"Show me your lamellae"

Australian laminitis researcher Dr. Chris Pollitt was in Brazil last week on a lecture tour when news of the Equine Influenza (EI) outbreak back home hit the news. He was soon on his way back to the University of Queensland to help at the vet school.

The EI outbreak had a double meaning for Dr. Pollitt. It was a professional emergency for the university and the nation but his daughter, Jane, was at an Olympic qualifier 3-day event in Warwick, Queensland. She and her horse were under lockdown orders because horses on the grounds started to show symptoms of the disease. As far as I know, she is still there. Dr. Pollitt donned a sterile suit and went to work at the event.

The red-faced monkey stayed in Brazil. The proper id for this obliging model in Portuguese is Macaco de Cara Vermelha (Red Face Monkey in English).

USDA and Walking Horse Trainers Bury the Hoof Testers at Celebration

What a difference a year makes. One year ago I was posting about a near-riot at the Walking Horse Celebration in Shelbyville, Tennessee when horses failed federally-mandated "soring" inspections. It sounds like this year there was a love-in between USDA officials and the trainers and 97 percent of horses passed inspections.

I highly recommend a summary article about the show, posted on the web site of the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee, to which the above photo of one of the amateur classes is linked. (There's also a slide show of images there.) The paper notes that 24,000 people were at the show.

Farrier and Vet Charged with Violating Australian Quarantine; Linked to Police Horse Outbreak Affecting APEC Meeting

There is no good news out of Australia today, either. Read this chilling account of how a farrier and vet are being made scapegoats for the inability of police horses to be used for crowd control at the global APEC meeting in Sydney. Once one police horse became sick, the entire stable was locked down.

What's out the window?

Ok, everyone out there with too much time on your hands: did you know we have a web cam? Here's the view out the window today; the office is surrounded by schooners who have come to race this weekend in the Gloucester Schooner Festival.

The word "schooner" was born here in Gloucester, Massachusetts and the rig was the preferred design for the local fishing fleet. The 21 schooners here this weekend are either survivors or replicas of the old fishing fleet or elegant Alden schooner yachts or even more exotic designs. Sunday's race is for schooners over 100 feet long.

We were expecting the fabulous Canadian schooner Bluenose II from Nova Scotia but they are having engine trouble somewhere on the coast of Maine. We also have the U.S. Navy vessel Nizve in port. This little harbor is the place to be this weekend!

You can check our office web cam any time, day or night by clicking here. You won't see much at night!

There's a web cam with a wider view of the entire harbor here.

By the way, it is an old tradition to nail a horseshoe to the mast of schooner when it is launched. Some say it is for good luck; others say it is because the galley cook often served horse meat and the sign of a horseshoe on deck was a dead giveaway what the mystery meat in the stew was. There's even an old sea chanty, an ode to the horses on board.

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American Farriers Team Posts Highest Finish Ever at UK's "Stoneleigh" International

If there's a World Cup of farrier competitions, it's the international team competition held each August at the Royal Showgrounds at Stoneleigh, England.

Hosted each year by the National Association of Farriers, Blacksmiths and Agricultural Engineers in England, the team competition has traditionally been an all -out battle between England and Wales...with the other countries showing up and doing their very best to beat the Brits (and Welsh) at their own game.

Wales, for instance, fielded a team on which were three former Calgary world champions--Billy Crothers, Richard Ellis and James Blurton, plus veteran Andy Martin. That could be a little intimidating!

This year the US team, sent abroad by the American Farrier's Association, finished a very credible fourth overall, behind England, Wales and Ireland. I believe this is the highest finish ever for the USA and a round of applause is definitely in order. (Please correct me if I am mistaken.)

Team members were slated to have been Billy Reed, Conrad Trow, Travis Koons, and reigning Calgary world champion Bill Poor.

Details are sketchy at this point and more will be posted soon!

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Laminitis Researcher "Accidentally" Discovers New Bacteria in Horse Digestive Tract

Two new species of bacteria have been discovered in the gut of horses. Streptococcus henryi and streptococcus caballi, were found by accident by UQ veterinary science PhD student Gabriel Milinovich while researching the hoof-deteriorating disease of laminitis.

Mr Milinovich made the discoveries in 2004 in horses at St Lucia but has only recently classified and confirmed their existence. He said he did not believe the bacteria, two of thousands found in a horse's gut, were related to laminitis or harmful.

The 27-year-old researcher said he named streptococcus henryi in honour of Dr Dick Peter Henry, a UQ veterinary microbiologist who continued his research up to his recent death at age 78.

Streptococcus caballi was named in honour of the riding horse which is most prone to developing laminitis.

Milinovich's research will be published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. He is supervised by Professor Chris Pollitt, Dr Darren Trott and Dr Paul Burrell.

(post edited from a university press release)

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