With five years now under her belt in the role, Adam is pleased with the strides that have been made in fostering relationships with the equine community–particularly within the Thoroughbred business in Central Kentucky–and she is optimistic that those connections will lead to further advancements in the coming years.

While Adam's role encompasses outreach for both UK's Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center and the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, she said the Diagnostic Lab has always been more outward facing by nature so her initial goal was to bring more external emphasis to the research center.

“Our entire community wants to be better connected with our industry stakeholders, but bandwidths can limit that reality,” Adam explained. “I think everyone recognized the need for someone who had practice and industry experience and could bring that to the Gluck Center to connect it with what we do within the building. Researchers are so busy trying to fund their projects and write papers that the time available to get out there and interact with our industry was getting less and less. We needed to take a step back and say, 'What do we need to do to remain connecting  what is happening in our industry with what is happening in our academic community and vice versa, so that we can help each other?'”

Adam's background in racing has served her well in her position, which was spearheaded by Nancy Cox, UK's Vice President for land-grant engagement and Dean of Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. A native of Newmarket, England, Adam was immersed in the racing and breeding industry from a young age as she grew up on a commercial farm and was first familiarized with the racing side of the business when she worked for champion trainer Sir Michael Stoute. As a practicing veterinarian, she worked in various racing and breeding-related positions around the globe before deciding to return to academia and earn her PhD at UK's Department of Veterinary Science. From there, she stepped into her current role.

Making connections with farm managers and veterinarians has proven to be invaluable as Adam has worked to get the word out on the Gluck Center's mission and increase awareness among owners and breeders on the resources that the research center has to offer.

“Our research community is brilliant, but reaching them is sometimes difficult,” Adam admitted. “We have a fantastic network here through the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club and our veterinary community. While we'd always love for it to be bigger, we're developing a stronger network of people that know we're here to help.”

Dr. Emma Adam | photo courtesy Emma Adam

When breeders have issues arise, such as pregnancy loss, the Gluck Center's team coordinates with the Diagnostic Lab, veterinarians and farm managers to investigate those problems.

“We will go through lots of different parameters with the veterinarian and the farm manager and take some colleagues that might help with such things as examining the pastures,” Adam explained. “We'll do hay, soil and water analysis, and examine records for each mare. We'll work closely with our colleagues in the Diagnostic Lab so we can connect any dots that might be available to look at from the perspective of those unfortunate pregnancy losses.”

“We may not always arrive at an answer, but along the way we'll have often found out some other things that we can be more vigilant for,” she continued. “Those things might include checking to make sure that we're testing our pastures for things like tall fescue or trying to avoid stress when moving mares to different pastures. Everybody brings something to the table and we chew it all over and see if we currently have what we think is the best possible plan for that farm and then offer help to implement it if we can.”

Adam stressed that confidentiality and trust are important aspects of the work they do with commercial breeding farms.

“We have very strict confidentiality obligations and we take them very seriously,” she said. “All samples and veterinary and farm interactions are completely confidential. We recognize that it is vital that people can trust everything we do, not only with the quality of our science but in how we handle those interactions. We're very fortunate that people are generous with their information and we respect that they have entrusted us with it.”

Building relationships with more breeding farms throughout Central Kentucky has been an ongoing goal that Adam said she believes will lead to mutually beneficial results for both the research center and breeders.

One example of how this reciprocity has led to research findings is in the Gluck's studies on nocardioform placentitis, a cause of late-term abortions and perinatal deaths. Recent studies on this disease have been made possible in large part by the samples researchers have received from local farms. Efforts are ongoing with the goal of developing an early-warning diagnostic test for the condition and better understanding how and when mares are exposed.

The breeding industry supports the Gluck not only in supplying samples, but on occasion, in providing much-needed financial support. When a rash of neonatal foal diarrhea broke out in the spring of 2021, the general consensus was that the cases behaved like Equine Rotavirus A, however diagnostic tests were coming back negative. Upon closer examination, UK virologists Drs. Feng Li and Dan Wang were able to perform genomic sequencing on samples to determine that a new strain of Rotavirus had emerged.

The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Foundation, The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, Coolmore America, Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association and the William S. Farish Fund provided gifts to develop a research plan to develop a vaccine. This summer, work is being done to test new vaccine candidates that are hoped will provide protection to foals against Equine Rotavirus B.

“That is a perfect example of how our industry is really trying to help itself by helping us,” said Adam. “We're very fortunate to have a relationship where they recognize that we're here and trying to help and where they support us in that effort because there is so little money for equine research. When it comes to things that are a bit more niche like foaling mares, it is even harder to get funds to do the kind of work that is relevant to our industry.”

Adam explained that the concentration of mares bred and foaled in Central Kentucky can oftentimes lead people to falsely believe that the area has more problems than other places. Instead, she described how the community's outstanding veterinarians and farm managers endow the region with a culture of constant vigilance and a drive to understand every problem encountered.

“Everything is so close here,” she shared. “You don't have to drive more than an hour from any of these farms to get to our world-class Veterinary Diagnostic Lab that sees probably more horses and horse samples than any lab globally. What that means is we're able to, as best as we possibly can, explore and understand what happened and how can we might prevent it in future. That is not something that a lot of other places can access so easily.”

Moving forward as a growing number of local farms have started utilizing the Gluck's resources, Adam's next goal is to develop ways to gather data each year from surveys and surveillance sampling.  These findings will be used to build profiles of how data is changing over time. The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory website collates some of these data, but Adam said she wishes to extend the survey to the farm level.

“We can take that data gathering further in asking our stakeholders to help us generate information on the things we deal with on a farm level–for example, pregnancy losses, red bag deliveries, foal diarrhea cases, yearling respiratory disease and so the list goes on,” she explained. “These data are absolutely essential to inform and direct our research not just at the local level here in the department, but from the perspective of being able to go out there and fight for the funding from the grant agencies to get that research done.”

Embarking on such a project is only possible with the collaboration of the entire Thoroughbred breeding industry in Central Kentucky, but Adam said she is counting on both the relationships that are newly formed and in others that have flourished over the years.

“The Department's footprint in our community continues to grow and that is a culture all of us in the University are keen to expand,” she said. “Taken together we have extraordinary natural and human resources here in Kentucky to serve and support our industry locally and worldwide.”

The post Symbiosis of Breeders, Gluck Equine Research Center Reaches New Heights appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Kentucky Equine Research responds: Feeding corn to the horse is not an issue, as it is often an ingredient in high-quality, well-formulated feeds. The concern involves where the corn was stored and for what duration it was there.

Corncribs are relics on most farms these days. Usually fashioned from wood, they were once commonplace on farms. The walls of the corncribs were typically not entire, purposely left open to allow air to circulate throughout. While ventilating the corncribs was essential for keeping the corn dry, the openness often allowed rodents and other vermin to gain access.

If ear corn becomes wet during storage in a corncrib, there is a chance that mold will develop. Unlike cattle, horses are extremely sensitive to mold. This is evident in the difference in hay that can be fed to the two species; generally cattle can tolerate more dust and mold than horses can.

If a horse consumes corn contaminated with toxins produced by Fusarium spp., it might be at risk for moldy corn poisoning, also known as equine leukoencephalomalacia. This disease progresses quickly in most animals with death occurring within a few days. Clinical signs of the disease include anorexia, lethargy, and a roster of neurological deficits: staggering, circling, head-pressing, and inability to swallow.

Though this is not a common disease, it is a deadly one and there have been numerous outbreaks recorded throughout the United States. Cases seem to pop up in late fall through early spring and are especially prevalent when a dry growing season is followed by a rainy fall.

While contaminated kernels might be off-colored, there is no definitive way to tell if corn is infected with the disease-causing fungus by visual inspection. Corn screenings, a by-product of corn handling and processing that contain, among other things, whole and partial kernels of corn, are another likely source of contamination.

The best way to prevent a case of moldy corn poisoning is to provide horses with a professionally formulated and manufactured concentrate that is appropriate for age and lifestyle. When fed by itself as a concentrate, corn does not supply adequate nutrients for optimal health.

The temptation to give horses treats is a great one, but I'd stick with more traditional ones: apples, carrots, or an occasional alfalfa cube.

Read more here.

Reprinted courtesy of Kentucky Equine Research. Visit ker.com for the latest in equine nutrition and management, and subscribe to Equinews to receive these articles directly.

Source of original post

Why limit pasture access? Aren't horses natural-born grazers?

While horses evolved as grazers, the quality of the pasture grasses has increased dramatically in recent years, making it unsuitable for some horses, especially those that tend to be easy keepers.

“Many horses can graze pasture grasses with no problem whatsoever. Chronically overweight and obese horses sometimes benefit from limited grazing, however, which results in caloric restriction and improved health,” explained Kathleen Crandell, Ph.D., a nutritionist for Kentucky Equine Research. “Overweight horses are at a higher risk for insulin dysregulation and metabolic syndrome, both of which can lead to laminitis.”

In addition, many horse owners use restricted grazing preemptively to keep horses and ponies from becoming overweight.

What's the best approach to restrict pasture intake?

Horse owners have found several ways to successfully restrict pasture intake. The method used is often dependent on access to facilities and turnout areas, owner schedule, and what works best for the individual horse, according to Crandell. A trial-and-error approach must often be taken. Effective methods include:

• Strip grazing, which uses temporary fencing to section off areas of a larger field, allowing horses to graze fresh pasture in a controlled, strategic manner and moving the fences as pasture is eaten down.
• Feed limited hay (weighed at about 1.5 to 2 percent of body weight) provided in a way that slows consumption (e.g., small-hole haynets). For horses at risk for laminitis, hay should be tested for nonstructural carbohydrate content (below 12 percent is recommended).
• Use of drylots that allow limited or no access to pasture, but appropriate hay or other preserved forage is allocated, the quality of which is dictated by age, workload, and metabolic status of horses.
• Well-fitted grazing muzzles curb consumption by allowing horses to eat through holes or slits.

With all these options available, how do I know which method is the best?

Results of a recent survey in England may help you decide.^* Nearly 470 respondents had experience using one or more of the aforementioned restricted grazing methods. The most important considerations reported by respondents were practicality and welfare.

Fencing for strip grazing is more expensive and labor intensive than grazing muzzles, and these costs may therefore limit the method employed. Further, most boarding facilities have management restrictions. Owners are typically not allowed to alter a paddock, have only limited opportunities for turning out their horse (especially during inclement weather), and do not have the space or resources for drylots.

In terms of welfare, grazing muzzles had a low “welfare rating” by owners participating in the study, yet muzzles were frequently used. The researchers suggested that this disparity likely arose because muzzles are inexpensive and not particularly labor intensive.

While grazing muzzles got a bad rap in terms of welfare, respondents may not have fully understood the benefits of muzzling. For example, horses evolved as trickle feeders, grazing almost continuously for 16-18 hours a day. When their grazing time is restricted, horses are at risk of gastric ulceration, alterations in the equine intestinal microbiome, and behavioral changes, such as the development of stereotypies.

According to Crandell, “Muzzles do not necessarily limit a horse's time spent grazing or exercising; they do, however, restrict the amount of grass that can be consumed. Muzzles also allow horses to have contact with their peers, which means this approach supports both the physical and psychological needs of the horse.”

Horses fed all-forage diets benefit from a ration balancer or a high-quality vitamin and mineral supplement, as these products provide important nutrients that are often in short supply in fresh and preserved forages.

Crandell also recommends addressing the potential stress associated with restricted grazing. “Horses with restricted grazing may benefit from a research-proven digestive supplement, such as Triacton.” Triacton provides total digestive tract support, including ingredients that buffer both the stomach and hindgut for gastrointestinal protection during times of stress.

^*Cameron, A., P. Harris, A. Longland, S. Horseman, and J. Hockenhull. 2021. UK horse carers' experiences of restricting grazing when aiming to prevent health issues in their horses. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 104:103685.

Reprinted courtesy of Kentucky Equine Research. Visit ker.com for the latest in equine nutrition and management, and subscribe to Equinews to receive these articles directly.

Source of original post

University of Minnesota Extension responds: Ice is a major safety concern for both horses and their owners. The first step to ice management is prevention. Before the ground freezes, try to provide channels for water to flow away from alleyways, turn out sheds, and areas that horses frequently gather. Gutters on barns and sheds are also recommended as long as they direct water away from high traffic areas. When the temperature is below freezing, avoid dumping or draining whole water tanks, larger buckets, or automatic waterers into paddocks. Finally, when plowing or blowing snow, it is best to move as much snow as possible into areas where the water will drain away from paddocks and alleyways. However, use caution with this approach as melting after snow removal can lead to slick surfaces.

When there is a build-up of ice, poultry grit, sand, and fresh manure are options to help increase traction. Avoid using straw, hay, or fresh shavings as these tend to slide over the ice and will not provide consistent traction. When using grit or sand, make sure to feed horses away from the area, or provide hay and grain in feeders off the ground so that horses do not accidentally ingest the substrate. When temperatures are not too cold, pure salt can be used to speed melting, but should be used in moderation. The effect of salt on horse hooves has not been researched and prolonged exposure has unknown consequences. Additionally, avoid applying salt and sand at the same time as horses may accidentally ingest the sand while licking the salt. Finally, ensure that your horse has the best traction from their hooves. Regularly removing built-up snow and ice from hooves will help the hoof better grip ice and snow and will reduce slipping and falling.

The post Ask The Expert: Ice Management And Prevention appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Rowan will be one of two schools to offer doctorate degrees in medicine, as well as veterinary and osteopathic medicine. In addition to undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees, the school will offer internship and residency programs. The inaugural class will have 60 students.

Founding dean Dr. Matthew Edson told WHYY that the school will be non-traditional because of its focus on producing diverse graduates who are prepared to practice the day they graduate. Education will focus on business acumen and social skills, as well as practical preparation.

The medical complex will be 100,000 square feet, with a teaching hospital, classrooms, and laboratories. In November, the New Jersey State Legislature approved $75 million for construction of the facility, which is currently in the design phase.

Read more at WHYY.

The post Rowan University’s New Veterinary School To Be Focused On Both Business And Practical Education appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

In other parts of the world, Pergolide is used in human medicine to combat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, restless leg syndrome, and hyperprolactinemia. Side effects can include fibrotic lesions of the atrioventricular valves in the heart.

Dr. Heidrun Gehlen, from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the Free University of Berlin, gathered a team of scientists to determine whether the same effects would be seen in horses.

The scientists examined 23 horses between 19 and 30 years old, all of which had been diagnosed with PPID using the ACTH adrenocorticotrophin hormone test. The treatment group comprised 12 horses that had been receiving Pergolide for between 14 days and 6 years, while 11 other horses in the control group received no Pergolide.

The researchers performed an echocardiographic exam on all horses, and found that each was free of cardiovascular disease; no valve defects were found.

Follow-up exams were then given to nine horses in the treatment group and five in the control group between three and eight months later. The findings were the same: use of Pergolide did not affect ventricular function or cause valve disease in horses.

Read more at Equine Science Update.

The post Are There Any Disadvantages To Popular PPID Treatment? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Bursa are fluid-filled sacs found between bones. The soft tissue is designed to ease friction between the two structures. The cranial nuchal bursa is located between the nuchal ligament and the atlas vertebra.
Inflammation in this bursa, called cranial nuchal bursitis, can cause pain, limited flexion and decreased athletic performance. A study has shown that surgical intervention is often successful in treating this injury.

Dr. José M. García-López, of Tufts University, led a research team in reviewing the records of 35 horses diagnosed with cranial nuchal bursitis over the past 25 years.

The horses were between 5 and 22 years old, with a median age of 13. The majority of the horses were sport horses, primarily competing in dressage, which García-López noted may support the idea that specific ways of going could encourage the development of cranial nuchal bursitis.

Records showed that 14 of the horses were treated with anti-inflammatories, while the rest underwent a minimally invasive surgery to correct the problem. The surgery, called a bursoscopy, allows a surgeon to flush and remove debris from the bursa.

The researchers found that 78.6 percent of the horses which underwent surgery returned to their previous level of work, while 66.7 percent of horses which received only medication were able to return to work. The horses that responded well to non-medical management generally presented with solely fluid accumulation, with minimal debris in the bursa or synovial thickening.

García-López and his team concluded that horses with bursa inflammation alone could be treated with anti-inflammatory medication; however, if debris is present in the bursa, surgery is recommended. The sooner the surgery is performed, the more likely the horse will return to an athletic career.

Read more at EQUUS magazine.

The post Study: Surgical Intervention For Specific Poll Injuries Is Often Successful appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

If common causes like disease, parasites, digestive disorders, and other common ailments have been ruled out, Dr. Liya Wang and other researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences suggest that systemic cancers should be considered. The research team also notes that cancer should be suspected if a horse doesn't respond well to traditional therapies, or if he begins to lose organ function.

Bloodwork run on horses that have cancer often comes back as nonspecific, but it may show that the horse is anemic and has elevated globulin concentrations and increased neutrophils. Though additional diagnostic work in search of conclusive results is available, it's often quite invasive and extensive.
The inability to find a reliable cancer biomarker often delays diagnosis, and results in ineffective treatments and poor chances of survival.

Wang and her team crafted a study to see if thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) could be used as a cancer biomarker in horses with lymphoma.

Serum TK1 is used as a cancer biomarker in humans. TK1 is important for DNA replication and cell proliferation. In healthy cells, TK1 degrades rapidly after cell division. In cancer cells, TK1 production is increased and leaks into the blood.

The researchers measured serum TK1 in seven horses with lymphoma, five horses suspected to have lymphoma, 107 horses with diseases that weren't tumor related, and 42 horses with no sign of disease. Serum TK1 was significantly higher in horses with lymphoma and suspected lymphoma. Serum TK1 was also elevated in the diseased horses without lymphoma.

The team concludes that these findings indicate that serum TK1 could be used as a cancer biomarker in horses.

Read the study here.

Read more at HorseTalk.

The post Equine Cancer: Difficult To Detect, Expensive To Treat appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Question: How common are enteroliths, and what causes them?

Dr. Katy Dern, Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital: While many of our colic patients make it clear within a few minutes of presentation to hospital that they will require surgery — high heart rate, unremitting pain in the face of sedatives and NSAIDS, or clinical signs of devitalized bowel – some patients make it more difficult to determine if surgery is indicated. Horses with enteroliths are often on that list.

Enteroliths are calculi (rocks) which form in the right dorsal colon and can cause partial or complete obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract. They are composed of struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate) and form when mineral deposition occurs in concentric layers around a central nidus. Although this central nidus is sometimes a foreign body (rope or metallic object), in most cases it is indistinguishable from the rest of the calculi.

Dr. Kathryn Dern

Although we don't know exactly why some horses form enteroliths and some don't, we do know that there are certain risk factors for enterolith formation. A review of 900 cases of horses with confirmed enteroliths determined that Arabians, Morgans, and American Saddlebreds are at an increased risk for developing enteroliths. Enteroliths were also found to occur more frequently in horses in California and regions of the Southwest. From a management perspective, the most important aspects of this retrospective analysis and other studies were that most patients with enteroliths had a diet which consisted of more than 50 percent alfalfa hay, and there was a significantly increased incidence of enteroliths in horses which did not have daily access to pasture grazing.

If your horses are part of the “at-risk” population, we recommend ensuring that the majority of their diets consist of pasture or grass hay, avoiding alfalfa-based products. Although the exact role of alfalfa in the formation of enteroliths is unknown, it is suspected that the higher protein content can result in a more alkaline pH in the colon, favoring enterolith formation. Alfalfa hay also has higher levels of magnesium and phosphorus, both of which are components of the typical struvite enterolith.

Enteroliths usually form in the right dorsal colon, which has a large enough diameter to accommodate the calculi while still allowing feed to pass through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. If the enterolith begins to move from the right dorsal colon into the transverse colon, or further abroad into the small colon however, it becomes lodged due to the smaller diameter of these parts of the GI tract. In some horses, the enterolith intermittently occludes the transverse colon, causing occasional mild colic signs which resolve with medical management (flunixin meglumine, intravenous fluids, etc). Once the enterolith becomes lodged in the transverse or small colon, it completely blocks the passage of feed material though the GI tract, causing colic signs.

Diagnosis of enteroliths in the patients with a history of chronic colic can be challenging. Abdominal radiographs (x-rays) are more reliable in diagnosing enteroliths which are in the large colon versus the small colon – presumably due to the increased diameter of the enteroliths in the large colon. Enteroliths cannot be imaged in an ultrasonographic examination and are rarely detectable on rectal palpation. For these reasons, a definitive diagnosis of enterolithiasis often requires surgery.

In the patients with persistent colic signs in which the enterolith has become permanently lodged in the bowel, timely surgical intervention is important. In these cases, the enterolith compresses the bowel wall, decreasing the blood supply and potentially causing weakened areas or areas of necrosis (tissue death), which can lead to fatal rupture of the transverse or small colon. To avoid this tragic outcome, surgery is recommended in horses with persistent pain in the face of sedation and analgesia (flunixin meglumine, etc).

Once in surgery, the location of the enterolith is determined and a pelvic flexure enterotomy is performed to completely empty the contents of the large colon. This procedure involves making a small incision in the bowel wall through which to empty the contents, and then instilling fluid into the large colon to help “flush” the enterolith to a location from which it can be safely removed. Multiple incisions are often required to both evacuate the contents of the colon and to remove the enterolith. If the enterolith is lodged in the small colon, an incision will be made into the wall of the small colon to facilitate enterolith removal. In some cases, the enterolith has compressed the bowel wall so severely that tissue death (necrosis) has occurred – in these cases the devitalized area of bowel needs to be removed.

Post-operative management involves intravenous antimicrobials, intravenous fluids, and a gradual refeeding program to ensure that the lining of the colon has time to recover from trauma and irritation caused by the enterolith. Fortunately, survival after surgical removal of enteroliths is high, with reports ranging from 92 percent to 96 percent. As with many colic cases, prompt referral and timely surgical intervention are the keys to a good outcome.

Dr. Dern is originally from Colorado and Montana. She attended Washington State University for her undergraduate work, and Colorado State University for her veterinary degree. Following graduation from CSU in 2012, she completed an internship at Peterson and Smith Equine Hospital in Ocala, followed by an internship at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital. After her internships, Dr. Dern completed a three-year surgical residency at The Ohio State University, while also earning a Master's of Science Degree. She became board certified in equine surgery in 2018 and has been the surgeon at Rood and Riddle's Saratoga hospital since 2017. 

The post Ask Your Veterinarian Presented By Kentucky Performance Products: Enteroliths Can Make A Rocky Road To Colic appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

During the last seven days of the study period, researchers recorded body condition score and weight, and percentage of body fat was estimated with an ultrasound. Each horse was then given an exercise test on a treadmill and a field test that mimicked a competition, which was scored by judges. Blood samples were taken, as well as heart rate, temperature and respiratory rate.

On the treadmill test, the horses that had gained weight had a higher heart rate and temperature, and heavier respiration. Blood tests showed that heavier horses had lower physiological fitness.

The team also found that overweight horses showed a marked gait asymmetry compared with leaner horses, as was shown both by sensors placed on the horses while they moved. The heavier horses moved most asymmetrically on the day after their field test.

Judges overseeing the field test also scored heavier horses lower than their leaner counterparts, suggesting that weight affects performance.

The authors conclude that higher body fat and body weight lowers equine performance, made horses move more unevenly, and delayed their recovery from exercise.

Read the full study here.

Read more at HorseTalk.

The post Obese Horses More Likely To Move Unevenly appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post