"Equine Metabolic Syndrome" (EMS) is the latest addition to the horse health lexicon. Speaking at the University of Wisconsin's School of Veterinary Medicine's 2003 Equine Symposium on Laminitis on Jan. 31, Philip J. Johnson BVSc (Hons), MS, MRCVS, Dipl. ACVIM, of the University of Missouri's School of Veterinary Medicine, used updated terminology to describe his recent endocrinology research.

In the 1990s, Johnson's study of "easy keeper" laminitis cases helped coin the descriptive term "peripheral Cushing's syndrome" for chronic laminitis sufferers which did not test positive for Cushing's syndrome, yet showed some similarities in clinical signs.

"We used that term a few years ago based on similarities with the human condition," Johnson remarked. "Yet that same human condition actually had 10 different names. Recently, the World Health Organization decided to refer to it simply as 'metabolic syndrome' (in humans)," he explained. "Therefore, we elected to do the same with the equine corollary."

Johnson shared the podium with Robert J. Hunt, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, of Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Associates in Lexington, Ky. Together, the two presented a blitz of research and clinical papers on the causes and treatment of the many forms of laminitis seen in horses