Aquatic Exercise's Effect on Equine Osteoarthritis

Although subtle in its onset, osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common and career-ending musculoskeletal injuries in horses. Results from a 1998 study revealed that U.S. horse owners spent more than $700 million on medical and surgical management of horses with OA that year.

 

Recently, Melissa King, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVSMR, assistant professor in Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation at Colorado State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital, in Fort Collins, conducted a study to determine whether aquatic exercise could help reduce OA's detrimental effects. She presented her results at the 2014 American Association of Equine Practitioners Convention, held Dec. 6-10 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

As OA progresses, affected horses often adapt to discomfort by changing their gaits and/or stance. But this frequently does more harm than good. "What are protective actions become maladaptive," she said.

 

While there's limited data on aquatic exercise's effects on horses, in humans this therapy helps increase limb strength, joint mobility, muscle activation, and neuromotor control. King explained that water's buoyancy helps reduce loading on joints or injured limbs, its hydrostatic pressure reduces edema (fluid swelling), and its high viscosity (which is 12 times that of air) means horses must exert increased effort to move.

 

To determine whether aquatic exercise could help improve OA-affected horses' balance and postural control—and, thus, help slow the disease's progression—King induced OA in 16 horses' middle carpal (knee) joints. Half of the horses exercised five days a week on an underwater treadmill (with water at shoulder height, which reduces 50-60% of body weight) for 70 days, and the other half served as controls, exercising on a normal high-speed treadmill at the same speed and duration as the underwater treadmill group. The researchers collected force plate data (e.g., movements and center of pressure) from each horse while it stood in three different stance conditions (normal/square, base narrow, and blindfolded) at Days 0, 14, 42, and 70.

 

Video: Dicamba Returns for Georgia Farmers: What the New EPA Ruling Means for Cotton Growers

After being unavailable in 2024 due to registration issues, dicamba products are returning for Georgia farmers this growing season — but under strict new conditions.

In this report from Tifton, Extension Weed Specialist Stanley Culpepper explains the updated EPA ruling, including new application limits, mandatory training requirements, and the need for a restricted use pesticide license. Among the key changes: a cap of two ½-pound applications per year and the required use of an approved volatility reduction agent with every application.

For Georgia cotton producers, the ruling is significant. According to Taylor Sills with the Georgia Cotton Commission, the vast majority of cotton planted in the state carries the dicamba-tolerant trait — meaning farmers had been paying for technology they couldn’t use.

While environmental groups have expressed concerns over spray drift, Georgia growers have reduced off-target pesticide movement by more than 91% over the past decade. Still, this two-year registration period will come with increased scrutiny, making stewardship and compliance more important than ever.