Winter 2021
Year in Review
2020 Research Review
The UC Davis Center for Equine Health has a long history of funding research in a wide variety of areas related to equine health. With the help of our donors, we support faculty and resident studies ranging from basic science to advanced therapeutics. The 2020 Research Review summarizes studies completed from 2018 to 2020. Read the full report and see a list of recently funded projects.
The UC Davis veterinary hospital’s Equine Reproduction Service has a newly renovated clinical teaching and research space at the Center for Equine Health.
Ribbon cutting ceremony
Researchers at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine have identified a genetic cause for the fatal condition equine familial isolated hypoparathyroidism (EFIH) in Thoroughbreds. This is the first widely available genetic test for Thoroughbreds.
A recent study by UC Davis researchers sought to characterize bone abnormalities that precede proximal sesamoid bone (PSB) fractures and determine if pre-existing abnormalities are associated with these fractures.
Equine Clinical Successes of 2020
A year ago, Santa Anita Park installed the world's first MILE-PET device, a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner specifically designed to image standing horses (without the need for general anesthesia). Over the past 12 months, more than 188 PET studies were performed on over 100 horses, with some studies imaging horses more than once to follow bone changes over time. With support from CEH and the Stronach Group, a MILE-PET scanner will be installed at the UC Davis veterinary hospital in 2021.

Georgia, an 18-year-old warmblood mare, was brought to the UC Davis veterinary hospital for chronic endometritis. A new two-stage approach was utilized to perform a surgical ovariohysterectomy to remove her ovaries and uterus to resolve the infection.

The equine Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner pioneered by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, in collaboration with LONGMILE Veterinary Imaging, is now in use at Santa Anita Park in Southern California.

Drs. Jannah Pye and Tom Cullen, equine surgery residents at the UC Davis veterinary hospital, were awarded the Mark S. Bloomberg Memorial Resident Research Award by the Veterinary Orthopedic Society (VOS).

The Ophthalmology, Equine Dentistry and Oral Surgery, and Equine Surgery services worked together to resolve a condition that caused obstructed vision in a 16-year-old Quarter Horse gelding.

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation announced that the UC Davis K.L. Maddy Equine Pharmacology Laboratory has been chosen as the research site for a project to help develop alternate methods for detection of bisphosphonates in Thoroughbreds.

Chiropractic, acupuncture, and therapeutic laser therapy, coupled with specialized trimming and shoeing helped prepare a 10-year-old event horse for the next level of competition.