What do you do when you are faced with a health emergency with your horse? Would you be prepared? Many owners don’t feel they are equipped physically – and emotionally – to deal with a first aid emergency situation involving their horse, be it wire cuts, trailering injuries, stings, burns, puncture wounds, digestive distress, or something less dramatic but potentially just as serious.

A team of researchers at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) is investigating the potential use of stem cells - an exciting new area of veterinary medicine - on wound healing in horses. “Stem cells in the purest definition are cells that are able to regenerate themselves and differentiate into all cell types,” says Dr. Suzanne Mund, a veterinarian who is a graduate student in the WCVM’s Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences.

Accurate diagnosis is critical - A lame horse often means a sudden change in plans, and a lameness diagnosis during the summer is an especially disappointing way to end the show season for a horse and its rider. In addition to conventional lameness therapies, newer treatments such as shock wave therapy, cold compression therapy, and regenerative therapies that use the body’s natural ability to heal may help to return horses to the show ring more quickly.