I have been saying for years that the majority of horses do not need a Strangles booster. In fact, I have been telling people that many times the reactions are just as bad as the disease itself. Well I have seen my first case of vaccine induced Streptococcus myositis. I wish I could tell you that I diagnosed it; however it was not a simple cut and dry case.

My client just purchased this horse about one month ago in Tennessee. A strong healthy horse when he bought it, he trailered it home after spending a week with it on trail. Within the first week the horses head swelled just primarily around the nose. Since I am friends with this individual he called me up wanting my opinion (he knows I no longer do traditional medicine but he values my opinion). My initial thought was trauma, but over the phone I could not rule out an allergic reaction. When I examined the horse I was positive it was trauma (WRONG, but hindsite is 20/20 – LOL), the horse had bleeding from the nostrils more on the right side than the left and swelling almost exclusively to the nose area and more to the right. It looked like the horse had smacked its nose against something. Also the right hind hock was swollen almost looking like a capped hock. So my thought was that the horse was cast and struggled to get up hitting its hock and nose. The horse would be fine.

A few days later I receive a call from my friend saying the horse is colicking! OK so we went through the treatment for colic. BTW my friend is a small animal veterinarian so he does most of the treatments himself with a little guidance. He was walking the horse, but as I told him walking has been proven not to do much of anything except for tiring a horse that is trying to recover. If your horse while colicking lies quietly there is no need to walk him, you may reduce the chances of recovery by causing exhaustion. Vets now use walking to give the owners something to do while we are on our way Now of course if your horse is thrashing on the ground it is important to get the horse up and moving to prevent head and body trauma, but otherwise just leave the horse lie quietly rousing him every 20 or 30 minutes to check gut sounds, gum color and heart rate.

Back to our horse… a couple hours later a call comes to me stating that the horse is urinating blood – hematuria! WHOA – if you did not listen to me about not walking the horse you better listen now – STOP walking the horse. Your horse is tying up and it is uncomfortable thus looking like a colic! My friend drew some blood and sure enough the horse is tying up otherwise known as Azoturia. OK so I thought this confirms my diagnosis of being cast, but one thing sticks out like a sore thumb why did the horse tie up days afterward and not the next day. It kind of didn’t make sense. The blood work also showed a slight anemia – where is that coming from?

Well what happened next threw another monkey wrench into the whole works, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the rest of the story.