Friday News & Notes from World Equestrian Brands

Blueberry meets The Queen! Photo courtesy of Charlotte Dujardin.

You know a dressage horse is a real superstar when even eventing folks follow him after retirement. Blueberry, the horse of all our dreams, not only stunned us in the competition arena, but seems to have just the coolest dude personality of all time, and although he has retired, he still gets plenty of action, including meeting the Queen this week!

National Holiday: National Shrimp Day

U.S. Weekend Preview:

Jersey Fresh CCI [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]

Spokane Sport Horse Farm H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]

Texas Rose Horse Park H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]

Galway Downs H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]

Winona H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]

Plantation Field H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]

WindRidge Farm H.T. [Website] [Entry Status] [Ride Times] [Live Scores]

Mill Creek Pony Club H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]

Woodland Stallion Station H.T. [Website] [Entry Status/Ride Times/Live Scores]

News From Around the Globe:

2019 marked the end of an era: the 28 years of Mitsubishi Motors sponsorship ended for Badminton Horse Trials. Remember when they jumped the two truck beds on cross country? I remember watching VHS tapes of Badminton when I was a kid and thinking truck beds were just the coolest freaking thing. Horse & Hound gathered eleven amazing photos of Badminton throughout the ages just to give you all the feels. [End of an Era: Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials]

We know about corrective shoeing for horses, but what about giraffes? A baby giraffe born at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle was diagnosed with hyperextended hind fetlocks shortly after his birth. He was fitted with casts for both hind legs, and some custom shoes were created for him as well to help him grow properly. [Equine Therapeutic Farrier Technique Used for Baby Giraffe]

Laminitis is an incredibly painful hoof disease that can be difficult to treat with regular western medicine. New studies have shown that acupuncture can be a new and extremely effective  treatment to help mitigate the discomfort and lameness from laminitis. Kevin May, DVM, used dry needling, hemo-acupuncture, and aqua-acupuncture, and treated a dozen horses twice one week apart. With the help of veterinary lameness exams before and after each acupuncture treatment, May was able to show that the horses shows significantly less lameness after each treatment. [Acupuncture for Chronic Laminitis]

The use of lasix and other drugs in horse racing has always been a hot issue. One horsewoman and vet is on a mission to breed lasix free racehorses, and also rescue OTTB’s. Whether or not lasix should be banned in North American horse racing is a question that has been begging to be answered ever since the Stronach Group announced their plans to phase out lasix. The announcement by the Stronach Group has been followed up with a coalition of 20 tracks forming to phase out lasix and completely eliminate the use of it in stakes races by 2021. [Kathryn Papp Is Breeding Lasix Free Racehorses]