Latest News – The Horse

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will hold the Secretary’s Advisory Committee’s first meeting on Animal Health Jan. 20 and 21. The meeting will be held in the Jamie L. Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue S.W., Washington, D.C., from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, in rooms 104-A and 107-A.

For many horses, suffering an episode of collapse (when a horse falls suddenly with or without recumbency–the inability to stand–or loss of consciousness) is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, according to a Scottish researcher.

There has been one racing fatality following a breakdown in the first eight days of competition on Santa Anita Park’s new dirt track, according to the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) equine medical director Rick Arthur, DVM. Another death was attributable to a training accident.

The Kentucky Equine Networking Association (KENA) meeting will be held on Jan. 14 at the Hyatt Regency Lexington in conjunction with the Kentucky Horse Council (KHC) Annual Awards Banquet. The joint dinner meeting follows the KHC Annual Conference, which features a business tract including presentations from equine business consultant Elisabeth McMillan of Equestrian Professional. During the

The Rutgers Equine Science Center recently received a $100,000 donation from its director, Karyn Malinowski, PhD. Malinowski made the donation in support of new initiatives, programs, and better horse care through research and education as the Center celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2011.

A statewide gelding clinic program will be conducted at various locations throughout California in 2011. This program is intended to help economically challenged horse owners castrate their colts and stallions at a minimum cost and to decrease equine breeding at a time when there is a surplusof horses in the United States.

Starting Jan. 7, veterinarians and the general public are invited to offer their input on three important initiatives that will help shape veterinary medicine and veterinary education. Comments are being sought on the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) Model Veterinary Practice Act, the AVMA’s strategic plan goals for 2012-14, and the North American Veterinary Medical Education

Equine piroplasmosis (EP), which is classified as a foreign animal disease, has made several appearances in the U.S. over the past few years, and it’s causing concern at racetracks around the nation–the main locations at which EP has been diagnosed.