Nov 2, 2015 | Events
Sooo, let me start by saying, I am the star of this show! ME, Tony, that’s why they call it Tuesdays with Tony. The humans ran around here all last week talking about some event happening on Saturday. It sounded like it was going to be an exciting time and I was looking forward to meeting a multitude of people with some really strange names.
Saturday Mallie came in to poke and feed me yeah….that was the highlight of my day. However, there was nothing going on here at the clinic. She said she had to be off and running to go to a thing called a Wedding? WHAT you say? (Yes my response exactly). Seems our infamous Dr Lacher got married and that was the event of the day!
Now why am I so upset about this? Because I am supposed to be the star of the show around here (at least that is what they keep telling me) and from what I hear, Dr Lacher and Justin stole the day away! Then there was Gandolf (preacher), Lara Croft (Dr Lacher) and King Arthur (Justin). I hear they said some pretty awesome vows to each other devoting their love, friendship, future and happiness together.
I found it very curious that she climbed a tree and descended down upon her guests and groom with her Maid of Honor Michele the spider, while King Arthur galloped to his lovely bride to be with Kristen the Jedi Knight.
There were many other guests that arrived to witness this wonderful event: Curious George and his Handler, Juno and Bleeker, Batman and Robin, Mork, Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker, Caesar and The Fairy God Mother, Elmo and Cookie Monster, Dr Who #10, Fred and Wilma, Bonnie and Clyde and the list just goes on. How I would have loved to have met all these people. But no,
I spent my Saturday napping instead of enjoying the festivities as you can see from the picture of the Springhill Staff Members.
I heard that it was a good time had by all and congratulations are in order for our good Dr! I did get to see the pictures of this amazing event and very happy for them and their turnout.
Now I hear, I will be upstaged again in a couple of weeks by Baby Vurguson…..
Please join me in congratulating them both! (I need my food bowl full)
Left to Right: Charly, Mallie, Beth, Dr. Vurgason, Dr. Lacher, Justin, Nancy, and Renee
Oct 13, 2015 | Dentals, Events, Leg issues
Tuesdays with Tony
Holy busy week Bat Cat!! This has been one really busy week around here. Not only did the Docs stay super busy but also I had to make sure everything was ready to go for our annual See Tony event the humans call Open House. I have included some pictures for those of you who didn’t make it. Just know that I know who you are and I am judging you for not stopping by to see me.
Let’s start with cases.
We had a few older horses that needed some teeth removed. Unlike cats, horse’s teeth continue to erupt as they age. This means when they get older they have a really short tooth with no root holding it in. This week the Docs saw three horses for routine dentistry that had loose teeth. Luckily these teeth are very easy to extract and it doesn’t seem to bother the horses much. They still get a local Novocain block, and some pain medication but usually once the teeth are out they feel much better.
The horse we cut all that nasty Pythium stuff off of is doing pretty darn well. I got to do a brief cat scan on her when she came by for a checkup. The Docs are using some really cool silver impregnated socks on her legs to help cover the wounds while letting them air out but not exposing them to flies. So far they are feeling pretty good about the socks. Personally I think the horse looks rather silly wearing them and I would never tolerate that as a cool cat.
On Friday while I was trying my best to supervise See Tony 2015, I mean Open House; the Docs were in my way all afternoon working on putting this funny camera thing they called an endoscope up the nose of a horse to see inside a thing they called the guttural pouches. I asked why horses have this crazy pouch in the back of their throat and the answer was no one really knows but they think it works to cool blood on its way to the brain during high speed exercise. That explains why cats don’t work that way: no high speed exercise here thank you very much. Turns out guttural pouches like to get infected and it can be hard to fix. The endoscope let them get a sample directly from the pouch and test it for different bacteria and fungus so they could treat exactly what the problem was. Then Dr. Lacher was busy working on lameness. This horse had a tear in the check ligament. I asked what she was checking the ligament for and she said no it’s called the Check Ligament. I knew that all along; I was just messing with her. It’s what a cat does. Dr. Lacher told me this injury is usually one of the easier ones to manage in horses. A bit of rest and some rehabilitation and off they go. Unfortunately, this horse has re-injured his check ligament. Good news is this ligament isn’t 100% necessary so a little bit of surgery, a little bit of rest, and a little bit of rehab and he should be fine.
Finally, on to the most important day of the week: See Tony Saturday. I kept the humans here late in to the night on Friday and got them here early in the day on Saturday so that all would be perfect for my day. I was so happy to see you all and I trust you learned lots from my minions, I mean humans. I also have to give a big shout out to Bross Hogg’s Lunch Wagon for some seriously good food!
Oct 6, 2015 | Events
Tuesdays with Tony
What am I doing you ask? Getting ready for Open House 2015 on Saturday from 10am to 2pm.
That’s right it’s time for our Annual Come Meet Tony Festival. Some people in the office call it our Open House. Call it what you want but I know everyone really comes to see me. I like to give back to you, my adoring fans. We are giving away a Complete Wellness Package for 2016, polo wraps, pallet art, hats, sweatshirts, baskets of goodies, and more. Of course there will be food (if you share it with me don’t tell since they have me on this crazy diet for my diabetes), if you want to talk to my staff I will allow it, and there will be all kinds of cool stuff to learn.
While not supervising preparations for the Open House on Saturday between 10am and 2pm I have been watching over Dr. Vurgason. We sent Dr. Lacher off on what some say was a well deserved vacation so I had to take over all management duties. Luckily for her Dr. Vurgason does a great job so I only had to watch from my perch on the desk. Dr. V rechecked our horse who fell through the trailer. He is looking great thanks to my regular CAT scans. Along with vaccines, dentals, fecals, and the general routine stuff, Dr. V. sutured up a great eyelid laceration. Those are always fun!
In case I haven’t mentioned it yet we are having an Open House on Saturday from 10am to 2pm. Be there or incur the wrath of a black cat!
Sep 29, 2015 | Ailments, Leg issues, Pythium
Pythium:
My regular clinic duties usually consist of monitoring dentals, vaccines, ultrasounds, sometimes suturing lacerations or medicating eyes. On the contrary, the surgery I was forced to witness yesterday is unlike anything I have ever seen or hope to see again in my 9 lives. We had to lay down a horse with two wounds on her pasterns that were infected with something called “Pythium.” It looked repulsive! As I understand from the doctors, Pythium is a fungus-like organism that lives in standing water, especially in Northern Florida (lucky me). Horses (or dogs or cats) become infected by either drinking water containing the organism, or by standing in puddles, mud, or wet grass laden with the fungus. Fortunately, cats hate water, so we wouldn’t be caught dead in such a situation.
Dr. Vurgason saw the wound last week and immediately took a biopsy and debrided (scraped off) as much as possible with the horse standing. When the results of the biopsy came back positive for Pythium, I could tell it was bad-news-bears. Apparently Pythium is approximately 50% fatal, even with treatment. But the doctors have formulated an aggressive treatment plan including vaccination, debridement under general anesthesia, and regional limb perfusion with a powerful anti-fungal medication.
All I know is, yesterday’s surgery was very unpleasant to observe. The wounds were full of these gross things called “kunkers” which serve as a source of infection and a place for the fungus to hide out, undetected by the horse’s immune system. The kunkers were surrounded by grayish goo, and there were probably a dozen of them! The deeper the doctors cut, the more kunkers they found. It was all I could do not to cough up a hairball.
Anyway, the surgery went well and the horse woke up fine, thanks to my supervision. Check out the attached pictures if you have a strong stomach! Hopefully the rest of my week will be less gory.
Prior to surgery.
Beginning of surgery when we found the first set of “Kunkers”
First step of removal of the “Kunkers”
Final removal of “Kunkers”
Sep 21, 2015 | Events, Hay, Leg issues, Skin Funk
Patient of the Month
As most of you know Coby fell through the wooden floor of a trailer. We are quite pleased and impressed at the healing progression from day one and the use of Amnio Treatment. The picture from the right is the beginning to the healing progression to the left in the photo. He still has a lot of recovery but we are still hopeful that he continues on the healing path. Follow his story on Facebook with us for more updates.
Springhill Equine Facebook
Upcoming Events:
***Wellness 2016 Enrollment is coming up! Be on the look out for enrollment forms to come your way!***
Main Topic:
It’s almost hay season around here. Sure the weather is still warm but with the daylight decreasing our grass will slow down on growth over the next few weeks. This means our horses will need more hay. There’s good news and bad news on the hay front.
Good news: We have had more than enough rain this summer which means many pastures have done very well growing grass. You will be able to get by longer without hay as your horse grazes down what they have. This isn’t true for all situations, but check your pastures for actual grass and monitor how they are doing weekly. If you notice your horse starting to pull up grass by the roots, bare patches in your field, or weight loss in your horse it may be time to add more hay. Not sure what the right answer is for your horse? Have one of our amazing technicians: Beth, Charly, or Nancy come out and assess your pastures and feed program.
Bad news: We have had more than enough rain this summer which means farmers had to race against storms to try to get hay put up. Check with your regular hay supplier early to see what availability they have. Local hays may be difficult to get. Luckily farmers are farmers and they watch the weather more closely than Dr. Lacher (which is saying something since she has been known to check the radar every 5 minutes). So while hay may be a bit tougher to find most of them should be able to take care of their regular customers.
Coastal hay has a bad reputation when it comes to colic. Some of that is earned. Horses on lots of coastal and nothing else will often colic. Horses suddenly put on a round bale of coastal will colic (especially if this happens after 6pm on a weeknight or anytime on a weekend). Luckily there are easy ways to minimize your coastal hay colic risk.
Most important: gradually increase your horse’s hay. If your horse isn’t normally on hay during the summer now is the time to gradually start them on hay. Begin with 3-4 pounds of hay per day. Increase by about 1 pound weekly until your horse is leaving some hay behind. Once they are leaving hay you may put out a round roll of hay if that’s your feeding preference. Once your horse is on 8 pounds of coastal hay daily you should add in about 2 pounds of alfalfa or peanut hay daily. Alfalfa and peanut hays draw water in to the intestinal tract helping reduce the risk of colic.
Don’t feed coastal? We’ve got a plan for that too. Northern Grass and grass/alfalfa mix hays are excellent choices for many horses. Timothy, Orchard, and Brome hays are the most common grasses. You don’t have to worry about colics due to hay with these types of hays and they provide more nutrition than coastal hay. But they provide more nutrition than coastal hay and sometimes that’s too many calories. For the easy keeper or Insulin Resistant horse we don’t recommend more than 2-3 pounds of these hays per day added to a base of a coastal.
Want to get the most out of your hay dollar? Consider some type of feeding system. Slow feed hay nets come in sizes from a flake or two to an entire round roll. Hay nets have numerous benefits including slowing your horse down which makes your hay last longer, decreasing the calories they consume from hay, keeping them eating small amounts for longer, keeping their feet, manure, and urine out of the hay, and keeping them from stuffing their nose in the bale which often causes problems with allergies. We haven’t found a reason not to use these hay nets yet. One of our technicians, Nancy, began using them on her coastal round bale and got an addition 10 days out of the roll and her two older horses were able to stop taking medication for their heaves since they couldn’t stick their noses into the bale. If hay nets aren’t your thing check out YouTube for about a million different slow feed hay DIY options. Check out this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7Ws8–3IOU for starters.
We are here to help you design the perfect nutritional system for your horse, your life, and your farm. Gives us call, e-mail, or text!
Erica’s Corner
UNCLE! Alright I have cried Uncle!!!!! I am done with rain. Despite my best efforts I can’t keep up with Angie’s rain rot. She gets a bath at least once weekly in CK Shampoo. It has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. She spends a decent amount of time wearing my rain rot concoction mix on her top-line. And she has scratches, dew poisoning, small annoying crusts (whichever name you choose) on her pasterns that refuse to leave no matter what I do to them.
Trying to ride has been difficult at best. My property is on a hill and usually drains very well. Fortunately or unfortunately I also live on clay which is now so wet I could make an enormous work of pottery art out of my pastures. Poor Ernie has been riding up and down the road since it’s the only dry place around. He is very tired of straight lines….
I know one year it will be dry and I will look back on this summer of amazing grass growth with longing but today is not that day. Today I am hoping for sunshine and 50% humidity.
Tech Spot
Wow, It’s that time of year again for our Annual Open House October 10th from 10am to 2pm! Time sure does fly! We are looking forward to familiar faces as well as new ones.
This is the perfect opportune time to meet all of our staff, gain a little knowledge from our live demos, eat with us and win some wonderful prizes!Again, this year our big prize is a full year of our Basic Wellness Program for free! What a wonderful program to! Tony is super excited for everyone to come see what we have been up too!Hope to see you all there! Please RSVP via
Springhill Equine Email Thank you!!
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