If you have been paying attention the last year or so you have been hearing and reading that here in the US we have developed some resistant parasites in our horse population. How did we develop these resistant parasites? Well to be honest our deworming protocols. In our zeal to have a clean worm free horse population we have instead developed worms that are resistant to treatment.

SO what to do? There are reports everywhere saying we should deworm regularly only with ivermectin, and others saying we should only deworm after testing to be sure our horse has parasites, and others still saying use a rotational deworming program but base it on the time of year rather than just every 30 or 60 days. However very little information is out there on how to actually prevent your horse from being infected in the first place. Well it is a matter of equine parasite management.

In equine parasite management one needs to first consider the actual risk of your horse being infected by parasites. The risk for a horse stabled and fed inside a barn and turned out by itself in its own personal dry lot is going to be much less than another horse that is kept in a small pasture with 5 other horses. With a horse in the environment as the latter, it is going to be near impossible to prevent infection from parasites, so one has to be dedicated to management of the pasture to prevent an overabundance.

The rules of equine parasite management -

1. Clean up the manure in the pasture/turnout – a minimum of once a week this reduces the amount of eggs being delivered to the pasture and also the larva.
2. If you feed hay and/or grain, feed inside the barn or at a minimum in a bunk off the ground and in an area separate from the pasture. If you do feed in a bunk outside place the bunk on a concrete pad or limestone. Clean feed buckets and bunks regularly.
3. If possible divide your pastures and rotate the usage allowing a rest period to help kill off parasites.
4. Test each horse’s manure regularly (once every 2-3 months) for parasites. One horse can be a high shedder and be the main infector and another have a very low parasite count. Knowing the high shedders will help you manage those individual horses and keep them separate from the rest of the herd if possible. Also you can treat the horses that shed and treat each horse as an individual which actually helps the entire herd.
5. Deworm any new horse prior to introducing them to your herd.

Other Sources for deworming and horse parasite control

Two Horses, Adjoining Pastures–Two Wildly Different Deworming …

The worm load for the mare? Very small–only 34 (which is the number of eggs per gram), which makes her a “low shedder” of worm eggs. According to thi.

http://myhorse.com/blogs/horse-care/two-horses-adjoining-pastures-two-wildly-different-deworming-needs/

A Chilling Thought About Horse Deworming Schedules | MyHorse …

Like you, I’ve read many conflicting horse deworming schedule reports. And it seems that for every horse deworming program based on a rotational drug.

http://myhorse.com/blogs/horse-care/a-chilling-thought-about-horse-deworming-schedules/

Every Horse Boarder’s Nightmare: A Young Horse’s Death from Severe Worm Damage and the Ten Commandments of Parasite Control

From the very day that newly-initiated horse owners pick up their crisp new how-to horsecare book or go to that first horse health lecture, the first commandment of horse health management echoes in their ears: Thou shalt worm thy horse religiously.

http://blogs.equisearch.com/horsehealth/2011/10/13/horse-worm-strongyle-clot-thromboembolism/

A cute video explaining the new concepts for deworming -

Superworm.m4v

Eggzamin Superworm – Drug Resistant Parasite in Horses. Time to rethink our deworming strategies.

Calm down horse people, all this EHV-1 hysteria is getting to me. As of today there are less than 40 horses that have contracted Equine Herpes Virus 1 from being exposed at a national cutting show in Odgen, Utah. Despite what certain news outlets are reporting it has not spread yet. Think about it there are over 7 million horses in the US, less than 40 have contracted the disease and less than 5 have died – 0.00057% of the population is definitely NOT an epidemic.

Yesterday I was a little disappointed in one of The Horse’s articles relating to the outbreak – EHV-1 Outbreak: Number of Confirmed Cases Rising. The title of this article and definitely the first line in the article really irritated me. Here is a respected health journal and they are playing to the hysteria that is building. Worse yet with the line, “It’s been nearly a week since the first indications of a neurologic equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) outbreak began to surface, and the outbreak shows no signs of slowing down.” they certainly are continuing and even promoting that hysteria. I tweeted my disapproval with two tweets -

Stephanie Church the Editor-in-Chief responded back to the tweets with a tweet of her own -

I agree with their mission and the responsibility they have placed on themselves which is why The Horse is an excellent source for articles on health for your horse (I have blog envy for sure). I said so and reiterated my displeasure with that specific title and first line of the article. Stephanie understood and followed up with this tweet -

I am glad that Stephanie commented and listened to me explaining my displeasure and in the end seemed to be more conscious of what I was trying to say. I’d like to expand and clarify my position, first by saying that The Horse is by no means the problem here. They are still one of my most trusted sources for information about the outbreak. I also want to say that I am concerned about this outbreak but not to the point that I have seen some people and owners out here on the internet. On top of the hysteria, the misinformation is horrific. I can not believe with as much good information being repeated in many different reputable areas that there still is misinformation being given, even by veterinarians! And not only misinformation but information that may be detrimental to your horse’s health rather than helpful.

The Facts about this EHV-1 Outbreak

• EHV-1 has been around a very long time and it is unknown at this time whether this outbreak is caused by a new strain.

• EHV-1 causes respiratory disease, abortions, foal deaths and/or neurologic disease. If a horse obtains the neurologic form it is not a death sentence.

• This outbreak has been limited to the horses that were exposed at the cutting show in Odgen, Utah and their stablemates. It has not spread to other horses.

• Containment/Quarantine is the best defense against spread and it appears that at this time it has been contained by quarantining the horses that have been exposed.

• Vaccination is ineffective against the neurologic form and controversial.

Reliable Sources for EHV-1 Information

• AAEP – EHV Owner Resources
• UC-Davis College of Vet Med – Center for Equine Health: EHV-1
• The Horse – Equine Herpesvirus (EHV)
• USDA – APHIS – Equine Herpes Virus type 1

A Few Words on Vaccination for EHV-1

First and foremost – the vaccine will NOT protect your horse against the neurological form of EHV-1. There were neurologic cases of EHV-1 in horses that were vaccinated every 3 to 4 months with an approved vaccine in the last outbreak. At this time there is not a labeled or  approved product to protect your horse against the neurologic form. There is good reason for this – because there is not one that will protect against it!

There is promise though and break-throughs in research. The modified live vaccine shows some promise and did protect in one study of 5 horses, but still seemed ineffective in the outbreak a couple years ago. New advances in vaccine technology with recombinant DNA vaccines and Chimera type vaccines are also showing some promise but still are not available or ready to prove they are effective.

One of the biggest problems with the current vaccines, besides not being effective against the neurologic form, is the duration of so called protection. The vaccines currently available only protect for 3 months or so. (In some horses as little as a few weeks) So this means that if you really wanted to properly vaccinate you would need to vaccinate every 2-3 month, but it still will not prevent the disease and may only limit symptoms. It does prevent virus shedding which could possibly be of some benefit to limiting the exposure to other horses.

This is where my opinion comes in based on experience with the immune system and evidence from other species (cats and dogs). It is not advisable to be stimulating the immune system with a vaccine multiple times a year especially once every 60 days, unintended consequences may occur. In dogs and cats it has been proven that annual vaccination can and does cause immune system disorders such as allergies, auto-immune disorders and even cancer. Why would the horse be so different? And we are not talking about annual vaccination; here we are talking about giving a horse a vaccine every 2-3 months that’s 4 to 6 times a year. Talk about over vaccinating! It has not been proven in horses to have detrimental effects but it really has not been researched either. So in my opinion why would you risk your horses immune system to try and protect against a disease that it can not protect against? It is possible that the reason we see an increase in the neurologic form of the disease in vaccinated animals is because of over-vaccination. No research just an opinion based on other species experience with over vaccination.

In the end just remain calm horse owners. Be educated and informed. Pay attention to where the disease has occurred and realize that taking your horse to a show is a risk, but why do you have the horse in the first place?

I received a question about horse chiropractic. Leah did not understand what her horse chiropractor was saying to her, so I attempted to help her understand a little about chiropractic -

If the femur was truly out either in the hip joint or the joint of the tibia and the femur in the hind leg, then wouldn’t the horse be unable to use the leg?  Is it possible for these joints to be out of place?  And if so is it possible to realign them with a chiropractic adjustment?
Thank you very much for the information.
Leah

My explanation -

Leah,

Now you are talking the difference between a medical luxation and a chiropractic subluxation. When a chiropractor or someone talking about chiropractic says that a joint is “out” they do not mean that the joint is totally displaced. If it were totally displaced or luxated, yes the horse would be unable to walk initially and it would be very very painful. You would know and would be calling your vet right away if you saw this problem. It would be like if the leg was broken.

However when a chiropractor using the lay term the joint is “out” it is a very simplistic and often misinterpreted way to describe a subluxation. A subluxation in chiropractic terms is a joint that is not moving effectively or efficiently. When a joint does not move correctly then it affects the tissue surrounding the joint as well, reducing blood flow and nerve conduction around the joint. This is what causes the symptoms or possible long term chronic sometimes subclinical  (meaning you can not tell there is a specific problem at the moment)  issues. A chiropractic adjustment is an attempt to reset the joint, to correct the movement and thus correct the nerve conduction and blood flow around the joint. I am also giving you a simplistic description – one that is easier to understand but more descriptive than the joint is out. There are books devoted to trying to explain what occurs with a chiropractic adjustment.

The resetting of the movement of a joint does involve chiropractic adjustments and sometimes even muscle massage to help the joint return to normal function. It may take several adjustments to have the joint return to normal function. Also there are times due to stresses on the joint such as biomechanical changes from conformation or activity of the horse (jumping, dressage, barrel racing, etc) or even vices such as weaving, cribbing, circling that can affect the success of an adjustment. Other problems such as bad teeth alignment, bad hoof balance, poor saddle fit or even an unbalanced rider that can have an affect on the animal and the success of a chiropractic adjustment. Lastly physical problems or pathologic problems such as strained ligaments, torn muscles, arthritis, or even synovitis which is inflammation in the joint can affect the success of an adjustment. In my practice I use chiropractic as a tool to help discover these underlying issues. I do the adjustments but also look at the animal as a whole and help the owner/rider/trainer understand why the horse is not moving correctly and we fix the problems we can and those we can not we help by continuing to do chiropractic adjustments to correct the biomechanics as best as we can to help the horse move the best we can help it move.

I hope this answers your questions.

I hope it helps others understand what I do as an animal chiropractor. Here is a video of me doing an adjustment on a horse.

Some equine dentists would have you believe that they are really advanced in equine dentistry. There are equine dentists doing full mouth balancing, filling cavities, and even root canals. It seems legitimate, the dentist really seems to know what he is talking about, seems to be selling it quite effectively and is confident that the procedure will make your horse perform much better because of the treatment provided. My question though would be how do they know? Has research been performed to prove that these techniques actually do what the equine dentist says it is going to do? Are there other techniques that work as well if not better?

The biggest problem with equine dentistry is that although it is a very old profession and veterinarians and lay people have been working on horses teeth for as long as horses have been used by people there has been little in the way of research. None of the so called advances in equine dentistry have been proven to be any more or any less effective than any other dental procedures.

The one basic fact of equine dentistry that has been passed down and is now in the category of obvious medical knowledge is that removing sharp enamel points from the edges of a horses teeth allow the horse to be more comfortable and allows the horse to masticate more appropriately.  That’s it! Nothing else has really been studied. The whole balancing of the mouth to improve comfort of the TMJ, filling cavities, and root canals has not been researched in horses – we have no idea if it really does work or not.

The problem with no research is that some dentists take it to the extreme in trying to make the theories be true. I have seen a dentist “correct” the teeth so they  were “perfectly aligned and balanced” and yet the horse could not eat afterward. The horse could not chew. I have had to wait almost 2 years on one horse before I could do any filing because so much was taken off initially that the teeth although “perfectly balanced” were not touching.

At this point in time I am going to agree with Geoff Tucker, DVM in his post  – Just Because It Can Be Done, Should We Do It?

Remember this in today’s world.  Charlatans abound and with positive emotional stories like this person’s endorsement of root canals, we all remain subject to their damage and lies.  Please remain vigilant but not closed minded.  Someday a very wealthy person will fund accurate and sound scientific studies of equine dentistry but until then, most if not all studies done on this subject is unsubstantiated and wrong and not in the best interest of YOU or YOUR HORSE.

Removal of oral pain IS in your horses’ best interest and the best way to do this is routine floating from a young age.  Call your equine dentist now and not when his teeth are failing.  Like changing the oil in your car or flossing your own teeth, an ounce of prevention is so much better than a pound of cure.

Until there is more and better research less is more in my opinion. We need to be doing what we know for sure is best for the horse and that is to remove sharp enamel points and balance the mouth to allow for better mastication such as removing ramps and hooks. If we do more we do not know if we are helping or actually hurting the horse or not doing anything at all.

So remember if you have one of these equine dentists coming to you telling you your horse needs something extreme just ask him has any research been done? Then run don’t walk, run away and bring your horse with you.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has come under fire lately for its handling of the wild mustangs on its land. BLM Corruption has been an advocate of the mustang along with Ginger Kathrens both calling for the stop of the BLM’s movement and confinement practices which is killing some of the Mustangs.

One of the big concerns for BLM is overpopulation. Well a billionaire’s wife has come to the rescue and has purchased a 14,000 acre ranch to house the  mustangs. For advocates of the mustang this should be good news as it is a step in the right direction for removing control of the horses from the BLM and into a true sanctuary.

Pickens buys NV ranch for wild horse sanctuary | Bryan/College …

(AP) — Madeleine Pickens, the wife of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens, has bought a sprawling Nevada ranch to serve as a wild horse sanctuary that would keep mustangs on the range instead of in government-funded holding facilities. …

http://www.theeagle.com/nation/Pickens-buys-NV-ranch-for-wild-horse-sanctuary

Related articles

• Feds round up more than 100 mustangs along CA-NV (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• BLM says more than 600 mustangs gathered in Nev. (sfgate.com)
• Feds: Postponing CA-NV roundup will harm mustangs (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Wayne Pacelle: Speak Up for Wild Horses; Send a Letter via Pony Express (huffingtonpost.com)
• Mustang round-up outrages animal rights groups (channel4.com)

One of my clients today was excited to find Bute powder online at the cheapest price she had seen. I did write her the prescription but with a warning of buying horse drugs online can be dangerous.

The internet truly is the wild west out there – it is the land of buyer beware. Companies have sold expired drugs, re-labeled drugs,  counterfeit drugs, and drugs that have not been stored properly. All of these situations can be dangerous for your horse. One of the big concerns is that of improperly stored drugs that have lost their effectiveness.

There is no way for you as a consumer to know if the drug that you are buying from a pharmacy online has stored the drug like it should have been stored. It might look the same, has the appropriate label and even has a good expiration date, but has lost its effectiveness because it was stored in a warehouse that was not climate controlled and was exposed to excessive heat or cold.

The FDA has been trying to figure out a way to solve the growing problem of online scammers selling drugs in the human pharmaceutical industry and now finding similar problems in the pet drug industry – Purchasing Pet Drugs Online: Buyer Beware

Now of course there are some companies selling online that  are reputable and follow the correct procedures in operating a pharmacy. They maintain patient confidentiality, quality control of their products, and require prescriptions when appropriate.

So how do you find a reputable online company selling horse drugs that are safe?

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy has a program called Vet-VIPPS an acronym for Veterinary-Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites. It is a new program and the FDA recommends if you purchase from an online pharmacy that it be Vet-VIPPS accredited. It is a voluntary program but the requirements are stringent. At this time because of the requirements and how new the program is there are only 6 companies on the list – Find a Vet-VIPPS online pharmacy

It can be safe and very cost effective to buy your horse drugs online, but you need to take the necessary steps to protect yourself and your horse. The cheapest is not  always the best. Be wary and smart about purchasing online. I would suggest purchasing from a Vet-VIPPS and if your favorite online pharmacy is not on the list I would give them a call and find out why they are not on the list. There should be no reason why they should not be if they are reputable and can make the criteria. There are only 19 criteria and they are all important, if the pharmacy can not meet the criteria you should not do business with them.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Growing problem of fake drugs endangers consumers’ health (usatoday.com)
• Dan Rather: Counterfeit Prescription Drugs A Growing Threat (huffingtonpost.com)

I was at a barn the other day and they had a new farrier come in and tell them that all the horses need to be at a specific hoof angle. I was asked “is this correct?” My short answer – NO

There is no specific hoof angle that every horse needs to be – the studies that have been done have shown that healthy hooves are seen at angles from 50 to 60 with the average being around 55. However that does not mean that every horse needs to be at a hoof angle of 55.

So what hoof angle should your horse be at?

The easiest way to see where the angle should be is to take a small 6 inch ruler and lay it along the front of the pastern. The ruler should be parallel to the front of the hoof. Then measure the hoof angle and that is where it should be

The reason I gave you this way of determining is that hoof angle can change as the horse ages.

The problem with this method is that it does not take into account any abnormalities with the horse such as navicular disease or damaged ligaments/tendons. If the horse has dropped fetlocks then obviously it will not be appropriate to change the hoof angle to match that of the pastern.

Even with this small problem this method will provide the best information for the normal average horse and allow for a balanced healthy hoof.  If the front part of the hoof wall is not parallel to the pastern ask your farrier and/or your veterinarian if there is a reason why it is not.

Each horse has similar but different angles to their shoulder, fetlock, pastern and everything else in their body. No horse is exactly the same so there should not be an exact hoof angle that one needs to abide by when trimming your horse’s hoof.

I am using the NetworkedBlogs Application on Facebook to have my posts here post to my e-Vet Clinic Facebook page Lets see how this works?

If it doesn’t work at least you know my Facebook page now.

How risky is riding a horse to the horse?

We know that horse riding is risky. Falling off a horse can sometimes cause pretty severe injuries, such as happened to Christopher Reeves. Even being around horses can lead to injuries, they are large animals that weigh much more then us mere humans and they can pack a very powerful blow.

But what about the horse? Is the horse at risk of injury when we ride? Well about 25% of horse owners this year will experience a lameness in their horse – is it from riding?

The answer to that question is… it depends.

Risk of Injury while riding depends on the following factors –

1. Discipline
2. Level of riding
3. Conformation
4. Ground Surface
5. Previous Injury
6. Fatigue

Discipline - Obviously a race horse will have a higher incidence of injuries than a trail horse. Jumpers, Barrel Racers, Reiners, Eventers, Dressage horses all have different common injuries related to the discipline in which the horse performs.

Level of Riding – The higher the level of riding the more likely for injury – A Grand Prix jumper is more likely to have a serious injury than a training level horse.

Conformation - A horse with crooked legs will more likely to move incorrectly and cause injury to itself.

Ground Surface – Uneven ground, deep footing in an arena, wet ground will be more likely to cause injuries when riding.

Previous Injury - an old injury or even an existing unhealed injury that may be unknown to the rider is more likely to be reinjured or more injured.

Fatigue – A tired horse is much more prone to injury.

Of all of these factors the one that is in complete control of the rider during competition is fatigue. It is up to you as a rider to monitor your horse. If your horse is tired and has signs of fatigue, YOU are in control, then it is up to you to slow down or even stop. A common injury in competition horses is damage of the Suspensory Ligament and/or the Superficial Digital Flexor Tendon and it is much more common to have this injury in a fatigued horse. Is it really worth another class at a horse show to risk injury to this ligament because your horse is tired?

There are 6 basic key elements to fitting a saddle properly to your horse. There are actually a lot more than this but the 6 basic ones will get you in the right direction.

1. Tree Angle

2. Tree Width

3. Panel Contact

4. Gullet Width

5. Balance

6. Symmetry

Tree Angle - is the angle of the tree and how it sits across the withers. It should allow for shoulder movement and the angle should be somewhat parallel to the withers.

Tree Width - is the width of the tree from panel to panel and how it sits across the withers. It should be wide enough to allow for shoulder movement, not crushing the withers and not so wide that it allows the pommel to rest on the withers.

Panel Contact – the panels should make even contact along the back of the horse. It should not have any gaps or spaces not touching the horse. It should not bridge or rock or have major worn areas. The panel should be firm but not hard.

Gullet Width – is the width between the panels along the saddle from front to back. It should have enough space that it does not allow for contact with the spine and the sensitive ligament that runs right next to the spine. An average man’s hand of four fingers width should be able to slide easily between the panels.

Balance – when looking at the saddle from the side on top of the horse it should be balanced. It should not have a raised pommel or a raised cantle.

Symmetry – when looking at the saddle from the back on top of the horse it should be even and be the same on both sides of the spine. it should not twist or be raised on one side or the other.

These are the basics of saddle fit. It is much more involved to really fit a custom saddle but if you are looking at your saddle these 6 basic points will help you in determining if your saddle is actually fitting correctly on your horse. If one of these points is a problem it may affect your horses’ behavior and certainly his movement. If these are not optimized to fit the horse then your horse will not have optimal movement. You ill need to check saddle fit at least once every 6 months. Fit your horse correctly and you will have a comfortable enjoyable ride.