Blood was collected from the jugular vein and processed for serum, plasma, and DNA using standard procedures. To minimize circadian and meal associated effects on blood parameters, samples were collected in the morning prior to feeding concentrated rations. Care was taken to minimize stress to the animals, and no special treatments were given. Body measures were also gathered on each animal to capture regional adiposity and body size using a well optimized protocol, as well as body condition scores according to the Henneke system [numerical scores of 1 for emaciated to 9 for extremely obese]. Detailed diets, exercise regimes and a complete health history on each individual were recorded. Study animals are privately-owned, live on several farms in the central Florida area, and may have naturaly aquired disease. Based on the collected observations each horse is assigned to one of three diagnostic groups: 1) Normal Control, 2)Equine Metabolic Syndrome and 3)EMS- under treatment.