Latest News – The Horse

Focusing on proper nutrition can play a key role in getting your sick foal back on a healthy track.

Horses occasionally get lice, and a horse owner needs to know what to look for and how to treat these irritating parasites. Bill Clymer, PhD, of Amarillo, Texas (now a livestock parasitologist on the professional services staff of Fort Dodge Animal Health), has worked with horses and lice for many years. Earlier in his career, he was an extension livestock specialist with Texas A&M

Despite advances in veterinary medicine, the first few weeks of a foal’s life can still be risky. Many health problems can arise, including myriad gastrointestinal (GI) disorders that can quickly drain a youngster of health, vigor, and sometimes life. Explains Brady J. Bergin, DVM, assistant professor and rural veterinary practice clinician in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon Stat

First, let me explain how this whole thing started. I am a sharpener who does clipper blades, scissors, and clipper repairs for professional groomers, home groomers, colleges, beauticians, etc. Basically, I work for anybody who uses these tools. During the course of my sharpening work, I have seen some of the worst-kept equipment and some of the best kept. I have talked to lots of people in

The United Kingdom is famous for its rich history and deeply rooted traditions, but that doesn’t mean its veterinarians are bound to ancient methods of equine medicine. Quite the contrary, the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) hosts one of the world’s most in-depth, cutting-edge continuing education meetings every year–the BEVA Congress. The 43rd annual Congress, held Sept. 15-18,

My 12-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Sterling Story, suffered four months with what my vet and I thought was a hoof abscess. He was retired from the track as a 6-year-old, and I have ridden him in dressage and as a trail horse since. He is that one-in-a-million people-loving horse that has bonded with me as my true friend. I ride him on the average of five days a week to keep him fit and

Successful breeding of horses is not always as easy as presenting a receptive mare to a fertile stallion. There are many things that can go awry with the reproductive process. Broodmares that were once fertile and produced many excellent foals might one day face the realities of repetitive foaling injuries, chronic uterine infections, or simply old age. Stallions also can experience a decreas

I have two horses I have purchased not knowing they were pregnant. How will I know that they are close to delivery? Will they lose their appetite like my dogs do, or will there be other signs I should look for in the last month of pregnancy?                    via e-mail

Do horses (stallions) respond to women’s reproductive cycles?

Is there a reliable test to check the titer of immunity before we revaccinate each year for flu, rhino, etc.? Why is a tetanus shot good for five or more years in humans and only one year or less in the equine?

My 5-year-old mare has been suffering from an odd gait problem for a few weeks. She has been diagnosed with a form of tenosynovitis involving the tendon sheath of the digital deep flexor tendon in the area of the Achilles tendon above the hock.

What can you tell me about Tyzzer’s disease? I’ve heard of only two cases in the last 20 years.

“Unwanted horses” within the domestic equine population have been determined by someone to be no longer needed or useful, or their owners are no longer interested in or capable of providing care for them physically or financially. Many unwanted horses will be sent to slaughter, euthanatized, or simply abandoned and left to die. Fortunate ones find new homes or jobs when their physical

The exhumation of the body of champion Saddlebred Wild Eyed and Wicked from its resting place on Double D Ranch in Woodford County, Kentucky, is set to commence on Feb. 2.

Wicked was one of five horses injected with a necrotizing (tissue-killing) substance in their left forelegs in late June of 2003. He and two other horses were euthanatized when the brutal attacks left them too lame

Piroplasmosis is an infectious, tick-borne disease caused by one of two parasites, Babesia equi or Babesia caballi, which attack and destroy red blood cells in horses. The mortality rate can be as high as 20% among susceptible animals. Recovered horses become chronic carriers without clinical signs. The only treatment (a type of chemotherapy) is not always succesful, and it can