Latest News – The Horse

Leading Kentucky equine industry groups recently brought together 31 veterinarians and scientists for a “Think Tank” meeting to further the industry’s knowledge about preventing future occurrences of mare reproductive loss syndrome (MRLS).

At the end of the intensive one-day meeting held in Lexington Jan. 10, the group concluded that a priority for ongoing and future research should

Easley discussed how open-mouth radiographs can be invaluable tools for the equine practitioner in the diagnosis and treatment of all types of dental abnormalities. He believes that radiology has not been used enough in the field by practitioners.

Be My Royal, winner of the one the biggest races of the National Hunt season to date, faces disqualification in connection with a rash of positive drug tests for traces of morphine in British and Irish races due to contaminated feed.

The situation has brought a call for threshold levels for morphine and other substances that may occur through environmental

 “Why should we be concerned about EPM (equine protozoal myeloencephalitis)?” asked William J.A. Saville, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, PhD, of The Ohio State University (OSU) at the 2002 American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) convention. “Because it is still an important equine disease, although we have a low incidence of the disease, and regardless of therapies available to treat EPM,

Equine veterinarians at Colorado State University’s James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital are currently involved in three research projects to analyze the statistics from 2002’s outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV) in two Western states.

One study will assess the long-term status of horses that had the virus. With the help of several second year veterinary students and the

Enterocolitis (inflammation of the small intestine and colon) caused by the bacteriums Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens is a common problem for both adult horses and foals.

In defining a high-risk mare, Bain said she is one which has had previous foaling problems such as dystocia (difficult delivery), hemorrhage, or a red bag delivery. He said a mare also could be at risk because of medical illness, surgery, colic, laminitis, or because she is an older mare.

“However, there are challenges with standing ocular (eye) surgery–you generally need magnification, and thus the horse must be perfectly still,” he continued. “Many (eye) procedures thus require general anesthesia. But with appropriate tranquilization, ocular nerve blocks, and restraint, many ocular surgeries can be performed adequately in standing horses.”

Peripheral Cushing’s syndrome (PCS) is seen in middle-aged horses with obesity-associated laminitis. These horses tend to accumulate fat in the crest of the neck, over the rump, and in the sheath of male horses. Researchers are trying to understand this recently named syndrome. It was first proposed that classic Cushing’s disease–a disorder of the pituitary gland that leads to excessive

The introduction of antimicrobial drugs to veterinary medicine has made a dramatic improvement in the health of our horses, but it’s alarming when infections do not respond to these drugs. “It is not a new phenomenon, but there has been ever-growing concern about antimicrobial resistance,” said Josie Traub-Dargatz, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, of Colorado State University, in her presentation at the

As post-performance drug testing methods become more sensitive, racehorse and show horse owners, veterinarians, handlers, and trainers have become more aware that positive drug tests could be the result of inadvertent contamination of the horse with chemicals present in the environment. Cynthia Kollias-Baker, DVM, PhD, director of the Racing Laboratory at the University of Florida, recently

The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) is sponsoring an equine health forum on Fri., Jan. 17, as part of USA Equestrian’s Annual Meeting in Lexington, Ky. The forum is free to all USA Equestrian members and guests attending the meeting.

The topics and speakers are: 

“Emerging Equine Diseases” –Dr. Genevieve Fontaine from the

The study looked at the effects of a joint supplement (Corta-Flx) on gait asymmetry caused by degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the distal intertarsal and/or tarsometatarsal joints of one or both hocks.

Horse racing has far more stringent medication regulations than most other equine disciplines, and this was reflected in the Racehorse Medications Table Topic discussion at the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) convention on Friday, Dec. 6. The majority of the discussion revolved around the legality of using various medications and their withdrawal times. Gary Norwood, DVM,

Internal parasites can be a very serious problem for horses. Even though most owners are aware that deworming is a necessary part of an overall good health program for their horses, the veterinarian is sometimes left out of that loop. Because deworming agents are available over-the-counter, many–if not most–horse owners deworm their own horses without their veterinarian’s advice or