Rutgers Hosts Two-Day Hay Assessment Seminar For Horse Owners

Rutgers University's is hosting a two-day, free seminar series for horse owners that investigates multiple factors involved in assessing hay intended for equine consumption. The “Assessing Quality Hay” webinar series will be held on November 16 and 17 at 7 p.m. Both sessions will run for just over an hour.

The Monday session is presented by members of the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Animal Ag/Field and Forage Working Group, Melissa Bravo and Hank Bignell. It will focus on assessing hay quality, weeds and weed control, and hay testing. Register for the Monday webinar here.

The Tuesday session investigates what hay is best for horses and what to feed ruminants in winter. This session is presented by Rutgers Equine Extension Specialist Dr. Carey Williams and Animal Science Extension Specialist Dr. Mike Westendorf. Register for the Tuesday event here.

Both webinars are free, but preregistration is required.

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American Pharoah’s Pony, Smokey, Selling To Benefit Old Friends

The stable pony for Triple Crown champion American Pharoah, “Smokey” has been retired from the racetrack and will be sold via the Twombly Performance Horse Sale on Dec. 5 with proceeds donated to Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farms.

An 11-year-old gelding by Shiners Chex Olena, Smokey's registered name is This Whiz Shines.

His catalog page is available here: https://twomblyhorse.com/horses-for-sale1/this-whiz-shines/

“The Bafferts have flown him all over the world in Air Horse One as American Pharoah's sidekick as well as Bob's personal riding horse,” reads the advertisement. “Smokey kept American Pharoah, winner of the Triple Crown, focused and calm. As famous as he is, he is still down to earth. He has been on some of the biggest stages and has never failed to put on a performance. At the height of his fame he made a reining run at the 2012 NRHA futurity to prove he is ready to go to the reining shows and no doubt fun days.”

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Adamis Pharmaceuticals Announces Distribution Of First Polyacrylamide Hydrogel For Equine Arthritis

Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NASDAQ: ADMP) has announced the signing of an agreement making it the sole US distributor of Arthramid® Vet, a patented polyacrylamide hydrogel (PAAG) for intra-articular injection – the first PAAG labeled for veterinary use for the management of non-infectious causes of joint disease in horses including both early and late stages of osteoarthritis and degenerative joint disease.

The registration of Arthramid® Vet for use in horses signals a movement away from excessive anti- inflammatory treatments for this debilitating disease. Given the current intense focus on racehorse welfare from industry and numerous interest groups, the prospect of reducing equine corticosteroid use is another significant potential benefit.

Arthramid® Vet is injected into the joint. Biocompatible tissue matrix forms in the joint capsule, stabilizing both the joint and the synovium and increasing the elasticity of the joint capsule. These mechanisms help to end the discomfort associated with joint disease and reduce lameness by improving joint function.

Leading veterinarians experienced with Arthramid® Vet know how beneficial it can be. Equine veterinarian Dr. Omar Maher has had extremely positive experiences in his practice.

“We have used Arthramid® Vet since 2012 with significant success managing OA in horses. It is a main pillar of our strategy managing difficult cases,” he said.

Osteoarthritis accounts for up to 60% of lameness in horses and is often a debilitating, performance- limiting condition. Current treatments for OA in horses traditionally include injections of hyaluronic acid, often combined with a corticosteroid. Arthramid® Vet contains no active pharmaceutical ingredients and the hydrogel material contained in Arthramid® Vet's patented formula is hydrophilic, homogenous, biocompatible, viscoelastic, and completely non-toxic.

Arthramid® Vet manages the discomfort caused by this common equine joint disease, and its benefits have been shown to be long-lasting and increase over time. A randomized, prospective study evaluated the use of Arthramid® Vet compared with two other commonly used medications in the treatment of intercarpal joints. The three groups were given either: 1) 2 ml of 2.5% PAAG, 2) 12 mg triamcinolone; or 3) 20 mg hyaluronic acid followed by weekly intravenous doses of 40 mg hyaluronic acid given for 2 weeks. The results show that after treatment, more than 80% percent Arthramid® Vet-treated horses were free of lameness and had less reaction to flexion, whereas only 22-40% of the triamcinolone and hyaluronic acid treated horses were free of lameness.

Arthramid® Vet works within damaged joints by stimulating endogenous activity of synoviocytes whose activity has been impacted by OA. This gives hope that Arthramid® Vet may be useful in all stages of osteoarthritis including the earliest stage, often referred to as synovitis. Dr. Nancy Loving, in a March 2020 article about the use of polyacrylamide hydrogels in horses, wrote “With chronic synovitis, synovial fluid within the degraded synovial membrane recesses and inhibits tissue growth and interferes with disease modification. Injected hydrogel lays across the synovial membrane and its absorption enables proliferation and differentiation of intimal cells and fibroblasts to thicken the membrane and produce normal synovial fluid within the joint to counteract inflammatory mediators such as cytokines.”

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Confirmed: Specific Patterns Of Fat Associated With Laminitis, Similar To Human Obesity Issues

Though horse owners and equine veterinarians have long believed a cresty neck to be associated with equine metabolic syndrome and associated laminitis, there has never been scientific proof of the link—until now: New research out of Australia has confirmed the correlation, reports EQUUS magazine.

Fat tissue stores energy and plays an important role in the synthesis and release of hormones that assist with metabolism and insulin function. Abnormal insulin function is a key risk factor for horses that develop hormone-related laminitis.

Drs. Danielle Fitzgerald, Stephen Anderson, Martin Sillence and Melody de Laat used 26 ponies for a study to determine if there is a correlation between cresty necks and the incidence of horses developing equine metabolic syndrome. Each of the ponies was given a body condition score (BCS) and a cresty neck score (CNS), which objectively measures the accumulation of fat on the neck. The scale goes from 0 to 5, with 5 indicating that the crest is so large it had dropped permanently to one side.

The ponies were then divided into three groups: those with a CNS of 3 or greater, but moderate body condition; those with a CNS of 3 or greater that were obese; and  those that had moderate body condition and no cresty neck. The researchers used an oral glucose test to determine how each pony regulated insulin.

From the results, the scientists concluded that crestiness was a primary indicator of insulin dysregulation. Ponies that were not overweight, but that had a cresty neck score of greater than 3, were five times more likely than non-cresty neck ponies to have insulin dysfunction, and therefore be at risk of laminitis. Obese horse without a cresty neck were less likely to have an increased risk of insulin dysregulation and related problems.

These finding confirm what horse owners and veterinarians have suspected, that a cresty neck is a key indicator that a horse or pony has an insulin regulation issue. The results  are also consistent with human obesity studies that link specific fat accumulation patterns to health complications.

Read more at EQUUS magazine.

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