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Horse Breeding for Dummies Part 5 – Management of Late pregnancy and Birth

Mar 15, 2012 | Breeding

 

Haylo! Thanks for dropping by for the next “Mare” chapter of our Repro edition blog! Last week we discussed confirmation of pregnancy, management of twins, and the ‘last ditch’ 25-30 day check. Now we are going to discuss the remainder of pregnancy and birth. There are many facets and approaches to pregnancy management – we are going to discuss what the Springhill doctors view is of ideal management.

Starting at breeding, you should be managing your mare in a variety of ways. She should be in a clean, comfortable space with companions who are not a source of stress. She should have ample access to plenty of high quality hay and clean water. Changing over to a higher protein (14%) grain is recommended (although Senior feed is always best for older mares), but please refer to my segment where I visited Dr. Lacher’s feed room! A mare’s demands change as the baby grows, as she can physically fit less fibrous feedstuffs, and has to rely more on concentrated grains.

We recommend starting pregnant mare vaccines at 3 months of pregnancy – particularly Pneumobort (Rhinopneumonitis). This vaccine is repeated at month 5, 7 and 9 of pregnancy. It helps to prevent abortions caused by specific strains of equine herpes virus (Rhinopneumonitis). Your mare should also receive her EWT vaccine every six months (starting prior to breeding), and should be boostered 4-6 weeks prior to foaling. Your mare should be vaccinated for Rabies and West Nile prior to breeding, and then again with the EWT vaccine 4-6 weeks prior to foaling. These vaccines will help boost her antibody levels just prior to producing the colostrum (first milk) that will supply the foal’s immune system for the first 4-6 months of life.

She should be checked regularly for any pus or other discharge from her vulva, which is sometimes seen underneath and/or in the tail. Discharge during pregnancy often indicates placentitis, an infection of the placenta that compromises the foal and the pregnancy.  You should be monitoring your mare’s udder in late pregnancy for signs of development. Early development (5-9 months) can indicate placentitis as well. Please call if your mare exhibits these signs, so we can get your mare on antibiotics (often they use the free ones from Publix!)! If your mare does abort, please let us know and the vets can try to decipher the reason (eg, it could be one of two twins!)!

Ultrasounds can also give us information about the placenta and the foal. Dr. Lacher and Dr. King can attempt to determine if it is a boy or a girl between 59 and 65 days. We use ultrasound later in pregnancy (5-11 months) to determine the state of the placenta, the fluids surrounding the fetus, look for signs of infection (placentitis) – of which there are different forms and causes, and measure the heart rate of the baby. For example, we can measure the thickness of the placenta just in front of the cervix to see if it is thickened. This often indicates bacteria are ‘climbing in’ through a leaky valve – the cervix. This commonly occurs in mares that have had past foaling difficulty and damage to their cervix. If the foal’s heart rate is elevated, it indicates stress (like with placentitis), and if it is slowing down it may indicate impending death.

You should be monitoring your mare’s udder in late pregnancy for signs of development. First the udder begins to fill, but until the teats begin to fill and elongate the mare likely still has time. The first secretions will be a thin, watery drip, and over days to weeks it will change to a thick, sticky white milk. You can bring samples of milk to the clinic in a tube or cup (we can provide you) for us to test the relative concentrations of calcium and other ions, which gives us an idea of time until foaling. The closer she gets, the softer the muscles around her tailhead and the longer her vulva will appear. Remember that maiden mares can be much more unpredictable when it comes to pre-foaling development.  When the incredible process finally begins, be ready for a few common issues.

A red bag is caused when placentitis makes the “bag” so thick the foal cannot break through.  Once the umbilicus breaks, the foal has no source of oxygen.  If a red velvety bag is protruding from your mare (Careful! The foal’s feet are behind it!), cut it with a knife ASAP! DON’T WAIT for us to get there! Call us as soon as you have cut the bag and have the foal’s nostrils clear of materials.  Another birthing problem is dystocia (difficult birth), which occurs when the foal is malpostitioned, or sometimes with deformities. If your mare is actively foaling (following the water breaking) for more than 30 minutes, you should be calling us! DON’T try to pull a seemingly stuck foal yourself. If only one leg (with or without a nose), two feet but no nose, or feet whose soles face the sky are present, the foal is probably malpositioned. It is crucial to stay calm, and stand by for assistance.  Keep the foal’s nose clear if it is visible.

If everything goes as quickly and smoothly as usual, the first thing to know after your mare gives birth is the 1-2-3 Rule.  Your foal should stand within one hour of birth, and nurse within two hours. Within three hours of birth, your mare should pass the placenta—keep it (in a garbage bag and/or bucket)! If not, or it appears in any way incomplete, treatment for retained placenta should be started within six hours of birth. We should come see the foal in the first 12-24 hours after birth to do a physical exam (to check for congenital abnormalities, fractured ribs, signs of infection, etc.), and measure the IgG level (an antibody that tells us if the foal received adequate immunity from his mother’s colostrum).

Dr. King and Dr. Lacher absolutely love foals and are happy to discuss any questions you may have regarding management of your mare! Please let them know if you have any questions! If you find yourself still feeling nervous and unprepared for your mare to foal out at the end of this article, consider the Springhill Foaling Package.  Thanks for stopping by! May your litter box always be clean, and your food bowl full!

 

Don’t Choke!

Mar 11, 2012 | Ailments, Feed

It seems to me that mammals other than horses – cats, humans, annoying dogs, mostly seem to have a really rough time when they are choking.  But should you call Springhill to tell them your horse is choking, they will tell you to stay calm, and wait 30 minutes.  How and why is this?? Choke in a horse is a completely different syndrome that the typical “choking” episode you think of in a person.  The key difference is that choke in a horse results when there is a physical obstruction in the esophagus, not the trachea.

If you come upon a person who is choking, they will be doubled over, gasping for air. They are suffering from an obstruction of the trachea – the main tube connecting the larynx to the lungs. Horses are prone to obstructing at certain points along their esophagus, such as right behind the larynx (the junction of the mouth cavity, the trachea, and the esophagus).  A horse that is choking will appear variably distressed, with feed material coming out of his nose.  It usually occurs just after being fed grain, particularly if the horse is known to bolt (devour) his feed, or if feeding time is a bit later than usual. Dried beet pulp and pelleted grain have been implicated as well – water absorbs into these types feedstuffs and a bolus of food can expand mid-transport. Sometimes a mass is visible or palpable along the underside of the neck.

Call Springhill as soon as you notice your horse choking. Remove any feed, hay, and shavings if you think they will eat them, but leave the horse water. Often chokes resolve within 30 minutes of occurrence – the horse appears to get comfortable, the nasal flow stops, and he wants to go back to eating.  So Springhill will tell you to wait and watch your choking horse for this amount of time, and then Dr. Lacher or Dr. King will be on their way!

When they get there, they will get ready a long tube, a bucket of water, and a particular sedative, butorphanol, that has a specific side effect of making the horse drop his head. With the head below the blockage, the feed can passively drain back out of his nose. The horse also has a more pleasant and less memorable experience during the next part. The vet will pass the tube through the nose to the larynx, where they will encourage the sleepy horse to swallow the tube (against their own good instinct). Once in the esophagus, they will pass the tube forward to the blockage, and then begin to pump.  Slowly and steadily, they will have water pumped through the tube against the blockage, and they will move the tube forward and backward to break up the mass.  The water may bring material back out through the nose, or the water may pass through the blockage to the stomach, and slowly carry it along with it (like a large leaf in a shallow stream).

Most chokes resolve this way. Complicated, recurring, and difficult chokes require referral to an equine hospital, where a 3 meter camera is used to examine the entire length of the esophagus.  The gastroscope, as the camera is called, is passed to the entrance to the stomach (the cardiac sphincter), and the stomach and part of the small intestine is examined as thoroughly as possible (while we’re in there). This is the same exam used to diagnose gastric ulcers in horses, so don’t be surprised if you end up bringing some ulcer medication home from your visit. The esophagus is examined for abnormalities such as a stricture (narrowed section), diverticulum (pouch that develops off the main tube), or tumor. If a large object is obstructing the esophagus, such as a whole apple (just say no to feeding whole apples!), an instrument is passed through the gastroscope to attempt to retrieve the object.

After a choke, the horse will be uncomfortable and it’s best to give a small, warm soupy mash after a few hours. The vets will give re-feeding instructions when they are at your farm. A horse that bolts his feed can have some large, smooth river stones added to his bucket to make him slow down while he eats. If you are concerned, add some water to your feed and make it into a soup. Just don’t let your feed sit wet for too long – it could become rancid.

One of the most important things to be aware of with choke is the aspiration pneumonia that can result.  As the horse attempts to breathe through its nose as the feed is passing out, some of the feed (and all the bacteria living on it) end up in the lungs. It’s called aspiration pneumonia, and it can cause a nasty chain of events if left untreated. Thick pus fills the lungs, and eventually the infection passes into the space between the lungs and the ribcage (the pleural cavity – resultantly called pleuropneumonia), or abscesses may form and can rupture into this space. These infections can end up with the horse being hospitalized for IV antibiotics, and drainage of the pleural cavity with a chest tube. Pneumonia that has advanced to this stage can be extremely difficult and expensive to treat, and many horses eventually succumb to the infection.

It is therefore very important to have us out at some point to check your horse’s lungs, at the very least pay close attention to your horse’s breathing for 3-5 days after the choke episode.  This is especially important if the horse is a chronic choker. Look for increased rate and effort – normal respiration rate is 12 to 20 breaths per minute (watch the flank or put a hand a few inches from the nostril). You should be calling if you see significant nostril flaring, a large abdominal movement, or obvious rib excursions with breathing. Fever should also be reported (>102F). Horses with pleura-pneumonia will begin to act colicky – usually anxiously turning to look at their girth. Proper management of choke can be a smooth, simple experience or can be a fatal event.

On the lighter side, I am full-swing back into my Tony antics – cat-scanning trailers, running off the new neighborhood stray, and defending the clinic from other dangerous foes! I barely limp any more as I charge across the grassy yard toward the woods again. Keep me posted with ideas you want to see discussed on our blog! May your litter box be clean, and your food bowl full!

 

Tuesdays with Tony – Hay There!

Tuesdays with Tony – Hay There!

Mar 4, 2012 | Feed

Tuesdays with Tony

Hay There!

As promised, last week I managed to get Dr. Lacher cornered for a moment to discuss hay at her farm.  I thought this would be easy since she gave me a one word answer, alfalfa, but it did get more complicated than I thought.

To start with, let’s talk about Dr. Lacher’s hay feeding program.  Dr. Lacher recommends basing your feeding program on your forage, not your grain.  It is always cheaper to go with higher quality hay than more grain.  So she evaluated the nutritional needs of her herd, and found that the majority of the horses were going to require a high protein and high nutritional value forage.   Next, she checked with local hay producers to determine the nutritional value of their hay.  Good hay farmers check the protein and nutritional values on their hays, and are happy to discuss their results with you.

In our area there are two primary hay types to choose from:  coastal and peanut.

Dr. Lacher determined that peanut was the answer to her horses’ nutritional needs.  Unfortunately, one of her horses breaks out in horrible diarrhea if he eats even one bite, so she prefers not to have any on her farm.  Peanut is a locally grown legume, unlike alfalfa, which prefers cooler temperatures than Florida has to offer.  Because it’s locally grown, shipping costs are dramatically lower for peanut, giving you equivalent hay for less money.  Legumes come with many added benefits.  These hays create a laxative effect on the GI tract and are a bit salty.  Together, this helps reduce the incidence of colic.  Legumes are also a pretty darn balanced diet for horses.   Dr. Lacher told me that she rarely sees colics in horses who are fed peanut or alfalfa.  The few she has seen were on too little roughage for the weight of the horse (the right answer there is 10-12 pounds per horse per day or 1-1.5% of body weight).  Three of Dr. Lacher’s horses maintain on nothing but alfalfa and 1 pound of ration balancer per day, including a 4 year old and a pregnant broodmare.  This works because legumes are high enough in protein to meet the nutritional demands of a variety of horses.

Coastal is the major type of hay grown in this area.  Coastal is a grass hay, and is usually lower in protein than legumes.  There are several different types, with Tifton 85 usually being the best for horses.  Coastal is a great hay for horses with a low caloric demand.  It provides the GI tract with something to work on (very important for horses), gives your horse’s mind something to work on, and provides some nutrition.  Coastal has one big problem:  ileal impactions.  This is a type of colic almost exclusively seen in horses eating coastal with no other type of roughage.  Coastal remains the best choice for most horses, along with a few add-ons to reduce this risk.  Adding a few pounds of alfalfa or peanut hay, or 3-4 cups of soaked beet pulp twice daily will help keep your horse’s GI tract moving.  If your horse is a very easy keeper, this combination along with a small amount of a ration balancer, such as Purina’s Enrich 32 or Seminole’s Equalizer, will be all you need to feed.  Remember to check with your hay producer to determine the nutritional value of your hay.  We have some amazing farmers in this area growing coastal with protein and a nutritional profile surprisingly close to peanut hay.

Somewhere between these two choices are the mixed grass hays.  The most common one is T & A (or Timothy and Alfalfa) but other versions are Orchard Grass and Alfalfa (O & A), and even coastal and alfalfa.  These hays are an excellent choice for the horse who colics on coastal hay, or needs more nutrition than coastal but less than legumes.

Dr. Lacher finished our discussion on hay by reminding me that with summer coming, the number one roughage our horses will consume will be pasture.  Your pasture can be a significant source of nutrition if it is fertilized and maintained.  She wanted me to make sure everyone knew that the seed heads are very high in protein, fat, and calories.  This is important to remember if you have an insulin resistant or laminitic horse!

Dr. Lacher also said that Beth, our Certafied Nutrition Expert, will be happy to evaluate your horse, farm, and lifestyle and formulate the ideal feeding program.

And most importantly I hope that your food bowl is always full, and your litter box clean.

Tony

 

What’s in Dr. Lacher’s feed room??

Feb 26, 2012 | Feed

 

This was an exciting weekend at Springhill Equine.  We had a crew at the Climb for Cancer at San Felasco and then did a fundraiser for our Relay for Life team with Gentle Carousel at Tractor Supply in Jonesville.  Teeney and I stayed at the clinic and made sure our new cat beds were well loved.

Before all the weekend excitement, I got Dr. Lacher to sit down and talk with me about what’s in her feed room.   I got interested in this while listening to Dr. David talk about Senior horses at our Seminar last week and from a chat with Beth at Midwest Feed when she came by the office.  I am a very busy cat some weeks!

Let’s start with what type of horses Dr. Lacher has at her house.  She has one of every type, as far as I could tell.  Don’t ask her how many horses she has.  She refuses to count them so she can be in denial.  That said there is one hard keeper six year old Thoroughbred, an older easy keeper and an older hard keeper, some young horses, a pregnant horse and some mid to high level performance horses.

So what’s in her feed bins?  A 12% pellet, Equine Senior, beet pulp and Equalizer.  Supplements: Myristol and Cool Calories 100 and during the summer Solitude.  Each horse has a plain and mineral salt block available to them.  She said she does feed Seminole Feed but thinks Purina and Triple Crown also make excellent feeds.

Let’s start with the 12% pellet, Gold Chance 12+.  This pellet is fortified with extra amounts of the amino acid Lysine.  Amino acids make up proteins and Lysine is the most commonly used one in the horse.  Adding Lysine to a 12% protein feed makes it very similar to a 14% feed without the added costs of adding more protein.  This is the feed most of the horses get at her house.  The performance horses, pregnant mare, young horses and easy keeper senior horses are all happy on this feed with no added supplements.   The most any of them get is 6 lbs per day and the easy keepers are on the minimum necessary amount of 2lbs per day.

Equine Senior is fed to the hard keeper thoroughbred and senior horse and a horse with shivers.  Shivers is a muscle disorder which requires low starch, high fat diets and Equine Senior is the base for his diet.  Both the thoroughbred and shivers horse also receive Cool  Calories 100 every day as an easy and palatable fat supplement to their diet.  Fat is a fantastic way to add a whole lot of calories to a diet and keep grain to a minimum.  The thoroughbred eats 10 pounds of senior per day, the shivers horse 2 pounds and the hard keeper senior horse 6 pounds daily.  Dr. Lacher said she has had the best luck with Equine Senior for hard keepers.  It is a balanced diet for any horse over 3 years of age and is easily digestible.   It is also an excellent choice for horses with dental problems (which her hard keeper senior has) because they don’t need to chew the food the release the nutrition.

Seminole’s Equalizer is a ration balancer.  Dr. Lacher explained to me this is like Centrum for horses.  It is a complete vitamin/mineral/protein in a small package with as few added calories as possible.  These feeds are an excellent choice for the very easy keeper because it ensures they are getting what they need without adding calories.  Beet pulp is added to increase fiber and bulk in the diet since the recommended amount of Equalizer is 1 pound per day.

Dr. Lacher feeds Equalizer for a completely different reason:  she has a horse who is allergic to corn.  One of her horses has an insect allergy but her symptoms persisted last year when it was 20 degrees out for 10 days straight.  This led her to believe that there was more to the problem than gnats… She began with a single ingredient diet food trial.  Her horse started on oats and alfalfa only.  After 30 days she was no longer itching her tail or mane.  She then added some soybean meal with no return of symptoms.  She went through this with barley as well.  Since no symptoms were seen, she decided to find a corn free feed and see how her horse responded.  Equalizer fit the bill and one year later she continues to itch from bugs only.

What are Myristol and Solitude?  Myristol is a joint supplement based on research showing that some fatty acids are powerful anti-inflammatories in the joint.  This product contains cetyl myristoleate which was shown to be particularly powerful in studies at Colorado State’s Equine Orthopedic Center.  All of her performance horses are on this supplement.  She said joint supplements aren’t for every horse in every job but can be an important addition to some horse’s diets.  She chooses Myristol instead of regular Adequan or Legend injections and feels that on her horses it has decreased joint injections.

Solitude is a feed through fly control.  It is inactive in the horse and is not absorbed by their GI tract.  Instead it is passed in the manure and kills fly larvae.  She said she started it last year and noticed she had NO flies.  She also used it at her trainer’s facility beginning in the height of fly season and noticed a dramatic drop in flies after about 2 weeks.  She starts her horses once temperatures are consistently above 75 degrees which is usually the end of March.  She said the only fly spray she used last year was at horse shows!

I asked about hay even though that’s not technically in the feed room and she said she would chat with me about that subject next week since the horses needed to be fed.  So tune in next week for what’s in Dr. Lacher’s hay room.  In the meantime, may your food bowl be full and your litter box clean.

 

Equine Dentistry – The Anesthetic Plan

Feb 19, 2012 | Uncategorized

 

Hello there! Hope you are having an enjoyable weekend – I know I am, still cast-free and finally without a limp!  A couple weeks ago we offered a cat’s eye view of equine dentistry. This week, I thought it would be important to discuss a little bit further about everything that goes into forming what we call “the anesthetic plan” for your horse’s dental. While your horse is nowhere close to being under general anesthesia, there are anesthetic considerations for every situation involving an equine dental. The first and foremost is safety – for you, the veterinary staff, and your horse. This is the primary reason we ask you to take a step back during your horse’s dental, and let us do the work!  Some of the sedatives we use can easily kill a human in fractions of the doses used for the dental, and should only be handled by a veterinarian. The vets are prepared with emergency drugs in case of an accidental overdose or human exposure.

The first thing the Springhill vets do about your horse’s dental happens before your appointment time even arrives. This happens when your horse is already a patient of Springhill Equine, or if you have taken the time to provide complete information about your horse by filling out our new client form and sending it back to us before your appointment (also earning you $5 off your bill!). The vets look at the age, breed, sex, and size of your horse to the best of their ability, and begin to consider what type of sedation would best suit your horse’s physiology. We examine relevant past medical history in our records, and if a dental was performed by Springhill in the past, we consult the last dose used. Between these records, and communication between Dr. Lacher and Dr. King, any past known behavior of the horse (such as needle phobias) or response to sedation (‘He’s a cheap date!’) is taken into account. The doctors arrive on the farm with the foundation of an anesthetic plan in their head – prepared to reconsider our anesthetic approach at every step.

Knowledge of your horse’s behavior is crucial due to another important anesthetic principle called “windup”.  Many horses (understandably!) experience anxiety surrounding a dental experience.  Stress experienced prior to, during, and in the minutes following sedation causes physiologic responses that can make the horse require more sedation (sometimes A LOT more).  We work to minimize that. From the start, we try to move calmly and quietly while sedating the horse, and may give your horse treats to make it a more pleasant experience.  Some horses can be very difficult or fearful of intravenous injections, therefore, sometimes more restraint is required to keep everyone involved out of harm’s way. It is important during this time that you let our staff handle the horse.  Accidental injection of these drugs into the carotid artery (instead of the jugular vein) will result in the horse experience immediate and profound seizures. We are prepared to deal with these scenarios, however rare. Should this happen, the horse recovers completely with time, except in cases of catastrophic injury. In horses, catastrophic injury is considered a risk with absolutely ANY anesthetic plan – even “acing” your horse for the farrier!

An important part of the anesthetic plan is using the lowest possible dose of each drug, while providing adequate depth of sedation, length of time to complete the dental, and comfort to the horse during the process. Our arsenal contains five main sedatives – xylazine (a.k.a. “Rompun”), Sedivet (romifidine, similar to xylazine), butorphanol (“torb” or Torbugesic), acepromazine (Ace), and detomidine (Dormosedan or “Dorm”).  Each of these drugs has its own profile of safety, efficacy and side effects. Before these drugs are even drawn into a syringe for your horse, everything discussed above is considered, as well as an assessment of the horse’s attitude, personality, and comfort level with our presence that day.  Environmental factors that may arouse the horse such as wind, temperature, lawn mowers, small children, etc. are also part of the consideration. We listen to the horse’s heart to make sure there are no significant murmurs or arrhythmia’s that could cause an adverse event. Finally, we use the power of synergy to minimize the volume of each drug used by making a cocktail.

I’ll explain by example. When used alone, a whole ml of detomidine may be required to complete a dental on a particular horse. However, Springhill Equine most often uses a triple-threat combination using a “base dose” of xylazine or Sedivet, and add small volumes of the more potent detomidine (Dorm) and Torb. By doing this, we reduce that 1 ml to often 0.2 or 0.3 ml instead.  This keeps the dose for this particular drug well within the margin of safety, minimizing its side effects. Likewise for the others in the cocktail (ingredients may vary – e.g. Tennessee Walkers often are better with ace and xylazine cocktails). By using what is termed a “balanced anesthetic technique,” synergy of the sedatives further reduces the required dose. If more sedation is required midway to complete the dental, we try to use the lowest volume of what we feel will be the most effective to finish our work. The next time, we will take into account any “top ups” that were required. The less sedation required for a balanced plane, the more money and time you save!

In summary, there is an enormous amount of thought put into that little syringe that we pull out during your horse’s dental. There are hundreds of thoughts behind it in our doctor’s heads, from possible safety concerns, potential side effects, quality of anesthesia and the plan for next time! If you ever have questions about the sedatives used, you need only ask them and they will happily explain it to you! May your litter box be clean and your food bowl full, until next week!