At Queensland University of Technology in Australia, Prof. Martin Sillence with the School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences has been researching laminitis for over a decade. He says that Velagliflozin, a new veterinary drug related to one used to treat human metabolic syndrome, has been found to prevent laminitis in ponies with high levels of insulin and the equine version of metabolic syndrome.

Beyoncé, a bay Thoroughbred filly owned by Patricia and Will Lalor, whose barn is based in Clonmel, Ireland, was destined for a show jumping career. But at 16 months of age she was diagnosed with a condition known as osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), which had developed in her left and right knees. It is a common orthopaedic developmental disease in many species including humans, and results in separation of the articular cartilage from the underlying bone in the joints. Depending on the breed, it can affect 10 to 30 percent of the equine population.

There is something uniquely beautiful about the neck of a horse. That curve, the arch of the poll, the dip towards the shoulder. In function, those elegant lines came to be out of necessity, with such length required to balance out long limbs, allowing them to reach to the ground to graze for up to 20 hours a day. With the head and neck making up about 10 percent of their total body mass, horses use their neck to maintain balance, stability, and their spatial awareness when they are in motion. Over time, the equine neck has shifted in function and importance, and in the factors that impact and promote its well-being, but the fundamentals have stood the test of domestication.