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Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: In the last 5 years, Kinga Gortel has received honoraria, consulting fees, and/or has collaborated with Royal Canin, Purina, Zoetis, and Novartis/Elanco.

Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is commonly used to diagnose skin disease in companion animals, but its use in horses appears to be infrequent. Equine veterinarians in western Canada were surveyed to determine their opinions about FNA and 15 years of diagnostic submissions were used to compare the perceived to actual value of FNA in the diagnosis of skin disease in horses. Practitioners viewed FNA as quick, easy, economical, and minimally invasive. However, most veterinarians rarely chose to use FNA due to a perception that sample quality and diagnostic yield were poor and there was a narrow range of diseases the technique could diagnose. Analysis of the FNA cytology samples from a veterinary diagnostic laboratory showed a wide variety of equine skin disease conditions, but the frequency of non-diagnostic results was significantly higher in equine submissions compared to those from dogs and cats.

Foresight has been introduced in Canada in the area of animal health as a process to broaden thinking about the future and inform policy development. Its initial use and evolution through projects and studies over the past decade are described, demonstrating real action in animal health. Despite positive, continuing, and exciting results in animal health policy development, foresight's widespread acceptance and use thus far have been limited. Critical components for success, drawn from the Canadian experience, are described, and recommendations are offered for further action in animal health.

Veterinary directories from Canada's 4 western provincial veterinary associations provided source data for compiling demographic profiles of the veterinary profession for the years 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2007. From 1991 to 2007 the number of veterinary practitioners in western Canada increased by 1197 (79%), for a net gain of 75 veterinarians/y. Of these, 786 (66%) were companion animal (CA) practitioners, 184 (15%) mixed animal (MA) practitioners, 96 (8%) food animal (FA) practitioners, and 131 (11%) were classified as "Other." The number of veterinary clinics also increased over this same period by 301 (38%), of which 266 (88%) were CA practices, 5 (2%) MA practices, and 31 (10%) FA practices. The majority of CA (75%), MA (68%), and FA (86%) practices had ≤ 2 veterinarians.

This paper provides a bird's-eye perspective of the general principles of stem-cell therapy and tissue engineering; it relates comparative knowledge in this area to the current and future status of equine regenerative medicine.The understanding of equine stem cell biology, biofactors, and scaffolds, and their potential therapeutic use in horses are rudimentary at present. Mesenchymal stem cell isolation has been proclaimed from several equine tissues in the past few years. Based on the criteria of the International Society for Cellular Therapy, most of these cells are more correctly referred to as multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells, unless there is proof that they exhibit the fundamental in vivo characteristics of pluripotency and the ability to self-renew. That said, these cells from various tissues hold great promise for therapeutic use in horses. The 3 components of tissue engineering - cells, biological factors, and biomaterials - are increasingly being applied in equine medicine, fuelled by better scaffolds and increased understanding of individual biofactors and cell sources.The effectiveness of stem cell-based therapies and most tissue engineering concepts has not been demonstrated sufficiently in controlled clinical trials in equine patients to be regarded as evidence-based medicine. In the meantime, the medical mantra "do no harm" should prevail, and the application of stem cell-based therapies in the horse should be done critically and cautiously, and treatment outcomes (good and bad) should be recorded and reported.Stem cell and tissue engineering research in the horse has exciting comparative and equine specific perspectives that most likely will benefit the health of horses and humans. Controlled, well-designed studies are needed to move this new equine research field forward.