Latest News – The Horse

The Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council set in motion major changes in the state’s medication and drug-testing policies when it voted Feb. 4 to recommend adoption of the model rules devised by the national Racing Medication and Testing Consortium.

The drug council voted 7-1 in favor of the model rules. The lone dissenter was Susan Bunning, president of the Kentucky Horsemen’s

Two horses who ran at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., last summer were disqualified from their finishing positions because of positive drug tests, but Mark Shuman, who trained both horses for owner Michael Gill, will not be disciplined in the incident.

Clay’s Rocket, winner of the second race at Saratoga Aug. 8, 2004, and Kalookan Lady, who finished fourth in

Kentucky racetracks could begin testing for “milkshakes” this spring under their own guidelines, officials said.

A milkshake is a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and a liquid given to a horse before it competes. Milkshakes are believed to enhance performance. The old Kentucky Racing Commission in 2001 adopted a policy that banned the practice, but it never went through the legislative

Veterinarians swapped ideas on hot topics in the realm of equine infectious disease in the Infectious Disease Forum at the 2004 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, held Dec. 3-8 in Denver, Colo. Steve Conboy, DVM, a private practitioner in Lexington, Ky., and Maureen Long, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, assistant professor of large animal veterinary medicine at the University of

The Horse Slaughter Prevention Act has been reintroduced to Congress as bill H.R. 503. Congressman John Sweeney of New York is the lead sponsor of H.R. 503 and introduced the bill on Feb. 1 as “A bill to amend the Horse Protection Act to prohibit the shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, or donation of horses and other equines to be slaughtered for

The much anticipated court-ordered exhumation of the body of champion Saddlebred Wild Eyed and Wicked began this morning under gray skies and amidst chilling temperatures at Double D Ranch near Versailles, Ky. Wicked was one of five top American Saddlebreds that were injected with an unknown necrotizing (tissue-killing) substance the weekend of June 28-29, 2003. Wicked and one of the other

In a study published in the Equine Veterinary Journal investigating the effects of long-term transport on horses, Carolyn Stull, DVM, showed measurable changes in immunological status. She also found the immune systems of transported horses took about 24 hours to recover, making travel-stressed horses more prone to problems upon arrival at their destinations.

According to Stull, a

The creation of the long fiberoptic flexible endoscope opened a new world to equine veterinarians and researchers who for the first time were able to view a living horse’s stomach. What they found was that horses get gastric ulcers frequently associated with exercise and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use.

It is known in humans that long-term use of NSAIDs can cause small

The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) was to begin testing for performance-enhancing medications at approximately 300 approved shows in January as a result of a recommendation made by the drug and medications task force.

The task force had met to discuss the increased cost of drug testing and the decreasing number of states voluntarily testing at their shows.

AQHA will spend

At its recent meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI, the international governing body of equine sport) Bureau established a six-person task force to reassess policies necessary to eliminate abusive and illegal performance-enhancing drugs and to review the general medication control of horses.

The task force will examine the following:

High incidences of leptospirosis-induced abortions in Central Kentucky mares could be caused by a tandem effect of temperature and precipitation in certain years, said Capt. David Hall of the U.S. Air Force, who defended his master’s thesis at the University of Kentucky’s (UK) Gluck Equine Research Center in Lexington on Dec. 15.

Leptospirosis is one of the most widespread zoonoses

At least two horses at Northville Downs Standardbred racetrack in Northville, Mich., contracted equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) and were euthanatized in December. The first case was found Dec. 14, when a 6-year-old Standardbred gelding began exhibiting classic signs of the neurological form of EHV-1 myeloencephalopathy (EHM). After the horse was taken to the Diagnostic Center for Population

In the treatment of horses suffering from West Nile virus (WNV), vets have only a few choices besides supportive care. A novel WNV serum antibody product received conditional approval from the USDA in November 2004. Colorado Serum Company (CSC) announced the product’s availability on Dec. 13, 2004.

Serum antibody products help animals that have been exposed to a disease by increasing the