Carrie Hammer, who oversees North Dakota State University’s Equine Studies Program, will be featured on RFD-TV, a nationally broadcast satellite channel, Monday, Sept. 17.

Bob Thornberg of SweetPro Feeds, Walhalla, N.D., also will be part of the hourlong “RFD-TV LIVE” program. Equine laminitis will be the topic. The program will air at 7 p.m. Central time.

A new video that NDSU Agriculture Communication produced will air on the program as well. The video features NDSU Equine Studies Program staff, students and facilities. The program started in 2000.

Hammer, also an NDSU Extension Service equine specialist, will lead the RFD-TV program’s technical discussion on laminitis. The program also includes a viewer call-in segment during the second half of the broadcast.

Laminitis is a debilitating disease of the hoof. It affects an estimated 15 percent of the nation’s 9 million horses. The program will examine the disease’s causes and treatments.

The program also will include video of the New Bolton Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where noted racehorse Barbaro was treated. Barbaro, winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby, broke a leg during the 2006 Preakness Stakes, but laminitis is what ultimately took his life.

SweetPro Feeds is sponsoring the program as part of its efforts to raise awareness of laminitis and support research efforts to combat it.

For more information about NDSU’s Equine Studies Program, visit its Web site at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ars/equine_studies/.

NDSU Agriculture Communication