Latest News – The Horse

Quite often, the diagnostic tools and techniques at the disposal of your mobile veterinary service are all that are needed to solve the mystery. Some horse owners have been through this routine a time or two: Your vet will ask to see your horse move on a straight line and on a circle, then on a hard surface and a soft one. He or she will ask when you’re most likely to notice the gait

One of the most frequent terms you will hear used by veterinarians during breeding season is Caslick’s. This mare needs one, or this mare is due to foal in 16 days and her Caslick’s needs to be opened. If you are not familiar with broodmares, or haven’t spent a lot of time around them, then this term might be unfamiliar.

What is a Caslick’s Procedure?

In a 1937 volume of the

There is a commercial on television that promotes a saying: Change is good. Horse people aren’t known for their willingness to change, or to change quickly. However, we are quick to accept good ideas whose time has come. For most U.S. readers of The Horse, the addition of an electronic form of delivery for the magazine isn’t critical to receive information; the surface mail delivery

Stall rest–a term that all horse owners and stable managers dread–is generally prescribed following severe injury such as fractures, large wounds, surgery, and in some cases of lameness. How strictly imposed the stall rest is depends upon the severity of the diagnosis.

A foal’s future performance in competition, or as a pleasure riding companion, depends in large part on how his feet are cared for in the first six months of his life.

Many equine illnesses and injuries require rapid determination of blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity. Hemoglobin (Hg) can be measured, and packed cell volume (PCV) can be estimated, providing a good indication of how much oxygen can circulate. However, Hg measurement requires transport of a blood sample to a laboratory. It would be useful if practitioners had the means to accurately measure Hg

Equine Cushing’s syndrome (ECS), or hyperadrenocorticism, is caused by an excess of cortisol. This syndrome produces signs including excessive hair growth (hirsutism), lethargy, fat redistribution under the skin, chronic/relapsing laminitis, and increased drinking and urination (polydypsia/polyuria). The drug pergolide is commonly recommended as treatment for ECS. However, data on its

Perhaps you've never thought about why your horse's grain looks the way it does, whether it's a molasses-bathed mix of cracked corn and crimped oats, alfalfa-enriched pellets, or chunky nuggets. If you're like most modern humans, you're accustomed to buying prepared and processed foods for yourself–from fast food meals on the fly to the pre-made soups and sauces on you

Flanders and Swann, a singing comedy team from the United Kingdom, once penned a song that went like this:

“Mud, mud, glorious mud,
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.
So follow me, follow,
Down to the hollow,
And there let us wallow
In glorious mud!”

Of course the song was written from the perspective of a hippo.

For that animal’s distant

Any horse owner who tours the medieval gallery at a museum must stop at the displays of suits of armor and marvel. Imagine the sheer weight of such an outfit–then imagine trying to maneuver oneself into the saddle wearing it! Visions of metal-sheathed knights being lowered by crude cranes and slings onto their groaning draft horses might in fact be hyperbole since historians say knights

The world of insurance as it pertains to equines can be a bit complicated for the average horse owner. Nowhere is this more true than with “loss of use” insurance. At the outset, it doesn’t seem all that complicated. If your horse can no longer perform in the discipline stated in the policy, you receive a sum of money that has been established in advance. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite that

Why do some horses not like having their buddies taken out of their pen when they have to stay in?

When I ride my 24-year-old Arabian mare Western, she tends to want to pick up the pace and wants to look around. How can I get her to slow down and stay focused? She gets stiff and starts to limp on her left hind leg when I am riding her. Another thing she does is pee constantly when I am riding her, but it isn’t pee that comes out, it’s blood. Can you tell me why she does this and if there i

My 19-year-old horse is 95% blind, and when he’s not eating or sleeping he walks in circles. What can I do to stop or minimize this behavior?