Photo by Amy Dragoo, courtesy of MediVet Equine.
Meet Marcia Kulak: event rider with over 30 years of international experience. She’s competed at the likes of Kentucky, Burghley, Blenheim, Boekelo, and Fair Hill and she knows a thing or two about what it takes to manage high performance equine athletes. To keep her string of competition horses healthy and strong, Marcia relies on the regenerative healing powers of MediVet Equine’s revolutionary product, MediVet ACS (Autologous Conditioned Serum).
Autologous Conditioned Serum — what does that do? Simply put, it blocks some of the inflammatory responses in the horse’s body and allows the body to heal itself, even during strenuous training. And unlike other therapies which just target specific areas like the joints, ACS acts on the whole body. Marcia tried MediVet ACS earlier this year and has included it in the routine care of her horses ever since.
“The first horse that I had experience using MediVet ACS with was a large bodied Warmblood that was a very good athlete. However, he had multiple physical issues that weren’t improving at a rate that I was pleased with,” she said. “Instead of resorting to steroids or routine joint injections, I feel really good about being able to help a horse help itself with MediVet ACS.
“There were definitely visible changes that are probably attributed to the fact that, as the horse got more comfortable, his posture improved and hence his condition improved!”
It’s pretty remarkable that just one type of treatment can have such a positive effect on the whole horse, but hey, it’s all made possible by science. There’s always time to learn a little something new, and with that let’s look at some of this week’s headlines in horse health news.
This Week in Horse Health News:
One lot of a compounded drug containing pyrimethamine and toltrazuril has been linked to three equine deaths. Pyrimethamine and toltrazuril are broadly classified as anti-parasitic agents and were being used to treat Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM). The product was compounded by Rapid Equine Solutions, LLC of Pennsylvania and the deaths occurred in Maine and Ohio. The product lot is no longer in distribution. [FDA]
Horse owners in Texas should be aware of outbreaks of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) across the state. VSV is viral disease transmitted by direct contact and by blood-feeding insects (such as mosquitoes and biting flies). So far, there have been 20 locations in 12 counties that have confirmed cases of VSV. [The Horse]
Did you know that laminitis is the second leading cause of death in horses? Years and years of research a have been poured into learning about laminitis, but even though we know so much more than we did a decade ago veterinarians aren’t seeing fewer cases of the disease. This may be due to horse owners not being proactive and utilizing the information available to help prevent it. Laminitis is a disease that brews over time – it doesn’t happen overnight – and horse owners are overlooking the signs.
This article, written Fran Jurga, publisher of The Hoof Blog, discusses the research and speaks with leading veterinarians in the field. If you’re looking for a crash course on laminitis (which everyone should be) and tips for disease prevention, you’ve found it. The article appears in the summer issue of the US Equestrian Magazine which is hitting mailboxes soon, but you can also read it at the link to the right — just use the slider at the bottom to turn to page 90. [US Equestrian Magazine]
About MediVet Equine:
MediVet Equine‘s mission is to bring state-of-the-art science, and principled stewardship, to performance horses, their owners and the equine industry. Following the medical model of “do no harm,” MediVet Equine, the original creators of the breakthrough MediVet Autologous Conditioned Serum (MediVet ACS), develops scientifically based biological therapeutics, enabling the horse to call on its own healing ability to achieve its full performance potential.
Specializing in regenerative treatments that help the body heal and regain strength, MediVet Equine’s products are designed to activate specific cells and growth factors within horses to encourage and enhance healing. As a result, their products are safe and suitable for all performance horses.
