Megaesophagus, a chronic dilation of the esophagus in conjunction with a lack of normal tone or strength, appears to occur at an atypically high rate in Friesian horses. The report authors suggested that this might be considered a hereditary problem in the breed.

Anthelmintic resistance is a growing problem the world over. While we might not see “super worms” ravaging our equine companions, there is a pressing need to update deworming strategies and horse owners’ perceptions regarding available deworming tools.

Internal parasite populations develop anthelmintic

When presented with a horse demonstrating facial nerve paralysis and/or a head tilt, neurologists say veterinarians should consider temporohyoid osteoarthropathy, a disorder of the hyoid apparatus (voice box) and associated structures. Although it is not the most commonly diagnosed neurologic condition in horses, it’s an important and treatable condition that horse owners and their

Horses faced with career-ending tendon injuries might possess the power to heal themselves.

According to Alan J. Nixon, BVSc, MS, Dipl. ACVS, and colleagues from Cornell University, veterinarians might be able to effectively treat horses with injuries to their superficial digital flexor tendons (SDFT) by injecting stem cells directly into the injured tendon using cells that were harveste

Considering that North America has been free of glanders for more than 50 years, many practitioners and horse owners are, understandably, not familiar with the clinical signs of the disease. As evidenced by the recent importation of an infected horse from Brazil to Germany (see sidebar), this unfamiliarity in countries free of the disease can make it easy for it to slip

The equine sarcoid is an unpredictable skin tumor capable of wreaking havoc on a horse’s body. While not technically a “cancer” (neoplasm) in the pathological sense, sarcoids are often considered as such because they are a potential career- and even life-ending condition.

“Even the most benign-looking small lesion can erupt into a potentially catastrophic mass in a short period of time,”

Most horse owners are familiar with Eastern and Western equine encephalomyelitis, if only through the statement they receive from their veterinarian following their horses’ annual vaccinations. But there’s another “EE” that, while long absent from the United States, should not be forgotten: Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis, or VEE.

The zoonotic disease recently made

To better control blood sugar and insulin levels, horse owners are encouraged to limit starch intake in their animals, rather than only supplementing their horse’s diet with fats, recommends Ingrid Vervuert, DrMedVet, PhD, and colleagues from the Institute of Animal Nutrition in Leipzig, Germany.

“Controlling post-prandial (post-feeding) sugar and insulin levels is

In general, overt pathology is easy to identify because of the ease by which the equine eye can be examined. The largest challenge for general practitioners is determining the significance of subtle variations in normal eyes and recognizing the milder changes that occur in significantly diseased eyes.

Methods for evaluating the ubiquitous presentation of “poor performance” in equine athletes have improved in the past few years, enabling veterinarians to better explain why a horse might not be performing at its previous level, explained David R. Hodgson, BVSc, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, FACSM, a professor and head of the department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at the Virginia-Maryland Regional

Early identification of a toxin produced by the diarrhea-causing bacterium Clostridium difficile, in the feces of horses with diarrhea might help identify which horses are at risk for developing serious disease, report researchers from the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine.

Diarrhea in horses can range from a mild, self-limiting condition t

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is widely used to treat proximal suspensory desmitis (inflammation of the suspensory ligament). It is thought to improve lameness by inducing the release of cytokines (inflammatory mediators) that can result i

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) significantly reduces lameness in horses with osteoarthritis, but it does not alter the course of disease, reported researchers from the Equine Orthopaedic Research Center at Colorado State University. They said ESWT could prove to be a valuable tool in the management of osteoarthritis, particularly if used in combination with another treatment modality cap

Equine influenza is a common respiratory infection in horses caused by the equine influenza A type-2 virus. While influenza is not particularly harmful to affected horses (i.e., it has a very low mortality rate), it is associated with explosive outbreaks that have a large economic impact on the industry. Vaccination of at-risk horses and continually updating the flu vaccines play a crucial

Upper airway disorders, such as dorsal displacement of the soft palate or dynamic collapse of the upper respiratory tract, can be challenging to diagnose in performance horses. Nonetheless, these are important causes of poor performance and can, in some cases, be career-limiting.

Resting endoscopy remains an inferior diagnostic tool and even endoscopic examination during high

Intestinal parasites, or “worms,” have been problematic since the domestication of horses. In this first section of a two-part series, we’ll review the identification, transmission, and problems associated with internal parasites.

Dawn of a New Era

It’s important that we focus on equin