Latest News – The Horse

Calder Race Course Dec. 3 placed a fourth barn under quarantine after a track veterinarian determined that a horse in the barn was showing neurologic signs of illness.

John Marshall, Calder vice president and general manager of racing, said the clinical signs were similar to those of a horse that became ill at Calder over the Nov. 28-29 weekend and tested positive for equine herpesvirus-1

Diagnostic pathologists at the Animal Health Trust (AHT), Newmarket recently published the first report of equine abortions in England caused by leptospirosis.

Although horses in the UK have been exposed to Leptospira organisms, veterinarians there have not seen a lot of illness caused by the bacterium, explained report co-author Katherine Whitwell, BVSc, Dipl. ECVP, FRCVS.

More than 960 readers of TheHorse.com responded to a poll asking, “What non-equids do you have living in/around your barn?”

The largest collection of Arabian equine art and artifacts will be on view to group tours when A Gift from the Desert: The Art, History and Culture of the Arabian Horse is presented next summer, May 29-Oct. 15, 2010, in the Kentucky Horse Park’s International Museum of the Horse.

It will be on exhibit during the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games at the park.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals(ASPCA) has awarded a grant of $4,000 to the Horse-Angels Ranch in Spencer, Ind. The grant funding will be used by the group to provide feed for their rescued horses.

The ASPCA Equine Fund provides grants to non-profit equine welfare organizations in the United States.

The University of Saskatchewan's Board of Governors has approved the appointment of Douglas Freeman, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACT, as the new dean of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM).

Freeman, who begins his five-year term on March 1, 2010, will become the regional veterinary college's sixth dean in its 45-year history. He will replace Charles Rhodes, DVM, MSc,

The Mustang Heritage Foundation has upped the ante, offering a $100,000 guaranteed Supreme Extreme Mustang Makeover.

“Fans of the Extreme Mustang Makeover already know that the Foundation has been very successful in placing nearly 2,000 yearling, 3-, and 4-year-old mustangs for adoption after a training competition,” said Executive Director Patti Colbert. “Now,

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Adequan i.m. Multi-Dose (polysulfated glycosaminoglycan), a new 10-dose 50mL vial.

This new vial will allow veterinarians to draw ten injections from one vial quickly with less handling compared to the traditional 5mL single-dose vial that is still available in a 7-dose package. The multi-dose package has a 24-month shelf life.

Two-time Eclipse Award-winning photographer Barbara Livingston will sign copies of her new book Horses: In Living Color and her previous release More Old Friends on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at the Circa 1840 Restaurant in Georgetown, Ky. The book signing will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

A portion of the proceeds of the sale of the two books, which were published by Eclipse Press, will be donated

Once a horse is infected with equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1), the dormant virus resides in the horse’s nervous system, where it can reactivate when the horse’s immune system is compromised by stress or illness. Nicola Pusterla, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, and his colleagues at the University of California, Davis, wondered if stress caused by transporting horses would reactivate a latent infection.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has approved new procedures that regulators say will streamline and reduce the cost of equine drug testing in the state by as much as 25-30%.

Under the new procedures, approved unanimously by the commission Dec. 1, at least two horses out of every race will be taken to the test barn where samples, including blood and urine, will be collected

Horse owners looking for up-to-date information on parasites and drug resistance can find two new videos on TheHorse.com containing presentations made in Kentucky to a group of veterinarians, vet techs, and horse owners. These are sponsored by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health.

“Drug Resistant Parasites: Rules &