Latest News – The Horse

When you’re feeling under the weather, sometimes all you want is a nice, hot bowl of chicken soup. Other times, you might hunger for a full-course meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and steaming green beans. Even a mild injury that keeps you planted on the couch instead of sweating at the gym might change the way you think about food, urging you to cut back those desserts to hold your

Bands march past with trumpets blaring and drums banging, and the horse hardly twitches an ear. A mother pushes her baby stroller under the neck of the horse unknowingly while asking for directions, and the horse merely glances down, never moving his feet. Trucks whiz past the horse, inches from his hindquarters, and he appears uninterested. Protestors yell and throw anything handy at the

Twenty-four, seven–that’s what caring for horses entails. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, horses are the responsibility of someone. And that’s if they are young and healthy, turned out, and don’t need special care. If they have physical or psychological problems, or if there are special needs that must be seen to, care can become time-consuming and expensive. Then multiply that b

Ten years after a deadly virus was first discovered in Australia, it has reared its ugly head once again. A horse near the Townsville area of Australia was diagnosed with Hendra virus, a deadly equine morbillivirus, on Dec. 14, 2004, and it was later euthanatized. A short time earlier, a veterinarian in the Cairns area was diagnosed with a mild case of the Hendra virus, but that individual

Illinois agriculture and health officials reported in early January that a LaSalle County horse tested positive for rabies at the Illinois Department of Agriculture laboratory in Galesburg on Dec. 10, 2004. Eleven people received preventive rabies treatment following exposure to the horse. Another domestic animal rabies case–a cow–was confirmed in eastern Bureau County on Jan. 13.

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New Mexico and Colorado have been removed from the Kentucky list of vesicular stomatitis (VS)-embargoed states. Neither state is experiencing active cases of VS and there are no premises currently under quarantine as a result of past infection.

Bans were imposed beginning in May 2004 after a VS outbreak was reported in Texas. Embargoes were placed on animals from New Mexico in June 2004

The USDA’s National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) will be conducting an Equine 2005 study, which will examine equine events and on-farm health management factors as they relate to the control of equine infectious diseases.

NAHMS conducts national studies on the health and management of America’s domestic livestock populations. In 1998, it took its first in-depth look at the U.S

It is well documented that the equine fatality rate for hurdling and steeplechase racing is significantly higher than that of flat racing. The disparity in fatality rates is likely due to the fact that the types of injuries sustained in jump racing differ from those sustained in flat racing. Some catastrophic injuries, such as vertebral fractures, occur more frequently in horses racing over

Vaccinating large populations of wild mice against the bacterium that causes Lyme disease could one day help reduce the risk of transmission of the infection to horses.

A recent study, supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, demonstrated that the vaccination of wildlife hosts might be a promising, ecologically based strategy to help prevent the spread of

The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) launched its nationwide Horse Identification Program (HIP) and web site this past January. HIP, a voluntary-enrollment service designed to help retrieve stolen horses throughout the United States, draws from the extensive animal recovery experience of the TSCRA and its rangers in Texas and Oklahoma.

Last year, TSCRA rangers

Numerous horse abuse cases have been reported during the month of January throughout the United States.

• Miami, Fla., humane officials are working with the unnamed owner of five malnourished horses removed from his property on Jan. 4. One of the horses was a 7-month-old foal that died from liver failure after eating a poisonous plant because it was so hungry, said Laine Hills, DVM, th

A federal judge in Lexington, Ky., has ordered that the body of American Saddlebred champion Wild Eyed and Wicked be exhumed for additional forensic testing. The exhumation was set to begin on Feb. 2.

Wicked was one of five top Saddlebreds that were injected with an unknown, necrotizing (tissue-killing) substance on June 28-29, 2003, at Double D Ranch in Versailles, Ky. In the following

Rapid intravenous administration of isotonic saline solution does not relieve airway obstruction in heaves-affected horses, says Daniel Jean, MedVet, MS, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, professor of clinical sciences at the University of Montreal.

“Massive administration of large volumes of saline has been recommended to achieve thinning of secretions and improve expectoration,” says Jean. Horses with

Stopping Equine Aggression With An Electronic Collar

“Aggressive behavior in horses is expensive,” said Michelle A. Kennedy, DVM, a private practitioner in Delta, Colo. Veterinary expense, property damage, loss of use of affected horses, and the emotional cost associated with the death of an animal if injured severely during an aggressive act all demand a reliable way to change

Horseman’s Day, as part of the annual American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, just keeps getting better and better. And attendance is strong no matter where the convention is held. Most recently, the locale was Denver, Colo., on Dec. 8, and nearly 275 horse enthusiasts showed up for the day-long session. In addition to presentations that ranged from dentistry to Cushing’s

Probably the best-attended session at the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Convention, the Kester News Hour features brief reports of new research that was too new or brief for inclusion in the scientific program. The information is presented in a fun, rapid-fire format by two of the country’s top equine veterinary specialists–internal medicine guru John Madigan, DVM, MS,