Equine

Washington -- The National Thoroughbred Racing Association's (NTRA) Safety and Integrity Alliance has accredited 12 racetracks and established several uniform safety and integrity measures during its first year of operation, and now an independent monitor will examine its work and issue a report on its effectiveness.

St. Louis -- Purina is giving free horse feed to a family in Missouri who take care of six children and six rescue horses, as well as a family in Texas who volunteer with a therapy riding program. Both families are in upcoming episodes of the ABC television show ?Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.?

Roseland, N.J. -- Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health is donating 7,250 doses of EquiRab rabies vaccine to 150 equine rescue and retirement facilities nationwide, through the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign (UHVRC) in honor of the recent World Rabies Day.

No one is exactly sure why, but the number of horse deaths at the nation's racetracks declined very little in 2008, despite ongoing industrywide efforts to raise health and safety standards.

Reported cases of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) during the first eight months of 2009 already have surpassed last year's total in the United States, while West Nile virus (WNV) cases are sharply down from 2008, according to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The report was last updated Sept. 9.

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is the 11th racing facility to win accreditation by a national safety organization.

Lexington, Ky. -- Tickets to the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games go on sale Friday (Sept. 25) at noon -- exactly one year before the games begin in Lexington's Kentucky Horse Park.

Las Vegas -- More than 4,000 veterinarians, veterinary students and technicians are expected for the 55th annual convention of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Dec. 5-9 at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

Fort Worth, Texas -- The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has an ongoing program offering $500 to those who adopt mature horses 4 to 10 years old from public lands as part of National Wild Horse Adoption Day Sept. 26.

Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) cases during the first eight months of 2009 already have surpassed last year's total in the United States.

North Grafton, Mass. -- A new six-stall equine isolation ward at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University triples the capacity for patients at the infectious-disease unit.

New York -- The nation's 2010 Thoroughbred foal crop is expected to be the smallest in more than 30 years, according to the Jockey Club's annual projection.

Horse deaths at racetracks declined only slightly in 2008, despite efforts to raise standards.

An equine practitioner from Queensland, Australia, has died after contracting the Hendra virus from a horse.

The digital age is here-and it's mobile.

Be prepared to show how your education benefits your equine practice's bottom line.

If horse owners and groups allied to them were to contribute money, as many who took part in a recent online survey indicated they were willing to do, they could make a substantial impact toward solving the nation's problem of unwanted and neglected horses.

Washington, D.C. -- Ericka Caslin is the new director of the Unwanted Horse Coalition.

Dissecting a state-board investigation can go a long way to easing fear and stress.

Methuen, Mass. -- Staff and volunteers at the Massachusetts SPCA?s Nevins Farm have seen a record number of horses surrendered to the facility this year.

National Report -- Of 35 equine cases of West Nile virus (WNV) reported nationwide so far this season, 20 are in Washington state.

Brighton, United Kingdom -- Horses are closely watching your body language to see if they?ve got your attention, according to research by Leanne Proops and Karen McComb at the University of Sussex.

Brisbane, Australia -- An equine practitioner from Queensland, Australia, is in a medically induced coma after contracting the potentially fatal Hendra virus from a horse, according to the Australian Horse Industry Council (AHIC).

Seventeen states have reported 140 cases of Eastern equine encephalitis so far this season.

Elmont, N.Y. -- Surgery to repair Mine That Bird's entrapped epiglottis "went perfectly" Tuesday, according to Leonard Blach, DVM, co-owner of the horse that won this year's Kentucky Derby.

East Lansing, Mich. -- There's a new equine medicine residency at Michigan State University (MSU), thanks to an endowment from an alumni couple.

Elmont, N.Y. -- Mine That Bird, the 3-year-old gelding that won this year's Kentucky Derby, will undergo minor surgery Tuesday morning for an entrapped epiglottis.

Washington -- A new government study says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) didn't adequately assess the biosecurity and economic risks of moving the Plum Island, N.Y., animal-disease research lab to a Kansas State University site in Manhattan, Kan.