Jan 26, 2016 | Ailments, Medication, Vaccines
Every few years they make me go to the small animal vet for a fun field trip to get vaccines. I like car rides and meeting new people so I go along with it. There is a moment of discomfort when they stick the needles in me. I get treats. I forgive for the needles since there were treats, and back to the clinic I go. Horses are different. Of course they are! They feel the need to be special about all kinds of crazy stuff. Horses have to get vaccines WAY more often, like twice yearly more often.
Why are horses so special? First: they are getting vaccinated for a different type of infection than most of the vaccines your dog or cat gets. Eastern Encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile Virus (WNV) in particular are very bad about overwhelming the immune system unless it is super primed and ready. Also most horses are exposed to EEE and WNV on a VERY regular basis when they get bit by mosquitoes. This means they better be ready to fight all the time! Second: horses just aren’t good at responding to vaccines. We all know cats are a superior critter, and I see this as further proof. Really awesome Docs have done pretty detailed research to show that horses only have a good response for 6-14 months depending on the vaccine. Cats respond so well that we only have to get shots every 3 years. Yep, we’re awesome like that.
Another reason horses need vaccines more often: their busy social lives. While us cats are busy keeping to ourselves being the good loners we are, horses are off at horse shows and trail rides and clinics and sleepovers. Sure, it all sounds like fun, but it’s also an opportunity to get germs from others. Horse shows have caught on to this germ festival. The United States Equestrian Foundation (USEF) recently passed a rule stating that horses have to be vaccinated every six months for Rhinopneumonitis and Influenza. I’m not one for rules but I hear from our Docs that this one is reasonable. Lots of horse shows were making their own rules about when and how and why and blah, blah, blah on vaccines. This means there is one rule to govern them all. (What?! This cat likes Lord of the Rings) So, if you show any breed or discipline that is under the USEF umbrella you must have proof of vaccination. This includes Paso Fino, Arabian, Dressage, Hunter/Jumper, and Eventing, just to name a few.
I must, also, be sure you know about our Wellness Program. This simple program will take care of all your horse’s health needs and you don’t have to worry about any of it! How awesome is that? Our Docs think of everything. You have 5 days left to sign up for Wellness 2016. Don’t miss out on this program!
So once again we have proven cats rule and you should call Springhill Equine. I feel redundant when I say these things. Our Docs can help you determine what vaccines your horses really need, when they need them, and provide the documentation you need for all that socializing.
Jan 19, 2016 | Disaster Preparedness
Tuesdays with Tony:
I must say, it’s a bit nippy outside! Be that as it may, don’t even think about putting a space heater in your barn to keep little Snowflake warm. Turns out, the majority of barn fires are caused by heating equipment! In fact, only 3% of barn fires are caused by an animal. It stands to reason, then, that the other 97% are caused by stupid humans. Surprise, surprise.
Does your barn aisle looks like Home Depot was having a sale on extension cords? Is there so much dust on your fluorescent lightbulbs that you can’t see to tell apart your hunter green and navy blue turnout sheets? If so, you are not alone. Which brings me to the 2nd most common cause of barn fires: electrical and lighting equipment!
Barn fires are an all too common reality. They are always tragic, mostly because they are almost always preventable. Dr. Lacher and Dr. Vurgason want you and your horses to be safe! Therefore, Springhill Equine is throwing an exciting come-see-Tony event entitled, Barn Fire Prevention: Addressing Life Safety Issues at your Facility. Our guest speaker will be Aaron Vurgason of Oak Ridge Electric. Aaron is a licensed electrician, and holds certifications in arson investigation, electrical safety, fire safety, building automation/control systems, and most importantly he’s Dr. V’s husband, so he’s cool in my book.
Don’t miss me, err I mean the talk about Barn Fire Prevention, on Thursday, February 11th at 6:30pm, right here at Springhill Equine! And before you decide to hang a heat lamp directly over Snowflake’s hay rack, ask yourself if it’s worth it, and maybe just throw an extra blanket on her instead. Stay warm in your kitty houses!
-Tony
Jan 12, 2016 | Breeding
Tuesdays with Tony: This week Tony talks about making babies.
Tuesdays with Tony:
January may not be a time when you humans think about the birds and the bees. But believe it or not, soon the horses are going to start getting all twitterpated. Along with breeding season comes some responsibility. I know baby horses are super cute, but trust me, they all grow up to be big horses, and not everybody wants one of those! The docs and I have seen it happen here at the clinic time and time again. So, before you decide to breed your little pride and joy, ask yourself these questions to make sure it is a good idea:
1) Is my horse registered as a member of an actual breed? Hint: a Quarter horse/Belgian/Lusitano/Mustang is not a breed.
2) Does my horse have good conformation? If your horse’s knees stick out in front of his toes on a side-view, your horse does not have good conformation.
3) Is my horse nice? Make sure you also ask this question about the horse you are breeding to. Personality is definitely an inheritable trait. My personality, for example, is exquisite.
4) Is my horse pretty? Believe it or not, breeding a pretty horse to an ugly horse almost always results in an ugly horse. It is a myth that breeding a mare with no hindquarters to a stallion with massive hindquarters will “fix her.” The same applies with breeding a short horse to a tall horse; the foal will not necessarily be medium-sized. Obviously I am extremely handsome, and they didn’t even breed me!
5) Do I have potential buyers for the foal? It is a really good idea to find out about this before breeding, rather than when the foal is a scruffy yearling with no training on board. You may be surprised to find that the market for your little nugget is already saturated. I know in my species there are more kittens at the shelter than Dr. Lacher could ever adopt- although she tries.
6) Has my horse had a breeding soundness exam? If not, we can help you with that! For a mare, this entails at a minimum a transrectal ultrasound to see if the ovaries are cycling and make sure the uterus is free of cycts. For stallions, this entails a collection with sperm count and evaluation of sperm motility and morphology. I will watch from the sidelines…those stallions can get pretty scary when they have only one thing on their mind.
7) Do I have a lot of money, time, and patience? Breeding a mare will require several ultrasounds (slightly different from cat scans), hormone administration, cost of the insemination, recheck ultrasound exams, pregnant mare vaccines, foal watch, assisted delivery, newborn foal treatment, foal vaccines and boosters, extra grain and hay for the pregnant/lactating mare, etc…. And that’s only if everything goes right the first time!
If you answered yes to all of these questions, then congratulations! You are a responsible breeder! Definitely come visit me here at the office to discuss our all-inclusive breeding package, which is a very smart way to alleviate some of the money/time/patience part of horse breeding. For the rest of you, hopefully this provides some food for thought. Speaking of food…I’ll catch you next week!
Jan 7, 2016 | Allergies, Feed, Q & A, Skin Funk
My older Cushings horse developed something like a nasty rain rot. Her skin was hot and it was painful to her to be brushed. Dr. Lacher’s recommended treatment (bathe with chlorhexadine, coat with baby oil, leave on overnight, bathe again) was an overnight fix. However, the problem has returned and it seems also to be occurring now, much more mildly, in some of our other horses. Is this a contagious issue? If not, why would they all be getting this–is there an environmental trigger?
What can I do to prevent this from recurring? It’s a pain to treat!
The joys of Florida! All our heat and humidity are great for creating skin funk. Let’s start with a bit of equine history. Horses were designed to live in much colder places than Florida. This means they have an undercoat, along with their regular coat. An undercoat works to trap heat radiating from the body and block water coming from the environment. Unfortunately those same properties cause the undercoat to trap heat and water vapor coming off the body in our climate. This creates a wonderful sauna at the skin level. What loves a sauna? Bacteria. In particular a bacteria called Dermatopholis congolensis. Here is a beautiful picture of D. congolensis.
A few others sometimes join in like Staphylococcus aureus. These bacteria are part of the normal flora of the skin. It does seem like it is contagious but it is more a matter of all horses are exposed to the same environmental risk factors at the same time.
Treatments are aimed at killing the little buggers and then setting up an unhappy environment for them. We start with an antibacterial shampoo like Equishield CK. The most important thing to remember when using this shampoo is TIME. Gently get the soap down to the level of the skin and then let it sit for 10 minutes. Scrubbing hard removes the crusts but also damages the skin making it easier for the bacteria to invade. After 10 minutes rinse the soap off, again, gently. If your horse has a particularly bad case spray the worst areas with Equishield CK spray. Equishield CK salve can used on the backs of the pasterns to treat and prevent infections in this tricky location. In bad cases antibiotics are used.
Prevention is tricky and involves daily battles to win the war. Prevention starts with a curry comb, and a good diet. Regular grooming keeps the skin happy so it is better prepared to ward off invasions by bacteria. Good nutrition keeps the immune system primed and ready to attack the moment bacteria are spotted. So groom regularly and feed well: check. Next, while grooming every day, check for telltale bumps and crusts on your horse’s skin and treat immediately. Silver Sox on the legs do a great job treating and preventing infections on the lower limbs. Keeping your horse as dry as possible by using waterproof sheets or blankets during the winter helps reduce the severity of infections. Unfortunately, body clipping increases your horse’s risk of skin infections by causing tiny amounts of damage to the skin and removing the protective layer of hair making it easier for water to get all the way down to the skin.
Could you please present the available calming supplements/medications available to owners with highly reactive, AKA “spooky” horses? It would be nice to see them described from lightest effect to the most likely to produce effects on all horses. Cost of each would be helpful too. Thanks!
Ever since the first human was bucked off for the first time, we have been looking for a little help at better living through chemistry. Calming substances generally work one of two ways: they make the brain tired or they make the muscles slow to respond.
If you are looking for a reliable, consistent response pharmaceuticals are the best bet. These include the powerful sedatives like Dormosedan, acepromazine, and Sedivet. These also include two common long acting sedatives: reserpine and fluphenazine. Sedatives will always work but they also are prohibited in the show ring.
Herbal or Nutraceutical options are sometimes effective, sometimes not so much. Our general rule of thumb is if it is banned by USEF it is probably effective. These include Valerian Root, melatonin, and high doses of tryptophan. GABA, and its metabolites, are relatively new calming supplements that have been banned by most organizations. If you are looking for a little bit of calm on a green horse headed out to a new experience things like valerian root can work really well. Each horse responds differently to this class of calming agents so experimentation is key. We also recommend assuming an herbal or nutraceutical will test for horse show purposes.
Two new options are Zylkene and ConfidenceEQ. Both are safe for horse shows. Zylkene works off the same principal as the “milk coma” babies experience. It is a feed through powder that is started several days before the event. Dr. Lacher has tried it on one of her very hot horses. She was happy with the results which left the horse feeling well lunged without the lunging. ConfidenceEQ is a pheromone. Pheromones work as inhaled communications between horses. This particular one is the “be calm” pheromone and works best on horses who experience fear or separation anxiety.
Prices for these products are highly variable with the herbals generally being the most expensive. Each horse and each situation is very different so we recommend giving us a call or e-mail to help formulate a plan.
How accurate and successful is allergy testing and injection therapy for horses with Culicoides (gnat) allergy?
There are two types of allergy testing available: intradermal and serum.
Serum is a simple blood draw. The blood is then tested to see what substances it reacts to. Serum allergy testing is easy, but not very accurate. It creates a lot of false positives. The blood will react to something but the horse isn’t actually allergic to it.
Intradermal testing injects small amounts of the allergen in to the skin to determine if the body reacts. The severity of the reaction is directly related to the severity of the allergy. This information can then be used to formulate immunotherapy (allergy shots) or to alter the horse’s environment to avoid the worst allergens.
On to Culicoides allergies specifically. Intradermal and serum testing can tell us a horse is allergic to Culicoides. Unfortunately, immunotherapy does not work on this particular allergy. Culicoides is very complicated as allergies go. It involves several different parts of the allergy response system. Immunotherapy works to dampen a small portion of the system that doesn’t play a large role for gnat allergic horses. But….there’s always a but. Allergies are cumulative. That means every response your horse has to every allergen works to enhance the response to the next allergen they are exposed to. This means allergy testing can help you identify all the great stuff your horse is allergic to. By managing as many of the allergies as you can, you decrease your horses response to allergens overall.
I’m trying to establish a daily equine routine. Is there a recommended time frame for exercising your horse? For example, waiting a certain amount of time after feeding or not directly before feeding time. I’m referring to light work and training exercises.
Horses thrive on schedule in their lives. This means exercising them at the same time of the day is the most important thing for them. If you can’t exercise them at the same time of the day, set up a pre-exercise routine. Put them on the cross ties, groom them, bring out the saddle, etc. This will allow your horse to mentally prepare for exercise.
Old wisdom dictates one hour after feeding before your horse can be ridden. This advice is largely based on how humans feel after eating and not how horses feel. It is also from a time when very different meals were fed to horses. Horses once lived on lots of oats and other whole grains which required the digestive tract to work extra hard to extra nutrition and created a lot of excess gas. Modern diets are formulated to the horse’s GI tract in a much more scientific way. We recommend giving your horse time to eat and 10-15 minutes to empty the stomach before riding. This rule does change if you are heading out to do trot sets or a long gallop but if you are headed out for a light to moderate ride, saddle up and go!
Jan 5, 2016 | Exercise, Feed
Happy New Year to all my adoring fans! 2016 is going to be a great year, I can feeline it! I have officially decided that 2016 is going to be the year I focus on bettering myself, both mentally and physically. Mentally, I plan to focus on my reign over the humans. I think it will help my self esteem if each one offers me a compliment and an ear scratch as they walk through the door. I also plan to perch on the highest accessible vantage point in the clinic at all times, as a sign of my dominion. As for my physical transformation, I have come up with the following resolutions (horses, feel free to follow my lead):
1) Eat better. For me, this means sticking to my prescription diabetic diet- with no cheat meals! For you horses out there, this means eating a complete and balanced diet. The docs explained to me that a horse’s diet should consist primarily of forage (grass, hay, or alfalfa cubes/pellets). If feeding coastal hay, it is good to mix in a legume such as alfalfa or peanut hay at about a 1:10 ratio to prevent impaction colics and provide additional protein. The grain portion of your diet depends highly on your current body condition. If you are an overweight Mini, this may mean a small handful of Safe Choice Special Care (a very low-starch, low-fat feed) once a day. If you are a skinny Thoroughbred, this may mean eating 6 quarts of Equine Senior for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Whatever your weight loss (or gain) goals are this year, Dr. Vurgason and Dr. Lacher would be happy to help formulate an individualized diet plan based on your specific needs!
2) Exercise more. I resolve to make at least 2 laps around the clinic each day, as opposed to my former single circuit. For you horses, it may be time to get back on the longe line, or get your owners back in the saddle! Exercise is the BEST way to lose weight, which incidentally helps to prevent Laminitis, Insulin Resistance, and Diabetes in my case. Exercise is also a great way to improve your topline and overall appearance. There is a fine line between lack of muscling and being underweight. If you are confused which one you are, the docs would be happy to come out and give you a Body Condition Score, and advice for your own exercise routine!
3) Stay healthy. This should go without saying, but probably the most important part of bettering yourself physically is to stay on top of your routine medical care. My humans are well trained to take me to my regular checkups for my vaccinations, flea and tick meds, and dental care. Lucky for you horses, we have the Wellness Program for that! Your humans just need to sign you up at the beginning of the year, and all of your vaccines, dentals, coggins, physical exams, and fecal egg counts will be covered through 2016. Not to mention if 2016 doesn’t quite go as planned and you happen to sustain an injury or illness, your emergency fee will be totally free!
Follow my lead- make it your resolution to join the Springhill Equine 2016 Wellness Program!
Wishing you all health, happiness, and a full food bowl in the year 2016!
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