Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director, grew up riding and caring for her family’s horses in Central Virginia and received a B.A. in journalism and equestrian studies from Averett University. She joined The Horse in 1999 and has led the editorial team since 2010. A 4-H and Pony Club graduate, she enjoys dressage, eventing, and trail riding. Her heart horse, It Happened Again (“Happy,” pictured), a former graded-stakes-winning Thoroughbred gelding, was her longtime partner in the saddle and remains a lasting inspiration. Stephanie is based in Lexington, Kentucky.
Articles by: Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
August 12, 2003
Texas officials have detected the state’s first case of anthrax for 2003 in a white-tailed deer near Del Rio. “It’s not unusual to have a few cases of anthrax in livestock or deer each year in Texas,” said Bob Hillman, DVM, state veterinarian and executive director for the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the state’s livestock health regulatory agency.
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
August 12, 2003
Cats Don’t Dance, the remaining injured Saddlebred under veterinary treatment at Hagyard-Davidson-McGee (HDM) Associates in Lexington, Ky., is recovering well and might be returning home sometime next week, according to his treating veterinarian.
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
August 8, 2003
A “horse ripper” suspected of killing more than 40 horses in Germany struck again on Aug. 5, according to The Guardian, an online newspaper in London.
The two horses killed were mares kept in Helmstedt, near Hanover, and another two horses were badly injured. All victims’ stomachs had been slit open with a knife.
Police suspect the cases are the work of an equine
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
August 5, 2003
Three horses recently died of blister beetle poisoning in Clay County, Fla., and two have returned after treatment at the University of Florida following ingestion of alfalfa hay contaminated with blister beetles. The hay was delivered from a supplier in Oklahoma.
Blister beetles, any of six species of the genus Epicauta, can inhabit alfalfa and clover fields from the central
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
August 1, 2003
Top veterinarians and the USDA dispute allegations made in a May 30 article in The Denver Post that the West Nile virus (WNV) vaccine might have caused widespread abortions and deformed foals. Mare owners calling themselves the “Lost Foals Group” claimed the vaccine caused up to 1,200 abortions and nearly 300 deformed or dummy foals.
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
August 1, 2003
The research team that made headlines in May after producing the world’s first equine clone–a mule named Idaho Gem–on June 9 has repeated its success with the birth of another mule–Utah Pioneer.
Researchers Gordon Woods, DVM, MS, PhD, Dipl. ACT, and Dirk Vanderwall, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACT, from the University of Idaho (UI); and Ken White, PhD, from Utah State University, said the male
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
August 1, 2003
Veterinarians are scrambling to keep up with the Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) cases emerging in the southeastern United States. Since the beginning of June, South Carolina has had 17 confirmed equine cases, with about 25 pending confirmation. Florida’s EEE case count is up to 113 this year, and Georgia has 30.
In 2002, South Carolina had five equine cases of EEE, Florida had 25, and
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
July 30, 2003
The one sabotaged Saddlebred still under treatment is recovering well, according to two veterinarians who have been treating the horse at Hagyard-Davidson-McGee (HDM) Associates in Lexington, Ky. However, they cannot say the gelding is completely out of the woods yet. Six-year-old Cats Don’t Dance is currently sound and slowly responding to a combination of cutting-edge treatments
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
July 30, 2003
Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) case reports have risen into the hundreds this year, with confirmation of equine cases in at least nine states as the virus seemingly moves northwest from hot spots in the Southeast. Florida has been hit hardest, with a total of 174 equine cases reported from 47 counties as of July 25. The outcome of 163 of those cases is known: About 66% of those cases died
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
July 23, 2003
Tennessee animal health officials on alert for the return of West Nile virus are also on the lookout for the re-emergence of another mosquito-borne disease in the Southeast–Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). Tennessee’s first EEE case for 2003 was confirmed last week.
“Outbreaks of viral encephalitis in horses is a seasonal occurrence due to the prevalence of mosquitoes this time of
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
July 22, 2003
Two novel methods of wound treatment were used on five valuable American Saddlebreds attacked and injected with an unknown caustic substance in the back of their left front pasterns on June 30. The tissue in the injected area became necrotic (died), leaving painful, difficult-to-treat lesions that has resulted in death of two of the horses. The attackers of the horses based near Lexington,
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
July 22, 2003
Cats Don’t Dance, one of the two surviving American Saddlebreds injected with a caustic substance several weeks ago, was recovering yesterday (June 21) at Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Associates (HDM) in Lexington, Ky. Nathan Slovis, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, is the treating veterinarian of the 6-year-old gelding at the hospital’s medicine facility.
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
July 17, 2003
Two of the American Saddlebreds attacked and injected with a caustic substance in their left front pasterns were euthanized early today (July 17) in Versailles, Ky., due to complications from their injuries.
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
July 16, 2003
Five American Saddlebreds injected with an unknown caustic substance several weeks ago continue to recover from their injuries under the care of several practitioners. Hyperbaric oxygen chamber therapy continues for the animals, and a medication that promotes tissue restoration has been added to the treatment regimen.
Carol McLeod, DVM, MS, a practitioner with the practice of John R.
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
July 16, 2003
West Nile virus (WNV) is steadily spreading across the country, having been detected in at least 33 states so far this year*. Horses in 15 states have been infected with the virus in 2003; the most recent announcements of equine WNV cases were from Kansas and New Mexico.
Health officials in Kansas announced July 9 that they had logged the state’s first equine WNV case for this year.
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
July 15, 2003
According to a Reuters health story distributed via ProMED-mail, Mexico has declared a state of emergency due to West Nile virus (WNV), declaring it a severe risk to the horse population and a growing public health threat.
The first discovery of avian WNV in Mexico was made on May 16 in Tabasco state. The finding prompted the government to launch an equine vaccination campaign for the
