The University of Kentucky Disease Diagnostic Center reported Thursday that a total of 386 aborted/stillborn equine fetuses/foals had been submitted for diagnostic testing/evaluation since the problem first arose late last month.

The

With Kentucky’s share of the Thoroughbred foal crop in the United States at an all-time high of nearly 30%, the repercussions of the excessive foal loss that many Central Kentucky farms are experiencing may be felt for years to come.

While Kentucky horse farms are at the epicenter of the foal loss crisis, the problem is not contained to the Bluegrass region according to a Northern Ohio veterinarian. Dr. Richard Novak drove 7 1/2 hours from his practice in Novelty, Ohio, to

The highest number of foals/fetal samples taken to the Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center in Lexington, Ky., during the current problem with late-term abortions and early embryonic loss occurred on Derby Day, May 5, according to the Center’s

Now two counties in Ohio are seeing syndromes similar to those being presented in Kentucky, according to an update Thursday by Dr. Grant Frazer, associate professor at Ohio State University. Frazer said there is no way to make a confirmation tha

Equine scientists at the University of Kentucky are working with farm managers and horse industry leaders to rapidly diagnose and control a serious problem affecting the equine industry. An unusually high number of late-term abortions and early

An equine practitioner in Morgan County, Ohio, suspects that five cases of red bag delivery within the past week–plus 10 pregnant mares that are now empty–could be the same thing that veterinarians in Kentucky are dealing with, according to

Thoroughbred industry leaders, veterinarians, researchers, and farm managers met with the media at the Gluck Equine Research Center in Lexington, Ky., for a press briefing on the current fetal/foal loss syndromes happening in the state. While

Dr. Claire Latimer is a specialist in veterinary ophthalmology, the study of animal eyes. Since May 1, she has seen a surprising increase of eye problems in horses in Central Kentucky that fall into two distinct groups. She said the first syndrome

An outbreak of early-term fetal loss in 1980 was eventually discounted by researchers as an “artifact epidemic” caused by earlier than usual examinations. Still, that outbreak now is viewed by many as similar in nature to the current syndrome

As of noon May 17, the Kentucky Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center had received nine additional aborted/stillborn equine fetuses/foals (four early-term and five late-term) for diagnostic testing/evaluation. The total received since April 28,

Dr. Rhonda Rathgeber, a veterinarian with Hagyard-Davidson-McGee veterinary firm in Lexington, Ky., specializes in performance horse problems. She said in the past 10 days, she has seen “a lot of riding horses lame with an associated colitis

As the breeding season winds to a close, you expect to see fewer foals being born. Therefore, there are fewer chances for the current syndrome to affect late-gestation mares. It also seems, however, that the loss of late-term gestations–and