The Horse Doctor

The Forum today was a big success and very well attended. I thought I would post the work sheet here for those that are interested. It's a simple list to help you set up a disaster preparedness plan for your farm. Disaster Preparation Work Sheet Jacksonville Equine Associates LLC Store forms in a secure waterproof folder or on a CD or Thumb Drive and take it with you. 1.Farm location- Flood zone. www.msc.fema.gov __________________________ print map and attach to plan 2. Follow storm progress -Internet- www.wunderground.com/tropical/ -TV- local stations -Radio- local stations, have extra batteries should power go out 3.Evacuation Plan- Locations- http://www.ssh

On June 28th I will be speaking at the Equestrian Center as part of the Equine Disaster Preparedness Forum. We did this a few years ago and it was quite informative, however this years will be on a much larger scale ( 500-1000). I will talk about what you need to do to get ready for and survive a hurricane. This stems from what a good friend of mine went through in Miami during Hurricane Andrew. He called it the 5 things you need. As we prepared for some big storms ,that fortunately didn't hit , we expanded the list trying to take in as many variables as possible and what was required to be ready. Last years worksheet can be found here at JAXEQUINE.COM. While our big focus remains hurricanes we also have to be aware of fires and floods, both of which have been in the news as of late. If you are interested you can sign up for the forum at EquineDisasterPreparedness.com hope to see you there. 8:00 am

With the Belmont Stakes coming up this weekend and a chance for the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years there will be more attention focused on Big Brown. The New York Times published an article about the use of anabolic steroids in the horse racing industry and specifically in Big Brown. It should be noted that there are a lot of uses for anabolic steroids and many horses need them, primarily geldings ( no do-dads....no testosterone). They are also useful in treating muscle injury and anemia. Unlike humans there is no scientific evidence that anabolic steroids improve racing performance. (Fillies do show improved performance since they have little testosterone). This is most likely due to the fact that horses are already running at near peak anatomical and physical performance. Simply put, they just might not be capable of running any faster than they are right now. Unfortunately, the racing industry, trainers and owners like many of the general public are convinced that it these