Preface - Fourth Edition

If you do any foal work, you will likely need this book. It is difficult for all of us to read all published relevant papers and recall specific information at a critical time when we need it when tending to a sick foal. This edition and the 3 previous are written with this need in mind. New methods for disease prevention, new ideas for old conditions, new diseases, drug dosages forneonatal foals, normal values for hematology and clinical pathology are here for practical application. I believe you will find the Manual indispensible to you during the foaling season.

For academic veterinarians, practitioners, veterinary students, technicians and some foal owners the Manual has served as a source of information and education. I have appreciated the many comments from my practitioner colleagues regarding the foals that have been saved by finding information in the Manual that made a difference. The outline form of the popular previous editions is continued along with the use of the EC or editor comments. These are one or two line comments that alert the reader to a pitfall, precaution or experience the editor is aware of relative to the approach to a problem.

The fourth edition has several new sections including information to get you started on a foal with conformation issues or limb deformities. Dr. Hans Castelijns has written these chapters using his tremendous practical experience as a veterinarian and farrier.

I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation for all those who have directly contributed to the content of this manual. Notes from courses given by Dr. Gary Magdesian have been a significant source of information to share in portions of the Manual. Dr. Balzs Toth spent considerable time writing and editing portions of many chapters. Dr. Mary Beth Whitcomb has provided highly useful practical ultrasound imaging information. Dr. Hans Castelijns has written chapters on management of limb disorders in foals. The Manual would not have been completed without the diligent proofing and significant contributions by Dr. Kirstie Pickles.

Lastly, this new expanded 4th edition of the Manual is long overdue. It is completed because of the need expressed by those who had access to earlier editions and found it essential to them in their practice of foal medicine. I hope this little book will be a friend in the night, as an aid when presented with a challenging and perplexing foal, or the place you can go to find that piece of information you need to treat a foal. We are doing much better with neonatal foal care today and much of what we have learned is at your fingertips in the Manual.

Best of luck to you with the foals.

John Madigan