While clicking through the internet over this long holiday weekend I came upon this picture of yours truly:
It got me thinking about boots. I make these boots look darn good. This got myself, Teannie, and our weekend guest, a charming horse name Goose, talking about boots in general. We marveled at all the colors, textures, patterns, and types of boots that humans have for their feet. Teannie and I remarked that as the perfect creatures we are, we never have to wear such things. OK, so that one time I had to wear a cast for a long time after Teannie broke my foot when I made, what she considers a disparaging, remark about her ears, but other than that, no foot wear. Goose informed us we just didn’t know all the fun we were missing. He gets to wear boots all the time when he works, and he finds them stylish and comfortable. I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him we don’t work. However, Goose’s statement did make me head off for some research about boots and horses.
My first question to you humans is REALLY??!!??!? Do you really need all of the 8,482 different types of boots I found? There are open front boots, support boots, cross country, splint, ankle, bell, and galloping just to name a few. And the colors and patterns. Don’t get me started on all that. Let’s just say I am never wearing anything in tie dye. Especially not on my feet. Looking in to the why so many freakin’ kinds of boots did inform me that many different kinds are needed for all the crazy things you guys do with horses. Lots of people like the all around support kind. If you jump over things, you like the kind open in front. If your horse hits his ankles you like the ankle kind. You get the gist. Anyway I will give you all the different kinds.
My next question was can they seriously do all the things they say they can? Here’s where life gets a little fuzzy. Let’s start with support. When it comes to the equine limb that is a tricky statement at best. Support what? If you support the fetlock, then more concussion goes up the limb and that can be damaging to the shoulder. With all the weight horses bring to the game, it turns out “support” can’t be done without compromising range of motion, which means no more daring moves of athletic prowess. So how about concussion? This one does turn out to have some validity. When you ask horses to turn quickly around trash cans, jump over sticks, and prance sideways they have a tendency to tangle up those long legs at some point in the process. Those tangles can have some serious forces behind them. A good boot will absorb some of the concussion and prevent lacerations from hooves.
Goose pointed out that sometimes his legs get hot in those boots. Seems reasonable in this ridiculous Florida weather; also important for the health of your horse’s tendons and ligaments. Tendons and ligaments can take normal heat but researchers have found temperatures of up to 145F following exercise! Newer boot manufacturing techniques are looking at the heat build-up problem and working on solutions. I would certainly put boots on just before exercise and take them off just after work to keep those legs happy.
In case you need a good reason to make your horse wear boots, watch this video at around 18 minutes in. Words of warning it is a bit graphic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsvS6gEBJuE
And on that note, I’m off to ponder my new line of feline footwear.
Continuing on my athlete theme from last week….Let’s talk fitness! I will admit to having to research this Tuesday’s edition. This cat is not in to fitness, working out, sweating, or any activity which threatens to burn more calories than I consume. You people seem to want to do stuff with horses and that means a certain level of fitness.
Got a new horse or starting one over? The most important thing to remember is slow, slow, and more slow. This is a concept I can really get behind. I do slow very well. Step one: check your horse’s vital signs before you even get on. Especially in the heat of summer, add work in very small increments. Use those smart phones for something smart and set up timers for yourself. Begin with lots of walking. I’m talking 20-30 minutes of walking. Walking builds a base level of fitness while not stressing joints and tendons. It also lets everyone get used to the ridiculously hot weather we have during summer. At the end of your 30 minute walk, check your horse’s vital signs. Heart rate and respiratory rate should return to normal in 5-7 minutes. Since you are only walking this may happen faster and that’s ok. It means you are ready to add more! Add 3-5 minutes of trot or canter work every 7-10 days until you are doing the work you want to do. If in doubt, check those vital signs!
Shiny thing distraction: These two companies are coming out with FitBits for horses!
On the horse that is already in work, it is important to remember that high temps can change how much work they are capable of safely doing. Vital signs are, again, key to how much is enough. Work your horse at their normal level, then stop and evaluate respiration. You may notice that in this ridiculously hot weather, your normally really fit horse will take longer to come back to normal respirations. That is because horses don’t just exchange oxygen, they also blow off a lot of heat with each breath. I always say horses are full of hot air and I see this as proof.
From a fitness standpoint your goal for most arena sports (dressage, hunter/jumper, barrel racing, western pleasure, etc.) your horse should be fit enough to twice what you need for the event. So if you are a barrel racer 30-40 seconds of very intense work with very rapid return to normal vitals will tell you your horse is fit enough to do the job. A dressage horse will need to be able to hold that canter for 5-6 minutes at a time to do all that is necessary in one stretch of training level. Really sit down and look at the athletic endeavor you want to do and then determine what is necessary in terms of fitness. Need help? Call our Docs. They both love this stuff.
Meanwhile, I’m off to train. I’m working up to 4 straight hours of napping. It’s hard work but someone has to do it.
Well, we are into that time of year when I don’t know whether to prepare for a monsoon or to park myself directly in front of the fan all day. As I’m sure you know, cats hate water. We also hate tropical storms, flooding, hurricanes, and basically anything that causes puddles of water which we are then forced to tread through with our delicate paws. Thus it was no surprise to me that tropical storm Colin, that jerk, caused a bunch of flooding that is going to bring on even more mosquitos than usual this summer!
As the self-proclaimed manager of a veterinary practice, mosquitos of course make me think of diseases, which make me think of vaccinations! Many of the core diseases that we vaccinate against here at Springhill Equine, namely West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis, are transmitted by those nasty mosquitos. How does that work, you ask?
The simplest way to understand it is to look at it from the virus’ point of view. If I am a virus, my goal is to replicate, and to spread myself to as many individuals as possible. One way to do that is to live in the bloodstream of birds. When a mosquito bites an infected bird, it will ingest blood laden with me (the virus). I will replicate inside the mosquito and get into the mosquito’s saliva. Then, when it goes to bite another bird, I (the virus) will infect that bird through the mosquito’s saliva.
So, what does all this stuff about birds and mosquitos have to do with horses? Well, nothing really. Horses are an accidental, or “dead end” host for the virus. The virus cannot replicate within horses (or humans for that matter). Thus it cannot spread from an infected horse to any other individual. That stinks for the virus. But unfortunately for horses, when an infected mosquito bites an unvaccinated horse instead of a bird, the horse will still show symptoms of the disease, which are often fatal.
So, horses and my other mammalian followers, make sure to lather yourselves up with Mosquito Halt this summer! Oh, and don’t forget to have our docs out to catch you up on your West Nile virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis vaccines! Stay dry, stay cool, stay classy.
Knowledge is power. As one of the wisest creatures on earth, a cat, you can be sure I understand this. Google has a lot of knowledge and, therefore, a lot of power. Where is this headed, you ask? To Dr. Google, of course. Now I enjoy some time on the internet. I Googled best cat toy and this really great fuzzy, dead rat looking, toy showed up. It really is a great toy. When I was briefly diabetic, I Googled tips for getting my blood sugar down without insulin. I got a lot of great information. The office also got a lot of tips and tricks for how to give me shots. I appreciated that (trust me, I appreciated a good shot administration technique). Dr. Lacher even Googled diabetes in cats to get some more information. Dr. Lacher isn’t so up on her cat diabetes treatment regimes. That’s my cross to bear as the cat in the equine hospital. What we don’t do is take information from the Google and apply is all willy nilly without consulting with my actual cat doctor. And that is the power of Google.
So how do you use Dr. Google wisely? Really think about what your concern is. Let’s say your horse is suddenly sore on a leg. Googling “horse sore leg” is a sure way to get too broad a result. Add some time and severity descriptors. Try Googling “horse suddenly very lame one leg.” No matter what you Google in this manner, the first results will be forums of some sort. As a wise cat I am going to give you some free advice: Don’t go there. I will tell you later when you can go there, but until you have an answer from one of the Docs, JUST. DON’T. GO. THERE. Sometimes you humans can be dense, so hopefully, I conveyed that point well enough. At this point in a search you want facts not wild ideas from people who shouldn’t be banned from idea coming up with activities. Look for sources like The Horse Magazine, Veterinary Clinic websites, and well recognized professional sites. These sources will give you quality answers and may lead you to more questions. This is what the internet was made for: giving you humans access to information. It was actually made so that I could order that cat treat I love so much that is hard to find locally but this is also a good use.
Now you have Googled and found some information. Use that information to evaluate your horse and your circumstances. The internet is really good at putting information out there, now apply it to you. Continuing our example of a very lame horse, it is unlikely that an attack by a vampire bat is a likely cause in Gainesville, Florida. This means you can start crossing things off the list of possibilities. You can also examine your horse and decide if the leg is swollen or tender anywhere, push and poke things, and think about what you guys have been doing the past few days. Armed with this information you can give our Docs a better idea about why your horse’s problem before they arrive. I promise you, they are not upset by this use of the Google.
A consultation with our Docs has determined that they do need to see your horse to better determine why the leg is really sore. After a thorough examination, they will give you a diagnosis of the problem. NOW you may Google the problem and click on those chat forums. BUT do it with a purpose. The internet is full of tips and tricks for caring for horses with problems. Our Docs have picked up numerous time and sanity savers over their years of experience. Evaluate these ideas and see if it is something you can apply to your situation. The Google will have reports of diagnostic tests and therapies that others have tried. Again critically evaluate these tests and treatments. Ask the Docs about them. They are more than willing to discuss what you found. What they don’t want is for you to have doubts and questions about your horse’s care that go unanswered!
Remember Dr. Google sorts results by popularity not rightness quotient. If you are a wise cat, trust the team at Springhill Equine to come up with the best, right answer for your horse.
Check out this link I found, it’ll be stuck in my head until next week! This is what happens when humans don’t have enough cat supervision.
I know my adoring fans are used to hearing me talk about blood, manure, urine, and infections. But today I am going to discuss one of the lesser blogged about bodily fluids of horses: sweat. I often see horses come through the clinic that are as sweaty as Steven Avery in Ken Kratz’s fake murder narrative (yes, I watched a lot of Netflix over Memorial Day Weekend). Sometimes I hear owners complain about their sweaty equid, questioning whether he could perhaps be sweating too much? The answer is a resounding NO! Remember folks, if you are a horse, sweating is definitely a good thing!
Horses need to sweat to cool off (another bad design in my estimation). We cats, being superior and well, clean, never sweat. We simply pant if we get overheated, or preferably just lay in the air conditioning all day. Where horses run into trouble is when their sweating mechanisms fail. This usually occurs due to chronic over-stimulation of sweat glands in warmer climates (i.e. Florida). Stress is also thought to play a role, but the source of stress can be as simple as hot weather! Ironic, right? Hot weather causes horses to stress out which makes them stop sweating which makes them even hotter. NOT the smartest species, obviously.
If you have a horse with anhidrosis, the technical term for non-sweating, you probably already know it. Look for signs like dry skin after a hard ride, sweating in patches instead of all over, increased breathing rate, and acting slow or lethargic in hot weather. If you suspect your horse may be a non-sweater, give our docs a call so they can check him out. Anhidrosis can lead to overheating. A temperature over 102.5 is always abnormal, and once it gets much higher horses are at risk of heatstroke and thermal damage. Yikes!
So, what can you do if your horse becomes a non-sweater or partial non-sweater? Most importantly, cool them off! This should go without saying, but if your horse is unable to sweat, you probably shouldn’t ride him for an hour outside at 2pm in July in Florida. Even a cat knows that. Try to ride in the early mornings or late evenings during the summer months, and if your horse begins to get overheated, cool him off as soon as possible with a bath, fans, shade, and cool water to drink.
There are several supplements available to treat anhidrosis as well, such as One AC, Platinum Refresh, and beer (yes, the alcoholic kind). Talk to the docs for their recommendation on what would be best for your horse. Hopefully horses will someday see the wisdom in my ways and learn to pant to cool off. Until then remember, sweat may be gross but it is more crucial than evidence in the Making A Murderer trial! Sorry, the Netflix…
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