Aug 28, 2017 | Foals, Uncategorized
Earlier this year, you all got to see picture after picture of cute baby horses. Around now, the first of those adorable foals is coming due for their first vaccines. And that’s where the fun begins! A 3-9 month foal is a whole lot like a 10 year old kid. Still pretty cute, but beginning to assert their opinions on the world.
Foals and Germs
When your foal was born, my Docs came out to do a Well Baby check in the first 24 hours. Part of that check was a blood draw to test for something called IgG. This test told them if they got enough of that very important first milk, or colostrum, to provide them with germ-fighting immunity. That IgG works for about 4-5 months, at which time those foals need vaccines to prepare them to fight the bugs of the world on their own.
Encephalitis vaccines are INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT at this age! Be a smart human, and get those foals vaccinated! We see West Nile and Eastern Encephalitis every month of the year in Florida. Un-vaccinated foals (and yearlings) are the most vulnerable to these deadly viruses. Beginning at 5 months of age if mom was well-vaccinated, or 3-4 months if she wasn’t, foals get a two to three shot series of the encephalitis vaccines. If your mom wasn’t well-vaccinated, you get an extra booster in there. Along with the encephalitis vaccines, foals also get rhinopneumonitis, influenza, and rabies. For a whole lot of very complicated reasons, the 3-9 month age is the most important time to vaccinate for rhinopneumonitis.
Foals and Worms
Worms love foals more than encephalitis. The good news is this is a relatively easy problem to solve. Foals get all the same worms as adults, along with a special young horse bonus one called an ascarid. Ascarids are the grossest, nastiest worms you’ve ever seen. I included a picture just because I can, and they’re pretty gross. Ascarids also think Ivermectin is candy. So here’s our recommended foal deworming schedule for your convenience:
- 90 days old- use pyrantel pamoate
- 5 months old- use ivermectin
- 7 months old- use fenbendazole or oxibendazole
- 9 months old-use ivermectin
- 11 months old-use pyrantel pamoate
- 13 months old- use ivermectin
- 15 months old- use fenbendazole
- 17 months old- get a fecal egg count, they’re old enough to start fighting those worms themselves
Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be not halter broke!
This baby knows how it’s done!
All that discussion about vaccines and deworming was a lengthy preamble for this section. Teach your foal how to be a good citizen starting the day after they’re born! Put a halter on, take it off, repeat about a bajillion times. Teach them how to lead. Teach them about boundaries. Just like pre-teen humans, pre-teen foals test the boundaries of what’s allowed (and your patience). Teaching them that the crazy humans are going to ask you to do some weird stuff, but are never going to hurt you, makes adulting easier.
Foals at 4-5 months of age are usually too big for my techs and Docs to hold up off the ground like they can the newborns. However, if they are halter broke, they can start to train them that while shots are a moment of needle prick, they come with scratches, a treat, and a whole lot of rewards. You see, my whole team of Springhill Equine minions, I mean staff, work hard to teach horses that visits from the veterinarian are fun. They start that process from the very beginning. Having a halter broke baby makes it easy-peazy. Having to start by introducing the 500 pound foal to a halter does not make it easy!
With a little help, we can all make those tough pre-teen months a little easier. Now the teenage years….That’s an exercise in patience, just like it is with the humans. Until next week, may your litter box be clean and your food bowl full!
May 23, 2017 | Breeding, Foals, Vaccines
Pregnant Mare Care: What should I do?
Breeding season is sadly coming to a close. While I’m relieved to see an end to the interruptions of my early morning and late night cat naps, I will miss the excitement of watching the docs confirm a mare is pregnant for the first time. If you just heard the awesome news that your mare is in foal, congratulations! Now what? Should you simply mark your calendar for 11 months from now, sit back and relax? Well, not exactly. Pregnant mare care is about to become a big part of your life for the year to come! Let me explain.
Cute ultrasound pics
If you were a pregnant human, you’d be visiting your midwife or OB/GYN about once a month throughout your pregnancy. For horses, we recommend ultrasounds at 14 days, 30 days (“heartbeat check”), 60 days, 90 days, and 7 months of pregnancy. How else can you get cute ultrasound pictures to post on Facebook with your mare’s pregnancy announcement? But seriously, early embryonic loss is not uncommon in mares, so we like to do several ultrasounds during the first few months of pregnancy to confirm that all is well. The 7 month ultrasound is primarily to look for signs of placentitis, or infection of the placenta. When identified early, placentitis can be treated and can prevent abortion of a late-term foal.
Your mare, the pincushion
While there are many potential causes of abortion in mares, there is one that is very easily prevented: equine herpes virus. The Pneumabort vaccine is extremely safe, and designed specifically for pregnant mares to protect against equine herpes virus infection. In my humble opinion, giving your mare a Pneumabort shot at 3, 5, 7, and 9 months of pregnancy is a no-brainer! Also, don’t forget to schedule your mare’s pre-foaling vaccines 4-8 weeks before her due date. The docs like to vaccinate mares shortly before giving birth to boost those antibodies so they will transfer to the newborn foal in the mare’s milk. A brilliant plan, if I do say so myself!
Prenatal vitamins for horses
Now that she is eating for two, it may be time to increase or change your mare’s feeding program. Just like pregnant humans, mares need a strong vitamin and mineral package to support the healthy growth of their fetus. Lucky for you, there are several commercially available Mare & Foal feeds that are well suited to meet the needs of pregnant and lactating mares. Especially towards the end of her pregnancy, it will be important to keep up with your mare’s nutritional demands in order for her to produce enough milk once her foal is born.
So, fear not my friends. For although this year’s breeding season is coming to a close, you will see me again at least another half dozen times between now and when that adorable foal makes his debut! As a matter of fact, you can come see me at 6:30 pm on June 8th here at the Clinic for our ever-popular Skin Funk Seminar! If you bring me a treat, I’ll let you pet me. Well, I’ll probably let you pet me even if you don’t bring a treat, because I’m a good guy like that.
-Tony
Apr 24, 2017 | Breeding, Foals
So, you’ve got a brand new foal, and some questions…
When should my foal first be seen by a vet?
This is a tricky question, because most foals enjoy making their debut in the middle of the night. Do you call the doc immediately? Do you wait until morning? If all looks good, does the vet need to come at all? In short, yes. It doesn’t hurt to call the vet immediately when the foal is born, check in again in the morning, and check back as often as you like afterwards. Don’t worry, our docs understand what mares are like, and they won’t be mad if you wake them up in the middle of the night. Now, sometimes when I stay over at Dr. Lacher’s house, she gets a bit aggravated when I wake her up at 5 am by making biscuits on her back, but that’s a slightly different situation.
If your mare & foal are acting normal and have followed the 1-2-3 rules (stand within 1 hour, nurse within 2 hours, and pass the placenta within 3 hours after birth), your foal can be examined the next day. Ideally the new foal exam should happen at least within the first 24 hours after birth. However, if you suspect ANYTHING is wrong in the meantime with mare or foal, you need one of the docs out right away.
That all-important First Milk
Let’s say your mare is one of the special ones, and decides to foal at noon. All went well with foaling, and mare and foal are acting normal and comfortable. Should you just have the vet out the same day to get that first checkup over with? Well, you can, but you will probably end up paying for 2 separate farm calls. There is an excellent blood test, called an IgG test, that your vet will perform at baby’s first checkup which determines whether or not he has received enough colostrum (first milk). However, this test can only be performed at 8-12 hours after birth at the earliest! If you think about it, that makes sense: first, the foal has to nurse, then, colostrum has to get absorbed across the foal’s GI tract, then the IgG from the colostrum has to make it to the foal’s bloodstream in order to show up on the test.
So, why not just wait 48 hours until the first check up? Again, the reason has to do with that first milk. The foal’s gut only stays “open” for a short period of time. That means, the foal can only absorb colostrum until 48 hours after birth. By identifying if a foal has a low IgG at 24 hours, the vet still has time to correct the problem before the gut “closes.” Horses, I tell ya…this wouldn’t be the case if a cat had designed them!
What does the vet do besides pulling blood?
Well, I’m glad you asked! Although it may take less than 5 minutes to complete your foal’s first check up, there are a lot of subtle things the doctor is checking during that time. Of course there are the usual things that she would check on any horse: heart rate (are there any heart murmurs?), lung sounds (any amniotic fluid still crackling around in there?), and temperature (foals tend to run higher than adults- especially if they’ve just been bouncing around). Then, your vet will feel the foal’s umbilicus to determine if it is abnormally thickened or moist, check for swelling within ALL of his joints. It is common for your vet to perform a complete ophthalmic exam on a foal, as congenital cataracts, persistent pupillary membranes, corneal ulcers, and entropion (rolling in of the eyelids) are all common disorders of newborns. Additionally, the vet is gaining a lot of information from her at-a-distance exam. Can the foal stand easily? How is his conformation? Is he nursing well on both teats? Is he urinating and defecating normally, and out of the correct places? Does his behavior seem normal? How is his energy level? Is the mare acting protective and motherly?
The best part is, by knowing within the first 24 hours of birth if there is a problem, the docs can get to correcting it right away! Once again, my Tony wisdom exceeds all expectations. Until next week, folks!
Mar 7, 2017 | Ailments, Breeding, Buying and Selling, Competition Horses, Craigslist, Dr. Google, Foals, Infections, Q & A, Safety
Ah, your mare! You look wistfully back on your history with her. You and your mare have accomplished a lot. She’s made your dreams come true; she’s been there as your partner, and companion through thick and thin. You’re ready for her to carry on her legacy with a foal. You’ve poured through the magazines, you’ve researched performance records, and you’re a pedigree expert. Your perfect stallion has been found and is even 5 panel testing negative! Oh goody!
What the heck is 5 panel testing? Is it a good thing when a stallion is negative? What’s a positive mean? Never fear, your intrepid feline source of information is here.
Why do I care about 5 panel testing?
Long ago, in a land far, far away horses were bred for speed, muscle, good looks, color. You name it, humans have bred for it. Along the way some other stuff was selected for too, on accident. Beginning about 30 years ago, scientists found a way to test genes to see if some of the not so desirable stuff was present in the DNA of a horse.
In 2015, the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) took the important step of saying “Hey, we can test for a bunch of bad stuff. Let’s make sure we breed responsibly.” This means that ALL stallions that file a stallion report now have these results available to you the mare owner. Many other breeds have their own genetic diseases that are routinely tested for. Not sure about your breed of choice? Ask the registration association for that breed or check with my minions. My minions work hard to stay up-to-date on this ever changing world.
What does 5 panel testing test for?
The 5 Panel Test covers, shockingly, 5 major genetic disorders common in Quarter Horses, Appaloosas, and Paints: Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (HYPP), Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy type 1 (PSSM 1), Malignant Hyperthermia (MH), Hereditary Epidermal Regional Dermal Asthenia (HERDA), and Glycogen Branching Enzyme Deficiency (GBED).
These diseases are all caused by one teeny, tiny mutation which makes them easy to test for, and they all cause really bad diseases. I put a short description about all of them at the bottom of this blog in case you want to read more about them.
Should I test my mare?
You really should. That’s the short answer. Here’s the long one. You can never have too much information when it comes to breeding. Additionally, HYPP, PSSM, and MH could cause health problems for your mare during pregnancy so knowing if she’s got them can be very helpful to your wonderful veterinarians.
You really, really should do the 5 panel testing if your stallion choice is positive for any of them. If you have found that perfect hunk of a guy for your mare, but he’s positive for one of these diseases, you really need to know if your mare is positive too. If she is, you are definitely going to have to go back to the pretty pictures and find her a different guy.
I’m pretty sure I can now pass a test on this 5 panel testing! Want more information? Call, text, or e-mail my humans. They love talking about mares, and babies, and stallions, okay, pretty much anything horse. Until next week, may your litter box be clean and your food bowl full.
HYPP
HYPP stands for Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis. This disease affects the electrical impulses within the body that control muscle contraction. The defective gene results in clinical signs of muscle tremors and fasciculations. In some severe cases, horses may be unable to stand, or even unable to breathe. Horses can show symptoms with only one copy of the defective gene, but symptoms are often more severe if they have two copies of the mutation. This disease affects mostly halter horses, and can be traced back to the prolific stallion ‘Impressive’. Since Impressive lines were also used in Paint and Appaloosa halter breeding programs, HYPP is found in those breeds as well. AQHA does not allow registration of foals that test positive for two copies of the defective gene (H/H), but will allow registration of foals that are H/N: one defective and one normal gene.
PSSM 1
PSSM stands for Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy. This disease causes changes in the way sugars are stored and used by the muscles. It causes frequent episodes of ‘tying up’ if not properly controlled by a special diet and regular low intensity exercise. There are two types of PSSM. Type 1 is caused by a genetically identified mutation, which is testable. Type 2 is suspected to be genetic, but that mutation has not yet been identified by researchers. Most Quarter Horses with PSSM have type 1. Horses will show symptoms of PSSM type 1 with one or two copies of the mutation. Like HYPP, PSSM type 1 is more common in halter QHs than in other lines. Some QHs have been shown to have mutations for both HYPP and PSSM.
HERDA
HERDA stands for Hereditary Epidermal Regional Dermal Asthenia. Horses with HERDA have defective collagen, an important protein that is part of skin, cartilage, muscles, and tendons. The major clinical sign is skin that is easily injured, torn, or even sloughed off. The skin is also very slow to heal. There is no treatment for the condition, and horses that have it are often euthanized. Horses will only show symptoms if they have two copies of the mutation for HERDA. Horses with only one copy of the mutation are clinically normal. These animals are called ‘carriers’. They can pass copies of the mutation to their foals, and if one carrier is bred to another carrier, the foal might inherit the mutation from both parents and be symptomatic. HERDA is limited mostly to horses with reining and cutting horse bloodlines.
GBED
GBED stands for Glycogen Branching Enzyme Deficiency. Like PSSM, this disease also affects how sugars are stored, but in a different and more severe way. It results in abortions, stillborn foals, and foals that are alive but weak at birth and die or are euthanized soon after. Like with HERDA, horses may be carriers for GBED – if a horse has only one copy of the mutation it will be clinically normal. Paints and Appaloosas can also carry the GBED mutation.
MH
MH stands for Malignant Hyperthermia. This disease changes the way muscle cells handle calcium, and thus the metabolism of the cell. Horses with MH will appear normal most of the time, but have specific occasions when they show symptoms. During an attack, horses will have a very high fever, profuse sweating, high and irregular heart rate, high blood pressure, and rigid muscles. Attacks are triggered by certain anesthetic agents or stress, and are sometimes fatal. MH is believed to be less common than either HYPP or PSSM, but the percentage of affected horses is not yet known. Several breeds including Quarter Horses and Paints can be affected. Horses may be positive for both PSSM and MH together, and these animals appear to suffer from more severe episodes of tying up than horses that have PSSM alone.
Jan 31, 2017 | Breeding, Foals
For the record, I did not choose to jump on the phantom for this week’s photo. I was forced to pose there by my humans- hence the look of displeasure on my face. That being said, my Breeding & Foaling Seminar this month was one of the best-attended educational events I have ever hosted! But in case you were one of the 2 or 3 cats who forgot or couldn’t make it here to see me, I’ll give you a re-cap.
If you are considering breeding your mare, there are several stallion factors to consider. These include but are not limited to: germs, bloodlines, history of breeding success, and legal jargon. Make sure your stallion of choice checks all the boxes before committing to breed to him. If you need help deciphering a breeding contract or remembering what diseases he should be tested for, ask our vets! That’s why they went to 8+ years of school after all.
Breeding a mare is a lot like baking a soufflé. In the cookbook, it sounds easy: just follow the recipe and voila! But in real life, lots of things can go wrong. Mares don’t like to read the cookbook. Failing to come into heat, not ovulating in a timely manner, reacting to the semen placed in her uterus, or fertilizing twins…these are just a few of the things mares try to do to make the docs bang their head against a wall.
Let’s say your soufflé comes out perfectly: after one cycle, you end up with a single, beautiful, round little embryo at the 14-day pregnancy ultrasound. Fast-forward 11 months, and now you are ready to welcome your new bundle of joy! But when?
This is another point where mares can be tricky. Their “due date” is just an estimate, and can easily range from 320-360 days gestation, or even longer. In the docs’ opinion, the best way to know when your mare is going to foal is to test her milk pH daily. When it drops to 6.4, there is a 98% chance she will foal within the next 72 hours. I like those odds! You can also use the good old signs like bagging up, relaxation of the vulva, and waxing of the teats.
So your mare is in labor, now is the time to panic, right? Yeah…no. Stage 1 of labor can last several hours and is characterized by acting restless, pawing, not eating, and flank-watching. Stage 2 is the exciting part- it begins with the mare’s water breaking, and ends with a foal on the ground! This stage of labor should last NO MORE than 20 MINUTES. Don’t forget about Stage 3: passing the placenta. The docs will appreciate if you save that stinky sucker in a bag or bucket until they can get out there to evaluate it.
Mares rarely need help with labor, but it’s important to know what is normal so you can identify when something goes wrong. Might I point out that cats NEVER need help having kittens (or so I’ve heard). This is where the 1-2-3 rule comes into play. A normal foal should stand within 1 hour of birth, nurse within 2 hours, and the mare should pass her placenta within 3 hours. If the foal misses any of these milestones, what should you do? You guessed it- call the docs!
Well, that’s my story. Of course there is no way to put into words the best part of the seminar that you missed: me! But you guys are such quick learners, you are all going to do great!
-Tony
Jan 10, 2017 | Breeding, Foals
Ah, a New Year…a fresh start, new resolutions, exciting plans, and new horizons. Oh, and baby horses! Yes, it may still be ridiculously cold outside, but believe it or not breeding season is almost here! Now is the time to plan: get out pictures of your favorite mare and favorite stallion, pin them next to each other on your cork board, and envision what the resulting foal will look like- and what it will be able to do! Do you want the highest jumper? The fastest barrel racer? The most muscled halter horse? Or the leanest racehorse?
The other important part of planning your breeding adventure is how to get your mare in foal, or where to have your stallion collected. This is where I can help! Here at Springhill Equine we have a complete array of breeding packages for your mare and stallion. We can take care of everything from a breeding soundness exam (making sure your horse is reproductively healthy), to collection, to artificial insemination, all the way through foaling.
I have talked to you humans before about what responsible breeding is. You can always look back at my blog and read archived Tuesdays with Tony entries, because what better to do in your free time? But determining that your mare or stallion has several traits that are worth passing on, and very few traits that are undesirable, is only the first step. Now you need to think about what goes into breeding and foaling, and whether you have the time, money, and patience to take on the challenge!
The docs tell me that there are several factors that come into play when trying to get a mare in foal. These include age, parity (how many foals she has had before), anatomy, history of reproductive failure, metabolic imbalances…the list goes on! In short, just because you want to breed your mare doesn’t mean she will be able to get pregnant. Older, maiden mares are the hardest ones to get in foal, and this is a common challenge our docs face each year. It seems that after a certain age, if a mare’s reproductive organs haven’t been used, the body begins to shut them down. There is no exact number for mares, but “older” is generally defined as over 10 years old. I would like to point out that cats, like a fine wine, only get better with age.
Already expecting a little bundle of horsey joy this spring? I can help with that too! Don’t miss my next come see Tony event on Tuesday January 17th, a Foaling & Breeding seminar for all you need to know to be well prepared before your baby arrives. If you still don’t feel 100% comfortable, we offer reasonable foal-out rates here at our clinic where we have 24/7 stall camera monitoring, and a veterinarian will be present at your foal’s birth.
Other decisions to be made before breeding include: When do I want my mare to have her baby? Will she be bred by live-cover, or AI (artificial insemination)? Will I be using fresh semen, or frozen? Is my stallion trained to a phantom? How much am I willing to invest in making this baby? Where will the mare have her foal? Am I prepared to care for a pregnant mare/breeding stallion/newborn foal?
Our amazing doctors and staff are here to guide and help you every step of the way. Well, for the stallion collection I will be standing a safe distance away under the trees, but for everything else I like being up close and personal, especially the foaling.
Don’t forget that during the month of January we are offering $10 off a breeding package or stallion collection. Sign up now to save later! Also, I know I will see all of you next Tuesday 😉
-Tony
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