Category: Denise Steffanus

Should Radiographs Of Hooves Be Part Of Requirement For Auction Repositories?

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by Denise Steffanus

 

“No hoof, no horse” is an axiom all horsemen know well. If a horse has a hoof problem, it’s going to affect performance, no matter how fit and healthy the horse.

Despite the importance of a horse’s feet, sales companies do not list feet X-rays in their “required views” for the repository. Required views, as specified by “Keeneland Repository Digital Requirements for 2018 September Yearling Sale,” are 38 radiographs (horses of racing age) or 36 radiographs (all other horses) showing specific aspects of the knees, fetlocks, hocks, and stifle, taken within 21 days prior to the sale. The most common issue buyers look for in joint X-rays is a defect in the cartilage, osteochondritis dissecans (OCD).

In horses purchased to race, past trauma to the hoof such as a chip or a fracture may not make the horse lame at auction, but it could become an issue once the horse is in training. Broodmares with chronic hoof conditions could require costly special treatments to keep them comfortable, with the threat of the condition possibly worsening with each pregnancy, limiting their reproductive years.

 

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You Can Lead A Horse To Water, But Study Shows He’ll Only Drink If It’s The Right Flavor

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You can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. A new study says adding a little flavor to the water may solve that problem.

Tessa Van Diest, a second-year veterinary student at Washington State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, and Dr. Jamie Kopper, associate professor at Iowa State University, were concerned that hospitalized horses that did not consume enough water could develop colic, a potentially life-threatening condition.

Traditionally, horses hospitalized at Washington State that don’t voluntarily drink are offered water flavored with peppermint, sweet feed, or apple electrolytes. Until this study, no one had documented the horses’ response.

 

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Cast Horses: What To Do (And What Not To Do) To Help

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by | 06.13.2019 | 12:21pm

This horse is not cast, but is getting up after lying down, demonstrating the way horses need to push their front legs out to get their balance when rising.

Horsemen probably don’t comprehend how big and heavy a horse actually is until it gets cast against or under something and they have to get it unstuck. One futile tug on the mane of a cast horse and the person quickly will realize he or she needs assistance.

“The first thing I would say is to get some help,” said Dr. Sally DeNotta, extension specialist and assistant professor of large animal internal medicine at the University of Florida. “You don’t want to be in the stall with a cast horse alone because it’s dangerous and they’re big.”

 

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