Latest News – The Horse

We have a 19-year-old Appaloosa gelding that is going blind fast from a genetic disease. He is not coping with it well; he stumbles around, runs into things, leaves the herd, then gets confused and panics. Any advice?

Animal rights, owner responsibility, health and welfare, and all the attendant issues occupy more and more of our time and energy these days as we horse owners struggle to find a place in our busy lives for what once was a routine part of life in a long-ago society. Now, a few generations removed from our agrarian roots, we are bombarded, it seems, with ethical and political questions unasked

Many conditions that cause heel pain can be successfully treated, so a “heel pain” diagnosis is certainly not an athletic death knell for many horses. Some horses confirmed with navicular disease itself can also be treated successfully and continue with useful careers, at least for a period of time.

As the United States fights a war in Iraq and a larger war against terrorism, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Billy Ray Smith has called upon farmers and farm businesses to do their part to secure the nation’s food supply.
“Since Sept. 11, 2001, agro-terrorism–malicious and intentional acts intended to disrupt our food supply–has become a new word in our vocabularies, and bio-security

Two of Kentucky’s most famous industries, bourbon and horse racing, have united to raise money for a new 25-acre center at the Kentucky Horse Park to facilitate adoption of former racehorses. Since 1996, Maker’s Mark and Keeneland have produced a limited edition Maker’s Mark bottle to benefit a good cause. This year’s beneficiary is the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, which hopes to put

The researchers developed a molecular test to detect the cream gene in DNA found in the blood or hair. Guerin says the test will help owners identify heterozygous carriers of the gene (those able to pass on the cremello gene to offspring).

Researchers at Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences today released results from a research project that summarizes the background characterization of last year’s outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV) in equids from Colorado and Nebraska.

“The objective of the study was to describe the equine West Nile virus cases in Colorado and Nebraska in

War Emblem, North America’s champion 3-year-old male of 2002 who was sold to Japan’s Shadai Stallion Station for nearly $18 million in September, is having difficulties covering mares in his first year at stud and his owners are negotiating a settlement with an insurance company.

The problem with War Emblem does not involve his fertility, sources close to Shadai said, but with his

The Virginia Racing Commission has banned the use of shock wave therapy on horses within 10 days of a race.

The therapeutic treatments, originally used to break up bone fragments, have an analgesic (pain-killing) effect on horses that can last for up to four days. Because of that, there has been suspicion in the racing industry that horses are racing when injured and can’t feel

The equine breeding industry is among the recipients of funds from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, which allocated more than $4.3 million for 2003 projects.

The Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders received $190,000 to continue research into mare reproductive loss syndrome (MRLS), which struck Central Kentucky in the spring of 2001. The exact cause of MRLS still

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation’s board of directors has approved funding of $748,116 for a slate of 19 research projects for 2003, increasing the organization’s total for equine research since 1983 to more than $10 million.

The research funded in 2003 will take place at 11 universities in the United States and Canada and includes the launch of 10 new projects and the

Toots Banner, DVM, an equine veterinary dentist, was recently hired by the University of Florida’s Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital to provide service to clients on-site and in the field.
 
Banner said, “Unlike the farrier, whose work is out in front for everyone to see, the work of anyone who is doing equine dentistry is literally out of sight,” said Dr. Toots Banner, a

The Associated Press reported in the New York Times that a package containing West Nile virus exploded on Tuesday night (March 18) at a Federal Express building in Columbus, Ohio. Fifty workers were evacuated.

“Fire officials said dry ice used to preserve tissue samples with live virus might have caused the shoebox-size package to burst at the FedEx office near Port