I have searched the Internet and asked everyone I know about the abnormal sheath buildup on my 17-year-old palomino gelding. Ever since we bought him, we noticed a large, crusty buildup all over him.

A lot is asked of young show stallions, particularly when it comes to juggling performance and breeding. I wondered what your experience has been on this subject. Do you feel breeding can actually benefit the performance behavior?

Intestinal parasites, or “worms,” have been problematic since the domestication of horses. In this first section of a two-part series, we’ll review the identification, transmission, and problems associated with internal parasites.

Dawn of a New Era

It’s important that we focus on equin

The foster owner of a horse that was abandoned in Mesa, Ariz., says the outpouring of support for the gelding’s recovery has been “tremendous.”

The Thoroughbred, named Solo Vino by rescuers, was brought to Gwen Cleary’s farm on March 3, after her neighbors found the abandoned horse, who was emaciated and had a large open wound in his head. (

Strangles is a highly contagious disease that causes horses to have swollen and painful lymph nodes that block their airway and can cause difficult breathing. The name was coined because these enlarged nodes sometimes (but rarely) suffocate affected horses.

The first reported case of strangles in a horse was made in Europe in 1251 by Jordanus Ruffus. Convinced of its contagious nature,

On Feb. 27 Ivonne Rodriguez’s Paint horse, Geronimo, went missing from his Miami, Fla., pasture. Rodriguez immediately filed a police report and canvassed the neighborhood for information about her horse. Six days later, Miami-Dade County police discovered Geronimo’s remains in a field across the street from Rodriguez’s farm.

“He was tied to a palm tree and butchered for his

EasyCare has developed the Easyboot Rx, a new rehabilitation boot and padding system.

The Easyboot Rx provides support and relief for horses suffering from chronic lameness, laminitis, injury, surgery, navicular disease, and other lower limb and hoof problems.

The Easyboot Rx sole is made of durable and soft material in a lightweight package. Upper edges are rounded for safety

Normandy will host the 2014 Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) World Equestrian Games, the FEI Bureau announced today. This will be the seventh edition of the FEI World Equestrian Games and the first one to be held in France.

The Games are the world championships of the eight equestrian disciplines recognized by the FEI. Organizers expect to host 900 horses and 800 riders and

Attendees at the UK’s National Equine Forum yesterday heard about the progress made thus far by a working group focused on African horse sickness (AHS).

Rt Hon Jane Kennedy, MP, the Minister for the Horse wrote the speech presented by Arik Dondi, deputy director of Exotic Diseases Policy at the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra), as Kennedy was unable to attend.

Each year about 2,500 professional veterinarians graduate from the 28 veterinary colleges in North America. That might not be enough to protect the nation from animal diseases that pose threats to human health, according to a report released last month by the Government Accountability Office.  

The American Veterinary

The last Kentucky stallion known to have been exposed to contagious equine metritis (CEM) has been released from quarantine, State Veterinarian Robert C. Stout, DVM, has announced.

The western Kentucky Quarter Horse completed a testing and treatment regimen and was found to be free of the organism that causes the venereal disease. Four stallions that were infected with the organism were

When a horse has pain in the rear half of the foot, injection of the navicular bursa (sac cushioning the navicular bone from the deep digital flexor tendon) is often considered as a treatment option. Corticosteroids (to control inflammation) and possibly hyaluronate (HA, to improve the bursa’s lubrication and decrease synovial inflammation

The equine and rendering industries are anticipating a pinch from a new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation intended to prevent the proliferation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow disease”).

The regulation on the 1997 legislation prohibits the use of most mammalian proteins in feed for ruminant (cud-chewing) animals. The final rule, which is slated to take

Supporting (also called contralateral) limb laminitis strikes a previously healthy hoof when it bears excessive weight for long periods because the other front or hind foot is extremely painful (such as from a fracture, surgery, severe infection, etc.).

An equine athlete uses the pelvis and sacroiliac (SI) joint in many different fashions: A rope horse uses the pelvis to rapidly accelerate and decelerate, a Standardbred races at high speed at a constrained gait, and a dressage horse exercises with repetitive and isometric control of his haunches. Furthermore, a vaulting horse is constrained to a circle, but he must provide stability of

Nicanor, full brother to the ill-fated Kentucky Derby hero Barbaro, will have to wait until another day to get his first victory following his runner-up showing as the odds-on choice to Glittermans Cartel in a $42,000 maiden race at Gulfstream Park March 28.

Ridden by Jose Lezcano, Nicanor fought the pacesetter Glittermans Cartel all the way to the wire but came up a half-length short in