What Every Horse Owner Should Know - As summer arrives, veterinarians and horse owners across Canada grow increasingly concerned about Potomac Horse Fever (PHF). Once rare, the disease is appearing more often in regions north of the United States. Potomac is now considered endemic in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia.

How to reduce the risk, recognize the symptoms, and take steps to manage an outbreak. Strangles is a highly contagious infection caused by the bacterium, Streptococcus equi (S. equi). It is not an airborne virus. Rather, the bacteria spreads through contact, which could be direct nose-to-nose between horses, or via contaminated surfaces or equipment such as shared halters, lead shanks, cross-ties, feed tubs, stall walls, fencing, clothing, hands, the hair coat from other barn pets, grooming tools, water buckets, and communal troughs.

Take an inside look into the latest the scientific studies at the University of Saskatchewan's veterinary college, with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine's semi-annual newsletter: Horse Health Lines.

The immune system is the body’s defense against infection. Vaccines help the body to develop immunity by imitating an infection and are intended to create and maintain immunity against specific diseases for a period of time. Together with good management and biosecurity practices aimed at preventing and controlling infection, a vaccination program can minimize the horse’s risk of getting sick, as well as lessen the severity of sickness and reduce the risk of spread to other animals if sickness does occur.