Clones – Where are they now?

Sep 26, 2014 | Breeding, Uncategorized

Cloning!

Clones – Where are they now?

I overheard Dr. Bourke talking about cloned horses the other day. Seems like there are a quite a few of them out there now! I’m still not sure that cloning is a good idea, but it was interesting to learn what the cloned horses are up to.

The world’s first cloned horse was born in Italy way back in 2003 – a Haflinger mare that was named Prometea. What’s really interesting is that in this case, the mare that carried the pregnancy was also the mare they took the genetic material from – she gave birth to her own clone!

In 2005, Italy did it again, producing a clone of the famous endurance Arabian stallion Pierez. Then things really took off in 2006 when Texas A&M University announced the birth of FIVE clones of the cutting horse stallion Smart Little Lena. That same year the world’s first commercially cloned horses were born in Oklahoma – copies of top Quarter Horse cutting mares Royal Blue Boon, Tap O Lena, and Playboys Ruby. Since then, there have been handfuls of cloned horses born from several different equestrian disciplines. Examples include show jumping greats ET, Gem Twist, Calvaro V, and Sapphire, dressage stars Jazz and Rusty, international event horses Che Mr. Wiseguy and Tamarillo, barrel racer superstar Scamper, and several other well known cutters including Doc’s Serendipity and Jae Bar Fletch.

Clones Are Reproducing: Prometea is now 11 years old, and in 2008 she had her first foal, a colt, which was reportedly healthy. This was the first offspring of a cloned horse, but there have been several others since. The cloned stallions of Pierez, ET and Gem Twist all have foals on the ground. Pierez is even a grandsire. His first daughter gave birth to a colt in 2012.

Clones for Sale: The Smart Little Lena clones are now 8 years old. One of the five died at the age of 4 from bladder cancer. The remaining four stallions were sold by the syndicate that owned them at the 2009 NCHA World Finals sale. They went for $2400, $3000, $27,000 and $28,000. The highest selling stallion was exported to Australia and now stands at stud for a fee of $1500. One cloned polo pony mount from Argentina sold for a whopping $800,000 in 2010.

Clones in Competition: Because of the high costs involved with producing a clone (roughly $150,000 per horse) it is unlikely that very many will enter competition. The horses being cloned are all from the top ranks of their disciplines, so it would be difficult for the clones to perform as well as the original, let alone surpass or improve on their achievements. Clones have the genetics of superstars, so from a business and breeding standpoint, they have nothing to gain from competition, and everything to lose. For this reason, most clones will be used for breeding purposes.

However, several performance horse organizations have opened the door to allow for cloned animals in competition.

Proper Trimming of a Horse’s Foot

Aug 21, 2014 | Ailments, Leg issues

It’s simple but it’s not easy. This saying can be used to describe so much about our horses. Surely it’s simple to keep your heels down, shoulders back, and eyes up and yet I definitely don’t find it easy! Proper trimming of a horse’s foot is similar. There are a few basic principles to proper trimming and yes they are simple but they often aren’t easy.

Our horses are a marvel of engineering and the foot is the epitome of that marvel. Just think about your horse cantering across a field. On the left lead the right front foot is carrying all of the weight along with the forces created by cantering during the stance phase of the gait. What does all this mean for your horse and his foot? Back to high school Physics we go….

During movement the coffin bone rotates around the very center of the short coffin bone creating a center of rotation. Our goal when trimming feet is to put this center at the ideal spot for forces on the navicular bone, deep digital flex-or, and the structure of the heel. This generally translates to half the hoof mass being behind this line and half in front. For the geekiest among us, that gets us the shortest moment arm possible. In the picture here that means this horse should have his toe and heels brought back since too much of the foot is in front of the vertical line right now. The lateral (image from the side) view only gives us part of the information we need to give our horses the perfect foot. The bottom of the foot tells us even more.

There are three important lines on the bottom of the foot. The first one is across the heels. The second is drawn down the center of the foot from front to back and the third is across the foot at its widest point from inside to outside. These lines give you a guide to the structure of the hoof capsule, the bones underneath, and the best way to trim the hoof.

Let’s begin with the line at the heel. The heel should be at the widest point of the frog and the inside and outside heel should be at the same place. The heel must be rasped down to this level! We have all heard don’t touch the heel so they can grow more but it just doesn’t work that way. The heel must be brought back to the widest part of the frog or it is mechanically compromised and this WILL cause big problems later.

Next, the line down the center of the hoof. This line should not only cut the foot in half but also cut the frog in half. If it doesn’t the frog is telling you there are problems! This line does have some wiggle room based on your horse’s conformation but it is only a little wiggle room. For instance, a pigeon toed horse will carry more foot to the inside and that will be normal for them.

Finally, the line across the widest part of the hoof. Again half the foot should be in front of this line and half behind. The half behind is determined by the spot where the heels hit the ground. This is why it is so important to have the heels at the widest part of the frog. If the foot starts with the heels at the right place, this line will give you an excellent guide to proper break-over location.

These lines are the start of everything we do with feet. A horse with good feet keeps these proportions without the need for shoes. However, bad feet, lameness, or laminitis cause the need for shoes to recreate these proportions. And that’s exactly what a good farrier does with shoes: recreates these proportions. It’s not easy but it really is simple!

Tough Love in the Summer Time

Jul 28, 2014 | Ailments, Feed, Pests

Tough Love in the Summer Time

Look at this sad, abused, little pony! Muzzled, blindfolded, and NO food in his hay net! Is this your horse at feed time? If he is, then know that we understand all those conflicting emotions you are feeling right now. This is Dr. Bourke’s pony, Flash. Left to his own desires in the summer, Flash quickly becomes a rolly polly little thing, with a Body Condition Score of 9 out of 9. (Think Pillsbury-Dough-Boy fat). His handsome white nose gets chapped and sunburned, and fly irritation causes his eyes to weep.

It’s feed time and your horse is looking at you with that pathetic face. How can you not offer him something in his bucket?!? Back before Dr. Bourke knew better, Flash was allowed to graze free choice, and he even got grain! Dr. Bourke didn’t understand the connection between easy keepers and the risk of laminitis. Flash was very lucky that he made it through several Virginia summers without any signs of foot soreness. Sometimes he would get a fly mask on him, but it would fall off in a few days – or a few hours – and then she would give up.

It just takes so much effort. It also can be expensive – all of those muzzles and fly masks add up! But is it worth it? Absolutely. Because our veterinarians see the consequences of not putting on fly masks and grazing muzzles. Together the muzzles and fly masks help prevent laminitis, sunburn, skin cancer, and habronema ‘summer sores’ from fly exposure.

Now Flash is forced to wear a grazing muzzle from May through August, when the grass is thick and green. He also sports a nice fly mask religiously, gets only coastal hay, and we’ve switched him over to a ration balancer instead of grain. I ride him regularly, even when it’s hot. She also has to live through his sad faces at feed time when the Thoroughbred gets 5 lbs of tasty Ultium and Flash gets a measuring cup of the ration balancer – really just a vitamin and mineral supplement.

All of this takes discipline. It means purchasing several fly masks at the beginning of the season in order to have one ready and on hand when the first one gets torn to shreds. It means tromping through the field several times a week in search of the missing fly mask. It means occasionally jerry-rigging the muzzle in order to get it to fit properly, or adding padding to make sure it doesn’t rub his face. It means committing to riding even when the temperatures are high and the humidity is higher. But it also means no skin cancer or laminitis.

What can you do for the horse who refuses to wear a fly mask? Zinc oxide on any white skin, children’s roll on sunscreen, and days spent in a stall are great options many of our clients use. Stall time also helps the overweight horse. Grasses are highest in sugar content one half-hour before and after sunrise and sunset. By keeping your horse in during these times you will dramatically reduce their sugar intake.

Summer is a battle! And horses can’t handle like I do: sleeping in the AC in the Clinic all day. Be prepared and talk to our Doctors and technicians about the best strategy for you and your horse. Always remember: May your litter box be clean and your food bowl full!

Fungal Eye Ulcer

Jul 15, 2014 | Ailments

Dr. Bourke’s phone rang recently with a call from this mare’s very concerned owner. She found the mare squinting her eye late in the evening and wasn’t sure what to do so she called us. Dr. Bourke started the mare on medications that evening and the owner brought her in to Springhill Equine the next morning. Spice was holding her right eye closed, squinting, and didn’t want Dr. Lacher to touch her eye. A few treats were handed out to let Spice know we were here to help. Dr. Lacher placed a green stain in the eye and found it stayed stuck to the cornea on the outside half. The green stain is called Flourescein and it shows us where the cornea is missing its top layer.

In Clinic Equine Veterinary Services, Equine Vet Hospital, And Emergency Vet

Spice was started on additional eye medications to combat a wide variety of fungus, bacteria, and the pain that comes from a corneal ulcer. We always give a little treat with these medications so the horses thing it’s a fun game. Spice came back in a few days for Dr. Bourke to check on her progress. Unfortunately when Dr. Bourke re-checked her the ulcer wasn’t doing any better and was even a little bit worse. One concern we always have is how much of the eye medications get into the eye but in this case Spice was being given treats every time her eye was treated so she thought eye medications were wonderful! Dr. Bourke used a sterile Q-tip to sample the cornea itself and see what was going on. This picture was what was going on and unfortunately those straight purple lines are fungus.

Fungus

Fungus is a common problem in our hot, humid weather here in Florida. And summertime is full of hot, humid, and even downright wet weather! Those large eyes horses have just love to get stuff in them and horses love to rub them on things when the gnats get bad. This can lead to a small scratch and Voila! fungus has a way in. Because of the prevalence of fungus in Florida, Dr. Lacher and Dr. Bourke always start any ulcer on anti-fungal therapy. Dr. Lacher and Dr. Bourke start with ointments 4-6 times per day, atropine to dilate the eye and reduce pain daily, and Banamine twice daily to help manage pain.

Our Doctors then check in with a phone call, text, or e-mail every day to make sure things are going well and perform a recheck exam and stain of the eye. We know life gets difficult so to make things easier staying with us at Springhill Equine is great for complicated eye cases!

Sometimes even with great owner and easy-to-treat horses the fungus gets ahead of us. For those cases we place a special type of catheter in the eye that lets us treat them with more powerful liquid medications. We give these horses lots of treats with every medication! Staying at the hospital is perfect for these cases so Dr. Bourke, Dr. Lacher and I can monitor them every day. As the eye improves we slowly decrease the medications until we are back to ointments a couple times per day.

Questions about eyes? Give my Docs a call! This is Tony hoping your food bowl is full and your litter box is clean!

The Scoop on Joint Supplements

Mar 30, 2014 | Leg issues

Our Doctors spend an awful lot of time talking about joint supplements. Just yesterday I caught Dr. Lacher reading this article http://www.thehorse.com/articles/33601/oral-joint-supplement-efficacy-tested-in-senior-horses about joint supplements in older horses. So this week I thought we could chat a bit about these supplements. Personally I find most of them to be very tasty but more on that later.

Let’s start with why a joint supplement might or might not be needed in the first place. Lots of you ask your horses to perform as athletes. This is why I’m glad I’m a cat and don’t have such demands placed on my days. In the process of performing low level damage is done to the joints and particularly to the cartilage. This is part of exercise and is very normal. Most of this damage is readily repaired by the body but some of it is too extensive for the normal repair processes. When this happens we call it an injury and over time injuries can lead to arthritis.

So what’s a human to do? Well logic says if we give the body the stuff it needs to make more cartilage it will help those joints heal faster. Logic does say this but I have been doing a lot of research. After all with this much rain it’s not like this cat wants to go outside and play. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate have been shown to be absorbed by the equine intestinal tract and to have potential for anti-inflammatory effects. However, studies looking at the level of these molecules in blood and joints after oral and intravenous administration show they aren’t anywhere near high enough to be therapeutic. Hyaluronic acid fared even worse in studies. It was shown to be absorbed but nearly 95% of what was given was found in the feces. Studies have also been done in rats and dogs only, not horses. Fatty acids are new to the picture and the studies are preliminary at best. It looks like alpha-linoleic acid and cetyl myristoleate are the top candidates for horses. Moral of the story: There is some science behind the ingredients in joint supplements but most simply can’t be fed at high enough levels to be effective.

And then we get to the confusing part. Articles, like the one Dr. Lacher was reading, show that using objective measurements older horses with known arthritic conditions benefited from joint supplements. One way this may work is that inflammation in a joint will cause glucosamine and chondroitin to increase. This is likely due to an increase in cell transport mechanisms secondary to inflammation. Some scientists theorize that these molecules also work as anti-inflammatories in the liver and kidneys where they reach much higher levels due to the filtering nature of these organs. Fatty acids work in the entire body to reduce inflammation. This means that some horses sometimes have been shown to respond for reasons we don’t fully understand.

Real world advice time. You have a horse you would like to give a joint supplement to but you aren’t sure which one to use. Start with a well known name brand such as Cosequin or the SmartPak brands. glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are probably the most important ingredients. For the horse in intense work or with known problems fatty acids added to the chondroitin and glucosamine may increase the benefit. However, when it comes down to your horse the best answer is to pick a supplement, try it for 30 days, stop it for 30 days and see how you feel. At the end of the day your horse’s response is really the only one that matters.

I have posted links to many of the articles I read for this blog. Most are very sciency and I had to ask Dr. Lacher and Dr. Bourke for help interpreting them. They said they would be more than happy to do the same for you guys any time. Until next time may your litter box be clean and your food bowl full!

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bdd.392/abstract

The bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulfate after oral and intravenous single dose administration in the horse

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-3306.2002.tb05422.x/abstract

Effect of glucosamine on interleukin-1-conditioned articular cartilage

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/art.20762/full

Synovial fluid levels and serum pharmacokinetics in a large animal model following treatment with oral glucosamine at clinically relevant doses

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf8017029

Absorption, Uptake and Tissue Affinity of High-Molecular-Weight Hyaluronan after Oral Administration in Rats and Dogs

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049017201986378

Biochemical basis of the pharmacologic action of chondroitin sulfates on the osteoarticular system

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2746/0425164054530687/abstract

Effects of glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate, alone and in combination, on normal and interleukin-1 conditioned equine articular cartilage explant metabolism

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-3306.2006.tb05615.x/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false

Double blind investigation of the effects of oral supplementation of combined glucosamine hydrochloride (GHCL) and chondroitin sulphate (CS) on stride characteristics of veteran horses

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1939-1676.2012.00901.x/full

Systematic Review of Efficacy of Nutraceuticals to Alleviate Clinical Signs of Osteoarthritis

Rapid weather changes play havoc with our horses GI tract.

Mar 19, 2014 | Ailments, Feed, Leg issues, Pests

They were making a fuss around here recently about a groundhog and a shadow and warmer weather. I don’t know what the big deal was I see my shadow all the time and it has nothing to do with the weather. This did, however, lead to a conversation about Spring and horses. Turns out horses face some pretty unique challenges during the warm up from our frigid winter. I realize some of my readers from the north are chuckling about the weather but this cat thought it was plenty chilly.

New green grass. New grass is very high in sugar. This sugar can quickly bring on an attack of laminitis in horses who are overweight or have Cushings. These horses are prone to a syndrome called Equine Metabolic Syndrome which causes them to have diabetes type responses to sugar. There are some treatments available but diet control and exercise are the most important.

Parasites. Parasites love Spring and Fall, feel pretty good about Winter, and hate Summer. The best parasite control methods use fecal egg counts to figure out which horses carry the most worms. Now is the best time to do fecal egg counts. Use this handy chart to determine how long you need to wait after you deworm to bring us poop:

Product Given	Wait this long to bring us a sample
Moxidectin	16 weeks
Ivermectin	12 weeks
Pyrantel, Oxibendazole, Fenbendazole	9 weeks

Weather changes. Rapid weather changes play havoc with our horses GI tract. The best advice our Doctors have is water, water, water! Adding water to your horse’s grain on a regular basis helps combat those cold weather colics. A small handful of salt when temperatures suddenly drop will encourage your horse to drink.

Encephalitis. Yep encephalitis. Spring is prime time for Eastern Encephalitis. Our mosquitoes are wicked any time of year but during the Spring they are likely to be carrying this deadly disease(99% of horses who begin to show symptoms later die of the disease). The vaccine for Eastern Encephalitis is extremely effective but only lasts for a short time. We recommend giving the vaccine every 4-6 months depending on the age and lifestyle of your horse.

Skin funk. Florida is famous worldwide for its horse skin funk. Well maybe not to regular people but definitely for horse people. Keeping your horses as dry as possible is the key! Since we all know this is next to impossible this time of year, there are several treatment options for funky Florida skin. Desitin or diaper rash cream is great for lower limbs, the zinc oxide helps heal the compromised skin while simultaneously sealing water out. Dilute Listerine or dilute vinegar may help with the thorax/ back funk but will not address a serious problem. For more severe cases (all of those sensitive skinned chestnuts out there) Springhill carries a medicated CK product that comes in a shampoo, salve, rinse and spray depending on where the problem is. Silly horses I don’t understand why they can’t just clean themselves…that’s what your tongue is for!

May your litter box be clean, and your food bowl be full!

-Tony

Senior Feeding

Mar 7, 2014 | Ailments, Feed

Dr. Bourke has been complaining recently about how much she has to feed her senior horses. I don’t understand what the big deal is, since I eat whenever I feel like it. Don’t horses do the same? I listened to her tell a story of this really nice family that had been effectively starving their older gelding because they didn’t know how to appropriately feed him. It turns out that older horses often need different kinds of feed than young or middle age horses, and LOTS of it!

All of the major feed companies make feeds specifically formulated for Senior horses. Nutrena Senior, Purina Equine Senior, Triple Crown Senior, and Seminal Senior are all examples. These senior feeds usually share the follow characteristics: They are 1) easy to chew, 2) easy to soak, 3) easy to digest, and 4) formulated as ‘complete feeds’. Complete feeds are products that can be fed as a horses’ sole source of food, replacing all other grain and hay. The major ingredient in complete feeds is usually processed alfalfa or another fiber source like beat pulp, so unlike traditional ‘grain’, you need to feed much larger quantities of it to provide the same amount of calories.

Dr. Bourke said that SKINNY senior horses, especially ones with dysfunctional teeth, need to eat between 1.5% and 2% of their body weight in senior feed per day. I did the math, and for an average sized quarter horse, this comes to 15-20 lbs of food per day!! But who feeds by weight anyway? Everybody I know uses scoops – some big scoops, some small scoops, some heaping scoops, but scoops nonetheless. Dr. Bourke said it’s really important to know how much 1 ‘scoop’ of your feed weighs. I brought her my food scoop, which turns out is only ½ a cup, and she weighed it for me. The amount was miniscule. I think I will complain to management. But back to horse feed. The ‘standard’ horse sized food scoop can hold 3 quarts, which is APPROXIMATELY 3 lbs of food. But again, this varies. If you have a kitchen scale, use this to weigh out one full scoop. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, put one scoops worth of food in a large plastic bag, and take it to your local feed store for them to weigh for you. The produce scale at the grocery store works great too!

If you need an approximate place to start, 15-20 lbs of food, assuming a 3 lb scoop, is 5-6 full scoops per horse per day. Think 2 full scoops in the AM, 2 scoops midday, and 2 scoops at night. Yes, that’s a LOT of food! Another way to think about this, is that if you are really feeding 20 lbs of food per day, you are going to use up an entire 50 lb bag of feed in 2 and a half days. It is important to remember that while it is safe and often necessary to feed this much senior feed, it would be VERY dangerous to give any horse this much of other kinds of feeds. These guidelines apply to complete senior feeds only. And as always, make feeding changes slowly.

I asked Dr. Bourke about hay, and she said that teeth-less old horses can’t chew well enough to get much nutrition out of hay. She said they can even colic or choke if given really stemmy stuff like coastal hay. She said that when feeding enough senior feed, hay isn’t required at all, but that if you want to give the horse ½ a flake or so of either alfalfa or peanut hay in order to give them something to munch on, that’s ok.