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Oklahoma Experiencing Rare Increase In Equine Rabies Cases

There are two to three cases of rabies in horses reported in Oklahoma in a typical year. This year, however, there has been a significant increase in horses diagnosed with the disease: seven total, with four in September alone.

Rabies in Oklahoma is usually carried by skunks and bats, said Oklahoma State Veterinarian Rod Hall. One of the two is responsible for nearly all rabies infections in the state.

Rabies is always fatal, so Hall encourages horse owners to vaccinate their livestock, either administering the vaccine themselves or having a veterinarian provide the injection.

A horse with rabies may initially be lame, depressed or agitated. He will eventually become recumbent and unresponsive or dangerously aggressive. Rabies is fatal; the only prevention is vaccination.

Work It, Baby: Study To Examine Correlation Between Foal Exercise, Future Fractures

Drs. Annette McCoy and Mariana Kersh, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), are investigating whether putting foals through a controlled exercise protocol could prevent limb fractures later in life. The study is funded by Morris Animal Foundation.

Though mild exercise early in life is known to be beneficial for horses, exactly how it stimulates bone growth – specifically in areas that are susceptible to fracture – is unknown. It is thought that exercise can prepare equine bones for the mechanical forces they experience during adolescence and adulthood.

This study uses information gleaned from human medicine which indicates that children who exercise are less prone to injury as adolescents and adults, and that the bone change they experience is sustained over time.

Previous studies have shown that foals raised on pasture are inactive about 85 percent of the time, but too much exercise can be detrimental to foals. The study will attempt to identify whether there is a specific amount of exercise that can protect bones but not harm the foals. The 24-month study will be completed at the University of Illinois Horse farm.

Twelve Standardbreds are being used for the study; six were enrolled in 2021 and six in 2022. Each foal had a CT exam at 8 weeks old to create a three-dimensional picture of his forelimbs. Bone density and volume were recorded.

Three of the foals then participated in an 8-week exercise plan that involved fast trotting over 1,500 yards in a field once a day, five days a week. The other three foals served as non-exercised controls.

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A second CT scan was and will be done when the foals reach 16 weeks old. A final CT scan will be completed when the horses are a year old to see if any changes remain. All data will be combined to help predict if exercise intervention has an effect on bone properties.

The scientists are hopeful that study results will allow foals of all breeds to be better managed to prevent front leg fractures later in life. All data should be analyzed by summer of 2023.

Dr. Norrie Adams Returns To The Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center

M. Norris (Norrie) Adams, DVM, Diplomate ACVS, Diplomate ACVSMR, CERP, has rejoined the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center as a clinical associate professor of equine surgery.

Adams received a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University in 1988 and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1992 from Mississippi State University.

After receiving his DVM, Adams completed an internship at the Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center in Los Olivos, California. He then entered private equine practice and spent a year in Saratoga Springs, New York, and a year in western Pennsylvania, before completing a residency in large animal surgery at the University of Minnesota in 1998. He achieved Diplomate status through the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1999.

Adams went on to work in a horse show practice in Fairfield, Connecticut, for one year before serving a two-year stint as a clinical instructor in large animal surgery at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia. In 2001, Adams moved to Middleburg, Virginia, and was an associate veterinarian and surgeon at The Middleburg Equine Clinic for five years. Before joining the Equine Medical Center in 2008, Adams worked as an associate veterinarian and surgeon at the Piedmont Equine Practice in The Plains, Virginia, from 2006 to January 2008.

During his 13 years at the Equine Medical Center as a clinical assistant professor in equine lameness and surgery, Adams became board-certified by the American College of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation in 2017 and became a certified equine rehabilitation practitioner in 2019.

Dedicating his talents during his time at the Equine Medical Center to the field of equine orthopedic surgery, Adams built a dedicated following among the local equine community, not only for his evident surgical skills but also for his warmth and charisma.

In 2021, Adams returned to private practice, joining Unionville Equine Associates, in Oxford, Pennsylvania, where he concentrated on elective surgical procedures relating to bone and joint disease.

Focusing on surgery, his passion, Adams will be one of a team of four surgical clinicians at the Center, who offer routine, emergency and specialized surgical procedures.

Read more about the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center here.

The post Dr. Norrie Adams Returns To The Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Pain Or Personality? Specific Equine Behaviors Tied To Lameness

In 2018, the Animal Health Trust created a tool that correlated specific behaviors with musculoskeletal pain in horses. Dubbed the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE), English researchers determined that horses exhibit 24 specific behaviors when they are in pain. They determined that if a horse exhibits eight or more of the identified behaviors, it's likely he is lame, EQUUS magazine reports.

Detecting lameness can be difficult. The scientists, led by Dr. Sue Dyson, are hopeful that the tool will positively impact equine welfare by allowing issues to be identified – and addressed – earlier. This identification might negate the attempted use of stronger training tools like bigger spurs, longer whips, tighter nosebands, or harsher bits to address “behavior problems.”

The following behaviors have been correlated with pain: tail swishing, spontaneous changing of gait, tail clamping, ears pinning for five seconds or more, staring for five or more seconds, gaping of the mouth, stumbling or dragging hind toes. The behaviors stopped when pain-relieving measures (like nerve blocks) were administered.

Recently, researchers chose 60 horses ridden in English disciplines that were considered sound by their owners to take part in a study. Eleven of the horses were lesson mounts.

Before the study, a physiotherapist examined each of the horses for back pain and a saddle fitter checked their tack. Each was then ridden by his typical rider through a set of exercises that included walking, trotting, cantering and circling in both directions. A vet watched each test and evaluated the horse for lameness, assigning a 0 to 8 score. This evaluation was kept from all other researchers involved in the study.

The riding portion was videotaped from two angles. A second researcher analyzed the tapes and documented every time the horse exhibited any of the 24 behaviors. A third researcher scored each rider's skill on a 1 to 10 scale.

The research team found that 73 percent of the horses deemed “sound” by their owners actually had some degree of lameness. Often the owners had attributed the way the horse acted to being “just the way he is,” not recognizing that the horse was trying to exhibit his discomfort. The team found that 82 percent of the lesson horses were deemed lame by using the RHpE.

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The team suggest that simple management changes like attention to better-fitting tack and the use of pain-relieving medication like phenylbutazone could alleviate some of the horse's discomfort.

The team recommends that a horse be seen by a veterinarian if it exhibits more than eight of the RHpE behaviors.