What do you do when you are faced with a health emergency with your horse? Would you be prepared? Many owners don’t feel they are equipped physically – and emotionally – to deal with a first aid emergency situation involving their horse, be it wire cuts, trailering injuries, stings, burns, puncture wounds, digestive distress, or something less dramatic but potentially just as serious.

A team of researchers at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) is investigating the potential use of stem cells - an exciting new area of veterinary medicine - on wound healing in horses. “Stem cells in the purest definition are cells that are able to regenerate themselves and differentiate into all cell types,” says Dr. Suzanne Mund, a veterinarian who is a graduate student in the WCVM’s Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences.

The Dangers of Medicating Your Horse - In the management of horse health, injuries and disease, conscientious horse owners would never put their horse at risk; however, improper use of some commonly administered equine drugs can impact the health and safety of our horses more than we realize. Seldom does a month go by when media attention doesn’t focus on a positive drug test in the horseracing world. The news leaves many in the horse industry shaking their heads and wondering how trainers or owners could do such a thing to their animals.

It was late August 2012. In Crawford County, Pennsylvania, Jessie Woodworth was eager to get home from work. She and her daughter, Loretta, had planned an evening ride. At home her husband, Bob, had checked the horses in their sixty acre pasture. Little Bit, their big Foundation Quarter Horse, was near the gate. But he could see no sign of their six-year-old Paint, Northstar. Assuming their daughter had already taken him out, he wasn’t too worried.