Three Years of Racing Deaths in Australia

An Australian survey found that euthanasia for catastrophic forelimb injury was the most common Thoroughbred racehorse fatality. Also, sudden death (not as the result of euthanasia) contributed more to racing fatalities than previously thought.

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Horses and Wild Animals

Throughout their existence, horses have been prey animals. Predators have been pursuing and feasting on them for eons, and they continue doing so today, despite the fact that domestication of the horse and the spread of civilization in general

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Horse Owners’ Needs Still Urgent After Hurricanes

Salty water drowned pastures in Louisiana and Mississippi months ago, but the needs of horses in areas left incapacitated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita remain critical, say area veterinarians and residents. Most Gulf Coast horse owners need

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Forelimb Conformation of the Growing Thoroughbred

University of Wisconsin researchers found certain forelimb characteristics in growing Thoroughbreds are associated with higher birth weights, and their carpal (knee) conformation is associated with the parents’. Both genetics and environment

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Using GPS to Train Racehorses

An Australian researcher says he’s found a reliable way for trainers to monitor Thoroughbred racehorse fitness using global positioning system (GPS) technology measurements of velocity and heart rate during fast gallop training routines. He

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The Therapy Horse: An Integral Player

Therapeutic riding is for people of all ages with various disabilities, and it has become very popular. For horses, however, the invitation is much more re-stricted. There are specialized expectations of a horse used in therapeutic riding. If

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Cribbing Weanling

I have a client with a foal that was weaned a few days ago, and it has started cribbing. Within only a few hours after it was separated from the mare, it was seen doing something funny that the owners now appreciate was cribbing. Once they

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New Sling Shows Promise in Clinical Setting

Practitioners need to quickly assess an acutely recumbent (unable to stand) horse’s prognosis, and that can be difficult. Putting a horse in the Andersen Sling Support Device (ASSD), the gold standard for equine slings, requires at least six

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Cushing’s Disease in Horses

It’s spring, yet your aging equine has failed to shed his long, shaggy, winter coat. Furthermore, he’s developed a saggy belly coupled with loss of muscle over his croup and rump. He’s gulping down far more water than he used to, and his stall i

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Acclimating Competition Horses

It becomes obvious that acclimating to a new environment is a challenge for the competing horse, involving everything from wellness and altitude to circadian rhythms involving time zones. It also becomes obvious, based on research, that there is no

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On the Forehand

The foreleg of the horse is, for the most part, a model of good engineering. It is structured in such a fashion that the horse can move slowly or at speed with the concussion of each footfall minimized by a sophisticated shock absorbing system.

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Locomotion: The Way a Horse Moves (Book Excerpt)

Locomotion is at the very heart of what most domesticated horses do for a living. The way a horse moves (specifically) often is taken for granted. Locomotion is directly linked to conformation as it dictates “the way a horse moves.”

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Making the Most of Microchips

ID numbers should be in a searchable database


While microchips were helpful in reuniting horses with owners after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it was generally because owners had proof of horses’ microchip numbers. Since 1994,

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AAEP Convention 2005: Preventing Contagious Diseases

“Prevention of contagious diseases is dependent on an effective vaccination program and a carefully developed and strictly enforced management program,” said Steve Conboy, DVM, a Central Kentucky equine practitioner, at the 2005 American

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