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New imaging technologies, such as MRI, CT, digital ultrasound, and nuclear scintigraphy, have helped us understand anatomy better and improved our ability to visualize joint injury. As a result, we’re now able to utilize nonsurgical joint therapies.
The horse’s body is both exceedingly powerful and capable of bending, turning around tight corners, and stopping on a dime, all thanks to his intricate combination of muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
As you admire a horse, you take in his physique, his muscle tone, and the sheen of his coat. But underlying these essential outer parts is the structure that forms the scaffold to which all soft tissues attach: the equine skeleton.
The 2009 WEVA Congress was held in Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil, which ranks among the top 10 countries with the highest population of equids. It boasted one of the largest gatherings in WEVA’s 24-year history with attendance of 1,175. Topics included Rhodococcus equi pneumonia, sleep disorders, seizures, guttural pouch problems, abortion, and lameness from tendon sheath issues.
Equine obesity increases a horse’s risk for equine metabolic syndrome, laminitis, and insulin resistance. Owners can bring horses back to healthy body condition by replacing grain rations with a fiber-rich, low-carbohydrate diet, while increasing exercise to include daily workouts.
This is exemplified by the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, which must get up to “speed,” often from a standing start, to ensure that sufficient oxygen is delivered to the working muscles to allow them to continue to function optimally.
Experts discussed the causes, treatments, detection, and prevention of laminitis at the 2008 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention. Topics included the efficiency of drug treatment, managing acute/chronic laminitis, foot and open-sole casts, and supporting limb laminitis.
Equine authorities began the Putting Science into Farriery session at the 2008 AAEP Convention with a discussion of the farrier/veterinarian relationship. Also addressed were the history of farriery for horses as well as topics such as foot form and function, wall separations and quarter cracks in the hoof, trimming and shoeing, hoof repair composites and adhesives, and breakover techniques.
At the 2008 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, attendees were treated to an in-depth presentation on horse conformation and its effects on soundness by veterinarian G. Marvin Beeman, MS, DVM, of the Littleton Large Animal Clinic in Colorado. He addressed methods of evaluating conformation as well as his own conformation categories.
The 2008 American Association of Equine Practitioners(AAEP)Convention in San Diego, Calif. drew a near-record crowd. Attendees discussed equine welfare, including the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign (UHVRC), which will provide free equine vaccines to rescue and retirement facilities. Awards were issued for educational and philanthropic efforts. New officers and board members took office.
Stephen Reed, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., described selected equine neurologic diseases during the prestigious Milne Lecture during the 2008 AAEP Convention. Reed discussed cervical vertebral stenotic myopathy (CVM), also known as Wobbler Syndrome, equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), and Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1).
Equine authorities at the 2008 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention discussed preparation for and management of barn fires, eventing emergencies, endurance event injuries, racetrack emergencies, emergency care at rodeos, emergency services at steeple-chase and cross-country hunter events, and emergency veterinary care at horse shows.
During the 2008 AAEP Convention experts discussed anabolic steroids, therapeutic medications, aortic-iliac thrombosis(AIT), airway inflammation, polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM), and the benefits of endoscopic diagnosis of airway problems during exercise.
Performance horse forum leaders at the 2008 AAEP Convention facilitated a discussion that covered drugs and medication, veterinarians’ roles at competitions, welfare, insurance, and prepurchase exams. Olympic veterinary care, including cooling, transport stress, tendon injury, and shock wave therapy among other topics, was discussed. Medication issues in equine competitions were also addressed.
Researchers investigated the durability of four types of disposable overboots to see which might provide the best protective barrier to avoid spreading disease, and presented their results at the 2008 AAEP Convention. Other infectious disease topics included methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA), ivermectin toxicosis, evidence-based medicine, and rotational deworming.
Table topics at the 2008 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention included endocrine disease, the pathophysiology of recurrent airway obstruction (RAO, also called heaves), and compounding. Attendees discussed the differences between Cushing’s disease and equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of RAO, and current compounding guidelines.
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