Equine All-Sports Medicine Center

11/25/2025

a case from the past!

11/25/2025

Good infor about the usefulness of PEMF blankets.. NONE!

Another paper on PEMF blanket showing no effect! Think before you buy!

11/24/2025

Two recent papers in the EVE Journal were punlished on the effects of corticosteroid injection sin joints. They were meta-analysis, meaning they took information from over 600 papers about this topic into account. This means the outcome of a meta-analysis is more reliable as an "overall opinion of scientists" than a single paper. Both papers show clearly that 1 injection in a joint (when needed, because acute joint inflammation is present) might be beneficial, but that more than 1 injection in the same joint will cause cartilage damage and degeneration of the joint. Think about that when you do "regular joint maintainance" or inject multiple joints without a clear indication.

Your vet should know this information!

10/17/2025

09/30/2025

We have a new tool to record gait symmetry on the fly with just a couple of minutes with a video set up to video the trot on the hard. It is a great tool to measure assymetry (not lameness!) and evaluate over time with our rehab cases. This tool (Sleip) is fully tested and confirmed to be reliable, so now we have a tool to back up data for some papers about our rehab cases/programmes in the coming years! This tool gives the same info as the so-called Lameness Locator, but setup is much faster. Because it is to monitor gaits for OUR research, clients will NOT be charge for this service. HOWEVER, they will be provided with a PDF file with all the results of their horse for their information.

09/16/2025

A friendly but urgent reminder to our clients: when you place an order at an online-pharmacy, please check with us first which one to use and how to use it. We get frequently calls from online pharmacies while busy with a case. It disrupts our diagnostic process, while we often are not close to our database to check for the client (mandatory by law we need to verify it is our client, which patient, supply the pharmacy with our veterinarly license number and controlled substance license) and cannot handle such a telephone request. We use Allivet.com with EZPet RX, which facilitates us to appprove a reuwst online at OUR convieniance.
Please realize it takes us time to deal with these request, while not making any revenue of it, all for your convieniance...

07/13/2025

With poor air quality due to Canadian wildfires in the coming days in Michigan here some advice for your horses:
Avoid deep breathing, because that will get air particles deeper into the airways and lungs. Shorter periods of work with walk in between to regulate the breathing pattern (from higher frequency and deeper breathing to normal, shallower breathing and lower frequency)on a long rein is best. No long periods of trot and especially canter. When turned out, better during the early morning hours because the lower temperature will keep the breathing pattern lower and less intense. When the horses are very active in the pasture, bring them in.

06/09/2025

Dr van Wessum's chapter "Equine Facet joint Pain Syndrome" in Current Concepts in Equine Medicine has been cited in 2 human papers about neck facet joint pain. How cool to contribute to science in human medicine as an equine expert!

05/21/2025

Very interesting story:

Some months ago, I was presented with a Draft/Haflinger cross mare with the complaint she was not forward at all, slow in walk and refused to trot and canter.
Initial examination showed she was really fat (body score 9! The picture is not real, just to get your attention!) and had neurological issues, neck pain and was very lethargic.

Because my first treatment option for neurological symptoms would be dexamethasone, a no-no for such a fat horse of this breed (more or less laminitis guaranteed!) we decided to not pursue more diagnostics and send the horse home for a diet and exercise program to loose weight.

She came back yesterday after nearly 6 months, looking great! I could see ribs, and her body condition was now a 6-7. All pathological symptoms were gone; she was completely sound and loved to trot and canter.
Amazing results from just a diet!
I am happy we didn’t do a full diagnostic procedure at the first visit and could avoid spending time, radiation exposure and money.

It is now a known fact that abdominal fat (in the belly) produces substances that enhance and even cause inflammation, and it takes a full slimming down to burn this abdominal fat and restore a more normal metabolism.

A great lesson!

Kudo's for the owner and his team to be able to do such a diet and exercise program, not an easy task!

05/19/2025

A good article about the transposition of the ventral lamina and the correlatio with neck problems: conclusion:“The conclusion from both studies was that there is no association between C6/7 transposition and neurologic disease, and it is just a variant occurring in up to one-quarter of all horses,” . Putting an end to all the "talk" about this fictive problem.

During the 2024 AAEP Kester News Hour experts shared new research on equine genetics, atrial fibrillation detection, neck pain, and updated EHV guidelines.

05/09/2025

Yay! Dr van Wessum got his paper accepted for AAEP to present at the international annual conference for approximately 6000 equine vets from all over the world. The third time he got a paper accepted..very rare!

04/25/2025

a great video about how prascend works to treat PPID in horses