Taming the Beast: A Review of Equine Neurologic Disease

To take the dizzy factor out of understanding neurologic disease in horses, I.G. Joe Mayhew, BVSc, FRCVS, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, ECVN, has dedicated much of his career to helping practitioners and owners understand equine neurology. He made several presentations at the 11th Congress of the World Equine Veterinary Association on topics ranging from simple reviews of common neurologic diseases
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Understanding the ever-changing world of equine neurologic disease.

If someone says he or she can think or talk about equine neurology without becoming dizzy, that shows only the person has not understood anything about it. This bastardization of a quote uttered by Murray Gell-Mann, an American Nobel Prize-winning physicist, at one point in his esteemed career in reference to quantum physics, succinctly and effectively describes the complexity of the art and science of equine neurology.

To take the dizzy factor out of understanding neurologic disease in horses, I.G. Joe Mayhew BVSc, FRCVS, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, ECVN, head of Equine Massey and professor of equine studies at New Zealand's Massey University, has dedicated much of his career to helping practitioners and owners understand equine neurology. He undertook one of his latest educational efforts at the 11th Congress of the World Equine Veterinary Association, held in Brazil in 2009. He made several presentations on topics ranging from simple reviews of common neurologic diseases and updates on specific conditions to descriptions of emerging equine neurologic syndromes.

"Lameness, colic, airway disease, and skin disorders are much more common than neurologic problems," says Mayhew. "Spinal injury and wobblers (horses with wobbler syndrome) probably occur at a rate of 1% of young horses per year on breeding studs, and infectious diseases such as West Nile virus, protozoal myelitis, and Eastern encephalitis and toxicities such as ryegrass staggers, stringhalt, and grass sickness are major welfare and financial problems at certain locations and in particular seasons. Thus, neurologic diseases are of major concern and certainly of frightening occurrence worldwide

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Stacey Oke, MSc, DVM, is a practicing veterinarian and freelance medical writer and editor. She is interested in both large and small animals, as well as complementary and alternative medicine. Since 2005, she’s worked as a research consultant for nutritional supplement companies, assisted physicians and veterinarians in publishing research articles and textbooks, and written for a number of educational magazines and websites.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
439 votes · 439 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!