Eight exceptional veterinary students committed to careers in equine medicine received $2,500 scholarships from the American Association of Equine Practitioners Foundation and Markel on Sunday, December 7 during the Student Luncheon at the AAEP’s 60th Annual Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Now in its 26th year, the annual scholarship program awards financial support to fourth-year veterinary students who are proven leaders at their veterinary schools, advocates for equine welfare, and academic achievers. Since inception of the program in 1989, 186 veterinary students have received more than $400,000 in scholarship support.

Congratulations to the following 2014 recipients:

Zachary Badura, Iowa State University
Elodie Huguet, University of Georgia
Rebecca Legere, Kansas State University
Molly Muedeking, Royal Veterinary College
Stephanie Regan, University of Florida
Holly Roessner, Michigan State University
Esther Rogers, Auburn University
Bailee Stanton, University of Saskatchewan

“Markel has been a leader in equine insurance for many years,” said AAEP Foundation Chairman Jeff Berk, VMD. “We can’t thank Markel and its dedicated team enough for continuing its leadership by supporting this scholarship program.

“Equine veterinary students need help now more than ever, and Markel’s dedication is so important in helping these students during difficult economic times.”

Julian Bowen-Rees, managing director of Markel Specialty, Equine & Livestock, noted that honoring excellence among the newest colleagues in veterinary medicine is something that Markel is proud to support. “We are delighted to honor these exceptional senior veterinary students who have taken a special interest in equine medicine and surgery. We understand and appreciate the roll of veterinarians, especially in relation to our business, and we are pleased to continue the legacy established by American Live Stock.”

“As a member of the AAEP for over 30 years, I am especially pleased and honored to represent Markel in supporting the newest equine veterinarians.” added Dr. Lance Allen, veterinarian and director of Agri-Risk Services, Markel’s Midwest office in Kansas City, Mo.

Veterinary students are nominated for the scholarship by representatives from their colleges with supporting references from AAEP members and clinical instructors. In addition to academic excellence, nominees are evaluated by their leadership abilities and involvement with activities benefiting the health and welfare of horses. Each accredited college or school of veterinary medicine may nominate one fourth-year veterinary student who intends to enter private practice and develops its own criteria for nomination.

Additional information about this program and other scholarships offered through the AAEP Foundation is available through the scholarship section of the AAEP Foundation’s website here

Markel has more than 40 years of expertise in insuring horses and horse businesses. Headquartered in Glen Allen, Va., Markel also has dedicated equine offices located in Warrenton, Va., Lexington, Ky., Kansas City, Mo., and Geneva, Ill. The company is committed to the horse industry and licensed to do business in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Rated “A” (Excellent) by A.M. Best.

The AAEP Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization created in 1994, serves as the charitable arm of the American Association of Equine Practitioners to improve the welfare of the horse. Since its inception, the Foundation has allocated more than $3 million to support its mission.

Contact: Sally J. Baker, APR
sbaker@aaep.org

One of the dressage world’s icons is Carole MacDonald. When we think of the New England Dressage Association, we think of Carole. Recently Carole lost her husband Craig of 56 years to an unexpected medical complication, as she was making preparations to bring him home from the hospital.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Carole. We love you!

For information about Craig, please click here

Longtime Texas A&M University professor G. Kent Carter, DVM, DACVIM, was installed as president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) during the Dec. 9 President’s Luncheon at the association’s 60th Annual Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A native of Levan, Utah, Dr. Carter entered private practice in Reno, Nev., after graduating from Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1979. He completed a residency in large animal medicine at Texas A&M University in 1982. While working on faculty at Purdue University for two years, he became board certified in internal medicine. In 1984, Dr. Carter joined the faculty of Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, where he later served as section chief of internal medicine.

For the past 20 years, Dr. Carter has collaborated with farriers to resolve equine hoof disorders and lameness. He founded an instructional rotation for students at Texas A&M dedicated to foot care and its ties to lameness.

An AAEP member since 1980, Dr. Carter has served on the Abstract Review, Farrier Liaison, Infectious Disease, Leadership Development, Nominating and Student Relations committees as well as a term on the board of directors from 2006-07.

Outside of practice, Dr. Carter enjoys working on his small farm, hunting and making knives.

The American Association of Equine Practitioners, headquartered in Lexington, Ky., was founded in 1954 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the health and welfare of the horse. Currently, AAEP reaches more than 5 million horse owners through its over 9,000 members worldwide and is actively involved in ethics issues, practice management, research and continuing education in the equine veterinary profession and horse industry.

Contact Sally Baker, sbaker@aaep.org

North Carolina State University doctoral candidate Liara Gonzalez, DVM, DACVS, and University of Minnesota doctoral candidate Elaine Norton, DVM, MS, received the 2014 EQUUS Foundation Research Fellows for their work to advance equine veterinary knowledge.

Drs. Gonzalez and Norton were recognized Dec. 8 during the Frank J. Milne State-of-the-Art Lecture at the AAEP’s 60th Annual Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. Each received a $5,000 fellow to support their endeavors in equine research and a $500 stipend to support their travel to Salt Lake City. Instituted in 2011 and supported in partnership by the AAEP Foundation and the EQUUS Foundation, the $5,000 fellows emphasize the importance of assisting equine researchers in their exploration of horse health care topics.

“We sponsor the EQUUS Foundation Research Fellows program to emphasize the importance of equine research, reward researchers for their contributions, and meet the increasing need to train future equine veterinary researchers,” said Jenny Belknap Kees, EQUUS Foundation chairman of the board.

Dr. Gonzalez’s research aims to identify new and effective regenerative medicine therapies for horses diagnosed with intestinal ischemia, a condition that worsens the prognosis for colic cases. With limited available therapeutic options, her study investigates the use of intestinal epithelial stem cells as a possible therapeutic target due to their capacity to regenerate the mucosal epithelial barrier.

Dr. Gonzalez received her DVM from Cornell University in 2006. She completed her large animal surgery residency at North Carolina State in 2010.

Dr. Norton’s research seeks to identify genetic risk loci and potential candidate genes in horses with equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) by phenotyping 100 Welsh Ponies and genotyping them on the new equine 670,000 single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping array. The study has the potential to substantially expand understanding of the genetic and molecular factors that contribute to the pathophysiology of EMS and improve ability to predict disease risk and identify animals that could benefit from management changes or therapeutic intervention.

Dr. Norton earned her DVM at Colorado State University in 2009 and her Master’s in Biomedical Sciences from Auburn University in 2013. She completed her internal medicine residency at Auburn in 2013.

For more information about this program and other scholarships offered through the AAEP Foundation, please visit www.aaepfoundation.org and select “Scholarships” in the “Apply for Funding” drop-down menu.

The EQUUS Foundation (www.equusfoundation.org), a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002, is dedicated to improving the quality of life of horses, retraining horses for multiple careers, making equine therapy available to more people and educating the public about the horse’s unique ability to empower, teach and heal.

The AAEP Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization created in 1994, serves as the charitable arm of the American Association of Equine Practitioners to improve the welfare of the horse. Since its inception, the Foundation has allocated more than $3 million to support its mission.

Ocala, FL (December 9, 2014) – It’s amazing to watch a horse clear a course of intimidating jumps or push across the finish line at a race track. A true sense of awe takes hold when the spectator considers the small, delicate lower limbs that are carrying this magnificent creature to success with both power and grace. The thin, strong cords of connective tissue that join the horse’s muscles to his bones in the limbs are called tendons, and play a vital role in the horse’s ability to move. Just as the horse’s body depends on these tendons to function, the tendons depend on good care and careful treatment of the entire horse in order to work properly. Equine tendon injuries are serious, and unfortunately are not difficult to obtain.

Having a tendon injury generally means that the fiber bundles that make up a tendon have been overly stretched and therefore ruptured. Tendons provide great strength and elasticity to horses’ legs, so an injured tendon renders the horse lame—sometimes indefinitely.

Some causes of tendon injuries are obvious, such as a horse falling while moving over uneven ground or getting a leg caught over an object like a fence board. Other causes are not as easy to spot, but can be detrimental to the horse’s ability to move for the rest of his life if they are not found in time. Riders, owners, and trainers must be vigilant in ensuring that they are not over-exercising or overstraining their equines, and are taking proper care of them. Even an incorrectly applied leg wrap can weaken tendons.

In fact, most tendon injuries are due to slight repetitive stress on the tendons rather than to a high amount of stress received at one time. If a horse is being over-exercised to the point of tearing just a few tendon fibers during every ride, he is slowly developing a tendon injury that will result in a much worse problem than his current “feeling ‘off’” during performance. Besides occurring in horses that are improperly exercised or overexerted, tendon injuries are also more likely to occur in horses that do not have adequately trimmed hooves or have poor pastern conformation. Ignoring a slight lameness problem is the most common cause of a tendon injury.

To discover tendon injuries before they pose a permanent threat to the horse, perform examinations of the horse’s lower limbs after every session of heavy training or intensive competition. Examining the tendons will usually reveal that they are inflamed, hot, and sore to the touch if an injury is developing. Having bowed tendons is another common sign of a tendon injury. At times, horses that are developing tendon injuries will not appear to be lame until after the injury has become severe. Because of this, it is important to have horses that are undergoing intensive exercise examined often by veterinarians who use ultrasounds to analyze the tendons.

Brenda McDuffee, General Manager of The Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation Center, insists that treating tendon injuries involves “taking care of the whole horse so there is better recovery and less chance of re-injury.” To recover from a tendon injury, horses must be given ample time to rest and limited exercise. Even when extreme care is taken to rehabilitate the horse, though, he may never fully recover. Initial prevention is by far the best way to treat this issue.

McDuffee explains “when the horse is really out of condition, and has limped for so long because it became his ‘normal’ way of moving after a few weeks, he never really returns to using a full stride even once he is doing his limited hand-walking and exercising. It is very hard to re-train a horse to use himself evenly either from the ground or under saddle. He will also become fatigued easily while recovering, which causes him to short-stride or— if pushed to continue— can cause him to re-injure the newly healed (still fragile) tissue.”

“This is applicable to many sport horses because so many have injuries— even if they are only mild strains versus tears or bows. Even if the horse is examined and found to be healed, he has been compensating his stride to accommodate the pain throughout rehabilitation. The horse has lost condition and strength from not working, and all of these things factor into bringing him back without causing a re-injury or a new problem,” says McDuffee.

The first step in helping a horse suffering from a tendon injury to recover is to reduce the inflammation in the limb. Anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving drugs can be administered, along with cold therapy and other modalities to accentuate healing. The horse should rest as much as possible, and an exercise plan should be formed that will not unduly stress the injured tendon. Once a tendon has been injured, it is more likely to become injured again in the horse’s future. The veterinarian may also perform additional procedures to help heal the injury.

The Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation Center in Ocala, Florida, offers advanced treatment and rehabilitation options for horses with tendon injuries to allow them a better chance at full recovery. One treatment that the Sanctuary offers that can make an extreme difference in the recovery process of a tendon injury is the Cold Water Leg Spa. The thirty-five degree salt water in this spa provides pain relief. The legs remain cold for approximately four hours after leaving the spa; a time period during which oxygen flow to the area is increased which speeds up the healing process. The Sanctuary’s Pegasus Laser will reduce pain in the tendon area, reduce swelling, and speed up tissue repair. The Aqua-Pacer Water Treadmill treatment allows horses to exercise without applying a lot of pressure to the tendons. The speed of the treadmill and depth of the water can be adjusted to the specific horse’s needs. The treadmill forces the horse to move both sides of his body equally, which will help eliminate the common tendon injury problem of retaining uneven movement even after healing. This therapy reduces inflammation, as well.

The Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation Center’s rehabilitating and healing treatments can help a horse heal more rapidly and more fully than would be possible without the facility’s therapy. To learn more about The Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation Center, click here

Photo: The Cold Water Leg Spa at The Sanctuary Equine Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation Center helps horses with tendon injuries during the recovery process (Photo courtesy of Brenda McDuffee)

By Yellow Horse Marketing

Coming on the heels of a wildly-successful inaugural season in 2014, California Dreaming Productions has now announced its 2015 CDI schedule, which includes the renewal of three international dressage competitions. The Mid-Winter Dressage Fair CDI-W/Y/J/U-25 will be held February 20 – 22 in Burbank, as well as back-to-back shows in San Juan Capistrano with the Capistrano Dressage International CDI-W/Y/J/U-25 on March 20 – 22 and the Festival of the Horse CDI 3*/Y/J/U-25, March 26 – 28. For the first time, the Festival of the Horse and corresponding Blenheim Spring Classic I & II hunter/jumper show will also host the KWPN-NA Annual Meeting, an event popular with breeders, riders, trainers, and sport horse enthusiasts.

These 2015 competitions look to be particularly intense as the Mid-Winter Dressage Fair CDI-W and Capistrano Dressage International CDI-W are the only two West Coast qualifiers for the 2015 Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final, which returns in spectacular fashion to Las Vegas, Nev. on April 15 – 19 with the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final. Some of the country’s best Grand Prix horses and riders including Steffen Peters, Kathleen Raine and Jan Ebeling are expected to compete at these events in an effort to earn a coveted invitation to the Finals, making for spectacular competition for exhibitors and spectators alike. High Performance competitors attending all three CDI’s will also be seeking valuable qualifying scores for next summer’s Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, where a new format of naming mixed teams of large and small tour combinations will be utilized for the first time. In addition, California Dreaming Productions shows have also proven to be immensely popular with open, adult amateur and junior/young rider exhibitors, and all venues will once again feature the lavish competitor hospitality and VIP offerings which have set a new standard for dressage events in California.

“We were thrilled with how our first series of shows went in 2014, and that makes us look forward even more to the possibilities for the coming year. We’re not just running horse shows – we are creating destination events for riders, owners, sponsors, and spectators,” said Glenda McElroy, co-founder of California Dreaming Productions with David and Alisa Wilson. “There is a tremendous amount of excitement here on the West Coast about the upcoming World Cup Finals and Pan Am Games, and we’re delighted to be a part of it and provide everyone with great venues, fantastic competition, and a wonderful showing experience, all close to home.”

The Festival of the Horse will also act as host for the 2015 KWPN of North America (KWPN-NA) Annual Meeting, March 26 – 28. This three-day gathering provides a special opportunity for breeders, owners, riders, trainers, and the public to come together and network with other equestrians, glean new knowledge which can then be applied to their own breeding or sport programs, and celebrate some of the world’s best equine athletes. With an impressive roster of speakers and demonstrations, headlined by Holland’s Marian Dorresteijn (the only female jury member for KWPN Stallion Approvals) and Bart Henstra (head jury member of the KWPN-NA keurings), this event will create a dynamic atmosphere of education combined with live international horse sport in the stunning setting of Southern California.

“We are very excited to be able to organize our annual meeting during California Dreaming Productions’ Festival of the Horse CDI as well as the Blenheim Spring Classic hunter/jumper show,” said Willy Arts, KWPN-NA Chairman. “This venue and the quality of horses and riders which will be on-site during this event will give us the best opportunity to educate our members, and will also be a great opportunity for riders, trainers, and owners to learn about identifying horses’ ability and the talent needed for the FEI level at a younger age.”

For more information about the KWPN-NA annual meeting, contact the KWPN-NA office, http://kwpn-na.org/ or by phone (541) 459-3232. To find out more about 2015 dressage competition information and sponsor opportunities with California Dreaming Productions, click here or contact Glenda McElroy, glenda@cdpequestrian.com, or David and Alisa Wilson, david@cdpequestrian.com and alisa@cdpequestrian.com.

Steffen Peters aboard Legolas at the 2013 World Dressage Masters Palm Beach. Photo Credit: Sharon Packer

Lexington, KY (December 9, 2014) – The United States Dressage Federation (USDF) would like to congratulate the twelve-year-old, 17.0 hand, Westfalen gelding, Legolas, owned by Akiko Yamazaki’s Four Winds Farm LLC, and ridden by Steffen Peters of San Diego, California, for being named 2014 Adequan/USDF Grand Prix Horse of the Year. Legolas’ median score of 75.451 percent made him the top horse in the United States competing at this level and the recipient of USDF’s highest honor for the third year in a row.

Legolas was recognized at the 2014 Adequan/USDF Salute Gala and Annual Awards Banquet with a commemorative personalized plaque, an embroidered cooler, and a gift certificate provided by Dressage Extensions. Also, Legolas is the recipient of the Colonel Thackeray Award and will have his name engraved on a silver trophy to be on permanent display in the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame housed at the USDF National Education Center, located at the Kentucky Horse Park.

“USDF is thrilled to be able to recognize this extraordinary horse for his many accomplishments during the 2014 competition season. We also congratulate his owner Four Winds Farm, Akiko Yamazaki, his rider Steffen Peters, and the entire Legolas team,” stated USDF Executive Director Stephan Hienzsch.

For more information about the Adequan/USDF Horse of the Year awards or to access a list of past and current recipients, visit the USDF website or contact the USDF office at usdressage@usdf.org.