Steve Haskin is a veteran Blood-Horse writer who recently got the chance to visit with Zenyatta. Find out how she’s adjusting to life on the farm, a pasture with friends, and if she’s physically ready to become a mom in this blog originally posted on BloodHorse.com.

Mistletoe might be a timeless excuse for stealing a kiss at Christmas, but Swiss researchers have found a more practical and innovative use for the plant: treating equine sarcoids, the most common skin tumors in horses. The research team, led by Vincent Gerber, PhD, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, ECEIM, FVH, of the University of Bern, in Switzerland, tested the effect of mistletoe extract, Viscum album, on

Zenyatta, the daughter of Street Cry who sustained her only loss in 20 starts when second in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic, was honored Jan. 17 as North America’s Horse of the Year for owners Jerry and Ann Moss and trainer John Shirreffs. The winner, announced during the Eclipse Awards dinner in Miami Beach, Fla., received 128 first-place votes, edging out Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Blame, who

“Is it abuse or neglect?” Sometimes law enforcement officials unfamiliar with horses or proper horse care have to make that call in an equine welfare case. Three equine researchers in California recently published a booklet to arm California law enforcement agents who might not be familiar with horses in detecting and describing neglect cases.

More than 860 readers of TheHorse.com responded to a poll asking, “How often do you wipe down your tack after riding?”

An expanded horse health care facility at the University of Saskatchewan will be called the Ryan/Dube Equine Performance Center in recognition of a couple’s longtime support for veterinary research and education. Heather Ryan and her husband, L. David Dube, contributed $1.2 million toward the expansion of the college’s existing equine performance center. Three other donors (the Government of

Osteoarthritis (OA) is an incurable joint condition that affects horses of all ages and is thought to have a hand in up to 60% of all lameness cases. According to Janny C. de Grauw, DVM, PhD, from the Department of Equine Sciences at Utrecht University in The Netherlands, who recently co-authored a paper on pain in horses with OA, management of the disease requires balanced exercise regimens,

About 2% and 6% of all racetrack fatalities in Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, respectively, are the result of scapular fractures, according to Stuart A. Vallance, BVSc (Hons), who, with Susan Stover, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, and a research team at the JD Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, has investigated the risk factors for this fracture so

Ross Peddicord, a lifelong horseman, is taking the reins as the new executive director of the Maryland Horse Industry Board. The board promotes equestrian industry and the use of horses for recreation through activities such as raising awareness and visibility, educational and research projects to benefit the equine industry, and developmental efforts to stimulate the growth of the local horse

Dozens of horses have been killed by the floods that continue to trouble Australia, according to the New Zealand-based website Horsetalk. About 80 Standardbred horses at the prominent Cold Mountain Stud, located near Moore in Queensland, perished in the flood.

Marla Bickel, President and CEO of Blood-Horse Publications, has announced that Eric Mitchell has been appointed Executive Vice President of the company. In this capacity, Mitchell will be part of the executive team that will continue to guide the Thoroughbred industry’s leading multimedia company into the future. He will retain his primary role of Editorial Director/Editor-in-Chief of The

Scott E. Palmer, VMD, and Foster Northrop, DVM, were selected as the recipients of the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ (AAEP) 2010 President’s Award for their leadership in developing guidelines to promote racehorse safety.

Radiographs of a horse’s limb joints are an important part of the pre-purchase examination for any performance prospect; the goal is to find any problems that might cause lameness down the road. However, it appears that in cutting horses at least, certain lesions seen on radiographs of the stifle joint just don’t hurt a horse’s performance as much as many have thought. Myra Barrett, DVM, MS, Dipl.

The Louisiana State University (LSU) School of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital recently acquired a high-tech patient monitoring system to assure that anesthetized patients wake up healthy from surgery or an MRI procedure.