CASTRATING HORSES

This past Saturday was one of my favorite Saturdays of the year. I hosted veterinary students from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine for a day of fun. Every year I have the students out to the clinic to get hands-on experience with my docs performing castrations on horses and donkeys of all ages and sizes.

This year was a little different because of COVID but we made it work. I hosted 24 veterinary students and 16 horses for Saturday’s festivities. All the students got to practice basic physical examinations, medication dosage calculations, intravenous catheter placements and routine castration procedures all while under the watchful eye of my docs. I spent my time monitoring the lunch portion of the day and making sure that each and every student checked in with me for mandatory petting prior to starting the day. Needless to say, a “ball” was had by all.

While overseeing the activities on Saturday I got to thinking about how many castrations my docs do every year, when and why they perform castrations, and what sort of complications can occur. Then I starting thinking, if I’m wondering about these things, you all must also be wondering about them, and luckily for you, I am here with the info.

WHEN

Saturday was utterly exhausting for me. I only got 20 hours of sleep instead of my usual 23 hours. But nonetheless, I woke up early for you all on Sunday and started my research on castrations. What I found was pretty interesting. There is conflicting information floating around out there about what the best age to castrate a horse is. Some think that the earlier it is done the better and will allow the horse to grow large. Others think if it is done too early that the horse will not grow enough. Still others think that waiting until the horse is at least a year old is the way to go. My motto and the motto of my docs is if it has two testicles that are dropped and easily palpable, it’s time for them to go. My docs do not set an age limit young or old on castrations. I have seen them done on horses as young as 4 months old to as old as 21 years old. Age is just a number. That being said, it is possible that the complication rate may be slightly higher for the younger and older age group of horses. However, there are very few situations in which a castration would not be recommended by one of my docs.

The time of year is also important to consider when performing castrations. Castrations in the summer are more prone to complications from insects. But who wants to do a castration in the freezing cold of winter? Not me, I am a warm weather kitty! Ideally spring and fall when the temperatures and weather are mild are the best times to have your horse castrated. A little heat, a few bugs, and some cold temperatures will not stop my docs, though.

WHY

There are a countless number of reasons to castrate your horse. The number one reason people get their horses castrated is behavior.  When your horse’s testicles are removed, their testosterone levels drop, aggressive behavior decreases, and the urge to breed is decreased. It is a stallion’s natural instinct to be protective and to want to be involved with mares. This can become troublesome when it comes to performance horses. Schooling areas are busy places and a stallion who is following his instincts can be dangerous to the other horses in the area. Similarly, the world is a lonely place for stallions. They don’t get to be turned out with other horses, so they live a solitary life. This is for protection of the stallion and others. Castrating your horse will alleviate the stress that comes along with owning a stallion.

Another reason to consider castration is horse overpopulation. There are unwanted horses throughout the country and across the world. Unwanted horses can end up in horrible situations. They can be neglected, starved, and even sent to a kill pen at auction or slaughtered. Castrating horses who are not intended for breeding purposes helps to lower the unwanted horse population and decrease the horse overpopulation situation.

COMPLICATIONS

While everyone here at Springhill Equine thoroughly loves a good castration (I mean, I have an entire day dedicated to castrations, so if that’s not love, I don’t know what is), as with anything horse related, there are complications that must be considered when a castration is performed.

First and foremost, all castrations that my docs perform are performed under injectable anesthesia. This means that after a thorough physical examination, the horse is sedated and then laid down for the remainder of the procedure. This ensures the safety of my docs, my techs, owners, and the horse. That being said, anytime a horse is sedated and placed under anesthesia there is the risk of death. Death is extremely unlikely, but it also has to be considered when deciding to perform any kind of surgery, including castrations. Recovery from anesthesia also presents some risk and possible complications. Such complications include tendon and ligament injury as well as the possibility of breaking a limb during recovery. Again, these complications are rare but must be mentioned.

Some other complications that are slightly more common include bleeding from the surgical site, excessive swelling, and infection. A small amount of blood after surgery is normal and expected. Testicles being the annoying little suckers that they are, are extremely vascular. This opens the possibility that a horse may not clot well or may become too active shortly after surgery and disrupt the clot resulting in excessive bleeding.  Horses are giant creatures and can stand to lose a large amount of blood safely, but if the bleeding does not stop it can be a life-threatening situation.

The aftercare protocol my docs follow after a castration is designed to reduce the risk of swelling. Occasionally some horses will develop more swelling than expected at their surgical site. Luckily, this usually can be resolved with some anti-inflammatories, controlled exercise, and cold hosing.

Finally, any surgery, including castrations, opens up the patient to infection.  Some infections can be minor and easily treated with systemic antibiotics. Others can become more serious and travel up the surgical site into the body and form abscesses. These kinds of infections can cause the horse to become systemically sick and may require surgery to correct the problem.

Needless to say, I really love castrations, particularly when they involve students who provide me with all the love. Castrations make for some really lovely geldings in this world. Who doesn’t love a gelding? Be sure to talk with my docs about any questions or concerns you may have prior to scheduling your horse’s surgery.

Until next week,

~Tony

P.S. Looking for more information on castrating your horse or donkey? My docs have spent a lot of time working on their podcast, be sure to check them out on the podcast page of our website. While on our website, be sure to check out our Wellness Plans. We are currently signing up for the 2021 calendar year.

There’s a crazy bug out there. It lives in critters that wander the pastures with your horses. In a very few horses this bug gets into the spinal cord, and wreaks all kinds of havoc. What am I talking about? Equine Protozoal Myeloenchepalitis, or EPM. Three letters that strike fear into the hearts of horse people everywhere. This week, let’s talk about why you shouldn’t be scared of a little old E, P, and M, and why, sometimes, you should be. But first here’s a spoiler: your horse most likely doesn’t have EPM. Cats love spoilers. We’re a little bit evil like that. 

Let’s talk Lifecycle

Where does this bug come from? That’s a complicated answer. You see, bugs like the one that causes EPM go through several different life stages inside several different animals on their way to adulthood. I’ve gotten ahead of myself. 

To begin with, there are two main bugs that cause EPM. They are Sarcocystis neurona, and Neospora hughesi. Being a cat, I’m going to start with the easier of the two: Neospora hughesi. Humans don’t know a thing about this one. That’s right. They don’t know what animals it comes from or how it goes through its life cycle. Moving on to Sarcocystis neurona. This guy hangs out in a wide variety of animals during its teenage years. Racoons, skunks, armadillos, sea otters, and, whoa, wait, what?!? Even cats(!!) can help these guys go from babies to teenagers. 

After Sarcocystis neurona reaches teenagehood, it moves onto opossums, and almost definitely some other critters, but humans aren’t sure which ones. From there the adults hang in the opossum GI tract, which sounds like an awful place to live, and spit out eggs which are then spread by opossums pooping. Did you notice I didn’t mention horses anywhere in there? Yeah, that’s because they aren’t supposed to get them. Horses don’t work as a good choice for completing the life cycle. The little guys get to be teenagers, but then can’t leave. I hear you humans sometimes have a similar problem.  The technical term for this is aberrant intermediate host. Kinda like Eastern Equine Encephalitis. Horses aren’t supposed to have this organism living in them. Good job, horses. 

Those troublesome teenagers

Alright, back to teenage EPM organisms. What do they do to cause trouble? When a horse gets infected, these guys head for the brain and spinal cord. When they do, they start to take up space where there already wasn’t much room. This is sounding more and more like human teenagers. That space was used by a nerve that was sending a signal to some body part, or doing something important if it’s inside the brain. This explains why EPM symptoms can vary so wildly! It all depends on where that tiny guy takes up residence. 

The most common symptom of EPM is an area of muscle wasting away before your very eyes. OK, maybe not that fast, but certainly over a few days. Now, there are a bunch of different things that can cause this. EPM does it by taking up the space where the signal is formed on the spinal cord, and squishing it. EPM usually causes those signals to be blocked in a very one-sided way. For example, if the muscle on the forehead is affected, it will be only the right or left one, not both. That little organism would have to line itself up very, very purposefully to hit the signal for both sides of the body. That’s probably tough when you are made up of only one single cell. These bugs can be anywhere in the spinal cord, or, less often, brain, which means any muscle can be affected. To make things even more confusing, they can be affected badly, or mildly. This can make diagnosing EPM a challenge. Whoa, that was an awesome segway into my next section.

Diagnosing EPM

I’m going to start discussing diagnosis with a few statistics. For the entire United States, current best estimates are that 0.14% of the horses get actual EPM. That’s not a lot of horses. The odds are it’s not your horse. For the State of Florida, that’s 539 horses out of the 385,000 horses that live here. Again, a very tiny number. I can hear you humans now…..but my neighbors, cousins, sisters friend had her horse tested and it was positive. More on that in a minute. 

So you’ve called my Docs because you checked with Dr. Google (you know you did) and Dr. Google said EPM. My Docs are going to start with a very thorough physical exam focusing on symmetry. Remember, I talked about how important that was earlier. Then they’re going to ask your horse to do some fancy footwork to make sure your horse knows where his feet are. They ask for backing, spinning in tight circles, and walking with the head up and the head down at the very minimum. Based on that exam, they’re going to decide if they should continue on with testing for EPM. 

There’s only one tried and true way to diagnose EPM, and that’s a spinal tap. This is where a needle is placed into the area around the spinal cord, and some fluid is removed. Yes, it sounds scary. It is a tiny bit scary. However, it is a low risk procedure that can even be done with your horse standing. This is the only test that will tell you if there are organisms in the spinal cord. That’s right. The one and only test. Yes, yes your friend of a friend of a friend had a blood test. There are several available. They all are good if they’re negative, but worthless if they’re positive. No, I am not being a contrary cat. Allow me to explain. 

A negative blood test for EPM means there is no evidence of exposure. This means your horse hasn’t seen an EPM organism in the past 12-18 months minimum, or that your horse was literally just exposed and hasn’t had time to acknowledge the presence of EPM yet. That second scenario is super unlikely. The body mounts an attack in as little as 3 days. The chances that you are seeing symptoms, have gotten an appointment with my Docs, and had a blood test done and three days haven’t passed are pretty miniscule. It’s close to the chance I could walk by a piece of tuna without gobbling it down. So that’s negative. 

A positive test only means your horse has had an EPM organism inside them. In some areas that can be as many as 90% of the horses. Back to that 0.14%. This means that of those 90%, 99.84% of them clear the organism by themselves.  The immune system is impressive like that. It’s how we stay alive. It’s also why a positive blood test doesn’t mean a whole lot. A positive spinal tap, on the other hand, is really, really significant! 

Treating the beast

Well, you’ve lost the horsey lottery, and gotten a positive spinal tap back. What now, you ask? The good news is we have some good drugs to treat these nasty bugs with. The biggest two we use are Marquis and Protazil. Both are a drug that specifically targets the EPM organism and knocks it down. Both are pretty pricey. This means typically my Docs start with one of these drugs then transition to a cheaper drug that does a great job killing these nasties once they’ve been weakened. The most common version they use is one called Rebalance. 

These drugs are usually used for about 3 months total. Then your horse is back to normal, right? Nope. Nerves take a long time to grow back. It’s typically 10-12 months before horses are fully healed, and it’s going to take a whole lot of rehab to get them back there. It’s also important to know that the worse off the horse is when treatment starts, the harder it is to get them back to normal. That’s a kick in the pants right there. This is why it’s important to call my Docs quickly when you think your horse isn’t quite right. EPM, like most things, does best when diagnosed and treated quickly. 

A little mythbusting

I can totally hear you muttering under your breath that you treated your horse for EPM and it got better from whatever it was it was doing. Let’s talk about why you may be right. The drugs we use to treat EPM have what my Docs call an anabolic effect. This is like the steroids those sports guys took, and they got in big huge trouble. They build muscle, reduce inflammation, all kinds of good stuff. Unlike the ones the sports guys took, these drugs only have a smidge of this effect. However, it’s enough to make your horse feel better. And that’s what really happened when you gave EPM medications and your horse felt better. Wouldn’t you rather know what was really bugging them, and treat that instead? A smart cat would. 

I get it. EPM is scary, and complicated, and Dr. Google, and all your friends say it’s everywhere. Rest easy tonight knowing it isn’t everywhere, and chances are good (0.14% good) your horse doesn’t have it. Instead, call my Docs, set up an appointment and talk with them about what’s going on. They’ll help you find the reason, and design a program that gets you back enjoying your horse in no time!

Until next week,
~Tony

P.S. If I haven’t given you enough information here, the humans did an entire podcast episode about EPM, and why your horse probably doesn’t have it. You can find it over on the Podcast Page.

Can you believe it’s the time of year where we talk about breeding again? It’s like I woke up from my nap this weekend and it’s already mid-November and we’ve got to start preparing the mares.  Well, I don’t. But, if you intend to breed your mare in 2021, it’s time to start planning now. Believe it or not, there’s a significant amount of preparation, planning, and follow-up when it comes to breeding.  It’s not a one-and-done kind of thing. Sometimes I wish it were, and I know my docs do as well. Did you know that during breeding season, my docs disturb me multiple times a day, even on the weekends, just to check on mares. Rude!

 Preparing Your Mare

Yes, I realize it is not even Thanksgiving yet, and oh, how I long for leftover Turkey! My address for sending leftovers is 2283……. ugh, never mind. My minions have said I am not allowed leftovers, apparently diet is important when you have diabetes. Anyway, if you are breeding your mare next year, now is the time that she needs to be put under lights. 

 What exactly does that mean and why do we do it? It means exactly what it sounds like. In “winter” it gets dark early. We need to keep the mares exposed to light for more hours a day to encourage early ovulation.  When the days get shorter, most mares stop ovulating. They are what my docs refer to as “long day ovulaters”. Meaning, they do not cycle and ovulate year around.  If left to nature, most mares do not start to cycle until late April, early May.  By this time of year, it is already well into what most people consider the normal breeding season. In order to comply with what society has deemed the normal breeding season, we have to alter our horse’s normal cycle. We do this by exposing them to light for longer periods of time.

 Broodmares who will be bred early in 2021 should be brought into their stalls early evening where they can be exposed to additional hours of light. The goal for these mares is to have them under light for a total of 16 hours and allow them around 8 hours of darkness.  The type of light doesn’t matter and it’s not necessary to make a gradual increases in duration of light exposure. You know I love topics that have been researched. Well, it has been studied and shown that if a mare is housed under 10 or more foot-candles of light, follicular growth will be stimulated. A 200-watt incandescent light bulb is enough to provide 10-12 foot-candles of light in a typical 12ft x 12ft stall. 

 If your mare’s stall is attached to a run, you will need to lock her into her stall so she can’t go out into the darkness unless the run-out area is lit as well.  If you choose to encourage follicular growth by using artificial light, it is highly recommended that you keep your mare housed this way until she has been confirmed in foal.  Research has shown that if a mare is allowed to resume her normal daily activities and light exposure is reduced, she may regress and return to an anestrus state where she will not have any follicular growth and will not ovulate.  Bad news if you are trying to make a baby!

 Planning

You have your mare set up under lights so that hopefully she will start to cycle early next year, great job! You might think that you are all done for a while now, but you would be wrong. The next step is to bring your mare into my docs for a checkup.  A full health check should be performed on your mare by the first part of January. This is the time to talk to my docs about your mare’s over all wellbeing. They will perform a full physical examination on your mare. They will listen to her heart and lungs, they will evaluate her for any lameness, and any other abnormalities that could prevent your mare from conceiving or carrying a foal to term.

 Your mare’s body condition and conformation will also be evaluated. A mare that is too fat or too skinny will undoubtedly have trouble conceiving and most certainly will have trouble foaling out. Some mare’s conformation sets them up to be passing manure right over their vulva. If your mare has this kind of conformation, she may be more prone to uterine infections and may require a procedure where part of the vulva is sewn shut (called a caslicks). Don’t fret, your mare will still be able to urinate normally, this procedure just prevents fecal material and bacteria from entering your mare’s vagina, and subsequently, her uterus. 

 During this examination they will also perform a full evaluation of your mare’s reproductive system.  A rectal ultrasound of your mare’s uterus and ovaries will be evaluated for any abnormalities. It will also give my docs an idea of where your mare may be in her cycle. Any abnormalities will be noted and explained. A speculum examination will be performed to assess your mare’s cervix for any scarring, discharge, or other abnormalities. A uterine culture may be recommended, and many stallion owners require a negative culture prior to shipping semen for the mare.  More reasons to get this examination performed earlier rather than later!

 If a culture comes back positive, this leaves my docs time to treat it before breeding season is in full swing. For completeness, it is also a good plan to have my docs obtain a uterine biopsy.  Your mare’s uterus is given a score, which tells my docs how easy it will be to get your mare pregnant, how easy it will be to keep her pregnant and if she will be able to carry a foal to term.  The full physical examination and reproductive system evaluation are crucial to a successful breeding season. 

 Follow-up

Let’s say you’ve done all the right things. You put your mare under lights, you brought her in for a pre-breeding evaluation, and my docs were able to get her in foal quickly.  Awesome for you! Breeding is rarely that easy in real life.  It can often take up to 3 or 4 cycles to get a mare confirmed in foal, which is why you want to start breeding early in the year.  But let’s pretend it was quick and easy for you. 

 You bring your mare back for her 14-day pregnancy check and everyone gets to see that little black dot in the middle of the ultrasound screen, yay, right? One little black dot is great, but what if my docs see 2 little black dots? Twins are bad news. We never, ever want to see twins. If my docs see twins at your 14-day check, they are going to insist your mare stay with them for several days. They have to perform a procedure where they reduce one of the twins. Mares should never be allowed to carry 2 foals to term.

 Hopefully you only saw one dot. You might be thinking, surely Tony, I’m done now, right? Nope, you get to bring her back in another 14 days.  The 28-day check is when my docs will confirm that your mare’s fetus has a heartbeat.  Once a heartbeat is confirmed, the next check is the 60-day pregnancy check, followed by the 90-day pregnancy check.  During these exams, my docs are ensuring that the fetus is developing properly and checking for potential early embryonic loss.

 Next you get to bring your horse in at 5, 7, and 9 months.  These visits are usually fairly quick, particularly the 5- and 9-month checks.  During these visits, your horse will get her pneumavbort vaccines. At her 7-month visit an ultrasound will be performed to assess for the development of placentitis. Then, finally, your mare is due. Whew, that was a lot to get to this point! But wait, there’s more.

 Now you get to determine where your mare will foal out. Will you have her in her pasture, will she be in her stall, or will you bring her to the Clinic?  No matter where she foals out, she needs to be monitored very closely and my docs highly recommend that someone who has foaled out mares before be present during the birth.  Within 24 hours after the foal is born, my docs need to see it. They will assess the mare and foal for any post-foaling complications and will check that the foal has nursed well to ensure that he received adequate colostrum from the mare. Colostrum provides the foal with antibodies to fight off any illness/infection in his early months.

 As you can tell, breeding is not for the faint of heart. It requires impeccable timing, planning, and follow-up on your part. Many vet visits are required and it’s not all sunshine and rainbows all the time.  It can be heartbreaking, but it is also beautiful.  If you think you might want to breed your mare, give my docs a call and get your mare on their schedule soon.

 Until next week,

~Tony

 P.S. My docs have done several podcasts on the topic of breeding and foaling. You can listen to them free on my website, or you can subscribe to Straight from the Horse Doctor’s Mouth wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re breeding, you’ll need all the information you can get, trust me!

This week, let’s talk worms. I should have done this topic for Halloween. Worms are creepy, crawly, icky, and you humans hate to even think about your horse having a single one of them. A huge motivation for this week’s topic comes from this article I saw in one of the Doc’s science magazines: Importation of macrocyclic lactone resistant cyathostomins on a US thoroughbred farm. That’s a fancy way to say they found strongyles on a farm in Kentucky that weren’t killed by Ivermectin, and, even scarier, the parasites came in horses imported from Ireland. To keep your horse safe, this week we go from Mythbusting to Proper Parasite Procedure: Wisdom of Worms by Tony the Clinic Cat.

The Worms

Let’s talk parasites. The biggies we worry about in horses are large strongyles, small strongyles, ascarids, bots, pinworms, and tapeworms. Sure, there are others, but these are the ones that cause problems, and formulating a plan for these takes care of all those others. I’m talking to you, neck threadworm. I hear all kinds of craziness about the neck threadworm.

Know what kills neck threadworms? Ivermectin. And it kills them really effectively with ZERO documentation of resistance. This will be the end of my neck threadworm soapbox. Moving on to other soapboxes…..Large strongyles, bots, and tapeworms take a long time (in worm time anyway) to have babies. This means strategically deworming once yearly takes care of all your deworming needs here. It also means it’s really hard for them to develop resistance to drugs. Ascarids are mainly a young horse issue so skip to the babies section if you want to learn about them.

Pinworms are super annoying, and are generally addressed only when they’re an issue. Short answer for them: call my Docs if your horse is itching their tail. That leaves small strongyles. We base most of our deworming program on these guys.

Deworm all the time: MYTH

Every time the farrier comes. Every month. Once then again in two weeks, then again in two weeks. These are just a few of the very wrong deworming schedules I hear from my throne at the front desk.

Rotate different dewormers. Give Ivermectin all the time. PowerPac every horse. Give them Strongid, then Ivermectin. These are just a few of the wrong deworming drug scenarios I hear from that same throne.

What’s the correct answer? Fecal Egg Counts. This is how you tell what parasites are having fun in your horse’s GI tract, and how many of them are in there partying down. My Docs recommend every new-to-you horse gets a fecal egg count before deworming, and that every single horse gets a fecal egg count in the Spring. Using this fecal egg count, my Docs will then put your horse in the low, medium, or high shedder category.

Around 85% of the horses at Springhill Equine are low shedders!! That’s a lot of horses who don’t have a lot of worms. And our goal is to let those low shedders keep some of their worms. That’s right. We want some horses to have some worms. Low shedders have an immune system that keeps those worm numbers down, which lets us have a population of parasites that don’t get exposed to a lot of drugs. When this group mates with a strongyle that has resistance, the babies come out without resistance. The Docs even have a fancy term for this: Refugia.

Deworm the Right horse at the Right time!

“Ok Mr. Smarty Cat,” you say, “what am I supposed to do now?” As Mr. Smarty Cat I, of course, have an answer. If your horse is a low shedder, you deworm once a year, in the Fall, with a combination Ivermectin and Praziquantel product. The two brand names in the US are Equimax and Zimectrin Gold. Word of caution about Zimectrin Gold: some horses react very strongly to the carrier, so my Docs recommend Equimax. Why Fall? Because that’s when worms are old. By deworming them when they’re old and frail the drugs can kill more worms with less effort.

If your horse comes up as a medium or high shedder on that fecal egg count, they’re going to get dewormed in the Spring, and maybe again in Winter. That’s a call for my awesome Docs. That will most likely be with a plain ol’ Ivermectin. It will not be 5 days in a row, once with this drug, then wait two weeks and go with a different drug. It will be once with an Ivermectin. In 10-14 days after that ivermectin, a fecal egg count should be checked again. Why? Because I said so. And also because there has been documented resistance to Every.Single.Drug available to deworm horses. By checking that fecal egg count in 10-14 days, you can be sure Ivermectin is still working on your farm. It’s cheap insurance. That way you don’t end up like the super fancy Kentucky thoroughbred farm with very drug-resistant parasites.

Babies

Now, babies are different. Babies should be dewormed at 90 days of age with either pyrantel, fenbendazole, or oxibendazole. There are some reasons to pick one drug over the other for some farms so I HIGHLY recommend talking with one of my Docs before you start down this road. Babies are most susceptible to a class of parasites called ascarids. These guys love, love, love to learn how to survive any dewormer thrown at them. That means we have to be super careful with deworming programs for them to make sure we don’t help them learn all about dewormers. The good news is nearly all horses develop natural immunity to ascarids by about 12-18 months old. Fecal egg counts are super important for managing these guys!! You definitely want to talk with my Docs about that for your babies.

It all sounds complicated, but the answer is quite simple: bring poop to the Clinic. Start with a fecal egg count. From there my Docs will formulate a custom plan for your horse, and your farm. That plan will help you have happy, healthy horses for years to come!

Until next week,
~Tony

Want even more wisdom? Check out all my other blogs. I’ve been doing this for a very long time. You can also listen to the humans on something called a podcast. You can listen right here on my website, or subscribe to Straight From the Horse Doctor’s Mouth wherever you get your podcasts.

This week I am going to take you all back to elementary school when you all learn about teamwork. You learn about it at a young age and it ends up playing a role throughout your life.  Who knew when your teachers were talking to you about the importance of teamwork that years later you would be reading a blog, written by a cat, about the same thing? I’m a cat, cats don’t do teamwork. However, as you all know, I have put together one of the best teams around to take care of your horse and they really thrive on teamwork. This is why it is so important that my doctors work as a team with your farrier, your trainer and any other professional you have working with your horse to provide top notch care and achieve results based on a common goal.

Farrier

You’ve heard the saying “no hoof, no horse”. Your horse’s hoof care is imperative to his wellbeing. Farriers play such an important role in your horse’s soundness. From proper trims to specialty shoeing, they can really make a huge difference in a horse’s movement and performance. Having a farrier and veterinarian who are willing to work together towards a common goal will allow for any problems or issues with your horse to be addressed quickly, efficiently, and effectively.

If you’ve ever had a lameness exam performed on your horse, you know that the docs always start by looking at your horse’s hooves. They will pick them up, test them for soreness with this big metal clamp thing, and they will look at the angles and shape of the hoof. Once the lameness exam is complete, they may even perform nerve blocks in which they inject anesthetic around nerves. This causes anything below the nerve to go numb, just like Novocain for a dental procedure.  With the nerve blocks, the docs can determine if the problem stems from your horse’s feet or is further up his leg.

If the lameness is from the hoof, it can usually be resolved with proper shoeing. Diagnostic imaging, such as radiographs, will likely be suggested. These can show the docs and your farrier the angle of your horse’s coffin bone within his foot along with his hoof/pastern angle. Changes to trimming and shoeing can be made based on your horse’s lameness exam and radiographic images. This is why it is essential that your veterinarian and farrier work together. Your farrier is extremely knowledgeable about all things horse feet, and your veterinarian is extremely knowledgeable about all things horse feet and lameness. Therefore, putting both their brains together to address you horse’s issue will certainly help resolve it quickly.  Take it from this cat, have a farrier who is willing to work with your veterinarian. It will save you a lot of time, money, and heartache in the long run.

Beyond lameness, it is super helpful when you have a farrier who is willing to work with your veterinarian in the event of an injury or illness.  One incidence in particular I can think of is laminitis. A quick diagnosis and corrective shoeing can be the difference between life and death when it comes to laminitis. Excuse me while I get on my soap box for a minute, but I feel it is necessary. Find yourself a farrier who knows his/her limits and is willing to say, I don’t know or I’m not comfortable with that. That farrier is worth his/her weight in gold and could be life saving for your horse.  Having a farrier who is humble enough to admit this will allow my docs to employ a farrier with the appropriate skills to apply corrective shoeing. As you all know, my docs love to educate, so if your farrier isn’t comfortable with what your horse needs, my docs will be happy to teach them. If your farrier doesn’t tell us that he isn’t comfortable with performing what your horse needs, my docs won’t know that he/she needs direction. This could be disastrous for your horse. Ok, soap box over now.

Trainer

Your trainer is a wealth of information. They know horses and they know your horse. They can tell when a horse isn’t performing his best. Having a trainer who is quick to notice when something is amiss is priceless.  No one knows your horse better than you, but your trainer can provide you with an outsider’s perspective. They can be present to communicate with your veterinarian when you may not be able to be there.

In my experience trainers are a wealth of information, some good and some, well, not so good. Having a trainer who is willing to listen and learn is invaluable. I’ve been present when some trainers come through the clinic, and I can’t help but shake my head at their old school ways. I know you all have read my numerous blogs on colic, but when a trainer comes through saying they’ve been walking a colic for the last 4 hours and it still isn’t better, I can’t help but face-paw. I know you know not to do that but sometimes trainers are a little late to get the new info.

On the other hand, trainers are really amazing at picking up when your horse is mildly colicky and they are usually very comfortable in administering medications.  That being said, a trainer who is open to listening to your veterinarian, learning new things, and making changes to their daily routine for the better of your horse, is irreplaceable. Just like with your farrier, my docs are ready, willing, and able to educate them so they can provide the horses under their care with the best and most up-to-date veterinary care. In doing so, my docs are able to help you and your horse stay in tip top condition all while preventing any unforeseen issues down the road.  As horse people who have worked with trainers for years, my docs know just how important it is to have a trainer who is willing to be a part of your horse’s care team.

Other Professionals

Other professionals, including, but not limited to your veterinary dentist, equine massage therapist, equine transportation team, and grooms/stable hands are all part of your horse’s team. While my docs provide a wide array of veterinary care including dentistry, lameness, acupuncture, and spinal manipulation, they have informed me that not everyone is as blessed to have a team that provides it all. This means you may have to have a different person out for all the different treatments your horse needs.  Having professionals who are a part of your horse’s team who are also willing to communicate with all the other professionals in your horse’s life is going to make your life and your horse’s life run that much smoother.

On occasion, there may even be more than one veterinarian involved in your horse’s care, so having two veterinarians who communicate effectively about your horse is incredibly important so that nothing gets missed. Two heads are better than one, right? Well, sometimes, but not always. In my opinion, stick with one veterinarian or one veterinary clinic where all of your horse’s records will be kept. That way you won’t run into issues like missing or duplicate vaccinations, expired coggins the day before a show, or incomplete medical records. It can get very confusing and frustrating for everyone involved when there are too many chefs in the kitchen. Find a veterinarian or clinic you are comfortable with and stick with them.  Veterinarians are not like underwear; you do not need to change them every day.  As for all the other professionals in your horse’s life, just like your farrier and your trainer, find those who are openminded, want to learn more, want to communicate with each other and your veterinarian and want to be a part of your horse’s team.

Remember: teamwork makes the dream work!

Until next week,

~Tony

P.S. The humans are always busy working on podcasts. Stroll on over to the podcast page here and listen to what they have to say. I know I always find something new to listen to. And make sure you subscribe to my blog before you go. You can do that by scrolling down just a bit further to the purple box.