Stephanie Ruff has spent her entire career in various facets of the equine industry. She was a freelance writer for many years, was the owner/editor of Arabian Finish Line, managing editor of Arabian Horse Life and content manager of Practical Horseman and Dressage Today before moving to The Horse. She has ridden many different disciplines, but for the last 20 years has focused on dressage.
Stephanie has both a B.S. and M.S. in Animal Science from the University of Kentucky and has always had a keen interest in equine health, science, and research.
A native of Pennsylvania, Stephanie enjoys hanging out with her Arabian and Half-Arabian mares, two German Shorthair Pointers, traveling and embracing the Florida lifestyle where she currently lives.
Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, who miraculously escaped serious injury after being thrown by Storming Home a stride from the wire in the Arlington Million on Saturday, was released from Northwest Community Hospital yesterday in good condition around 10:30 a.m. Stevens asked Seabiscuit author, Laura Hillenbrand to update his condition to clear up some inaccuracies and let
According to CBC Alberta, three teenagers who shot at four horses in northeastern Alberta will be incarcerated and have to pay hefty fines for the crime.
Three of the horses died from their wounds. The 17-year-old boys had earlier pleaded guilty to “willfully killing or injuring the horses, mischief, and a number of firearms-related charges.” The boys initially faced 67 charges. They
The hindquarters of a 15-year-old gelding in Devon, United Kingdom, were slashed in a suspected knife attack, according to Horse and Hound online (HHO).
“He has been cut twice, probably by a long knife, leaving a gash 6 in. long and 4 in. deep on his right hindquarter plus another minor injury.”
The once-placid gelding has turned into a “jumpy wreck” according to his owner,
Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director
August 15, 2003
The West Nile virus (WNV) 2003 season is well underway. Reports of equine cases are steadily rolling in from states where the virus has been detected before, and veterinary and public health officials in those states that haven’t experienced cases in the past four years are likely readying for their first detection of WNV. The USDA reported Aug. 11 that 309 equine cases of West Nile virus
Tracking the growth of young horses is going high-tech with a computer program called Gro-Trac. Developed by Kentucky Equine Research (KER), the program allows breeders to compare the growth rates of horses on their farms to others of the same age and sex on farms in various states and countries.
By using a database of growth records created by KER over the past 10 years, farm manager
Eastern equine encephalitis has struck again in northwest Wisconsin, two years after a major outbreak that killed at least 42 horses (see article #2852), prompting the acting state veterinarian to urge horse owners again to vaccinate and re-vaccinate their animals.
Tests at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the National Veterinary Services Laboratory showed that an
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.
Alltech has announced plans for the expansion of three of their corporate facilities located in the United States, Mexico and Great Britain. With the expansions, the company expects to add 350 new jobs in areas ranging from operations and research to marketing, sales and finance
The expansion of the company’s corporate headquarters in Nicholasville, Ky, will take the facility from
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.
Jockeys Tyler Baze and Jose Silva suffered serious injuries Monday in a five-horse spill which marred the running of the fourth race at Del Mar.
Xrays disclosed that Baze sustained fractures of the great toe on the left foot and the top of the foot itself, while Silva suffered a fracture of the L-1 lumbar vertebra, but no nerve damage. Result
It’s dark out. You can’t see, but you know the drill. You’re used to it because it’s always dark at 5:00 a.m. when you feed the horses. Yet, something is different about this morning.
The title of “Tallest Living Horse in the World” went to an 11-year-old Percheron horse named Goliath on July 24. He stands 19.1 hands high, or 6″5′ at the withers, weighs in at around 2,500 pounds, and is based in Mount Pleasant, Texas.
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
Five Thoroughbred fillies scheduled to be sold at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale were killed Aug. 7 when a fire believed caused by lightning destroyed a barn at Oscar Penn Jr.’s Penn Farm near Lexington, Ky.
Farm manager Sam Penn said the fillies were not insured and had total value of between $150,000-$175,000. Two of the fillies were sired by The Deputy, one by Wolf
(Reported by The Blood-Horse, 7/25/03) Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner who went on to capture the following year’s Horse of the Year title with a dramatic victory over 1987 Derby hero Alysheba in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is dead. The Blood-Horse has learned that the big chestnut son of Nijinsky II died sometime in 2002, most likely in a
(Published in the Aug. 2 issue of The Blood-Horse) In the wake of the disturbing news of Ferdinand’s demise in Japan, letters and e-mails from fans expressing both regret and anger have flooded in-boxes. It is likely, however, that the legacy Ferdinand leaves by virtue of his unseemly death will rival his achievements on the racetrack.
