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COVID-19: Ohio’s 2021 Equine Affaire Transitions To Virtual Event

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect each and every one of us, our surroundings, and our businesses. Infection numbers continue to increase and while there is hope that the pandemic will begin to subside in 2021, we sadly share that Equine Affaire in Ohio on April 8-11, 2021, will not take place as an “in-person” event.

The Ohio Expo Center is currently being utilized by Columbus Health and will continue to serve as a COVID-19 testing site in the coming months. It is also slated to be a location for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines once they become available for distribution. With the inability to produce the event at the Ohio Expo Center coupled with current health guidelines and regulations beyond our control, the 2021 “in-person” Equine Affaire in Ohio originally scheduled for April 8-11, will not take place at the Ohio Expo Center next spring and will instead be held as a virtual event.

The virtual Equine Affaire will occur online on April 8-11, 2020, complete with education, shopping, competition and more! Stay tuned to our web site, equineaffaire.com, and social media platforms as we connect attendees with exhibitors and other virtual content, plus exciting updates about upcoming events and special features.

Equine Affaire will reach out directly to attendees who had exchanged tickets for the 2021 Ohio event as well as exhibitors regarding their exhibit arrangements.

Equine Affaire highly values the health, safety, and well-being of all who enthusiastically support Equine Affaire from year to year, and we are committed to producing our signature in-person events again in the future. Mark your calendars for November 11-14, 2021, as we return to W. Springfield, MA, and April 7-10, 2022 in Columbus, OH, bringing you the nation's premiere equine expositions and equestrian gatherings!

The post COVID-19: Ohio’s 2021 Equine Affaire Transitions To Virtual Event appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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One Year Later: Survivors Of Eastern Kentucky Horse Shooting Thriving In 2020

It's been nearly a year since the Kentucky Humane Society responded to an urgent call to help survivors of a horse shooting in Eastern Kentucky. Last December, 20 members of a herd of free-roaming horses were hunted down and killed in Floyd County, Ky., in an act of unimaginable cruelty and violence. The culprit was never caught.

Miraculously, three horses survived.

Our Willow Hope Farm welcomed Hope, a pregnant mare, and her weanling colt, Knox. They were underweight, fearful and stressed. Several days later, our farm brought in Diamond, Hope's daughter, who was caught on the mountaintop after she searched helplessly for any remaining members of her herd.

With time and patience, the horses began their recovery and rehabilitation at Willow Hope Farm. Knox began to show his spunky attitude and was adopted by Vicki in April. Vicki tells us that he is a sweet and curious colt.

The underweight and pregnant Hope enjoyed the abundance of hay, grass and feed at our farm. In May, she delivered a healthy colt, Lucius. He was adopted in December. Today, Lucius lives with an older pony gelding on a quaint farm in Shelby County. Lucius, meaning “light,” brings us hope for the hundreds of horses still on the mountain.

Since Lucius's weaning, Hope began her riding evaluation at the farm. It seems that Hope was likely owned before becoming a free-roaming horse. Hope can be tacked up, ground worked, and has been ridden by our team. We consider Hope “green broke,” meaning she will require an adopter who can help her brush up on her skills as she is rusty under saddle.

Diamond, who showed the most signs of trauma from the horrors on the mountain, continues to make progress at our farm. Though loud noises and fast movements scare her, she is forgiving and kind. Diamond is looking for an adopter who has advanced training working with feral horses. She enjoys spending time with other horses in the pasture and eating peppermints.

There are still many more free-roaming horses in Eastern Kentucky who need help. The Kentucky Humane Society is committed to working with partner rescues to monitor the population and rescue horses that need the most care.

Donations to continue the work of the Kentucky Humane Society can be made here. Gifts made before Dec. 31 qualify for a matching gift from the Frazier-Joy Family Foundation.

The post One Year Later: Survivors Of Eastern Kentucky Horse Shooting Thriving In 2020 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Stronach Group And PETA Urge Ban On Sale Of Thoroughbreds To South Korea, Citing Slaughter Concerns

The Stronach Group has joined together with animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in a call to ban the sale of Thoroughbreds to South Korea without better assurances for aftercare. PETA released a video investigation of horse slaughter in South Korea in spring 2019, claiming the practice is a common way of dealing with unwanted horses and that Korean slaughterhouses violated the country's Animal Protection Act.

A subsequent investigation by the Korean government resulted in fines for the Jeju Livestock Cooperative Association and two of its employees for killing horses in front of others, which is judged to be an unnecessary stressor. Workers shown hitting horses in the head were not fined, according to PETA.

The Stronach Group's Belinda Stronach joined with PETA to issue the call for a sales ban after learning stallion Private Vow was slaughtered in Korea sometime this year. Private Vow had been sold to stud in South Korea in 2015 after seven years at Red River Farms in Louisiana.

The Blood-Horse contacted Red River's Jay Adcock, who said he had no idea the 17-year-old stallion had died until he saw the statement from PETA on Wednesday. Private Vow had been sold from the farm that purchased him from Adcock to a private breeder before his death.

The Stronach Group urged that sales companies, breeders, and owners should prohibit the sale of Thoroughbreds to South Korean “without the meaningful and binding assurances that these noble animals will be protected after their racing and breeding careers.”

Study: Dewormer Use Drastically Reduced On Farms Using Fecal Egg Counts

Scientists have been touting the need for horse owners to use fecal egg counts before blanket deworming the horses in their car for years. However, until recently, no studies had been conducted to see if farms that used this method saw a true reduction in deworming.

Drs. Liselore Roelfstra, Marion Quartier and Kurt Pfister studied five farms in France and Switzerland that had switched to an evidence-based deworming protocol in 2014 to determine the long-term reduction rate of anthelmintic treatments.

The study used 90 horses and three ponies ranging in age from 3 to 32. All of the horses were housed at riding stables that used paddocks and pastures. There was no routine manure collection in the fields on three of the farms; the other two farms removed manure from fields at least once a week.

Since 2014, each horse had a fecal egg count performed twice a year, in the spring and fall. The horse only received a dose of dewormer if the analysis showed that he carried a worm burden of 200 eggs per gram or more. In total, 757 fecal egg counts were taken; only 34.7 of them had an egg count over 200, which resulted in the horse being given a dewormer.

This meant that 263 doses of dewormer were not given, which would have been routinely administered in the past. This shows an overall reduction in anthelmintic treatments of 65.3 percent.

The scientists conclude that conducting fecal egg counts is feasible on farms with multiple horse owners, and on farms with a transient equine population. Buy-in of the farm owner or manager was paramount, but all the horse owners were prepared to pay the cost of the fecal egg count test. An additional positive outcome was that the horses with high worm loads were able to be treated with the specific product needed to eliminate the parasites the horse is hosting.

The overall reduction in dewormer use shows the potential of fecal egg counts to slow the development of drug resistance.

Read the study here.