The 2011 American Horse Publications (AHP) Student Award will award up to three $750 travel awards to attend the AHP “Hoofprints in the Sand” Seminar in San Diego, Calif., on June 16-18, 2011. Travel Award winners have an opportunity to meet leading equine publishing professionals and discuss career possibilities during the three days of educational sessions and related activities.

On December 4, the Kentucky Horse Park, along with the Kentucky Horse Council and the Kentucky Equine Humane Center, will offer free gelding surgeries for horse owners who cannot afford to have the surgery performed on their stallions. In addition to rendering a stallion unable to reproduce, gelding surgery often helps horses become easier to manage, train, and if the need arises, adopt or rehome.

Jerry and Ann Moss’ champion Zenyatta has been retired from racing. The 6-year-old Street Cry mare will be boarded at William S. Farish’s Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Ky. She is expected to arrive in early December. Breeding plans are undecided.

Despite the fact that horses evolved on a forage-based diet that is high in fiber and low in calories, some horse owners and trainers just can’t resist feeding a low-fiber, calorie-dense diet. “Horses are grazing animals,” explains Katherine A. Houpt, VMD, PhD, Dipl. ACVB, a professor emeritus of Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “When they are denied access to pasture …

More than 330 readers of TheHorse.com responded to a poll asking, “Have you ever experienced a foaling dystocia?”

An innovative new organization has been founded to assist horse owners who need help providing feed for their animals. Stamp Out Starvation (SOS) of Horses was founded in October by a group of Georgia equestrians who were all too familiar with assisting malnourished and mistreated horses.

The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in international equestrian competition is definitively prohibited, following a unanimous vote by the members of the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), the governing body for international equestrian sports, during their General Assembly meeting Nov. 1-5 in Chinese Taipei.

Equine Land Conservation Resource (ELCR) is a national nonprofit working to advance the conservation of land for horse-related activity. In the past three years ELCR has aided in the conservation plans for 44,237 acres and 985 miles of trail throughout the United States.

Buddy’s Saint, a graded stakes winner as a 2-year-old who had been nearing a return to the races, broke down in a workout on the Belmont Park main track Nov. 14 and was euthanized, according to a statement released by the New York Racing Association. According to Anthony Verderosa, DVM, chief examining veterinarian of the NYRA, Buddy’s Saint fractured his left shoulder.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) continues to move swiftly and consistently to take enforcement action in response to animal welfare violations. As part of its effort to make its actions transparent and accessible to the public, APHIS is highlighting enforcement actions taken in response to violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and Horse Protection Act (HPA).

Law enforcement authorities in Louisiana are seeking those responsible for shooting a horse found wandering and wounded in Caddo Parish this past weekend. Sgt. Doyle Smith of the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Department said workers at the Kansas City Southern railroad yard discovered the 13-year-old Appaloosa mare wandering around the railway property on Saturday, Nov. 13.

Law enforcement authorities in Georgia are hoping the offer of a cash reward will lead to information revealing how a horse sustained severe lacerations while residing in its pasture last month. Taylor County Sheriff Jeff Watson said the wounded 13-year-old Quarter Horse mare was residing in a remote pasture in early October when the owner discovered his horse had sustained a 12-inch cut …

Even though veterinarians and farriers are making progress in developing laminitis treatment techniques and researching the causes of laminitis, prevention is still the No. 1 defense against a disease that plagues all too many horses. 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.,

University of Maine (UM) animal and veterinary science researchers are receiving nearly $500,000 to establish a unique research, testing, and education center that promises to substantially advance the diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of particularly problematic animal diseases including equine strangles.