MU VHC Equine Hospital

11/11/2026

Today we thank all the men and women and horses and dogs who have served in our armed forces. Thank you Veterans!! You are so appreciated.

Our clinic is closed today in celebration of Veteran's Day

As always we are available for emergency care if it is needed for your horse. Our emergency service is available 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year.

If your horse experiences a medical emergency please call 573-882-4589. A referral is not necessary.

11/10/2026

Ultimate Preparation
This is an image of the foot cabinet at the MU Equine Hospital. You can see all the pairs of Modified Ultimate shoes we have on ready.

Modified Ultimate shoes are specially designed to decrease pressure from the deep digital flexor tendon on the coffin bone. In horses with acute laminitis, these shoes can help protect the lamina, which is the connection between the coffin bone and the hoof wall. By decreasing pressure in this area, the hope is to prevent the rotation of the coffin bone which can occur with laminitis or founder. We have so many shoes and sizes on hand so we are ready to help horses of many shapes and sizes.

These shoes are used in horses that have laminitis as well as horses who may develop laminitis such as horses with a severe injury in one limb. We place one of these shoes on the other limb as a preventative. While there is no way to prevent laminitis or rotation in every horse, our veterinarians work hard to provide horses with the best care and do everything we know for prevention.

These shoes are also occasionally used in horses with severe navicular disease, significant deep digital flexor tendon injuries and to help grow sole in thin soled horses.

11/10/2026

Mizzou Equine Surgeon and world renowned equine lameness expert, Dr. Kevin Keegan, will be speaking at the West Central Missouri Veterinary Medical Association meeting.

🌟LAST DAY TO RSVP🌟

West Central VMA District Meeting

When: Saturday, November 14, 2026 6:00pm

Where: Adams Conference Center

Topics: "Modern Techniques in Equine Lameness"

Presenter: Dr. Kevin G. Keegan

Open to all Vets & Vet Techs.

RSVP to Morgan McDonald by November 10th in order to attend. phone: 573-882-3768, email: [email protected]

11/09/2026

Do Slow Feeder Haynets Work? The Answer is Yes

In an ideal world horses would have extensive access to pasture and be fed free choice forage. For horses with Equine Metabolic Syndrome this can be a recipe for laminitis. Other horses may be overweight and need to lose pounds in order to decrease pressure on the their bones and joints or a horse may need to be confined due to an injury or the pasture may need a rest. When horses must be fed a limited amount of feed or kept in a stall or paddock, slowing down their eating can be beneficial. Many slow feeder haynets are on the market. Slow feeder haynets differ from regular haynets in that they have much smaller holes between the rope strands. The question is do they work?

Researchers Gluck et al from the University of Minnesota developed a research study to answer this question. They took two groups of overweight horses (blood testing and ultrasound of fat thickness was used to make certain the two groups were similar) and restricted their diet. They fed one group on the floor and one group with a slow feeder hay net.

The horse fed with the slow feeder hay net took on average 1 hr 15 min longer to eat their hay than the group fed on the floor. Horses eating from the floor took an average of 2 hours and those from the net 3 hr and 15 min. Horses fed from the net also had lower cortisol levels suggesting they were less stressed.

The conclusion is that slow feeder hay nets do work. They also have an added safety benefit compared to regular Haynes as the holes are small so it is much harder for a horse to get their foot caught.

Link to the study:
https://academic-oup-com.proxy.mul.missouri.edu/jas/article/93/8/4144/4701896

11/07/2026

What is an Endotracheal Tube?

Our Licensed Veterinary Technician Ms. Joyce Guthrie is holding an equine endotracheal tube (ET tube). In the second picture, you can see an ET tube connected to the anesthesia machine in this equine under general anesthesia

After a horse has been induced under general anesthesia, an ET tube is passed through a horse's mouth and into their trachea The ET tube is used to administer both oxygen and anesthetic gases directly to the horse's lungs. The anesthetic gases are what keeps the horse asleep for the procedure and the oxygen helps keep the horse well perfused. The ET also helps to keep the airway open. When under general anesthesia, horse's do not have conscious control over the complicated mechanisms of breathing and swallowing in their throat and could potentially develop an airway obstruction if the airway is not kept open. The ET tube is left in place at the end of the surgery until the horse is awake enough to effectively breath and swallow on their own.

At Mizzou Equine we have a team of highly qualified and experienced Licensed Veterinary Technicians, Board Certified Veterinary Anesthesiologists, and Anesthesiology Residents who oversee general anesthesia in our equine patients. This critical part of surgery has its own team which is separate from the surgery team. This enables excellence in surgical and anesthetic care.

11/06/2026

Blood Lactate - A Look at Perfusion

One horse side critical care test that our team can quickly run on emergency equine patients is blood lactate.

We all know that oxygen in necessary for life. It is breathed in through the nose and goes to the lungs where it transferred into the blood stream. In the blood, oxygen is carried on hemoglobin. It is then circulated around the body and taken to cells from the nose to the tail so that they can make energy and enable body functions. When oxygen levels are low, the body has a relief switch. It can convert to a different method of energy production. This method does not produce near as much energy and it produces lactate as a by product.

Thus your veterinarian can measure lactate levels to see how well the body is perfusing or getting oxygen to its cells. If lactate is high, there is a problem.

Lactate can be high because the body is not getting oxygen - like in severe pneumonia - or because the blood is not circulating well due to dehydration or sepsis.

Here you can see Veterinary Assistant Ms. Campbell McCormick running a lactate sample. The result should be less than 2 mmil/L. This sample is from a systemically compromised colic patient. You can see it is really high at 10.4 mm/L. A patient with a lactate in this range needs immediate intensive care and stabilization.

11/05/2026

Our equine veterinarians use a specially designed equine castration model to teach critical surgical skills

11/05/2026

The MU equine field service offers students an opportunity to take an extra elective rotation on the trucks, giving them more time to learn ambulatory medicine. As part of the elective, we ask our students to create an informative, equine-oriented social media post.

Thank you to Erin Smith, a senior veterinary student, for this post on equine joint therapy. There are many exciting new options for maintaining comfort and performance during the growing, athletic, and senior phases of a horse's life.

11/04/2026

Got Oxygen?
Some critically ill horses need supplemental oxygen to stabilize them and to help them recover. Neonatal foals are the most common type of patient to need oxygen, but adult horses with severe pneumonia or trauma to their chest may also need oxygen.

In horse we typically fasten a cannula in their nostril and then attach tubing to their halter or a nose and neck bandage to enable oxygen to be delivered in the exam room or stall.

Mizzou Equine Hospital has oxygen in our emergency exam rooms and in multiple critical care stalls throughout the hospital.

11/03/2026

Congratulations to our Equine Surgery Resident, Dr. Gabi Abbott, on her recent Resident Seminar reviewing pastern joint osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis of the pastern is also called high ringbone as the osteophytes that form around the joint feel like a bony ring. Recent research has shown an association between pastern joint osteoarthritis and distal semamoidean ligament injury. It is therefore important to evaluate the soft tissue structures at the back of the pastern as well as evaluating the joint in order to plan the best treatment.

Treatment options for the osteoarthritis include intra-articular injections and joint fusion. Since the pastern I a low motion joint, horses can have surgical fusion of the pastern and return to soundness and in some cases athletic competition. In horses with advanced disease, minimally invasive surgical arthrodesis can be performed standing to help these horses return to comfort.