Latest News – The Horse

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has awarded this year’s Henry Bergh award to Kathleen Schwartz-Howe and Days End Farm Horse Rescue Inc. In 1989, after witnessing horse neglect at a local stable, Schwartz-Howe and her family made the commitment to help save equines in her community and founded Days End Farm Horse Rescue Inc. in Woodbine, Md.

Blame, winner of the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Classic, has been retired from racing for stallion duty at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Ky. Mine That Bird, who stunned the racing world when he won the 2009 Kentucky Derby at 50-1 odds, has also been retired.

According to a new study by European equitation scientists, horses might prefer to avoid rein tension rather than just get used to it. And beyond a certain force threshold, rein tension can cause conflict behavior. To make the most of training and to keep the horse’s mouth sensitive, riders need to know when to apply less rein tension, generally when the horse displays conflict behavior.

Several New Jersey horse owners have filed a lawsuit against the highway toll collecting company E-Z Pass and the Delaware River Port Authority, claiming the electronic toll collection system has overcharged them repeatedly to cross the Commodore Barry Bridge, which spans the Delaware River and connects New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

A juvenile faces criminal mischief charges in connection with the alleged vandalism of a horse barn in Lexington, Ky., this past weekend. Police were called to a farm on Jacks Creek Pike, where the farm operator reported discovering that the manes and tails of horses residing in the barn had been cut and that horse feed had been destroyed.

Law enforcement authorities in Montana are seeking the public’s help in identifying whoever is responsible for shooting two horses in Gallatin County in September.

In recognition of her unwavering dedication, extraordinary generosity, and exemplary service to Virginia Tech’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center, Beverly “Peggy” Steinman was awarded the 2010 Distinguished Service Award on Oct. 14. Steinman currently serves on the EMC’s Council and Executive Committee.

Team Valor International’s homebred Pluck came from last at top of the lane and used a devastating turn of foot to pick off his rivals in winning the $909,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. IIT) by one length Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs.

Just because turned-out horses might not use run-in sheds often does not mean these structures are not an important part of husbandry, says Camie R. Heleski, MS, PhD, a Michigan State University instructor and researcher with an interest in studying horse behavior and welfare . Heleski and her colleagues recently completed a study in which they examined daytime shelter-seeking among horses.

The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) General Assembly has unanimously accepted the recommendations of the FEI List Group, and it has approved the updated Equine Prohibited Substances List for the 2011 season. The list was put forward by the FEI List Group following a year of consultation with National Federations and experts.

Zenyatta’s history-making winning streak ends by a nose to Blame in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I). Blame is a homebred son of Arch for Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider.

Animal welfare authorities in Utah are seeking those responsible for killing a horse, then apparently butchering it for its meat. Sgt. Zach Todd of Salt Lake County Animal Services said the 6-year-old registered American Saddlebred gelding was discovered dead in its pasture on Nov. 3. The horse had sustained a single small-caliber gunshot wound to its face and had been mutilated and dismembered.

Veterinarians representing the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ On Call program will assist ESPN and ABC Sports with horse health information during the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships Nov. 5-6. Equine surgeons Larry Bramlage, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, and Wayne McIlwraith, BVSc, PhD, DSc, FRCVS, Dipl. ACVS, will be on hand to provide health reports to the viewing aduience.

We know these problem hooves by a variety of names: low heels, crushed heels, collapsed heels, underrun heels, long-toe/low-heeled feet. Regardless of what they’re called, we’ve probably all known a horse that had them, the less-than-fluid gait and/or lameness that often accompanies them, and the farrier/vet bills that come with trying to fix them.

Two Nevada men will each serve six months in federal prison and one year of probation in connection with the November 2009 shooting deaths of five Bureau of Land Management (BLM) mustangs. The shootings occurred at the Buckhorn Horse Management Area of Northern Washoe County, Nev.

HRH Princess Haya Al Hussein (JOR) was re-elected Nov. 5 in a landslide victory as Federation Equestre Internationale president at the Federation’s General Assembly in Taipei. Princess Haya, who was seeking a second and final four-year term as president, won in the first round of voting with 90 votes of a total 124 valid ballots.