Latest News – The Horse

Tom Lenz, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACT, will be the guest speaker on Oct. 13 for the Glenwood Veterinary Clinic’s fourth annual horse owner’s continuing education seminar on Tuesday, Oct. 13, in Glenwood, Colo. Lenz is boarded in theriogenology (reproduction) and has a special interest in equine geriatrics and unwanted horse.

The Glenwood Springs 

Yesterday (Oct. 11), 17-year-old Jessica Springsteen was the star at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show as her famous parents–Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa–cheered her on. Jessica bested 237 riders over two rounds of competition, and a four-rider work-off, to win the nation’s top equitation prize, the Pessoa/USEF Hunt Seat Medal Final.

The Pennsylvania National Horse Show

Researchers already know that horses have the physical equipment for scotopic (night) vision, with more rods than cones and a reflective structure in the retina.

A horse that was stolen from his Eastern Illinois home more than a year ago has turned up in Springfield, Mo. The paint gelding, named Max, was reunited with his 14 year old owner this week.

Kaitlynn Bilskie never gave up hope in finding her barrel racing partner, said her stepfather, Keith Caughran. “This has just been an amazing miracle,” he said.

As professional as ever, undefeated Zenyatta equaled the legendary Personal Ensign’s 13-race winning streak to begin her career, sweeping past the pacesetters in upper stretch to capture Oak Tree’s $300,000 Lady’s Secret Stakesbefore 20,329 at Santa Anita in characteristic fashion Oct. 10.

Ridden by Mike Smith, the 2-5 favorite joined rare company with Personal Ensign, who beat males

Tawnee Preisner doesn’t need a calendar to know that winter is approaching–all she has to do is count the number of inquiries she receives from horse owners wanting to place their animals at her California equine rescue. Calls from financially strapped horse owners in need of help spike every fall, she said. But this year, the number of inquiries is exceptionally high. And Preisner wonders how

Paul Lunn, BVMS, MS, PhD, head of the Department of Clinical Sciences at Colorado State University (CSU) College of Veterinary Medicine, was chosen to deliver the Frederick Smith Lecture at the British Equine Veterinary Association Congress held in September in England. The invitation is considered a prestigious honor, and Lunn received a commemorative medal for delivering the lecture and in

This morning (Oct. 10), the Kentucky State Veterinarian’s office sent out an alert that the sixth equine case of West Nile virus had been confirmed.

The University of Kentucky’s Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center confirmed the diagnosis in a 17-month-old Tennessee Walking Horse based on positive Igm and compatible clinical signs. The horse had no history of vaccination, and he was

Star filly Rachel Alexandra is finished racing for the year, co-owner Jess Jackson announced Oct. 9.

Jackson, who said Rachel Alexandra would not run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 7 at Santa Anita because he did not want to run his horses on a synthetic surface, indicated the 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro would return to racing in 2010.

Rachel Alexandra completed her yea

More than 650 readers of TheHorse.com responded to a poll asking, “Does your horse receive an equine-specific or multi-species vaccine?”

Horses with persistent dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP), an important performance-limiting abnormality of the upper respiratory tract, have a different anatomic location of the larynx than horses with only intermittent DDSP, report Cornell University researchers.

DDSP affects approximately 10% to 20% of racehorses and is diagnosed by observing the caudal border of the soft

The United States Equestrian Federation reported today that former Olympic mount and dressage horse Mythilus was humanely euthanized today as a result of complications discovered during colic surgery.

The 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding was the former partner of Olympian Courtney King-Dye. In June 2008, King-Dye finished in third place at 2008 Olympic Dressage Trials with Mythilus

Darley stallion Shamardal has injured his withers and will be rested for the remainder of the Southern Hemisphere breeding season at the outfit’s Australian farm. The English champion is expected to make a full recovery before the end of the year.

Shamardal will return to Europe with the other shuttle stallions in time for the Northern Hemisphere breeding season and is expected to

Leading Horse of the Year candidate Rachel Alexandra returned to her home base at Churchill Downs Oct. 7 and settled into familiar surroundings in trainer Steve Asmussen’s Barn 38 following a long van ride from Saratoga, where she spent much of the summer and the early days of fall.

“She walked the shed this morning,” Asmussen said. “It was a little cool here this morning, but it

Internationally renowned equine scholar Dr. Jim Heird has joined the Texas A&M University family.

Heird was hired as a joint appointment between the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences as executive professor and coordinator of the university’s Equine Sciences Initiative.

“For many years, Texas