In today’s world, there are many types of insurance that can protect us and our horses in the event of the ravages of disease, the pocket-emptying crisis of colic, and the finality of catastrophic injury and euthanasia. Equine insurance today ranges from major medical to mortality to loss of use to fertility. An owner often opts to purchase insurance so the decision of whether the horse lives

Clearly, horses age differently, so when it comes to reconsidering the dietary program of the senior horse, it’s not a question of age, but of health.

Regardless of the number of mares being bred, it is important to monitor the stallion’s reproductive success in order to maintain his reputation and give yourself time to address any problems he might have.

Equine grass sickness is so named because it occurs in the spring in pastured horses which are eager to eat plentiful green grass. Its cause is unknown, but the result is destruction of the nerves of the gastrointestinal system, which is often rapidly fatal. While extremely rare in North America, grass sickness is a problem in Scotland, northern England, Switzerland, and Australia. There is n

Sulphadiazine and pyrimethamine are used in combination to treat equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). These drugs interfere with folic acid (folate) metabolism, a vitamin essential for survival of the causative protozoon Sarcocystis neurona. In human patients, these drugs can cause folate deficiency. Signs of deficiency include bone marrow suppression and ulcerations of the tongue

No one test can reliably diagnose septicemia (systemic infection) in a foal. The clinician must wait for the results of blood cultures, which can take days. However, preliminary studies of a blood protein called serum amyloid A (SAA) have shown it to rapidly increase in response to inflammatory diseases. Until now, fibrinogen (soluble plasma protein) has been used as an early indicator of

What exactly is breakover? Most would answer that it is the horse’s heel lifting off the ground and rotating over the toe as his foot leaves the ground. Breakover is simple in its definition, but pretty complex in its implications for your horse’s movement and soundness. And there’s not a lot of research out there yet to clearly define the best breakover for any horse.

In the meantime,

Horses with dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP) characteristically make a “choking” noise as they slow down from the resulting partial airway obstruction, hence the term “choking down” to describe them.

Trust is an important part of any partnership, whether between two people or between an animal and a human. There has been much talk about the revival of natural horsemanship. Honestly, it’s not a revival; it’s a concept new to many people today who didn’t grow up with horses. When we were kids, we enjoyed the same things our horses did (for the most part). We liked running over fields and

Construction is under way on a new horse slaughtering facility in DeKalb, Ill. to replace a plant that burned to the ground March 31, 2002. Plans call for construction to be completed some time in December.

The capacity of the new facility will be 100 horses per day, the same as the destroyed plant, says James Tucker, comptroller for Belgian-owned Cavel International (which owns and will

Since Aug. 10, 16 horses at Brookhill Stables in Goble, Ore., and two horses from a nearby private farm have shown respiratory and/or neurologic signs consistent with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), although not all were tested for the disease. At press time, three older victims had been euthanized–one from Brookhill Stables and two horses which visited Brookhill in early July from a

Feed contaminated with a cattle weight gain medication (monensin) killed 12 Belgians in Wisconsin and sickened several others, said a Wisconsin Ag Connection report. The horses, owned by Wayne Huston of Cottage Grove, were treated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM). As of Sept. 5, five of them had died and three remained seriously ill.

The Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1994 states that it is illegal to produce a compounded drug designed to treat a disease or condition when an FDA-approved drug for the disease or condition is available. As an exception to this rule, compounding a particular drug is legal when the approved drug is not available in the required dosage, form, or concentration. That lets horses

There is new evidence that the setae (hair-like projections) on Eastern tent caterpillars (ETC) can become embedded in the submucosal lining of the alimentary tract (from the mouth to the colon) of animals and cause microgranulomas (small, localized areas of inflammation only visible under a microscope). These sores could possibly allow bacteria normally found in the alimentary tract access t

Purina Mills nutritionist Randal Raub, PhD, began his lecture at the 2003 Purina Farriers’ Conference with a little-known statistic–horse owners are most likely to discuss their horses’ nutrition with their veterinarians, followed by their farriers. Moreover, farriers notice weight gain or loss in the horses they shoe, since they see them regularly. Weight loss, gain, or feeding changes migh

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) announced to its members and to the feed industry on Aug. 4 that kava should not be used as an ingredient in animal feeds. An enforcement strategy event for kava in animal feeds, recommended to begin on Dec. 2, follows a notification period informing manufacturers and distributors of animal feed that many of the ingredients they are