Tag: Horse Care

The ninth panel of the OwnerView Virtual Thoroughbred Owner Conference held Tuesday, November 7, featured videos of farrier work and equine dentistry with discussions with Dr. Scott Morrison and Dr. Brad Tanner, both of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, with OwnerView's project manager, Gary Falter.

The conference is hosted by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and sponsored by Bessemer Trust, Stoll Keenon Ogden, and The Green Group. This panel was sponsored by Equilume.

Attendees were able to ask questions through Zoom's Q&A feature, sponsored by West Point Thoroughbreds.

During the hoof care session, Dr. Morrison walked through the process of shoeing a racehorse. He provided information on topics such as hoof angle and how a longer toe can put more pressure on the tendons, how Thoroughbred hooves are different from those of other breeds, how often horses should be shod, and how a shoe should fit.

“It's important for athletes to try to keep them sound and keep that foot balanced and keep them in proper alignment,” he said. “We try to shoe horses so the shoe is placed equally around the coffin joint, around the center rotation.”

Dr. Tanner discussed why horses' teeth need to be floated and the importance of having horses' teeth floated on a regular basis depending on age and use.

“Young horses' teeth grow really fast,” he said. “Horses that are between 2 and 5, 2 and 6, years old, their teeth are growing much faster than your horse that's 15 to 20. So as a result, we'll recommend that their teeth are floated every six months to try to keep up with those changes.”

A replay of the panel and all previous panels can be viewed at bit.ly/OVVideos. There is one more 2023 Thoroughbred Owner Conference virtual panel, scheduled for December 5 at 2 p.m. ET, Breeding Plans, which will feature a panel discussing matings, nicking, conformation traits, broodmare preferences, and stallion selection. A full schedule can be found here: bit.ly/OVSchedule.

There is no registration fee for the virtual conference series, but registration is required. For more information about the owner conference, please visit ownerview.com/event/conference or contact Gary Falter at 859.224.2803 or gfalter@jockeyclub.com.

OwnerView is a joint effort spearheaded by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to encourage ownership of Thoroughbreds and provide accurate information on aspects of ownership such as trainers, public racing syndicates, the process of purchasing and owning a Thoroughbred, racehorse retirement, and owner licensing.

The need for a central resource to encourage Thoroughbred ownership was identified in the comprehensive economic study of the sport that was commissioned by The Jockey Club and conducted by McKinsey & Company in 2011. The OwnerView site was launched in May 2012.

The post Equine Hoof Care, Dentistry Covered In Latest Thoroughbred Owner Conference Panel appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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A study from New Zealand has found that mares with infertility issues may be affected by multi-drug resistant Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus). S. zooepidemicus is often associated with inflammation of the lining of the uterus (endometritis) in horses.

Led by Dr. Francesca Paola Nocera, a group of scientists wanted to isolate the S. zooepidemicus strains affiliated with bacterial endometritis in mares and characterize the antimicrobial resistance profile.  The team took uterine swabs from 96 mares that had fertility issues. They obtained 23 S. zooepidemicus isolates (a prevalence of 11.7 percent).

S. zooepidemicus is an opportunistic pathogen; it has also been isolated in horses with respiratory infections, which often occur during times of stress, like those found during transport, viral infection or high temperatures

S. zooepidemicus often causes a subclinical infection in uterine tissue that resists the horse's immune response and drug treatment by surviving in epithelial cells as persister cells. These cells aren't affected by antibiotics and resume normal growth.

Antibiotic misuse has also contributed to S. zooepidemicus resistance to multiple drugs. 

The antibiotic resistance profiles of the isolates showed the following percentages of resistance: amikacin (95.6 percent), ampicillin (73.98 percent) and tetracycline (69.6 percent). Ceftiofur and ceftriaxone were found to be highly effective.

Alarmingly, 82.6 percent of the total isolated showed resistance to more than three classes of antimicrobials. 

Many veterinarians use penicillin as a drug of choice to combat S. zooepidemicus infection, but the study showed a 34.8 percent value of resistance to the antibiotic. 

The researchers conclude that escalating multi-drug resistance of S. zooepidemicus has become a relevant veterinary issue and that continuous surveillance of the pathogen is necessary. A proper diagnosis and appropriate antimicrobial choice is necessary, they concluded.

Read more at HorseTalk. 

The post Endometritis: Is Infertility Associated With Drug Resistance? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Question

The weather patterns the past few years have me second guessing my blanketing strategy. Normally, my horses go unblanketed for the entire year. They have access to a shelter and plenty of hay. Colder temperatures in the fall and rain have me concerned because my horses refuse to use their shelter. Should I throw a sheet on them? Will their coat stop growing if I do that? I do not want to blanket them all winter, I just want to get them through the colder fall rainy days.

Response 

When it comes to blanketing practices there is not a “one size fits all” approach. Ultimately, the decision to blanket will depend on the individual horse and your management style. With that in mind, there are some key things to consider in your situation.

A horse's winter hair coat continues to grow as the number of daylight hours declines. The hair coat naturally insulates the horse by trapping and warming air around the horse. When the hair coat is flattened, wet, or muddy it loses its insulating value. Therefore, a blanket is warranted if your horses are standing in the rain during cold weather and do not have access to shelter. In your situation, shelter access is provided even if the horses choose not to use it. Thus, a blanket or sheet is not necessary but can be used if you prefer. While a sheet can keep the rain off your horse, remember that a sheet has little to no insulating value. For reference, horses with a summer hair coat can maintain their body temperature until air temperatures fall below 41°F. Thus, a lightweight, turnout blanket may be a better option for shedding the rain while warming your horse during fall weather.

Using a sheet or lightweight blanket on rainy fall days will likely not affect your horse's hair coat going into winter. A recent study demonstrated that blanketed and nonblanketed horses had similar hair growth patterns over winter (October to March). Hair length and diameter on the hindquarters were comparable between blanketed and nonblanketed horses. However, hair length on the neck (not covered by the blanket) was shorter for blanketed horses than nonblanketed horses in January and February. Further research is needed to explore the effects of short-term or intermittent blanket use during fall or winter months.

The post Ask The Expert: Do You Blanket Horses Who Won’t Use Their Run-In Shed? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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If you're reading the headline and wondering, “What is a CAFO?” right now, you're not alone. A CAFO is a concentrated animal feeding operation, and it is a hot topic as federal efforts focus on expanding regulatory efforts surrounding environmental sustainability and climate impacts related to agriculture.

The American Horse Council quarterly webinar series is hosting “Is My Barn a CAFO? What is a CAFO?” Nov. 13  at 1 p.m. EST. This free webinar will be an opportunity to learn all about Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and how they apply to the horse industry.

CAFO permitting is an environmental regulatory process with federal and state level oversight with potential for impact on equine facilities of all sizes across the country. CAFO permitting processes can be confusing to navigate, do CAFO rules apply to your operation? How do you find out? How might these rules impact your facility design and operation? What are potential financial implications associated with compliance? Attend the webinar and find out!  

“This webinar is an important step to understanding how to navigate the often-complicated landscape of federal and state regulatory efforts and will give landowners knowledge to better protect both themselves and their operations while promoting the health of their property and their horses in the long run,” said Emily Stearns, AHC Health, Welfare, and Regulatory Affairs Liaison.

To register for the webinar, send an email to info@horsecouncil.org by Nov. 11, with the subject line “Horse CAFO Webinar.”

The post American Horse Council Presents Quarterly Webinar: Is My Barn A CAFO? And…What Is A CAFO? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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