When showing competitively, horse owners want their horses to feel and work at their very best for every practice and show. For horses that may battle equine pain and inflammation, many horse owners turn to their veterinarians for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). However, each NSAID carries with it safety risks, making them extremely dangerous when used simultaneously.

Yes, the bad weather is coming! During the spring and summer great pastures can satisfy the nutritional requirements of most broodmares. However, as the temperature drops and the grass quality declines, supplementary feed becomes increasingly important for providing the essential nutrients required for growth and development.

Are you worried about resistance to your current dewormer? Are you concerned that your parasite control program isn’t working as well as it used to? With questions like these, it can pay to incorporate fecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT) into your deworming program this fall.

Horse shows can be a stressful endeavor. However, exhibitors aren’t the only ones who deal with the pressure of competition. Whether horses travel the country attending shows week after week or are out once a year to win a ribbon at the county show, they can feel the stress of competition, too.

Before you hit the show circuit this season, be sure to do your part to keep horses, other animals and competitors safe by including a rabies vaccination at your pre-event health exam. Vaccinations can do more than just help horses — they can help protect horse owners from disease, too.

With summer just around the corner, now is the time to vaccinate horses against Potomac horse fever (PHF).

“Horse owners need to be aware of the disease and its seasonality,” says Dr. Julia Wilson, DVM, associate professor, large animal medicine, University of Minnesota.

Handling the foal is a common conversation here at the farm. We have many foals that come to the farm without any handling at all. This certainly makes our job more difficult and more stressful for the foal. The training of a foal should begin from his first day of life, not postponed until he is weaned. Foals which have had little human contact or experience with handling have a very strong flight response. They still might regard humans as predators, and their instinct tells them to fight or flee.

The AQHA Executive Committee met Wednesday, April 22 at its Amarillo, Texas headquarters. A hearing was called to determine whether or not the Executive Committee would pursue further action after upholding the recommendation made by the Professional Horsemen's Council to remove Cleve Wells from the Professional Horsemen Association. After a six hour hearing and deliberation, the Executive Committee’s decision was to suspend Wells for one year plus pay a $10,000 fine. At the end of the one year suspension, Wells must show cause for reinstatement. If cause is shown and he is reinstated, Wells will be placed on indefinite probation.

For the first time ever, horse owners are able to access their Coggins certificates online. MyVetLink.com is a website geared toward the horse owner, allowing them to print off their own digital Coggins certificates. The launch of GlobalVetLink’s secure, electronic signatures, made it possible to allow owners to create an account for retrieving their Coggins certificates and soon, their health certificates online. The system is win-win for both the owners and veterinarians. The horse owners now have their Coggins certificates at their fingertips, while it saves the veterinarians time, paper, ink and postage.