Hay everyone!
I can’t believe that it’s already August! This summer is really flying by fast. That reminds me, isn’t there a big horse race around this time? If you guessed the Hambletonian Stakes, you’d be right! That’s the Standardbred race held on the first Saturday in August at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, NJ. While that’s certainly a fun weekend activity, I want to update y’all on Friday’s event: the 2024 Hambletonian Continuing Education Seminar.
The goal of the conference is to help veterinarians, vet techs, and vet students keep up with current research in the equine world. The event happens every year, so it’s a really great way for people in the industry to attend presentations and chat with other veterinary professionals regularly. There’s a lot of different topics covered each year; I’m sure any equine enthusiast could find something they’re interested in! Take a few minutes to check out my past blogs covering the event in 2022 and 2023 after you read about this year’s.
As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, the folks of the Equine Science Center were in attendance. Dr. Alisa Herbst had a lot to share during her presentation: “Health Management of US Senior Horses.” Taking care of our health is important at any age, and especially so as we horses get older. Dr. Herbst shared the results of her survey that reached thousands of horse owners and collected information about their horses’ activity level, veterinary care, and overall management. It was a pleasant surprise to hear that many senior horses are still active or even competing! I’ll have to ask her if she knows about any older horses competing in the Olympics this year.
During the breaks between presentations, attendees stopped by our table to hear about the work of the ESC and play some fun games. We recently designed some games related to the various types of horse gaits. Some horses are specifically bred to naturally have a certain type of gait, and participants got to match the gait to the breed. A few of them were pretty tough! They also tried to lay out the footfall patterns of a variety of gaits. We had quite a few people closing their eyes and imagining what it would be like to canter or gallop like a horse! I can’t wait to see you guys play the next time you come visit us on Cook farm.
“Hold Your Horses!”: Attendees tried out one of our new games.
As always, I enjoyed getting to learn more about equine research. Keeping up with current work is always important, and it’s fun too!
Until next time.
Your friend,
Lord Nelson