Latest News – The Horse

A Pennsylvania-based equine rescue organization hopes a billboard advertising campaign will raise awareness of horse slaughter issues, particularly among non-horse owners.

The University of Maine’s (UM) equine program received a donation from the Maine Farriers Association on Dec. 10.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is proud to announce that two 2010-11 Congressional Fellows–Terry Ryan Kane, DVM, MS, and Kathryn Simmons, DVM–have taken prestigious posts on Capitol Hill. Kane is working in the office of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Simmons took a position in the office of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

Keeneland buyers and consigners should note that the Kentucky Department of Agriculture has waived the requirement for equine piroplasmosis testing for horses entered in Keeneland’s 2011 January horses of all ages sale.

Veterinarians and breeders can now detect pregnancy in mares using an ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test that detects estrogen molecules in a mare’s blood sample and is cheaper and easier to perform than an ultrasound.

Bone spavin in horses, or osteoarthritis of the distal tarsal (lower hock) joints, is a “common cause of equine lameness, resulting in lost training days and limiting affected horses’ careers,” says James Carmalt, MA, VetMB, MVetSc, FRCVS, Dipl. ABVP, ACVS, associate professor of Large Animal Surgery at the University of Saskatchewan, in Canada. He discussed the results of a recent small study on

Nine-time World’s Champion CH Gypsy Supreme, a 23-year-old American Saddlebred show horse who had lived in the Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions since 2001, was humanely euthanized on the morning of Dec. 22 after a long battle with laminitis as a result of equine Cushing’s disease. He had taken a sudden downturn the day before.

To combat joint disease or osteoarthritis in horses, many veterinarians have used autologous conditioned serum (ACS), also called by the product name IRAP (for the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist protein it contains), since the first scientific publication appeared on the subject in 2003. Since that time, a new kid on the block–a similar product sharing many characteristics with the original

The Pennsylvania State Police are seeking whoever is responsible for the shooting death of a pony earlier this month. Pennsylvania State Police Public Information Officer Steve Limani said the pony was discovered by its owners on Dec. 16. The animal had sustained a bullet wound to the head.

A California man is hoping a tip will lead to the recovery of his horse that was lost when flooding caused by last week’s heavy rains broke down the corral in which the animal was originally located.