Causes, Prevention and Treatment - Gastric ulcers in horses are far more common than many people realize. The condition is very often found in horses kept in stalls, frequently trailered, or undergoing intensive training. The associated anxiety, in addition to artificial and controlled feeding routines alien to a horse’s natural grazing patterns, may put the animal under varying levels of stress.

Few bulls show signs of stress or anxiety just before bucking performance - A new study by a renowned animal welfare and behaviour expert at the University of Calgary looks at the stress levels of bucking bulls at the Calgary Stampede. The study — the first to examine the handling of bucking bulls before a rodeo performance — found that few bulls show signs of stress or anxiety. “The major conclusion of our study was that at this specific rodeo, the majority of bulls did not show behavioural indicators of fear prior to the performance,” says Dr. Ed Pajor, professor in animal behaviour and welfare at the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) and Anderson-Chisholm Chair in Animal Care and Welfare. “The evidence does not support concerns that bulls were agitated prior to performance.”

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.

Could bacteria resistant to antimicrobial drugs routinely used in both human and veterinary medicine be found in wild horses on a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean? By answering this question, Dr. Joe Rubin and members of his research team at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) hope to gain a better understanding of how bacteria carrying acquired resistance genes are passed between humans, domestic animals, and wildlife species.