Regardless of general feeding guidelines for breeding horses, body condition score (BCS) is the most objective assessment of a horse’s fat covering and also the best predictor of reproductive performance or efficiency. Breeding horses should be maintained at a BCS of 5-6 (on a 1-10 scale), where ribs are invisible but readily palpable.

Artificial insemination (AI) is today’s breeding standard for many types of horses. To find out how to make our readers’ artificial insemination programs more successful, The Horse went to two recognized experts in equine artificial insemination–both of them pioneers in their field.

A simple blood test to measure plasma D-Dimer concentration in horses with colic might help veterinarians predict severity of cases, as concentrations are higher in horses with severe gastrointestinal (GI) disease, according to a group of University of Barcelona researchers.

More than 910 readers of TheHorse.com responded to a poll asking, “Do you change your horse’s shoes during the winter?”

A 4-year-old gelding was euthanized Nov. 27 after a collision during a race at Aqueduct Race Track in Jamaica, N.Y.

Patricia M. Comerford, extension equine specialist in Penn State’s Department of Dairy and Animal Science (DAS), received the 2010 Outstanding Service Award at the Eastern National 4-H Horse Roundup last week in Louisville, Ky.

Gainesway Farm stallion Mr. Greeley was euthanized early Nov. 30. The 18-year-old son of Gone West was diagnosed with laminitis several weeks ago. His condition recently deteriorated.

Cutting-edge research conducted on microscopic tunnels in horses’ intestinal walls has revealed that these channels play a key role in helping intestines heal after life-threatening colic episodes.

Three weeks after launching its iPhone application for the Equine Prohibited Substances list, the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) has announced that the app is now available on Android smartphones.

Virginia Tech’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center has announced its 2010-11 Tuesday Talks schedule. This series of free lectures is designed to provide veterinarians, horse owners, and industry professionals with valuable insight and practical advice related to a wide array of equine health care topics.

Law enforcement authorities in Oregon are seeking the owner of two apparently abandoned horses. Clackamas County Sheriff’s Deputy Clint Pierce said Portland General Electric utility company personnel discovered the chestnut mare and red chestnut gelding wandering utility company property near the Mount Hood National Forest on Nov. 24. Both are currently under rehabilitative care …

The operators of a Wisconsin horse rescue are seeking a new location after fire swept through their leased barn last week, killing 24 animals.

Lane’s End Farm announced Nov. 29 that Jerry and Ann Moss’ now-retired champion Zenyatta will make an appearance at Keeneland upon her arrival in Kentucky.

An associate professor of medicine at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine has received the National Insitute of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award. The $1.5 million grant was awarded to Maria Julia Bevilaqua Felippe, DVM, MS, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, and is presented over five years to stimulate highly innovative research and support promising new investigators who are studying

Because laminitis compromises the equine foot so drastically, horses with the disease are more prone to foot infections and abscesses. During the Sept. 17-18 Laminitis West Conference in Monterey, Calif., Bob Agne, DVM, an equine podiatrist at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., discussed how to diagnose and treat such infections.

After unearthing and examining several equine skeletons in the late 1980s from a stable in the buried village of Pompeii, Italy, researchers believed that they had discovered a new, albeit now extinct, breed of horse. Testing performed roughly 10 years later revealed genetic material for what they thought was an exotic hybrid animal that contained two types of DNA: that of a horse and a …