A Brief Overview of Western Pleasure Competition

An Illinois-based veterinarian focused on diagnosing and treating lameness in horses, Dr. Phillip Kapraun oversees an equine veterinary practice in Harvard. He specializes in treating Standardbred racehorses and racing quarter horses. Over the course of his nearly 40-year career, Dr. Phillip Kapraun also has treated a variety of other performance horses, including those used for Western Pleasure competitions. 

Unlike racing competitions that emphasize a horse’s speed, Western Pleasure events evaluate a horse’s ability to move in an easy and collected manner. For horses that compete in the Western Pleasure class, a calm and relaxed gait and demeanor that support an overall pleasurable ride are of the utmost importance. 

With proper movement and a horse’s manners at the top of a Western Pleasure judge’s evaluation list, any breed can do well in a pleasure competition. That being said, there are some horses that perform better than others do. Quarter horses are perhaps the most common, but other stock horse breeds such as Appaloosas and American paint horses also do well in the Western Pleasure class.

AAEP Starts Disaster Fund for Wildfire-Affected Horses

An equine veterinarian in private practice since 1984, Dr. Phillip Kapraun primarily treats lameness in performance horses. In addition to his everyday work with horses, Dr. Phillip Kapraun is a member of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP). 

Between hundreds of acres of scorched land and the loss of homes, the cost of the 2017 California wildfires has been extremely high. What can sometimes get lost in the shuffle, however, are the urgent equine community needs that can arise in the wake of such a disaster. That is why the AAEP’s charitable arm has an Equine Disaster Relief Fund. 

The fund is seeking to help horses that the wildfires in California have adversely impacted. The money from the fund will go to organizations and programs involved in recovery efforts as well as rebuilding efforts and to those working on dealing with future disaster situations. To learn more about the fund, visit aaep.org.

University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine - DVM Program

Before becoming a practicing veterinarian as the owner of Phillip R. Kapraun DVM, PC Harvard Equine Practice in Harvard, Illinois, Phillip Kapraun attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa where he earned a bachelor of science in biology. He also attended the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in Champaign-Urbana, where he obtained a doctor of veterinary medicine (DVM).

Organized in 1944, the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine began after veterinarians and farmers in the local area called for a training program for the education of current and future veterinary professionals. Today, DVM students attend core courses such as clinical practice, pathobiology, and professional development. In addition, they choose electives that range from veterinary forensic medicine and advanced therapeutics to equine animal husbandry and equine critical care.

Enrolled students may also take advantage of other opportunities related to their studies. The college offers summer research programs as well as a two-week rotation in shelter medicine that allows students to participate in up to 50 surgeries. Additionally, interested individuals can pursue a DVM-Master’s in Public Health joint degree, administered in partnership with the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Causes and Treatment of Equine Osteochondritis Dissecans

As a privately practicing equine veterinarian, Dr. Phillip Kapraun focuses largely on the treatment of lameness in performance horses. Dr. Phillip Kapraun is a driving force behind the standardization of osteochondrosis dessicans (OCD) detection and removal in yearling Standardbred horses.

Osteochondrosis dessicans, or OCD, is a common orthopedic condition that affects up to 10 percent of Quarter horses, 35 percent of Morgans and 60 percent of Standardbreds. It is a developmental disorder (DOD or developmental orthopedic disorder) that causes the irregular development of bone and cartilage in the joints. OCD seems to have 3 possible causes: genetic, nutrition of the mare during pregnancy, and trauma. It appears that horses are born with OCDs. OCDs can be responsible for lameness in the horse. Standardbred trainers of horses with unremoved OCDs often complain that their horse "makes breaks." OCDs prevent a horse from achieving its full potential.

In the majority of cases, effective and lasting treatment involves surgery to remove the abnormal bone and cartilage tissues. Contemporary best practices suggest the use of arthroscopy, which allows for the OCD removal using only 2 small incisions, minimizing trauma to the joint and minimizing recovery time. Standardbreds typically receive one month of stall rest after OCD arthroscopic surgery followed by one month of slow jogging on the track before returning to work.

Study Examines Bony Lesions in Yearlings and Impact of Gender and Sire

A well-established presence in the Harvard, Illinois, community, Phillip Kapraun, DVM, engages as the leader of a successful equine veterinary practice. His emphasis is on diagnosing and treating lameness in racing standardbred and quarter horses. Respected in his field, Dr. Phillip Kapraun did the research, provided the data, and co-authored the paper “Influence of Sire and Gender on Fluoroscopic Incidence of Bony Lesions in Illinois Standardbred Yearlings” (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008).

Explored were juvenile horse developmental joint abnormalities, which are commonly tested for using radiographic examinations. A central question is whether external bony abnormality symptoms such as joint effusion and swelling are accurate indicators of such afflictions. The study presented the hypothesis that gender would not be a significant source of joint abnormality variation, while sire would be a positive predictor of such.

With fluoroscopic scans undertaken on 315 yearlings, some 58 percent had lesions, among which 37 percent required surgery. The ultimate finding was that gender had no impact on lesion occurrence and sire was also not a significant predictor. However, sire did play a significant role in predicting whether the horses would require surgery to address bony lesions.