Latest News – The Horse

The authors found horses fed more hay displayed generally quieter behavior, and fewer stereotypic behaviors (such as cribbing or weaving), compared to horses fed infrequent and large high-starch meals.

Pfizer Animal Health’s equine wellness program PreventiCare now features a redesigned Web site and new online capabilities that allow horse owners and veterinarians to enroll, track, and manage horses in the program.

The new Web site, Equinepreventicare.com, permits horse owners to register and submit enrollment and

A bill that would facilitate the development of a private sector horse processing plant in Montana is on its way back to Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s desk now that the state’s full legislature has rejected his amended version of the measure.  

In its original form, HB 418 prohibited Montana courts from granting injunctions t

Kingston, a dressage horse ridden by U.S. equestrian Leslie Morse, was eliminated from the Rolex FEI World Cup Grand Prix today, after he became unsound at the beginning of his dressage test.

“I could tell in the first corner, he felt unbalanced and I knew he wasn’t right,” Morse said. “We respect the Ground Jury’s decision to ring the bell and we all agreed it was absolutely in the best

Rick Porter’s Old Fashioned, who underwent surgery at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital near Lexington after emerging from the April 11 Arkansas Derby with a non-displaced slab fracture of his right knee (read more), has been retired from racing. Porter campaigned the 3-year-old son of Unbridled’s Song in the name of Fox Hill

Earlier this spring, a group of third graders in Richmond, Ky., got a hands-on lesson in rescuing large animals.

On March 30, Tomas Gimenez, DrMedVet, and Rebecca Gimenez, PhD, gave a Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue presentation to Mrs. Green’s third grade class at Model School in Richmond, Ky

Horse owners do what they can to make sure their charges get healthy feed. But how do they know that the plants growing in their pastures are safe for equine consumption, and how do they grow good forage? Find out which plants can threaten horse health and which make good hay from several new Michigan State University (MSU) Extension publications.

Four new bulletins describe the most

The Jockey Club has established a free service to help owners identify tattooed but unidentified Thoroughbreds in their possession.

For legible tattoos, an owner can use a free tattoo lookup feature available from The Jockey Club’s Web site and the Registry

The Olympic Council of Asia will host 200 horses from 20 countries and regions when the 16th Asian Games come to Guangzhou, China, in November 2010. As the equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics were held in Hong Kong, this is will be the first time mainland China has hosted a major international equestrian event.

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What type of impact do various terrains actually have on the health of a horse’s hooves and legs? French researchers are using a highly sensitive 3-D dynamometric shoe and other instruments to give unprecedented insight into the biomechanical effects of diverse surfaces on not only a horse’s limbs, but his entire musculoskeletal system.

Researchers attached the shoe to the front right

Early identification of a toxin produced by the diarrhea-causing bacterium Clostridium difficile, in the feces of horses with diarrhea might help identify which horses are at risk for developing serious disease, report researchers from the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine.

Diarrhea in horses can range from a mild, self-limiting condition t

Brereton C. Jones’ homebred Thoroughbred champion Proud Spell has been retired from racing and bred to Indian Charlie, who stands at Jones’ Airdrie Stud near Midway, Ky. The breeding took place April 11.

Proud Spell, who was voted 2008 champion 3-year-old filly, won or placed in all 13 starts and earned $2,131,610 for trainer J. Larry Jones. Her biggest wins came in the Kentucky Oaks and

Extension tests (such as trotting a horse off after he stands on a toe wedge for a short time) are sometimes used to detect certain lamenesses, but their use and interpretation are generally not very standardized between practices and practitioners. Until now.

Researchers at Auburn University need horses to participate in a study that will examine the use of chasteberry (vitex agnus castus) supplements in horses with Cushing’s disease.

This study, which is being conducted through the Department of Animal Sciences, will take place for seven months beginning in April. Chasteberry supplements are often used to treat Cushinoid

Several topics were discussed at the infectious diseases table topic at the 2008 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention held in San Diego, Calif. Bonnie Barr, VMD, from Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, and Josie Traub-Dargatz, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, from Colorado State University, facilitated the session.

The first topic discussed was rabies vaccination. In some parts