Let’s talk about some of my favorite topics that help horse owners spend money needlessly. I like to call these the Urban Legends of the Horse World. Some have a bit of fact, and I emphasize, a bit, behind them. Some are wild tales meant to scare children around campfires at night. Either way, I watch a lot of horse people spend a lot of money or time on them for no good reason. Don’t worry, Tony’s here to help you out.

Colics and Walking

I’m starting with this one since it’s one of my life’s missions to get humans to stop walking colicky horses! If your horse lays down to roll, it will NOT cause their intestines to twist. In fact, it’s the other way around. Horses become intensely painful and roll because their intestines twisted. I know you’ve heard this one from me before, and I’m saying it again. Do.Not.Walk.Your.Colic! Okay, I’m ambling down from my soapbox now.

Hindgut Ulcers

I’m prepared to face the wrath of the internet on this one. Hindgut ulcers in the way you are thinking of them aren’t a thing. Yes, my Docs see hindgut ulcers, but it’s rare and is ALWAYS secondary to massive doses of NSAIDs like bute. For the most part these drugs are safe, but if given in too high a dose for too long, they quite literally destroy the hindgut. For some horses, this is one dose at a high level, for some it’s 4-5 days of high dosing, and for some it’s weeks of overdosing. These drugs are easy to use all willy nilly, but it’s important to check in with my Docs about best practices. Horses with hindgut ulcers are incredibly sick, and it can be life-threatening. They don’t experience a vague sense of unease, or balk at your leg, or pick up the canter incorrectly. They try to die. 

Okay, now for the tiny kernel of truth behind hindgut ulcers. The more all the amazing gut researchers out there learn about the critters that live in the GI tract, the more they know they don’t know. I think they should ask a cat. We know everything. Just ask us! Anyway, what is very clearly known is that the bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa that live in there are all important, and are all delicate little flowers. Any little thing upsets them. There are a million solutions proposed for managing this upset. There are two that have science behind them: forage and Saccharomyces boulardii. That’s it. Not hindgut buffers, not magical hindgut happiness potion, not vaguely labeled hindgut supporters. Hay and maybe some yeast. Mostly hay. Want to keep your horse’s hindgut happier? Feed them more hay! 

Stomach Ulcers

What? Are you crazy, Tony? Are you saying stomach ulcers aren’t a thing?? No. I’m not actually saying that. I am saying that a bajillion of the things out there that say they will fix it, won’t. Stomach buffers will help the symptoms temporarily, but not long term. Many of the wonder cures out there are buffers. Treatment is aimed at first knowing what kind of ulcers you’ve got: squamous or glandular, then targeting treatment to the type, then modifying life and diet to avoid recurrence. Wonder cures which involve two pumps or scoops or packets of something random do not factor in here. 

Joint Supplements. Okay, Supplements in General.

Let’s evaluate the size of a horse. I’m going to be kind and say the average horse weighs 1100 pounds. Yeah, that’s right, I’m saying most of you humans have overweight horses. Let’s look at the average supplement: 2 ounces. That’s the size of the scoop. That’s 0.00002 pounds per pound of horse body weight. Chances are good that supplement isn’t doing much. For example, when my Docs recommend flax seed for itchy skin, they recommend 1 POUND per day minimum. Think about what is in your supplement, and then the quantity you are feeding before expecting it to do a lot. The other thing about supplements is that they are the wild, wild west of the nutrition world. This is true for human supplements, too. Pretty much as long as you don’t say your supplement treats a medical condition, you can say it. My Docs can help you evaluate supplement choices, but know the answer will be just don’t do it 95% of the time. 

There are a whole lot of urban legends out there in the horse world. For 99.999999% of the horses in the world the right answer is a good diet based on 1-2% of their bodyweight as roughage, only enough concentrate to supplement vitamins, minerals, and protein to support workload, clean water, and turnout and/or exercise to keep the body moving. The rest of it separates your money from your wallet. Horses do that well enough already! Talk to my Docs for help sorting out the urban legends from the truth. 

Until next week,

Tony

P.S. If you are thirsty for knowledge on the things I talked about here, you should go listen to the podcast my humans do. They have a whole lot more to say about this stuff than I do. To be fair, I’m limited to 1,000 words, and they can talk for 30 minutes to an hour. I’m not staying awake that long unless I’m blocking traffic in the Clinic parking lot. Anyway, you can find all 90+ episodes of Straight from the Horse Doctor’s Mouth by clicking here, or subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll thank me later. 

It’s January, which means two things: it’s cold, which I hate, and Springhill Equine Wellness Program sign-ups, which I love, are in full swing. Let’s talk about the cold first. I have asked my humans repeatedly to make the temperature outside more to my liking. Their only offer to solve this problem is a horrible plaid jacket they attempt to make me wear. This is a completely unacceptable solution. Thus I sit at the front door and demand the repeated opening and closing of the door so that I may move inside or out depending on my minute-by-minute temperature desires. I feel it’s a solid plan. The humans seem to object, but I ignore them. On to the thing you probably care more about: the Wellness Program, in other words, your horse’s basic healthcare needs. What are they, and why do my Docs do what they do?

The Exam

Every horse should get a good basic exam every time they get a vaccine. This isn’t a fancy exam. It’s a heart, lungs, gut sounds, my Doc looking your horse over exam. It’s tempting to wonder what the heck they’re doing during this quick exam, and how much information they can gather. The answer is a lot. Giving a highly trained professional 5 minutes to look over your horse, take a listen, and talk to you about what you and your horse are up to will get you more information than all the hours you can put in with The Google Machine. 

During that time my Docs are assessing your horse’s heart rate and beat. Is it regular? Is the rate appropriate for the fitness level your horse should be at? They are listening for early signs of asthma, a ridiculously common Florida horse problem. Gut sounds tell them if there is a hint of sand, or too much gas, or maybe some impending diarrhea. All the while they are looking at all your horse’s other body parts. You may not realize it because my Docs are slick like this, but they’re evaluating feet, muscles, topline, haircoat, eyes, and a million other things in that 5 minutes, all while integrating the information you’re giving them about your horse’s eating, drinking, and exercise habits. I dare you to get all that from the Faceplace!

Vaccines

Serious Tony here. Encephalitis is EVERYWHERE in Florida, and Rabies is really bad. Vaccines are important! Every single horse in the United States should have Eastern and Western Encephalitis, Tetanus, West Nile Virus, and Rabies vaccines yearly. If you live in the swampy, mosquito-infested land of Florida, the encephalitis and West Nile vaccines should be given at least every 6 months. Do you know what happens when you guys try to keep track of this yourselves? It doesn’t happen every 6 months. Often it doesn’t even happen every year. These diseases are deadly, and heartbreaking. Eastern encephalitis carries a 95% mortality rate. West Nile horses rarely return to their previous level of competition. 

If your horse is around other horses, they should also be vaccinated for rhinopneumonitis and influenza. These are the respiratory viruses of the horse world. Horses get them from other horses. That means it’s not just for show horses. If you trail ride around other horses a lot, your horse should get these vaccines. 

There are other vaccines out there, like Strangles and Potomac Horse Fever. Some horses need these. Some don’t. The best person to determine this is your veterinarian. Not a random person you met at the feed store, not your farrier, trainer, or Facebook friend. TikTok should also not be a guide here. If they aren’t a vet, they don’t decide. That’s some Tony wisdom right there.

Know how to best ensure your horse gets the vaccines they should, when they should? Sign up for Springhill Equine’s Wellness Program. So easy, even a dog can do it. Trust me. You humans can’t keep track of this without some feline help!

Coggins

I’ve got entire blogs on why one should have a Coggins test, and how it’s spread. All the info you need on this. This week I’m here to say once again: sign up for our Wellness program so you’ve got your Coggins when you need it. “Emergency” Coggins really shouldn’t be a thing. If you think you might take your horse off property, get a Coggins on them when my Docs are there doing vaccines. It makes life much easier when you suddenly decide to take Flicka for a trail ride on Saturday, but realize on Thursday evening you don’t have a Coggins.

Dentals

Big old Tony soapbox here. Dental care should be performed by your veterinarian. Just this past week we saw a horse who had their dental care performed LAST WEEK by a lay dental floater who had missed a giant tumor on the jaw. I know. I know. That’s not how my random person with an internet certificate in dentistry works. But it is how they work. Your horse’s mouth should be evaluated at least yearly by a veterinarian. That means sedation, a speculum, and a bright light. That means a veterinarian. Sedation can only be legally administered by a veterinarian. 

You can tell this is a pain point for this cat. It’s because my poor Docs have to handle the repercussions of bad dental care. Often this means a horse not eating for days to weeks after a dental float, serious health problems from bad sedation choices, and missed issues often in the back of the mouth. Not to mention, you are out money for a service that was performed badly. 

Okay, I know that was a lot, but it’s enough to get my hackles up. Also, good, consistent dental care is the single greatest thing you can do for your horse to help them have a happy, long life eating normal food. As those teeth decline, feeding becomes a huge challenge. Take care of them early and often, and you will save a ton of money on feed over the lifetime of your horse. This doesn’t even include the benefit of improved communication while you’re riding them.

Deworming

Last but not least in the basics of horse healthcare is deworming. By this I do not mean place a deworming product in your horse’s mouth every month, six weeks, at the farrier visit, based on the lunar calendar, or some other crazy horse-person archaic deworming schedule. That’s right, I’m talking about you, horse people. Proper parasite management involves knowing fecal egg counts. This allows targeted deworming of the horse’s dropping the most parasites around their world, and NO one else. 

Let me also state right here that just because one horse is high doesn’t mean all the other horses on a property are. This is so 1990’s thinking. Be hip and modern. Use fecal egg counts to guide deworming. For Florida, this means check fecal egg counts once yearly generally during what counts as our Winter, Spring, or early Summer. Only horses with high egg counts are dewormed. In the late Fall, everyone gets dewormed with an ivermectin/praziquantel product. My Docs recommend Equimax for a variety of reasons. That’s it. See, I just saved you money, time, and argument with your horse over taking their dewormer. 

Know how to get all this stuff for your horse, save time and money, and have my awesome group of humans keep track of all of it for you? Sign up for our Wellness Program. Time is running out to get in on the plans. Signing up is easy. Just go here: https://springhillequine.com/wellness-sign-up-sheet/ and do the things. Now go back to perusing the internet for the thing it does best: cat videos!

Until next week,

~Tony

P.S. If you aren’t subscribed to my YouTube Channel, you are missing out on a ton of free amazing video content. New videos go up all the time, so subscribe so you see my new videos as they are released!