Heads Up! Ohio State Seminar Updates Vets on an Important Part of All Horses

by Fran Jurga | 22 January 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

This plastinate tissue preservation of a horse's head reminds me of looking under the hood of a high-performance sports car. There are lots of parts, and you know that they all have to be in tune for the apparatus to operate. So it is with the horse: if something in the head is causing discomfort, the horse may change his head carriage, which affects his balance and posture and gait, he may not want to keep a bit in his mouth, and he may shake his head or develop a behavior that will make riding and handling difficult, if not dangerous. (Plastinate image courtesy of HC Biovision, Dr. Christoph von Horst.)

Veterinarian seminars go through cycles. Some years, there are lots of new developments in reproduction, or imaging technology, or colic diagnosis. Fifteen years ago, we had a spatter of meetings on joint disease. Then it was laminitis, which morphed into digital radiography and MRI and clinical applications of diagnostic ultrasound. Pain management and gastric ulcers and EPM have had their meetings.

From what I see and hear and read, horse owners these days are concerned about problems that I have personally not experienced with horses: allergies, sarcoids and gutteral pouch or sinus infections or obstructions. We all know someone who has a head shaker, and doesn't it seem like horses are having more eye problems than ever before?

What was that funny word in there? The gutteral pouches are like the lost cities of the Incas when it comes to equine health. Thanks to fantastic new imaging modalities, we can have more detailed views of this hard-to-get-to region in the horse's head, and track down sinus infections and the masses that seem to affect these strange pockets. More and more horse owners are complaining to me about gutteral pouch infections and the veterinary world is responding with treatments and medications to help horses.

On February 6-8, 2009, the Ohio State University will host a continuing education seminar for veterinarians and technicians who want to update themselves on the latest care and treatment for medical problems in the horse's head. Facial skin tumors, head shaking, eye problems, dentistry, upper airways problems, gutteral pouch problems, sinus infections, and head swelling are all on the agenda, along with reviews of sophisticated surgical and medical treatments and advanced imaging diagnostics. Dr. Mike Lowder of the University of Georgia will join OSU clinicians and surgeons...and all our horses will come out ahead, if you'll pardon the pun.

Click here for conference details.

Plastinate tissue preservation of a horse's eye. (Dr. Christoph von Horst)

Electrifying Experience for US Riders at World Endurance Championships

Alarming news has reached the United States about the fate of American riders competing in the 2008 World Endurance Championship held at Terengganu, Malaysia, on the edge of the South China Sea.

Early in the ride, a heavy rain storm caused flooding on the trail, but it was the bolt of lightning that finished off the team. When lightning struck a tree as USA rider Jan Worthington on the aptly named, Golden Lightning, and countrywoman Meg Sleeper on Syrocco Reveille, traveled through the water on the trail, the horses received the shock. The horses were flipped end over end, dumping riders and gear.

Fortunately, no one was badly hurt at the time, but the scrapes and bruises on the horses took their toll over the remaining 70 miles, and both horses were eventually eliminated for lameness.

Kathy Brunjes riding Theatric was the first and only member of the United States team to finish in 24th position while Valerie Kanavy riding Flash Flame came in shortly after her in 25th place. Team member, John Crandell riding Saba Shams, was eliminated at Gate Two for lameness. Cheryl Dell, riding one of the highest rated horses, Reason To Believe, was stricken with a debilitating illness and had to withdraw at the same gate.

Congratulaions to Spain’s Maria Alvarez Ponton who galloped home to win on Nobby the gold medal and also the best condition award at

Argentinean rider, Agustin Vita, riding Baraka Ibn Al Tamah won Silver, and Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem of the United Arab Emirates, gained the Bronze on Tazoul El Parry. The Gulf Countries of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain swept Team Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively.Forty-eight horses finished the ride of the 127 starters.

United States Equestrian Federation Director of Endurance Vonita Bowers said, “We had a plan and stuck to it, but we had some bad luck. The horses were very ready. We had no metabolic issues and we had good recoveries. We knew the speeds that we wanted to go and we stuck fairly close to those speeds. Except for the unforeseen things such as illness and lightning, we rode our ride the way we planned. The selection process gave us the best horses and the best riders, and the training session system of selection worked well.”

Chef d’Equipe, Becky Hart commented, “In spite of the outcome, a lot of good things happened here. Everyone worked like a team; when a rider was pulled, they pitched in to help.”

Held once every two years, the 2008 FEI World Endurance Championship was staged from the Terengganu International Endurance Park (TIEP) in Lembah Bidong, situated on the South China sea on the coastline north of Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. 129 riders from 32 countries were invited to compete. The sponsorship and location were promoted by avid endurance rider, the King of Malaysia, Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahumud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah. The world’s top riders were joined by members of the Royal families of Bahrain and Dubai.

Due to the tropical climate, the 160 km event began at 5:30 p.m. and ran throughout the night.

The U.S. Training Squad is already preparing for the 2010 Endurance Championship ride to be held as part of the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky. This will be the third time for the United States to host the World Endurance Championship. It was held at Front Royal, Virginia, in 1988 and in Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1996.

Indoor Eventing: The Next Big Thing? Twenty of the World's Top Riders Think So!

by Fran Jurga, Special to The Jurga Report, EquiSearch.com;
Posted 1 November 2008

Stash the Wellies. Forget the umbrella. Don't even bother checking the weather. The world's next big eventing showdown has been guaranteed perfect footing and a shadowless course...because it will be held indoors on November 30 at Millennium Stadium, in Cardiff, Wales.

The highly condensed format is designed to broaden the appeal of the sport, while providing a showcase competition for eventing's top riders. The sport will be rolled out as a series of international competitions in major sporting locations around the world.

Spectators will be able to watch all three phases of an event in one day, from one seat. Expert commentaries will explain what's going on and exactly how many points ahead or behind each competitor is.

Many of the world's top international riders have entered The Express--just check the entries:

Great Britain: Tina Cook, Mary King, William Fox-Pitt, Lucy Wiegersma, Oliver Townend
Australia: Clayton Fredericks, Lucinda Fredericks
New Zealand: Mark Todd, Andrew Nicholson, Caroline Powell
China: Alex Hua Tian
Belgium: Karin Donckers
Germany: Dirk Schrade, Bettina Hoy
France: Nicolas Touzaint, Rodolphe Scherer
Italy: Vittoria Panizzon
Sweden: Linda Algotsso
USA: Philip Dutton, Buck Davidson

It sounds like a repeat of the Olympics! (My money's on Touzaint.)

Part of the lure is, no doubt, the (approx) US$200,000 in prize money to the winner, plus the sheer challenge of being part of an experimental re-configuring of a traditional sport.

The dressage will be to music, the first I've known of in eventing, and the judges will include Broadway impresario Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, who will judge the artistic aspects of the ride. The riders then go on to a traditional indoor show jumping test, and then the arena will be transformed by some sort of landscaping miracle into a cross-country course. After the last show jump is completed, a ‘pit-stop’ tack change enables horse and rider to prepare for the final phase.

Popular British riding clothes company Musto is designing outfits for the riders especially for this single event, right down to (gulp) an adaptation of a show jumping jacket, made of Gore-Tex.

But what will the horses think? and will the riders bring their top horses? Will the top horses in traditional eventing excel in the arena form of the sport or will we see a new type emerge as the ideal indoor horse? The pressures of the Olympics and the eventing World Cup have made for a long, long season for the top horses.

The huge stadium offers great opportunities for lighting, sound, and special effects. Here's a quote from one of the organizers: "When the lights go up, the hairs on the back on your neck will stand on end. People will know from the outset that this is not traditional eventing." They noted that healthy and safety inspections are part of the planning process.

British Eventing, the organizing body of the sport in Great Britain, is behind this event along with entrepreneurial producers. The event will be broadcast internationally (a term that rarely includes North America).

Examples of competitors' jackets designed for indoor eventing by Musto.

Here's what Australian Olympians Lucinda and Clayton Fredericks have to say about Express Eventing; note that Lucinda says she will rider the super-mare, Headley Britannia, at the indoor.

Stay tuned for more news about Express Eventing!

Welcome to Max! Read her blog, too!

Max Corcoran is the woman charged with the extraordinary task of managing the horses of the O'Connor Eventing Team. She's shown here with Karen O'Connor and the late great eventing pony Theodore O'Connor after their gold-medal performance at the 2007 Pan Am Games in Brazil. EquiSearch.com is lucky to have Max blogging her way through the Olympic team trials as Karen competes for a place on the team this weekend in England. (Photo from O'Connor Team web site)

The blog stable here at EquiSearch.com has just added a new wing...and some great opportunities for readers to get the inside story on the top level of eventing in this Olympic summer. Max Corcoran, groom for Karen O'Connor and Team O'Connor Eventing, now has a blog right next to the The Jurga Report on EquiSearch.com!

This week Max is in England at the Barbury*** Horse Trials with Karen O'Connor, Gina Miles, Amy Tryon and Clark Montgomery; Barbury is one of two required outings for the USA short-listed riders for the upcoming Hong Kong equestrian Olympics.

The direct link to Max's blog is
http://special.equisearch.com/blog/maxcorcoran/

The Atom feed address for the blog is
http://special.equisearch.com/blog/maxcorcoran/atom.xml

As with this blog, you can subscribe to the RSS/Atom feed and read Max's blog (and mine) on your favorite aggregator or right on your Google home page if you use the Foxfire browser, as I do.

What am I talking about? If you are using Foxfire as your browser, you will see that sometimes an orange icon (or sometimes a little blue RSS icon) appears on the right side of the address window on the browser. If you click on that orange symbol, a window will open, asking you if you would like to subscribe to the feed for that page or blog.

If you click on the affirmative, headlines and the first few paragraphs of posts from that blog will appear on your Google home page or whatever news reader you use

Yahoo.com has a similar function that will work regardless of the browser (I think). You have to opt for a personalized Yahoo.com index page, (http://cm.my.yahoo.com/) and then click on "add content". Then click on the icon to add rss feeds, and type in the web address of your favorite blog. (It should work.) That's the last time you will ever have to go to the actual web page.

Newsgator and other pages have similar functions but the Foxfire/Google option is so simple that I have stuck with that. I think the Safari browser has a good system as well, and it's fast! The advantage of these feeds is that all the blog headlines will be on one page and you can scan them quickly and efficiently. The only thing you can't see (in my experience) would be videos that are posted on another site, such as YouTube.

The old-fashioned way would be to make Max's blog (and this one!) a "favorite" or a "bookmark" and check back soon and often!

Enjoy the blogs! EquiSearch.com has an outstanding group of bloggers spread out all over the horse world! Bloggers like Max Corcoran don't just report the news--they make it!