Latest News – The Horse

No one test can reliably diagnose septicemia (systemic infection) in a foal. The clinician must wait for the results of blood cultures, which can take days. However, preliminary studies of a blood protein called serum amyloid A (SAA) have shown it to rapidly increase in response to inflammatory diseases. Until now, fibrinogen (soluble plasma protein) has been used as an early indicator of

What exactly is breakover? Most would answer that it is the horse’s heel lifting off the ground and rotating over the toe as his foot leaves the ground. Breakover is simple in its definition, but pretty complex in its implications for your horse’s movement and soundness. And there’s not a lot of research out there yet to clearly define the best breakover for any horse.

In the meantime,

Horses with dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP) characteristically make a “choking” noise as they slow down from the resulting partial airway obstruction, hence the term “choking down” to describe them.

Trust is an important part of any partnership, whether between two people or between an animal and a human. There has been much talk about the revival of natural horsemanship. Honestly, it’s not a revival; it’s a concept new to many people today who didn’t grow up with horses. When we were kids, we enjoyed the same things our horses did (for the most part). We liked running over fields and

Construction is under way on a new horse slaughtering facility in DeKalb, Ill. to replace a plant that burned to the ground March 31, 2002. Plans call for construction to be completed some time in December.

The capacity of the new facility will be 100 horses per day, the same as the destroyed plant, says James Tucker, comptroller for Belgian-owned Cavel International (which owns and will

Since Aug. 10, 16 horses at Brookhill Stables in Goble, Ore., and two horses from a nearby private farm have shown respiratory and/or neurologic signs consistent with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), although not all were tested for the disease. At press time, three older victims had been euthanized–one from Brookhill Stables and two horses which visited Brookhill in early July from a

Feed contaminated with a cattle weight gain medication (monensin) killed 12 Belgians in Wisconsin and sickened several others, said a Wisconsin Ag Connection report. The horses, owned by Wayne Huston of Cottage Grove, were treated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM). As of Sept. 5, five of them had died and three remained seriously ill.

The Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1994 states that it is illegal to produce a compounded drug designed to treat a disease or condition when an FDA-approved drug for the disease or condition is available. As an exception to this rule, compounding a particular drug is legal when the approved drug is not available in the required dosage, form, or concentration. That lets horses

There is new evidence that the setae (hair-like projections) on Eastern tent caterpillars (ETC) can become embedded in the submucosal lining of the alimentary tract (from the mouth to the colon) of animals and cause microgranulomas (small, localized areas of inflammation only visible under a microscope). These sores could possibly allow bacteria normally found in the alimentary tract access t

Purina Mills nutritionist Randal Raub, PhD, began his lecture at the 2003 Purina Farriers’ Conference with a little-known statistic–horse owners are most likely to discuss their horses’ nutrition with their veterinarians, followed by their farriers. Moreover, farriers notice weight gain or loss in the horses they shoe, since they see them regularly. Weight loss, gain, or feeding changes migh

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) announced to its members and to the feed industry on Aug. 4 that kava should not be used as an ingredient in animal feeds. An enforcement strategy event for kava in animal feeds, recommended to begin on Dec. 2, follows a notification period informing manufacturers and distributors of animal feed that many of the ingredients they are

Some scam artists in Nigeria and other West African countries have engineered a particularly nasty Internet scam, known as the 4-1-9 or advance fee fraud scheme. All classified ad web sites have been fair game to the fraudsters, including online horse ads.

According to the United States Secret Service, the 4-1-9 fraud (which refers to the Nigerian penal code section that addresses these

Hurricane Isabel hit the North Carolina and Virginia coasts with fury on Sept. 18. At its peak over the Atlantic, Isabel was a Category 5 hurricane (winds greater than 155 mph), sending coastal horse owners scrambling for safe shelter for themselves and their animals. When the storm hit land, it had faded to a Category 2 hurricane (winds from 96-110 mph and storm surges of six to eight feet),

A proactive passerby helped save the lives of eight horses in a burning barn early Sept. 10 at Equestrian Park in College Station, Texas. Sixteen died in the fire due to burns and/or smoke inhalation and three more were euthanized shortly thereafter due to their injuries, said property owner Brazos Joe Varisco. Ten of the barn’s inhabitants were racing Quarter Horses (all of which died in the

YOUR GUIDE TO THE 2003 AAEP CONVENTION
NEW PRODUCTS AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) is the leading provider of continuing education for veterinarians. Their education not only comes from the lectures given in the vast, darkened halls, but from the brightly lit exhibit hall. Each year at the AAEP Convention,

In decades past, colic treatment was actually a misnomer. “Treatment” consisted of waiting out the colic while offering sedative-like drugs to dampen a horse’s misery. Either his body healed of its own accord, or he succumbed to death from overwhelming pain and shock. Veterinarians were reluctant to euthanize a horse with colic because one could never tell if he was going to make it or not. A