Equine Health Research Fund
High-tech horse adds value to WCVM
February 06th, 2018
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A group of first-year veterinary students gather around a life-sized black plastic horse, holding up what looks like a large piece of intestine. “Wow! Cool!” exclaim several students as Dr. Julia Montgomery demonstrates the digestive system inside the equine model. This isn’t just any horse. It’s an advanced equine simulator, made possible by a $50,000 donation from the Equine Foundation …
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The vet behind the PowerFloat
Ask any horse owner or equine veterinarian about the PowerFloat, and they’ll tell you that the rotary dental instrument is synonymous with equine dental care — an essential tool that’s well known in the horse community. The PowerFloat was the brainchild of Dr. Dennis Rach, a Calgary-based large animal veterinarian who has always liked solving problems. Rach has been practising …
February 06th, 2018 Full story »
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EHRF renamed to honour first research fellow
A chance conversation with Dr. Hugh Townsend outside the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) led Dr. Joe Bracamonte to focus his career on equine health. “He changed my career in the parking lot, just with a conversation,” says Bracamonte, an associate professor at the WCVM who specializes in large animal surgery. Stories like this abound: Townsend has a gift …
November 02nd, 2015 Full story »
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New tool homes in on equine lameness
Whether their patient is a high performance equine athlete or a beloved pony, veterinarians at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) have access to a full range of technologies that can help diagnose equine lameness and pinpoint problems. A new addition came in August 2015 when the college’s Veterinary Medical Centre acquired a Lameness Locator®, an advanced diagnostic tool …
October 16th, 2015 Full story »
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EHRF Research Grants: 2015-2016
Developing a treatment for acute laminitis Drs. David Wilson, James Carmalt, Kathryn Carmalt, WCVM Laminitis is a common, life-threatening condition in horses. The inflammatory disease causes the sensitive laminae, which connect the hoof wall to the coffin bone within the foot, to separate. This process results in rotation of the coffin bone within the hoof due to the pull of …
June 17th, 2015 Full story »
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Studying the airway microbiome in horses
Veterinary researchers at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) are investigating whether certain bacterial populations in a horse’s windpipe can contribute to a respiratory disease called recurrent airway obstruction (RAO). More commonly known as heaves, RAO can be triggered by something as simple as feeding poor quality hay to a horse. Exposure to dust, mouldy hay, ammonia fumes and fungal …
February 04th, 2015 Full story »
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Horse survives after stick impales chest
On a dark October night, Les and Darlene Leer pulled into the parking lot at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Medical Centre in Saskatoon with their horse trailer in tow. It was late, and they were worried. They had made the three-hour drive from St. Walburg, Sask., to bring in their injured 18-year-old Appaloosa gelding, Tuffy, for emergency …
January 10th, 2015 Full story »
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WCVM team researches septic arthritis
Dr. Andres Sanchez of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) hopes to prove that a protein called serum amyloid A is a valuable tool for monitoring the healing progress while treating septic arthritis in horses. Besides the skills he has gained as a large animal surgical resident and researcher over the past few years, Sanchez has learned a thing or …
November 26th, 2014 Full story »
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Study may offer therapy for heavey horses
Sucking air through a straw. Those are the words that many people with asthma use to describe their frightening struggle to breathe during an asthma attack. Now imagine a 1,000-pound animal experiencing the same panic-stricken feeling. For a horse, that’s what it’s like during an acute episode of recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) or heaves. This asthma-like condition is a chronic, …
November 12th, 2014 Full story »
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Single screw may treat acute laminitis
It’s 2 a.m. and I’m in search of an ice machine in the physiology lab at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM). No, it’s not for refreshments after a long day’s work or even in celebration: ice is one of the standard treatments for laminitis in horses, more commonly known as founder. Veterinarians use the ice to fill recycled …
October 14th, 2014 Full story »
