Latest News – The Horse

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a new, broad-spectrum parasite control product from Merial that will treat and control 61 species and stages of equine parasites, including tapeworms.

Zimecterin Gold (ivermectin/praziquantel) combines two active ingredients, ivermectin and praziquantel, to provide a broad spectrum of parasite control. Praziquantel is proven to

Three veterinarians with specific interests in the Thoroughbred athlete are the newest spokespersons for the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) “On Call” Program. Randolph Hayes, DVM; Scott Hopper, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS; and Keith Merritt, DVM, join the team of nearly 30 AAEP-member veterinarians who provide accurate and timely health-care information during televised equine

The debate over fast workout times for sale 2-year-olds

The specter of catastrophic injury continues to haunt sales of Thoroughbred 2-year-olds in training. Every time a horse breaks down during an under-tack show, the debate heats up again. Are immature racing prospects being asked to work too fast too soon?

John Kimmel, a trainer who has a veterinary degree, believe

When a performance horse slowly goes off form, any number of things can be the cause. Could he have ulcers? Is he being overtrained? Is something subtle and mysterious going on with his metabolism? The problem could be much simpler than that–his feet might just hurt.

Forewarned is forearmed. That is why Lloyd’s of London Underwriters, Brokers, and their Kentucky Agents have made a gift of $40,000 to the University of Kentucky’s Department of Veterinary Science for continued support of the Equine Disease Quarterly newsletter.

“Horses are our business, and that means the health of horses is also our business,” said Tony Cecil, president of

Reprinted from the FDA Newsletter, March/April 2003

Since 1994, when Congress passed the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1994 (AMDUCA), veterinarians in the U.S. have enjoyed legitimate extra-label use (ELU) privileges. Veterinarians can safeguard ELU privileges by following AMDUCA, and by educating clients (particularly food animal producers) on AMDUC

York Region Acting Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Hanif Kassam, has announced that a dead crow has undergone testing and is presumed to be positive for West Nile virus (WNV ). The crow was found in the town of Newmarket. The bird is the first presumed WNV-positive bird reported in the York Region of Ontario, and the first in Canada this year.

Equine cases haven’t been reported in

The University of Kentucky’s President, Lee Todd, announced the appointment of Alltech Inc, a global leading manufacturer of natural technologies for the feed, food and alcohol industries, as one of its Presidential Fellows.

President Todd said, “Alltech’s continued support for the University of Kentucky is a source of immense pride to all of us. Alltech receives this Presidential

Thanks to the generosity of Maker’s Mark, charitable donations from some of the most respected names in the Thoroughbred racing industry, and the vision of Penny Chenery, the owner of the great Secretariat, dozens of retired race horses will have a home among the splendor of the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Instead of a future that may have included neglect or abuse, the horses will be

A disease that kills mosquitoes could be one way to slow the spread of West Nile virus (WNV), the USDA said in an Associated Press story.

Jim Becnel, a scientist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, said Wednesday he and a team of researchers have come up with a new method to kill mosquitoes by infecting them with an illness called baculovirus that works only on mosquitoes.

Equine influenza has spread to nearly 20 premises—mostly Thoroughbred training stables–in the United Kingdom, and it has been detected in the eastern, central, and southern parts of the country. “The reason(it’s unusual) is because despite the fact that horses have been very well vaccinated and have very high antibody levels, they are still becoming infected with this strain of virus,”

Uterine lavage can be performed immediately prior to artificial insemination in mares without adversely affecting fertility, according to a recent study completed at the University of Idaho (UI) in Moscow, Idaho. The uterine lavage process is used to clear the uterus of inflammatory fluids that could decrease the viability of semen in mares.

Researchers already knew that uterine lavag

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is seeking comments on a proposed change to Animal Welfare Act regulations that would require registered research facilities that use equids in research, other than for agricultural research purposes, to maintain medical records as part of their program of adequate veterinary care.

Currently, the maintenance of veterinary

The number of confirmed Eastern equine encephalitis cases (EEE) in horses has risen to 23 in north central Florida, according to Bill Jeter, DVM, Diagnostic Veterinary Manager for Florida’s Division of Animal Industry. This confirmed earlier speculations that 2003 will have higher-than-normal numbers of EEE cases this year. The virus has been confirmed in 12 counties, and 14 of the 23 cases