Demystifying Equine Muscle Disease

Join us as we recap Dr. Stephanie Valberg’s career mission of demystifying muscle disease.
This article originally appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of EquiManagement. Sign up here for a FREE subscription to EquiManagement’s quarterly digital or print magazine and any special issues.
Horse with muscle atrophy, indicating potential muscle disease.
Atrophy, myofibrillar disarray, and desmin aggregation in skeletal muscle are hallmarks signs of several muscle disorders. | Amy K. Dragoo 
As a veterinary student in the 1980s, Stephanie Valberg, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (LAIM), DACVSMR, realized the profession knew little about how horses’ bodies function during exercise and what parameters should be used to measure fitness. She dreamed of pursuing a career in large animal medicine; however, her own autoimmune disorder put an abrupt end to that path. That didn’t diminish Valberg’s passion to work with horses and learn about exercise physiology, training, and muscle. Fueled by the promise of a treadmill and scholarship, Valberg jumped at the opportunity to begin her career in academia in Sweden.    “I had amazing mentors with a device that few others had—a muscle biopsy tool as well as a high-speed treadmill,” she recalls. “We were able to look at what happened in muscle when horses exercise and adapt to training.” 
PLEASE VERIFY YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

Please check your email address and verify your account to be able to see this content. 

categories
tags
Trending Articles
veterinarian checking knee of spotted horse
Disease Du Jour: Equine Physical Examination Tips
Hagyard AAEP
New Supplement Might Improve Equine Gastric Ulcer Scores 
horse at the riding center with an instructor
Business Briefs: Important Equine Veterinary Industry Statistics 
Veterinary on a farm
The Business of Practice: 2024 AVMA AAEP Report on the Economic State of the Equine Veterinary Profession 
Newsletter
Get the best from EquiManagement delivered straight to your inbox once a week! Topics include horse care, disease alerts, and vet practitioner updates.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
Country*

Additional Offers

Untitled
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.