Develop an exercise therapy program that gives your horse the best chance of recovery - Subtle lameness or signs of pain that do not lead to a clear veterinary diagnosis can be extremely frustrating, costly, and time-consuming. Unfortunately, they are also quite common, leaving many owners feeling helpless to plot a path forward. In this article I will offer guiding principles for tackling these scenarios along with specific examples of how I implemented them with Remy, a mare that came to me with bucking behaviours and signs of back pain but with no clear diagnosis.

A Burgeoning Business - In the past eight years, stand-alone equine rehabilitation and conditioning centres that help horses return to health or greater fitness have been opening their doors in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Depending on the business owners’ interests, skills, and client base each operation provides a unique suite of therapy modalities such as treadmills, pools, exercisers, saltwater baths, and solariums. Additional services and treatments such as bodywork, nebulizers, and product sales are also common.

Friesian horses far more susceptible to genetic defect associated with painful eye condition - An interdisciplinary team of scientists and clinicians, led by Dr. Rebecca Bellone at the University of California Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, has identified a genetic variant associated with distichiasis in Friesian horses.