The announcement of a $2.5-million equine health consortium initiative has been met with great enthusiasm, says Kristin Benjamin, vice president of scientific programs and advancement for Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) in Englewood, Colo. Twenty-seven research groups met a Feb. 15 deadline for pre-proposals detailing how they would use the funding.

The equine health consortium initiative will finance up to $500,000 a year for the next five years on one focused area of equine research. MAF asked that collaborations of researchers from multiple institutions submit pre-proposals. (see www.TheHorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=6586 for more information). Benjamin was expecting eight to 10 pre-proposals, and she was impressed by the feedback from groups that include both U.S. and international researchers.

“We’ve gotten a lot of kudos from members of the research community,” she said. “They are pleased to see that we are asking for collaborations instead of competition (between researchers from different institutions). We want to gather the best minds and the best laboratories to cooperate, focus, and really try to solve a specific health issue that affects horses.”

Respiratory disease, inflammation, lameness, colic, and the equine genome were the submission areas. Of those, lameness and respiratory disease garnered the most pre-proposals