What exactly is breakover? Most would answer that it is the horse’s heel lifting off the ground and rotating over the toe as his foot leaves the ground. Breakover is simple in its definition, but pretty complex in its implications for your horse’s movement and soundness. And there’s not a lot of research out there yet to clearly define the best breakover for any horse.

In the meantime,

Large colon torsion is one of the most severe and life-threatening forms of colic. Although survival of horses with large colon torsion can be as high as 80-90%, the overall survival rate is 30-50% due to delays in transport or performing surgery.

Horses with dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP) characteristically make a “choking” noise as they slow down from the resulting partial airway obstruction, hence the term “choking down” to describe them.

The Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Va., recently was awarded a $25,000 grant from Thoroughbred Charities of America. Grant funds are designated for building research facilities to enable collaborative research efforts to benefit equine health. The Equine Medical Center, located in Leesburg, Virginia, is one of three campuses comprising the Virginia-Maryland Regional

Trust is an important part of any partnership, whether between two people or between an animal and a human. There has been much talk about the revival of natural horsemanship. Honestly, it’s not a revival; it’s a concept new to many people today who didn’t grow up with horses. When we were kids, we enjoyed the same things our horses did (for the most part). We liked running over fields and

A Veterinary Advisory Board made up of equine practitioners in Virginia and Maryland has been created for the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Va. Like members of the Equine Medical Center’s Council, Veterinary Advisory Board Members will provide advice and counsel to the Center’s director and staff in order to meet the needs of the equine industry and of the

Construction is under way on a new horse slaughtering facility in DeKalb, Ill. to replace a plant that burned to the ground March 31, 2002. Plans call for construction to be completed some time in December.

The capacity of the new facility will be 100 horses per day, the same as the destroyed plant, says James Tucker, comptroller for Belgian-owned Cavel International (which owns and will

Since Aug. 10, 16 horses at Brookhill Stables in Goble, Ore., and two horses from a nearby private farm have shown respiratory and/or neurologic signs consistent with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), although not all were tested for the disease. At press time, three older victims had been euthanized–one from Brookhill Stables and two horses which visited Brookhill in early July from a

I’d like to know more about foals who after being delivered, dried, and rubbed well, quit breathing in 10-20 minutes. We have done resuscitation by blowing into their nostrils and pumping their rib cages, and have rubbed them vigorously.

Feed contaminated with a cattle weight gain medication (monensin) killed 12 Belgians in Wisconsin and sickened several others, said a Wisconsin Ag Connection report. The horses, owned by Wayne Huston of Cottage Grove, were treated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM). As of Sept. 5, five of them had died and three remained seriously ill.

Is there anything we can use on a horse’s teeth to get all the gunk off and the grass out of their gums? Is it okay to use toothpaste?

The Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1994 states that it is illegal to produce a compounded drug designed to treat a disease or condition when an FDA-approved drug for the disease or condition is available. As an exception to this rule, compounding a particular drug is legal when the approved drug is not available in the required dosage, form, or concentration. That lets horses

There is new evidence that the setae (hair-like projections) on Eastern tent caterpillars (ETC) can become embedded in the submucosal lining of the alimentary tract (from the mouth to the colon) of animals and cause microgranulomas (small, localized areas of inflammation only visible under a microscope). These sores could possibly allow bacteria normally found in the alimentary tract access t

My gelding was vaccinated with no apparent reaction. A week later, he has become impossible to catch in the stall. He pins his ears, turns his rear to me, and kicks. There haven’t been any routine changes. Why the sudden attitude change?