This Week in Horse Health News Presented by Absorbine

Fatty, fatty, two-by-four... Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Fatty, fatty, two-by-four... Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Recently, I made the decision to put Onyx, my rotund Morgan gelding, in a dry lot paddock with high-quality hay. Pony is on a diet! Thanks to his insatiable need to eat everything in his sight, it doesn’t take much to make his small, black frame look like a bowling ball with hair. For the sake of his health, the dry lot diet will help him lose the extra fat while I continue to ride and condition him.

Does anyone else have any easy keepers? Check out this article by Kentucky Equine Research on why obesity is the least of your equine Roomba’s problems.

This Week in Horse Health News:

Boulder County confirms VS case: Vesicular stomatitis (VS) has been confirmed in Boulder County, making Colorado the second state after Texas to have this disease in 2014. VS is characterized by “vesicles, erosions, and sloughing of the skin on the muzzle, tongue, teats, and above the hooves of affected livestock” and is thought to be transmitted largely by insects. [The Horse]

British racehorses test positive for morphine: Last week, the British Horseracing Authority reported that A samples from five horses tested positive for morphine, a banned substance. Yesterday, the BBC reported that one of the horses who tested positive is Estimate, owned by the Queen. [Horsetalk]

Eating for two: Researchers have found a correlation between forage availability and mare fertility rates. Mares given free-choice forage had 47 percent higher fertility rates than mares with reduced forage availability; factors affecting these different rates could be less stress and better metabolism caused by more natural feeding patterns. [The Horse]

Hepatitus Viruses 101: Check out The Horse‘s review of three new equine hepatitis viruses, Theiler’s Disease-Associated Virus (TDAV), Nonprimate Hepacivirus (NPHV) and Equine Pegivirus (EPgV). The article contains valuable information, such as the history of the viruses’ discoveries and their clinical symptoms. [The Horse]

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