By the time this magazine is in your hands, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) will have released a report they commissioned to answer some of the questions raised in the industry about horse slaughter. The TRF is, of course, strictly a Thoroughbred rescue group. However, the issue of slaughter is one that touches every horse owner, so the information they provide is important to

Many conditions that cause heel pain can be successfully treated, so a “heel pain” diagnosis is certainly not an athletic death knell for many horses. Some horses confirmed with navicular disease itself can also be treated successfully and continue with useful careers, at least for a period of time.

Ohio and Pennsylvania have confirmed or reported cases of the neurologic form of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1, see Pennsylvania information on page 15). But the worst problems reported thus far have occurred in Ohio, where 12 horses died in an outbreak at the University of Findlay (see article #4127 at www.TheHorse.com) and three other Ohio horses die

Animal rights, owner responsibility, health and welfare, and all the attendant issues occupy more and more of our time and energy these days as we horse owners struggle to find a place in our busy lives for what once was a routine part of life in a long-ago society. Now, a few generations removed from our agrarian roots, we are bombarded, it seems, with ethical and political questions unasked

While Ohio veterinarians are busy fighting what seems to be an especially aggressive strain of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), two horses were euthanized due to illness from the virus at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Penn., in an outbreak that appears to be a more typical, sporadic episode. Additionally, at least two Iowa horses have been euthanized after battling what officials

We have a 19-year-old Appaloosa gelding that is going blind fast from a genetic disease. He is not coping with it well; he stumbles around, runs into things, leaves the herd, then gets confused and panics. Any advice?

A new Horse/Human Age Relationship Chart was recently released that seeks to better explain the relationship between the stages of life for humans and horses. This information reveals that, beginning at birth, horses age 6.5 years for each human year until puberty. Once a horse reaches age four, that rate slows to 2.5 years for each human year.

The Age Relationship Chart, created by

A question has been raised whether the increased number of West Nile virus (WNV) cases in Kentucky in late summer and fall 2002 contributed to a rise in fall abortions. A retrospective study by the University of Kentucky’s Livestock Disease and Diagnostic Center (LDDC), from July of 2002 through early 2003, looked at 400 equine abortions for evidence of WNV. Their findings were “surprising,”

The long-awaited reference Diagnosis and Management of Lameness in the Horse was recently released by Elsevier Science. The book was co-authored by Mike W. Ross, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, of the University of Pennsylvania’s school of veterinary medicine; and Sue J. Dyson, FRCVS, of the Center for Equine Studies at the Animal Health Trust in the United Kingdom. Ross and Dyson offer comprehensive

My gelding is stall kicking. I’m not there at feeding time, but my trainer tells me the stall kicking occurs when it’s feeding time. The same thing happened the last two places he lived. She has tried feeding him first, but that didn’t help. His care at this barn couldn’t be better, and we are at a loss as to how to stop the kicking. A suggestion was made to me about kicking chains used