Latest News – The Horse

(Published in the Aug. 2 issue of The Blood-Horse) In the wake of the disturbing news of Ferdinand’s demise in Japan, letters and e-mails from fans expressing both regret and anger have flooded in-boxes. It is likely, however, that the legacy Ferdinand leaves by virtue of his unseemly death will rival his achievements on the racetrack.

The death of Exceller in 1997

(Reported by The Blood-Horse, 7/25/03) Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner who went on to capture the following year’s Horse of the Year title with a dramatic victory over 1987 Derby hero Alysheba in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is dead. The Blood-Horse has learned that the big chestnut son of Nijinsky II died sometime in 2002, most likely in a

Five Thoroughbred fillies scheduled to be sold at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale were killed Aug. 7 when a fire believed caused by lightning destroyed a barn at Oscar Penn Jr.’s Penn Farm near Lexington, Ky.

Farm manager Sam Penn said the fillies were not insured and had total value of between $150,000-$175,000. Two of the fillies were sired by The Deputy, one by Wolf

A “horse ripper” suspected of killing more than 40 horses in Germany struck again on Aug. 5, according to The Guardian, an online newspaper in London.

The two horses killed were mares kept in Helmstedt, near Hanover, and another two horses were badly injured. All victims’ stomachs had been slit open with a knife.

Police suspect the cases are the work of an equine

The title of “Tallest Living Horse in the World” went to an 11-year-old Percheron horse named Goliath on July 24. He stands 19.1 hands high, or 6″5′ at the withers, weighs in at around 2,500 pounds, and is based in Mount Pleasant, Texas.

The first positive cases of Eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE) this year in Maryland have been confirmed in two Lower Eastern Shore horses. Tissues from two horses, both from the Pocomoke City area in Worcester County, were submitted to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) on July 21 and July 23 and were confirmed positive and reported on July 28,

The world’s first cloned horse, created by Italian scientists from a single skin cell taken from a mare, has been born, according to a Washington Post article.

The birth of the healthy foal, announced in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature, brings to nine the number of mammalian species that scientists have cloned from adult cells, along with sheep, mice, rabbits,

What would you do if your horse got stuck in the mud around the pond or at a river crossing? What if he were trapped in an overturned trailer? Those are just two of the scenarios that will be addressed in free equine rescue seminars sponsored by Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Associates at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky., on Oct. 23 and 26.

Three horses recently died of blister beetle poisoning in Clay County, Fla., and two have returned after treatment at the University of Florida following ingestion of alfalfa hay contaminated with blister beetles. The hay was delivered from a supplier in Oklahoma.

Blister beetles, any of six species of the genus Epicauta, can inhabit alfalfa and clover fields from the central

Veterinarians are scrambling to keep up with the Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) cases emerging in the southeastern United States. Since the beginning of June, South Carolina has had 17 confirmed equine cases, with about 25 pending confirmation. Florida’s EEE case count is up to 113 this year, and Georgia has 30.

In 2002, South Carolina had five equine cases of EEE, Florida had 25, and

Elliott detailed evidence of a reduction in hind gut (cecal) pH following carbohydrate overload, generally believed to be the leading factor in the onset of laminitis in otherwise healthy horses. Carbohydrate overload has also been associated with an increase in amine (an organic compound containing nitrogen) production in the gut.

Adapting to the environment, informed by genetic codes, and endeavoring to meet human demands, the horse’s hoof is like an individual fingerprint on the human hand. Decoding the process the horse uses to arrive at his ideal hoof form filled three days of lectures, discussions, and demonstrations at the May 2-4 Natural Hoofcare Conference at Tufts University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Research has shown that it probably isn’t a virus or bacteria (a biological agent) that links the Eastern tent caterpillar (ETC) to mare reproductive loss syndrome (MRLS). Bill Bernard, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky.; and Manu Sebastian, DVM, MS, a pathologist with the University of Kentucky’s Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center, conducted the experimen

The battle over the slaughter of horses in the United States has shifted directly to Texas, where two slaughter plants operate. At the moment, operations at the two plants continue while the issue is being decided in federal court.

The two horse slaughter plants are Beltex in Fort Worth, Texas, and Dallas Crown in nearby Kaufman.

The background that led to the current battle is this

If the job trend for veterinary school graduates continues as it has for the past few years, then the answer might be “no.” Concern was raised at the 2002 American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Convention due to the declining number of students entering equine practice when finishing veterinary school. “There is an acute shortage of new graduates entering equine practice,” noted