Don’t You  Come Near Me With That Hose!

Sunday afternoons mean a few extra hours to spend catching up. Today it was catching up with the weanlings’ training.

In Dr. McDonnell’s outline to 12-Weeks to a User-Friendly Junior Weanling, the first two weeks are called Gentle Start. So lets see how we are doing. “Reach full compliance with a minimum of 25

I spent this past weekend at the national Police Equestrian Competition (PEC). That’s the recognized national awards for mounted police officers in uniform, equitation, and obstacle course competitions. There were 96 officers and horses who came to the Kentucky Horse Park from as far away as Toronto, Canada, and New Orleans, La. This is what these babies should be when they grow up. Some of

The two colts came down from Lloyd and Melanie Cancade’s ranch in Canada on a nice stock trailer with several other weanlings. I met Lloyd and a fellow who works for him at Asbury College near my home in Kentucky on the evening of Oct. 1 so we could use their barn to sort through the weanlings. Asbury started taking weanlings in 2001 as part of the NPHA program, and they got two more this

Nearly 250 veterinarians from across the country attended a continuing education conference sponsored by Purina Mills. A full day was spent touring the LongView Research Facility where Purina Mills conducts feed research for all types of animals, including horses.

Besides researching and developing horse feeds, which on average takes five years for a new feed to go from idea to feed

The talks in the conference room to the group of bright, young attendees might have sounded a bit like a revival to the uninitiated. In fact it was…well, a bit like a revival. And one that is needed sooner rather than later. Last year, from the 2,243 students who graduated from veterinary schools in North America, only 94 (4%) said they planned to become equine practitioners. That’s a

Funding figures from the University of Kentucky and non-university sources for research on mare reproductive loss syndrome (MRLS) were recently made available. The problem is estimated to have cost the horse industry in Kentucky nearly $500 million in 2001 and 2002.

The KTA/KTOB and Ag Development Board funded $694,615; the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation funded $295,938; the

Eastern tent caterpillars (ETC), plus some bacteria, plus a mechanism to deliver bacteria to blood, equals MRLS (mare reproductive loss syndrome). This summary of a hypothesis based on accumulating data was presented at a regular weekly meeting of the entomology group at the University of Kentucky to graduate students, researchers, and a few industry visitors.

Early in the foal loss

Another new word has been added to the equine world–setae (prounced see-tay). Why? Horses have hair, caterpillars have setae. There are some researchers who hold the belief that these hair-like projections on the skin of Eastern tent caterpillars (ETC) might have something to do with all the health problems seen in horses in Kentucky and surrounding states in 2001 and 2002. What has become

While we all were irritated to some extent by the massive amounts of caterpillars in 2001 and 2002–stepping on them, having them climb our fences, houses, cars, gates, and everything else around our homes and farms–there is new evidence that the setae (hair-like projections) on the caterpillars can become embedded in the lining of the alimentary tract (GI tract) of animals and cause

A total of 379 veterinary students from 27 vet schools in the United States and four from Canada gathered Aug. 29-31 in Lexington, Ky., to learn about the ins and outs of being an equine veterinarian at the first annual Opportunities in Equine Veterinary Practice conference. (Click Read More

Wouldn’t you like to be able to foresee the future, even if just for a few little things? Nothing so dramatic as making a killing on the stock market (if that can even be done these days) or hitting the lottery. Simple things would do, such as knowing when the tire is going to go flat on the truck or trailer so you can get it fixed before you get stuck on the side of the road. Or

The annual American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists met July 19-22 with presentations on many equine-related topics. The EPM Society held a roundtable during that meeting after presentations from top EPM (equine protozoal myeloencephalitis) researchers, discussing topics such as whether horses can be a natural intermediate hosts in the Sarcocystis neurona life cycle, and

The evidence is growing steadily that heavy infestations with tapeworms in horses can lead to increased incidence of certain types of colic. For years, tapeworms have been considered a fairly benign parasite to horses because they are rarely found on normal fecal exams that look for parasite eggs. However, recent research shows that the exposure of horses to tapeworms in the United States

What would you do if your horse got stuck in the mud around the pond or at a river crossing? What if he were trapped in an overturned trailer? Those are just two of the scenarios that will be addressed in free equine rescue seminars sponsored by Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Associates at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky., on Oct. 23 and 26.