The latest Horse Course from the University’s of Kentucky’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and Gluck Equine Research Center (presented by Pfizer Animal Health) is now available for viewing on TheHorse.com.

The presentation, "The Stress of Weaning" was led by Amanda Adams, PhD, assistant research professor at the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center. Adams gave an overview of why weaning is stressful for foals, current and upcoming research about the immune system’s relationship to weaning, and how to help keep foals healthy during the transition.

"It’s been noted in research papers that weaning really is one of the most stressful events in a horse’s life," Adams said during her lecture. "We have to keep in mind that there are multiple stressors and multiple things going on in the life of a weanling. We have maternal separation, we have environmental changes, we move these weanlings into a completely different environment, and clearly there are dietary changes, going from mare’s milk to concentrate feeds and hay."

She also noted that in domestic horses, many of these changes are made abruptly, rather than gradually as they are in the wild