The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) has partnered with the University of Guelph to create the Ontario Animal Health Network (OAHN).
The purpose is to detect disease and other health issues early so that action can be taken as soon as possible. The equine network includes four private veterinarians (two from racing – one Standardbred, one Thoroughbred) who help direct the network comprised of individuals from the U of G and OMAFRA.
Each quarter they send out a survey to practicing equine vets to fill out regarding diseases/disorders/welfare issues that they have seen in their practice so that they can identify any trends developing and investigate issues if need be. The members on the network discuss the results by teleconference and a veterinary report is created from this survey and from lab results provided to them.
They also create an owner report to touch on the diseases or health issues that were highlighted in the survey and the telephone call. Because they ask in the survey whether the vet practices on racehorses and to what degree, they are able to sort out the health issues seen by racehorse veterinarians which has then led to a report catered to the racing industry.
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