BEVA Congress in the UK

The news is coming in from the British Equine Veterinary Association Congress, which ended yesterday at the National Exhibition Center at Birmingham, England.

Hoofcare & Lameness Consulting Editor Dr. Hilary Clayton, McPhail Chair in Sport Horse Lameness at the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, was a popular speaker. Her lecture "Current Trends in Equine Gait Analysis" was sponsored by Equinalysis and will be summarized here as soon as possible.

Our British correspondent, Mark Andrews MRCVS, was at the conference and will provide his usual succinct reports.

New Laminitis Research from England's Waltham Equine Studies Group

Mark Andrews, our intrepid colleague in England, has published a new edition of his "Equine Science Update", a handy newsletter about equine research and practice. He has written a summary of the scientific output from Waltham's Equine Studies Group in 2004 and 2005 .

Several studies considered the nutritional aspects of laminitis. One showed that grasses with lower nutritive value (such as timothy), or pastures with lower water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) levels are associated with slower fermentation in the colon. Consequently they may be less likely to cause acidosis of the hindgut contents.

Another study demonstrated the existence of marked insulin resistance and / or hyperactive insulin secretion in ponies prone to laminitis.