The Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine’s 2022 Annual Conference and J. T. Vaughan Equine Conference — held Oct. 20-23 — continued a tradition of 115 consecutive years of continuing education provided by the Southeast’s oldest veterinary program.
Mark Bellissimo continues to sell assets from the portfolio of equestrian and real estate properties he manages from his base in Wellington, Florida. He has now let go of the Colorado Horse Park.
Common Colic Myths Debunked
The signs of colic are well-known to many horse owners: abdominal discomfort shown by pawing, kicking at the belly, repeatedly rolling, sweating and increased heart and respiration rate. Though colic is unfortunately common in horses, only about 10 percent of colic cases require surgical intervention to resolve.
Colic surgery can seem scary, but improvements in the past few decades have lessened the chance of a negative outcome, reports The Horse. Yet, myths regarding colic surgery remain. Dr. Jacqueline Hill, who practices at Littleton Equine Medical Center in Colorado, dispels some of the most common colic surgery myths.
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Typically, newborn foals are rambunctious and alert except when snoozing at their dams’ sides. So, when one breeding farm’s managers and veterinarians found several new arrivals each year sluggish and aspirating milk (known as dysphagia), they began investigating. Researchers found high concentrations of certain chemicals in the well water on the farm, which is located near unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) aka fracking and sought to eliminate them. Then they went on to determine the long-term effects of dysphagia on the horses’ racing careers.
“We investigated a clustering of neonatal dysphagia at a well-managed Standardbred broodmare farm located in northeastern Pennsylvania,” said Kathleen R. Mullen, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM. “In addition … the foals exhibited a subdued mentation but had good suckle reflexes.”