Imagine that after a thorough prepurchase examination, your veterinarian turns to you and says the horse has sidebone, meaning his lateral and medial cartilages of the foot that have “ossified,” or hardened into bone. What should you do?

The regenerative medicine field has progressed faster than Secretariat’s 1973 Belmont stakes win. And a Cornell University research team that uses horses’ own bone marrow to successfully treat joint injuries is helping take stem cell therapy to the next level. “Joint injuries such as chip fractures or osteochondral defects like osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD) are extr

Experts advise: When it comes to respiratory illness in horses, save the gambling for Vegas. Be aware of the major respiratory diseases that horses are susceptible to at each point of their lives (commonly, heaves, Rhodococcus equi, and equine herpesvirus) and use preventive measures, both with management and vaccination, to head them off.

In 1998 the USDA estimated approximately 1.4% of the horse population was overweight or obese. A more recent study, however, found the number of overweight or obese horses to be alarmingly higher. Weight management is an important issue in equine medicine, particularly as more details on the underlying mechanisms of metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance surface.

In study that could have been dubbed “Who’s smarter than a veterinarian?” Michigan State University researchers concluded that when it comes to assessing chronic respiratory disease changes in horses, the answer is…owners.

Officials have confirmed the number of Potomac Horse fever (PHF) cases in northern New York has been higher than usual in recent weeks, encouraging owners to vaccinate but noting that a rise in cases is relatively common this time of year.

An article printed in the Aug. 14 edition of the Watertown Daily Times reported there is an “outbreak”

Diagnosing osteoarthritis (OA) in horses with a simple test using a single blood or synovial fluid sample is a great idea, but it has been difficult to accomplish as proven yet again in a recent study by veterinarians from the University of Minnesota Equine Centre. The application of biomarkers is a growing field in veterinary medicine; commercial test kits are available f

After investigating the deaths of 14 horses that had grazed on pastures near maple leaves, a Dutch research team suggested the fungus responsible for European tar spot that covers the maple leaves causes the deadly disease “MADD.” Multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, or MADD, is an acquired, noncontagious myopathy (muscle disease) characterized by severe muscle pa

Horses with a chemically induced inflammation of the knee (carpitis) mimicking osteoarthritis (OA) benefit from the intramuscular administration of a polysulfated glycosaminoglycan product, reported a group of Argentinean researchers. Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common cause of lameness in horses with no known cure. “Management includes both therapeutic and non

In an eye-opening event, Mississippi State University researchers discovered that Quarter Horses diagnosed with the disease called hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia (HERDA) not only have skin defects but also important eye abnormalities. HERDA is a recessive genetic disease of horses that results in fragile skin that tears easily and heals poorly. “Recent

Horses that have undergone cataract surgery to remove the damaged intraocular (inside the eye) lens now have more appropriate replacement lens options. After cataract surgery horses are still able to see, but without inserting a replacement lens, th

Compared to other species, cloning horses is still in its infancy. Cloning is becoming increasingly popular, yet the health of these artificially-produced foals has not been assessed in detail. “There is very little information on the health of cloned foals currently available,” said Aime Johnson, DVM, Dipl. ACT, from the J.T. Vaughan Large Animal Teaching Hospital at Au

Activity monitors, which are small pedometerlike instruments, have been used in some scientific studies in horses, but they are still not widely used. Scientists have asked whether we’re missing the boat or overestimating the applicability of this technology. In a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dorothy Cimino Brown, DVM, MSCE, Dipl. A

Surgeons from Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine have given a facelift to a standard procedure that removes part of a horse’s penis secondary to damage or disease.

Very high doses of vitamin E appear to benefit older horses’ immune systems and could be an inexpensive means of battling “immunosenescence”–the decline in immune function because of the aging process.