First, let me explain how this whole thing started. I am a sharpener who does clipper blades, scissors, and clipper repairs for professional groomers, home groomers, colleges, beauticians, etc. Basically, I work for anybody who uses these tools. During the course of my sharpening work, I have seen some of the worst-kept equipment and some of the best kept. I have talked to lots of people in
Despite advances in veterinary medicine, the first few weeks of a foal’s life can still be risky. Many health problems can arise, including myriad gastrointestinal (GI) disorders that can quickly drain a youngster of health, vigor, and sometimes life. Explains Brady J. Bergin, DVM, assistant professor and rural veterinary practice clinician in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon Stat
Horses occasionally get lice, and a horse owner needs to know what to look for and how to treat these irritating parasites. Bill Clymer, PhD, of Amarillo, Texas (now a livestock parasitologist on the professional services staff of Fort Dodge Animal Health), has worked with horses and lice for many years. Earlier in his career, he was an extension livestock specialist with Texas A&M
Focusing on proper nutrition can play a key role in getting your sick foal back on a healthy track.
The results suggest that certain mares have latent EHV-1, experience reactivation of the virus, and pass it on to their foals, allowing viral spread around the farm. Therefore, EHV-1 is continuing a silent cycle among foals even when the mares are vaccinated.
Musculoskeletal injury is the most common cause of lost training days for Thoroughbred racehorses. This type of injury, particularly fractures, is also cited as a major reason horses leave the industry. But the incidence and characteristics of fractures in racing Thoroughbreds are not well understood.
Characterizing fractures was the aim of Kristien Verheyen, DVM, MSc, and James Wood,
If a bit is causing pain or discomfort, communication breaks down and your horse’s performance, as well as his mouth, suffers.
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a 12-part series of articles on vaccinations for horses.
Ask veterinarians anywhere in North America and they’ll likely agree: If you vaccinate for nothing else, at the very least vaccinate for tetanus and rabies. The two diseases have much in common. They’re endemic–meaning your horse could be exposed to the causative organisms at any
A few dollars vs. thousands of dollars, or total loss? Do you sometimes wonder if horse owners should be made to act more like car owners? For cars, it’s mandated that you must have insurance to protect you, and the people around you. Bad things happen. You aren’t always in control. The same is true for your horses. Except in the case of horses, your insurance often comes from a bottle
Some wild horses and burros rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are now eligible to be sold at public auctions to the highest bidder, including slaughter buyers.
The appropriations bill for 2005 (H.R. 4818) was made public law on Dec. 7. On Nov. 20, 2004, Senator Conrad Burns of Montana attached a rider to it that concerned the wild horse and burro adoption program funding.
Researchers at Texas A&M University (TAMU) have just completed a retrospective study into the safety of administering the killed West Nile virus (WNV) vaccine to pregnant broodmares, the first study on this topic in equine reproductive research. The study looked at 595 mares from four different farms in Texas and Kentucky. The authors of the study (which was published in the Journal of
In the treatment of horses suffering from West Nile virus (WNV), vets have only a few choices besides supportive care. A novel WNV serum antibody product received conditional approval from the USDA in November 2004. Colorado Serum Company (CSC) announced the product’s availability on Dec. 13, 2004.
Serum antibody products help animals that have been exposed to a disease by increasing the
At least two horses at Northville Downs Standardbred racetrack in Northville, Mich., contracted equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) and were euthanatized in December. The first case was found Dec. 14, when a 6-year-old Standardbred gelding began exhibiting classic signs of the neurological form of EHV-1 myeloencephalopathy (EHM). After the horse was taken to the Diagnostic Center for Population
High incidences of leptospirosis-induced abortions in Central Kentucky mares could be caused by a tandem effect of temperature and precipitation in certain years, said Capt. David Hall of the U.S. Air Force, who defended his master’s thesis at the University of Kentucky’s (UK) Gluck Equine Research Center in Lexington on Dec. 15.
Leptospirosis is one of the most widespread zoonoses
At its recent meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI, the international governing body of equine sport) Bureau established a six-person task force to reassess policies necessary to eliminate abusive and illegal performance-enhancing drugs and to review the general medication control of horses.
The task force will examine the following:
The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) was to begin testing for performance-enhancing medications at approximately 300 approved shows in January as a result of a recommendation made by the drug and medications task force.
The task force had met to discuss the increased cost of drug testing and the decreasing number of states voluntarily testing at their shows.
AQHA will spend
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