look easy; some mares produce a healthy foal in as few as two hours, and most have a foal by their side within five to six hours. But Ahmed Tibary, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACT, from Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, warns that even though mare and foal might seem fine initially, complica...
Wednesday, April 10, 2013When administering equine joint injections, veterinarians must take steps to minimize the risk of septic arthritis developing in the treated joint. Particularly in equine athletes, septic arthritis can be a devastating and debilitating complication, though aggressive treatment returns a large range (27-92%) of affected horses back to work.
Tuesday, April 09, 2013Lower limb radiographs can help practitioners uncover valuable information about bones, joints, and joint balance in equine athletes, but Colorado State University (CSU) researchers have determined the usefulness and accuracy of this information depends largely on how the horse stands during X ray capture.
Monday, April 08, 2013Have you ever observed or seen photos of a horse in a hospital undergoing surgery that requires general anesthesia? After he's anesthetized in a padded room he's hoisted onto a table where, while the surgeon takes care of the procedure at hand, numerous assistants monitor the patient's vital signs, ready to spring into action if any problems o...
Sunday, April 07, 2013Many reproductive losses occur in the very early stages of pregnancy, but veterinarians emphasize that losses late in gestation can happen as well. A Louisiana State University (LSU) reproduction specialist recently described how practitioners can monitor pregnant mares to minimize such losses, particularly those mares difficult to get in foal in the firs...
Saturday, April 06, 2013By its very nature the practice of “milkshaking,” or administering bicarbonate or other alkalinizing substances to racehorses as performance enhancers, can be tough to pinpoint—horses metabolize the substances quickly, and testing laboratories must look for elevated blood total carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations as evidence. So to prese...
Thursday, April 04, 2013Anyone who's ever been inadvertently bumped by their horse's head knows just how heavy and solid these structures are. But horses' heads aren't invincible: They can suffer injuries ranging from harmless scratches to severe bone fractures.
Wednesday, April 03, 2013The goal of equine dentistry is to preserve teeth whenever possible, but sometimes that broken or rotten tooth just has to go before it causes more problems such as infection of the sinuses or jawbone. However, before deciding to extract a horse’s tooth, owners and veterinarians must consider a number of important factors, noted a Cornell University...
Monday, April 01, 2013The neurologic condition cervical vertebral stenotic myopathy (CVSM, commonly known as wobbler syndrome) is much less common in older horses than it is in young, growing animals. But according to one clinician, this condition should be on all veterinarians' differential diagnoses list when evaluating an aged horse presenting with neurologic signs and/...
Thursday, March 28, 2013Since its inception in the 1930s, the inaugural patent in 1974, and the successful construction of the world’s first whole-body scanner by 1977, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an indomitable tool in both human and equine medicine. Today, equine practitioners use MRI extensively to help diagnose even the most subtle lameness causes.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013Joint infections are a serious occurrence in horses with the potential to end an athletic career or even a life. Although survival rates are as high as 62% in foals and 85% in adults, only 48-66% of horses return to previous athletic activity after a joint infection.
Monday, March 25, 2013Veterinarians have identified stem cell therapies as potentially powerful weapons in the war on equine wounds and injuries. However, the exact stem cell types most beneficial for particular “battles” remain unclear.
Sunday, March 24, 2013Veterinarians screen racehorses regularly for evidence of performance enhancers, aiming to use sample collection methods that yield accurate and consistent results. Blood-draw supplies vary among veterinarians, however, and could conceivably impact test results, so a Purdue University research team recently evaluated how such variables impact a common mea...
Saturday, March 23, 2013Dental extractions don’t always go according to plan, so the practitioner needs to be ready for potential complications before removing a tooth. A Pennyslvania practitioner recently described typical reasons why oral extraction fail, alternative approaches when these problems occur, and the equipment, facilities, assistance, and skill a veterinarian...
Friday, March 22, 2013A horse owner's day can go from great to horrific in a matter of seconds if he or she arrives at the barn to find their charge either staggering around the field or completely unable to rise. A prompt call to the veterinarian is warranted in these scenarios, but what should an owner expect when the veterinarian arrives?
Tuesday, March 19, 2013Often mares have minds of their own, and their ovaries can be just as headstrong. Canadian researchers demonstrated this in a recent study when they showed that you can lead a mare to a stallion, but you can’t necessarily make her ovulate … even with the use of acupuncture.
Monday, March 18, 2013Diagnosing Lyme disease in horses is tricky business; not all horses that contract the causative bacterium, Borrellia burgdorferi, from infected ticks develop the debilitating condition, and those that do might not show signs until several months after infection. As with many diseases, early detection can mean swifter resolution, along with better recover...
Sunday, March 17, 2013In a perfect world, veterinarians would be able to detect every horse afflicted with insulin dysregulation before the animal developed the painful and debilitating disease laminitis. Screening for insulin issues is typically cumbersome, because existing tests are time-consuming and involved. A team from the University of Tennessee (UT) led by Nicholas Fra...
Saturday, March 16, 2013Musculoskeletal injuries are an all-too common cause of lameness in horses. Thanks to the advent of biologic therapies, including stem cells, tendon injuries aren’t the “death sentence” they once were. Despite the positive results associated with stem cells in equine tendon injuries, however, the “best” way to obtain and use ...
Friday, March 15, 2013Veterinary researchers publish scores of scientific papers annually, but if practitioners are out examining and treating patients they don't necessarily have time to brush up on every study's take-home message. The annual Kester News Hour presentation at the American Association of Equine Practitioners' convention gives practitioners a chance ...
Thursday, March 14, 2013Paracelsus, a 16th century Swiss physician and alchemist, once said, "Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy." Similarly in horses, determining what medication dose is therapeutic vs. detrimental, and knowing which drugs can poison some horses while helping others, are among the c...
Wednesday, March 13, 2013Veterinarians often choose upper airway endoscopy when working to diagnose equine arytenoid chondritis--an uncommon but problematic respiratory condition--but in some cases a definitive diagnosis lies out of reach. Ultrasonography could offer a valuable adjunct tool for diagnosing this respiratory condition, however, especially in cases lacking a definiti...
Monday, March 11, 2013Veterinarians and farriers must work as a team to manage a horse's athletic soundness and performance. The collaborative dynamic between veterinarian and farrier is important to ensuring a horse remains sound and receives the best possible hoof care. William Moyer, DVM, of Texas A&M University's School of Veterinary Medicine, and Harry Werner,...
Sunday, March 10, 2013The neurologic disease equine protozoal myeloencephtalitis (EPM) is caused by two protozoal agents, Sarcocystis neurona and, less commonly, Neospora hughesi. While researchers have long understood S. neurona's life cycle and transmission, their understanding of N. hughesi is less concrete. To compare the two organisms, a research team from California ...
Saturday, March 09, 2013A barn engulfed in flames, terrified whinnies coming from within the burning structure. Few scenarios are more frightening to owners of stable-kept horses. Veterinarians, with their regular trips to the barn, are in a unique position to advise horse owners on fire prevention. However, even with the best preventive measures, barn fires do happen, so it'...
Wednesday, March 06, 2013A fracture can put a horse's athletic future--sometimes even his life--on the line, and basing treatment on a complete and accurate diagnosis can make a major difference in the horse's recovery. A veterinarian in Belgium believes computed tomography (CT) offers a better option for imaging some lower limb fractures than radiography.
Friday, March 01, 2013"A thorough lameness exam usually includes limb flexion tests to evaluate for gait changes when joints are stressed in a flexed position," remarked Amy Armentrout, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, of Burleson Equine Hospital, in Texas. Holding the hind limb up for a protracted time can be tough on the practitioner's body, and horses aren't always co...
Thursday, February 28, 2013Applying a stent bandage--a thick, non-adhesive bandage attached by sutures over the incision line--following colic surgery in the horse can dramatically decrease the risk of incisional infection said Aziz Tnibar, DVM, PhD, DECVS of the Department of Large Animal Sciences of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Speaking at the Annual Convention of the A...
Wednesday, February 27, 2013Horses can lose up to 15 liters of sweat per hour during strenuous exercise, leaving them in a precarious metabolic balance that cold water hosing alone can't touch. At the 2012 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Dec. 1-5 in Anaheim, Calif., Emma Adam, BVetMed, Dipl. ACVIM, ACVS, an equine practitioner performing research at...
Monday, February 25, 2013Although researchers have been studying the equine navicular bone for years, many mysteries still surround it. For instance, advanced imaging techniques give veterinarians a clearer picture than ever of irregularities or damage to the navicular bone, but it's not always evident what such pathologies mean for a horse's soundness. Elizabeth Yorke, D...
Sunday, February 24, 2013Recognizing vertebral osteomyelitis/diskospondylitis (VOD), a rare and potentially fatal degenerative spinal disease, early is critical to successful treatment, said Michelle C. Coleman, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, of Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
Saturday, February 23, 2013The biblical saying, "two are better than one because they have a good return for their work," succinctly describes recommendations Natalie Zdimal, DVM, recently made regarding diagnostic imaging for suspensory-ligament-related injuries. Horses with such injuries generally have discomfort in the back the back of the fore- and hind-limbs near the...
Friday, February 22, 2013Horses can't describe brewing musculoskeletal discomfort the way human athletes can, so trainers and veterinarians don't know which horses to put on the proverbial bench to prevent career- or even life-ending injuries. But an equine research team has been using MRI to detect bone changes that could indicate a horse is at risk for catastrophic fetl...
Thursday, February 21, 2013Your foal has finally arrived, and he and mom appear healthy and happy. But don't let your guard down just yet: The mare's continued health dictates her milk production and whether the foal will not only grow but also thrive during his first few months. Supporting her overall and nutritional health becomes especially crucial.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013Breeders spend a substantial amount of time contemplating the logistics of breeding, such as choosing the stallion and where and who will be performing the reproductive work. But once a mare is in foal, a number of things can derail the pregnancy if veterinarians and horse owners don't keep a close eye the mare's progress. Sometimes, simply knowin...
Tuesday, February 19, 2013Having stem cells at our disposal for treating tendon and ligament injuries in horses but not knowing exactly how to administer them is like having a million dollars you can't spend. One researcher from Colorado State University (CSU) described stem cell preparation and delivery at the 2012 American Association of Equine Practitioners' Convention,...
Monday, February 18, 2013A splintered tree limb or a jagged piece of metal protrudes from your horse's chest. Don't panic--field veterinarians are well-versed in handling penetrating injuries like these in horses, because, yes, nightmares like these are sometimes realized.
Sunday, February 17, 2013Laminitis is a complicated equine condition that has the attention of researchers and veterinarians around the world. While some explore the big picture--such as managing horses with this debilitating disease--others examine the smaller aspects, right down to the cells that make up both the healthy and affected hoof.
Saturday, February 16, 2013A foal's suckle-swallow reflex is vital to life, allowing him to access the colostrum, and later milk, he needs to thrive. But sometimes this reflex doesn't function properly for a variety of reasons. These foals, called dysphagic, require immediate and specialized care to ensure they begin life without a nutritional deficit.
Thursday, February 14, 2013+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=473&keywords=vet-convention-reports&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')
+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=476&keywords=vet-convention-reports&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')
+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=441&keywords=vet-convention-reports&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')
+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=366&keywords=vet-convention-reports&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')
+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=466&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')
Copyright © 2013 Blood-Horse Publications. All rights reserved internationally.
+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=601&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')