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?

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)

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.

Are you kidding me? The Clydesdales are not going to be in the SuperBowl this year? Those powerful iconic, I think of Budweiser every time I see one, Clydesdales are not going to be a commercial in this years Super Bowl!

I understand that Budweiser needs to be very selective about its choosing of commercials especially when it costs about $2.5 million for 30 secs, but come on its the Clydesdales! They have had the best commercials – the horse football teams (who can forget the one with the sheep streaker), the little foal wishing to grow up and be one of the majestic horses in the Budweiser harness, The Budweiser the donkey coveting to be a Budweiser Clydesdale, and even just the Budweiser Clydes hooked up to the cart delivering the Bud. Classic and traditional like Budweiser itself.

In full disclosure I do not drink, but I have friends who do! When we buy beer for parties it is always Budweiser and Corona (full disclosure here: I know Corona is not a Bud product). I am hoping to change the minds of the Budweiser execs and go with a Clydesdale commercial for the Super Bowl. It is going to be difficult, according to an MSNBC article, Budweiser going for laughs this Super Bowl, marketing exec Keith Levy stated that the Clydesdale ads did not pass consumer testing. That’s a shame, but I would like all you horse lovers, Super Bowl ad lovers and Budweiser lovers if you agree with me and wish to see the Clydesdales at the SuperBowl – give Budweiser a call and let them know – 1-800-DIAL-BUD Maybe we can make a difference as the final choices have not been made. We have until Feb 7th!

Budweiser Clydesdale Streaker Super Bowl XL Commercial

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I have been looking for more blogs about horses and horse health and I should have thought of this but someone beat me to it – just ask!

I belong to a group on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/drdanbeatty) called This Business of Horses and wouldn’t you know it someone posted a question “Do you write a horse blog? Please let me know. Thanks!” Well 37 comments later and a whole bunch of blogs I have found a few blogs definitely worth following – here are a select few that I really liked -

Horse Life – Bitless, treeless and other riding advice and comments. I loved his recent post about Cold Weather care for the arthritic senior horse. Now I would say that any horse in cold weather should be treated the way he is suggesting in this post but especially our old timers. I would actually say they would need to be warmed uplonger in the weather that we have here in the winter. Overall, this is a good blog by Steve Wawryk, a Canadian horsemen who’s blog description states -

Horselife offers a wide range of products and services for the natural horsemanship enthusiast to the person who is interested in learning a no-nonsense approach to safe, balanced, real life riding.

Writing of Riding: My Equestrian Blog – A little artsy for my taste but a beautiful blog and well written. As Erica K. Frei the owner of this well crafted blog states “Here you can find my thoughts, theories and opinions on just about anything the comes to mind which could be remotely connected to horses.” and she is right there is a lot of information about a wide variety of topics on horses and horsemanship. Go check it out.

Stephanielynnperformance’s Blog – OK just for the Sheath Cleaning Song alone this blog gets my recommendation…too funny! I can not wait to see what else she has in store for us with this blog.

Barn Mice – I have to include this site because it is a collection of blogs related to horses and horsemanship – clever name as well, because like mice in a barn it is a community of people interested in horses. The main page has a bunch of good videos as well so check out the whole site as well as the list of blogs.

There are many more that I did not mention if you wish to see the whole list of blogs in the group just join the group on LinkedIn This Business of Horses or connect with me on LinkedIn via my profile – http://www.linkedin.com/in/drdanbeatty and we can get you into the group.

The discussion continues on the problems with horse racing and what should be fixed in order to make it safer and healthier for the horse.

Monty roberts advocates for the horse in horse racing – A major step in the right direction would be to take whips out of racing. Roberts has been advocating this change for years and believes that now is the time for horse the industry to show their support for this change. …

Time for racing to rethink rules? – Eight Belles and trainer Larry Jones walk around the paddock before the 134th Kentucky Derby Saturday Opinion: Eight Belles’ death in Derby should serve as wake-up call for sport.

With the death of Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby following on the heels of Barbaros death last year and here locally about the deaths happening at Arlington Park two years ago, horse racing is in the media spotlight and not in a favorable light. Three years of bad publicity may just force some changes in the industry.

There are many reasons for horses not to be racing at 2 years of age. The main one is that the skeletal structure of the horse is still growing and is incapable, in the majority of cases, to handle the stresses that racing places on the it. As for why horses race at 2 years of age, I have yet to hear a good reason that they have to race at that age. Obviously the industry has big money and investments are made. Having a horse wait another year or two before it possibly starts making a return increases the risk of the investment and slows the business of racing dramatically. Also traditionally horses have been raced at this age for many many years. So are these good enough reasons to continue racing at 2 years of age? Personally I do not think so.

As for is horse racing inhumane? I do not believe so and heres my reason..horse love to run, it comes naturally to them. If you have ever ridden a horse, especially one such as a thouroughbred, they love to go and they love to go fast. Interestingly, many of them actually love to race, they are not forced into it, they really want to do it. Ask any jockey or horseman that has been around the racing industry for even a short amount of time, they know when a horse just is not into it. They know if the horse really does not like it, that horse is not going to win and will be removed from racing very quickly. Now this does not mean that all of racing is humane. I believe some things need to be changed such as the age at which they are allowed to race needs to be raised. More turnout should be allowed, more rest and recovery needs to occur, and less pharmaceutical enhancements.

What do you think? Leave a comment let us know your opinion.

Heres a couple of other opinions from the web…

Talk Back: Racing Breakdown – The death of Eight Belles at last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby has spurred a national debate over horse racing and the safety and welfare of the animals (NPR’s Tom Ashbrook led a discussion of the contrasting perspectives on Wednesday’s …

The dark side of horse racing, redux – In yet another puff piece over the weekend celebrating Presque Isle Downs racetrack -a salutary run-down on the abbreviated 25-day first season of horse-racing – the Erie Times-News trumpeted the track’s financial and related successes …

Although the horse market is slow, there are still some good quality horses and ponies for sale. Prices may not be the best but for those really interested in their breed and furthering the development of it, breeding continues.  It will be interesting to see the numbers of this years foal crop – will they be down, will the lower prices of horses and the higher cost of care really affect how much breeding was being done? The problem – horse breeders would have had to know how bad the market was going to be a year ago, as it takes 11 months to cook a baby horse – (the length of pregnancy is 10 to 13 months in horses), so how much lower will the foal crop be his year? I am pretty sure that this years breeding season which is in full swing right now will be slower reducing the numbers for next year, but we shall see about this years number.

In the meantime check out this foal from The Pony Place USA – They are sure very cute. This one is 4 days old at the time of the pic…

Are you on Twitter? It is one of the fastest growing websites on the internet today. It is a way of keeping in touch with people. At first I did not quite get it…now I do and so I am inviting you to follow my twitter – http://twitter.com/Dr_Dan_DVM which is my professional twitter. I will be posting quick tidbits about dog and horse health here and you can really make comments back ask questions really interact with me very quickly anytime I am in front of the computer. Almost instant access, because I have a small program called Twhirl which keeps me connected to my twitter account anytime I am on the computer. It is excellent. So go ahead follow my Twitter @Dr_Dan_DVM

The University of Minnesota’s Leatherdale Equine Center is a brand new clinic – very high tech with a lot of cool new toys. These new toys include a water treadmill for horses and a gait analysis system that helps in the diagnosis of lameness. It includes pressure plates and high speed digital cameras to help measure the amount of pressure a hoof has while it is landing and the angles of the joints of the landing and uprising leg. Very cool!

Check out the new center here —> University of Minnesota’s Leatherdale Equine Center

Speaking of new clinics I also need to mention that I have started working at a new clinic myself. Sorry small animal only – I have begun working at Oak Hill Animal Clinic in Crown Point, IN. I am there on Tuesdays, Thursdays and some Saturdays. So if you have a dog or cat in need of my services please do not hesitate to call and schedule an appointment at  219.663.7515