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Stem cells have been isolated successfully from the equine umbilical cord. Once collected, these cells (referred to as umbilical cord matrix cells) can then be preserved frozen, cultured, and differentiated into a host of cell lines, including bone, cartilage, fat, and those of the nervous system. Currently, stem cells are obtained from either fat or bone marrow of adult horses and are employed in equine medicine to treat traumatic and degenerative diseases such as bowed tendons, ligament injuries, osteoarthritis, and osteochondral defects (such as osteochondrosis or bone cysts). "Studies demonstrate that stem cells help tissues regenerate, rather than repair by...

World's smallest horse has tall order By JEFF DOUGLAS, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 19, 9:31 PM ET ST. LOUIS - At just a hair over 17 inches tall, the miniature horse is more inclined to walk under fences than jump them. And her owners have sheltered the mare from ever gaining "circus-sideshow" or "one-trick-pony" status. As the world's smallest horse, 5-year-old Thumbelina, weighing in at 57 pounds, has a bigger mission: to raise $1 million for children's charities this year. ADVERTISEMENT Handler Michael Goessling, son of miniature horse farmers Kay and Paul Goessling, says Thumbelina is the ideal child...

As anyone who’s ever injured a knee or elbow will tell you, recovery can be a long and painful process. Cartilage is an exceptionally slow-healing tissue, and, until now, the missing or damaged tissue is often irreplaceable. Researchers at the University of Guelph are hoping stem cells might provide the needed tissue replacements. Biomedical sciences professor Dean Betts and doctoral candidate Thomas Koch are hoping to use stem cells to improve cartilage healing after joint injuries. They’re working with horses, where joint injuries are both common and costly, and say the research could be a model for helping human joint...

FORT HUACHUCA — Think the days of soldiers riding Army horses are limited to memorial units? You’d be wrong. “There are 2,500 Army horses serving today,” said Paul H. Scholtz, one of the directors of the U.S. Cavalry Association who also is the group’s chaplain. The days of using four-footed members of the equine class are still needed, especially as the United States continues its engagement in the war on terrorism, he said. While many of the Army-owned mounts are part of ceremonial units, some are being used in Afghanistan and other places in the world to carry soldiers to...

A sinus surgery lasted 21/2 hours. Four more were spent taking a bladder stone out of a show horse. Dean Richardson was still at a friend's equine hospital in Florida on May 20 as Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner, was saddled for the Preakness Stakes. Richardson wasn't going to miss the race. "He had blood all over him, and he was doing it in flip-flops, so we hosed him off," said Byron Reid, a veterinarian in Loxahatchee, Fla., just outside West Palm Beach. The two men watched the Preakness on a six-inch screen in the hospital. "You could see enough,"...

Calif. University Sued for $10 Million The parents of a Fresno State University equestrian team member who died after falling from a horse have filed a $10 million negligence claim against the school, saying their daughter was put at risk by the school's lack of coaches or supervision. In addition, the parents say they are "very concerned" about apparent discrepancies in university reports about their daughter's death. Shana Eriksson, 18, spent three days in a coma and then died last September after her horse spooked, whirled around and then fell on her during a trail ride with two teammates. The...

ATLANTA -- Health officials on alert for the return of West Nile virus are concerned about the re-emergence of another mosquito-borne disease in the Southeast: eastern equine encephalitis. A Georgia man died June 21 in the nation's first human case of the disease this year. "Eastern equine encephalitis has been an exceptionally infrequent disease," said Dr. Anthony Marfin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "If you saw five or six (human) cases a year, that was a big year." But the virus kills up to 50 percent of people who catch it, compared with up to 15 percent...