The Horse Doctor

In case anyone has forgotten, there are still a lot of Jihadists out there that want to kill people. There was a report/video several weeks ago of Terrorists "graduating" from terrorist school and were being sent to Europe and the United States......I don't think it was for post doc study. Now we have 2 car bombs found in London ( during Wimbledon) and today a car bomb driven into the terminal in Glasgow Scotland . Not long ago during the debates for the upcoming Presidential elections candidate John Edwards said " the War on Terrorism was just a bumper sticker slogan" yea-right. NEW YORK — Democratic White House hopeful John Edwards , in a major foreign policy speech Wednesday, minimized the Bush administration's War on Terror as nothing more than a "bumper sticker slogan" used to justify the war in Iraq and "bludgeon political opponents." Power-line is now reporting " Meanwhile, the Scotsman says the authorities are looking f...

It was just published that a group of scientists lead by Dr Craig Vintner ( the 1st to have his DNA read by the genome project) transfered the entire genome from one bacteria into another, making it the 1st species transplantation. He said it was like taking a Mac and turning it into a PC by inserting new software. The plan now is to take a new genome created in the lab and insert that into a cell. Since the 1970s, scientists have moved genes - instructions to make proteins - between different organisms. But this marks the first time that the entire instruction set, consisting of more than a million “letters” of DNA, has been transplanted, transforming one species of bacterium into another. They are attempting to build a microbe with the minimal set of genes needed for life, with the goal of then adding other useful genes, such as ones for making biofuels.The scientists want to create new kinds of bacterium to make new types of bugs which can be used as green fuels to replace oil and c...

Just when I was beginning to think everyone in Europe had lost their spine....along comes this gem. Salman Rushdie ( remember him) the Indian writer that wrote "the Satanic Verses" and had a Fatwa written by the Ayatollah calling upon all peace loving Muslims to , of course......kill him. Well it turns out that the Queen of England must clank when she walks because she just Knighted him. Talk about a finger in the eye of the Iranians. You don't think this could have anything to do with the recent capture and humiliation of British sailors, do you? This is classic British humor, seeing as how the hated crusaders were after all.....knights. The down side to this is that those same peace loving Muslims will no doubt start to riot like they did when they didn't like the Danish car toons. Setting fire to cars in France and marching with all of those wonderful loving signs.

This next week I will be going back to Washington DC with the Fishweir Elementary School Patrols. For those that don't know, the safety patrols are 5 th grade students that apply to work as leaders and crossing guards at the local schools. This is very popular in southern and western schools. Reports actually say that the first school patrols were started in Jacksonville at Fishweir Elementary almost 90 years ago and since at least the 1960's these school patrols make a summer trip to our nations capital. I was a safety patrol and made the trip by train in 1970 and have returned with each of my four children when they did the same....this year it's Mac's turn. I love the history found in DC and particularly the Smithsonian museums and each time I go I try to find something new to see. Two years ago when I was there with Polly I found " Rienzi " also known as "Winchester" that was Sheridans horse during the Civil War. ...

This past week the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine held their annual meeting, this year in Seattle Wash. Beth and I went and met up with some great friends from our days at Cornell. Eric and Patty Peterson and DL Step. It's hard to believe everyone is so respectable now. Many nights out, great food and way to many adult beverages. Thank God this is the home port for Starbucks coffee. This is a very unique meeting in that unlike most Veterinary meetings this one concentrates on recent advancements and ongoing research projects. There are some review sessions...but not many. What I find to be the most useful are the research abstracts that are presented every 15 minutes for several days. This year there was a focus on glucose and insulin interactions. While this may seem really dull.....let me point out how this may effect your horse. For years now we have been working on a condition in the horse called EMS-equine Metabolic Syndrome. This is the overweight horse tha...

The start of Hurricane season was this past Friday June 1st and not surprisingly our first tropical system crossed the state this weekend. For those living in the coastal areas it's time to start planning just in case a major storm heads this way. I have posted items of interest on this blog in the past and you can find a more detailed list of plans on our web site www.ja xequine.com . There is also a short worksheet that you can use to organize yourself. If you decide to stay in the path of a storm you should consider some important facts. Your horses are at a greater risk "inside" your barn than outside. Think about it for a minute, your barn was probably built by the lowest bidder, has minimal roof support and was designed to maximize airflow. Unlike your house which are usually built north and south to take advantage of the sun.....your barn was built east and west to take advantage of the breeze. Thats a bad thing in a hurricane. If you have a large open fiel...