This presentation will give an overview of the anatomy of the horse’s stomach, clinical signs of gastric ulcers, diagnosis, and treatment options. Risk factors for the development of gastric ulcers and methods of prevention will also be discussed.

This presentation will review common but potentially deadly diseases that can threaten your horse. The discussion will also include reportable equine diseases in Michigan as well as vaccination programs to help mitigate the risk of these important illnesses.

Polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM) is a muscle disease that causes horses to develop muscle pain, tying-up and exercise intolerance. To date two forms of PSSM are described: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 PSSM is caused by a genetic mutation in the glycogen synthase 1 gene which causes excessive storage of sugar (glycogen) in skeletal muscle.

Hind limb gait abnormalities in horses such as stringhalt and shivers can be very frustrating and impact the horse’s performance and the ability of farriers to trim hind feet. The two conditions are often confused and until recently there has been very little information available to horse owners about stringhalt and shivers. This seminar, rich with videos, will describe the symptoms of stringhalt, shivers and some other gait abnormalities, review the latest research into the cause of these diseases and outline what owners can do to help maintain horses with these conditions.

Equine herpesvirus-1 myeloencephalopathy is sporadic but is a potentially devastating manifestation of EHV-1 infection. Anecdotal field evidence suggests that EHM is becoming increasingly more common, leading to speculation that viruses with increased neurovirulence are circulating. This webcast will give a review of EHM and highlight new developments in the epidemiological, therapeutic and preventive field.

Excess pasture consumption is often cited as a factor associated with the precipitation of laminitis, a devastating disease affecting horses feet. However the relationship between pasture consumption and laminitis does not appear to be similar among all horses, i.e. some horses appear to be more at risk for developing laminitis while grazing pasture than others.

Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is characterized by obesity (and/or regional accumulations of fat), insulin resistance, and increased susceptibility to laminitis. This presentation will review the clinical features of EMS and highlight recent findings of a large scale investigation of EMS conducted in more than 600 horses located throughout the US.

This Webcast is the sixth in a series offered with the University of Minnesota titled "Equine Genetics: A New Diagnostic Resource for Horse Owners,” and is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Research Initiative. The presentation will focus on Equine Metabolic Syndrome in ponies.

Gastric ulcers can present with many or no signs. Some horses will experience behavior changes that seem to come out of nowhere, but are a result of gastric ulceration. In this webcast, we will discuss what causes gastric ulcers, how your veterinarian can diagnose ulcers and how your veterinarian will treat them. We will discuss ways to prevent gastric ulcers and ways to keep them from recurring.

The term equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is used to describe the clustering of obesity (and/or regional accumulations of fat), insulin resistance and increased susceptibility to laminitis in horses and ponies. In fact, EMS is now regarded as the most common cause of laminitis.

Shivers is a confounding disorder in horses which causes them to pause with their rear limb flexed out behind the body after which the leg is forcefully placed back to the ground. Backing up and picking up the rearlimbs are the most common triggers for Shivers and most horses walk forward with a normal gait. The cause and treatment for this condition is unknown.

Can my horse get the swine flu? Why does my horse cough at the beginning of exercise? Can I catch strangles from my horse? Why do racehorses bleed rom their noses? These and other questions will be answered in this webcast!

Colic, a symptom feared by horse owners, can seemingly appear without warning. There are many situations that can preclude a horse to colic, ranging from parasite infestation, dehydration to grain overload. Colic symptoms can appear mild to traumatic, but the actual severity and appropriate treatment options may be hard to determine until the veterinarian examines the horse.

Laminitis is a painful, disabling, common and costly disease of the horse and pony. Both the digestive and metabolic forms of laminitis (commonly referred to as founder) are linked to nutrition. This presentation discusses the most current science based information focusing on strategies to help reduce the occurrence of equine laminitis through the management of nutritionally related risk factors associated with pastures, hays, feeds and the animals themselves.

Older horses are becoming an increasingly important component of the horse industry. This presentation will describe the clinical problems associated with PPID as well as summarize current knowledge about the cause of PPID in horses.