Latest News – The Horse

Ann Dwyer, DVM, of Scottsville, N.Y., has been chosen as the May honoree of the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ (AAEP) My Vet Matters Contest. Dwyer, nominated by horse owner Maureen Kuchta, has practiced at the Genesee Valley Equine Center for over 20 years. She is a graduate of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and has been an AAEP member since

There may be no branch of equine veterinary medicine that is advancing as quickly as equine dentistry. As recently as a decade ago, it was still considered adequate to feel along the sides of a horse’s first upper cheek teeth and decide, based on sharpness alone, whether that horse needed a “float.” If treatment was deemed necessary, it consisted of a speedy rasping along the outsides of the

Since its founding more than 20 years ago, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) has been proud of its many accomplishments, from each horse that it has saved to each new farm or facility it has opened, to every time it has helped spread the message that there is a far better way of dealing with unwanted former racehorses than sending them off to a slaughterhouse. The TRF, it has been

I’m desperate to find some way to prevent my 20-year-old Thoroughbred mare from cutting her elbow on her egg-bar shoe when lying down.

In any of the equine behavior literature that I have read, I am unable to find any description of the sleeping behavior we see in our retired broodmare (17 years old). She has functioned as the watch horse in the small herd she was from, and she now is retired at our two-horse farm and continues to maintain that role. She is rarely seen lying down, nor shows evidence of that–no surface dirt

Buying that first horse can be exciting and scary. Getting that dreamed-about horse is the exciting part, and being concerned that you don’t make mistakes in choosing the right one is the disconcerting and worrisome part. In this article, we’ll first look at the situation through the eyes of horse owners, then we’ll turn to a panel of veterinary experts who will discuss what to watch for

Rutgers Cooperative Extension and the Rutgers Equine Science Center recently published “Agricultural Management Practices for Commercial Equine Operations.” Considered to be the first comprehensive set of U.S. guidelines for horse operations, the document is available for download at www.rce.rutgers.edu and

Illinois HR649 amendment 4, which would ban equine slaughter for human consumption in the state and make it illegal to transport horses into or out of the state for slaughter, passed the Illinois Senate (as SB1921) in late May. However, it was defeated in the House by nine votes and has been referred to a rules committee as a result of objections from some representatives. No further action

Legislation designed to prevent horse slaughter at the national level could be indefinitely stuck in committee.

In January 2003, U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, a Republican from New York, proposed HR 857, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. HR 857 seeks to prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption; the sale, possession, and trade of horseflesh for human consumption; and th

Clinically normal horses can shed Salmonella bacteria, especially when stressed. Reports on the percentage of horses shedding Salmonella have ranged from 1.5% to 64.5%, depending on whether the horse was hospitalized (higher numbers). Since stress can cause shedding, transport to the hospital–on top of the ailment requiring hospitalization–often means a high Salmonella