Sommaire pour September 2018 de Equus

Pasture pest control I thought your suggestion that “a motivated dog can rid a pasture of an unwanted digger” was simplistic and unrealistic (“Preventing Pasture Injuries,” Hands On, EQUUS 490). We have rock marmots that show up from March through July annually before they “disappear” into the basalt cliffs above our place. The coyotes and red-tailed hawks struggle to keep up with the population, which I have battled for six years now. I even bought a $1,000 CO2 machine; however, the “condominium complex” extends far longer than the 120 feet the machine allows for. An exterminator costs more than I can budget. Luckily, the majority of the dens are in non-horse areas. The best solution I have found is to plant cheap children’s pinwheel toys into the ground at each…

A great end-of-summer project is cleaning your grooming brushes. Disinfecting brushes occasionally not only protects the health of your horse’s skin, but increases the longevity of the tools themselves. Here’s a quick, simple method for getting it done: 1. Dislodge as much dirt and debris as you can by dragging a currycomb over the brush bristles or rubbing two brushes together briskly. 2. Dunk each brush into a large bucket of warm water that contains a small squirt of shampoo or dishwashing liquid. (Too much soap in the water will make the brush hard to rinse.) Swish the brush back and forth in the water a few times, and make sure it’s clean and the bristles are free of dirt. Then rinse it under running water until no soap bubbles…

The color, consistency and odor of your horse’s nasal secretions offer clues to the source of the trouble. • Thin, gray, frothy snot, particularly from one nostril, is a hallmark of a guttural0 pouch infection.• Foul-smelling discharge can be produced by an infected tooth or sinus. It may be accompanied by headshaking, reluctance to eat or other signs of discomfort.• Thick, creamy pus is indicative of an infection, such as bacterial bronchitis0, rhinopneumonitis0 or strangles0.• Bright red blood is usually a sign of injury to the interior of the nostril, but it can also come from a severe guttural pouch bleed or burst capillaries0 within the lungs if the horse has recently exerted himself.• Dark blood draining from the nose has usually collected elsewhere first, perhaps in the guttural pouches…

Two new studies suggest that whole body vibration (WBV) therapy may not have a significant effect on lameness, but it can help horses relax and encourage their hooves to grow more quickly. WBV involves standing the horse on a sturdy metal plate that can be set to vibrate at various frequencies. The vibrations are believed to improve circulation, which can stimulate healing, while also having a warm-up-like effect on the soft tissues, which may help prevent injury and improve performance. WBV has been used in human rehabilitation for more than a decade, but vibration plates for horses have only recently become available. In a study conducted at Michigan State University, veterinarians who specialize in sports medicine examined six horses having known or suspected gait deficits. Each horse was assigned an…

When your horse is in pain, you want him to have relief as quickly as possible. Which medication will work best depends on the nature of his discomfort as well as other factors. For pain associated with arthritis or other chronic musculoskeletal problems, the go-to drugs are phenylbutazone (“bute”) or firocoxib (Equioxx). Both are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with a well-documented history of controlling orthopedic pain. Diclofenac sodium (Surpass) is a topical NSAID used for the same sorts of conditions. In addition, other less common NSAIDs are used to combat orthopedic pain. On the other hand, if your horse has eye pain, your veterinarian is more likely to reach for the NSAID flunixin meglumine (Banamine), which penetrates ocular tissue better. Banamine is also commonly used in mild colic cases to…

The first cool days of fall offer a welcome respite from summer heat, but they also bring an increased risk of laminitis. During so-called “football weather,” with cool, crisp, sunny days, the chemistry of pasture grasses changes and the levels of sugars that can trigger laminitis rise. In addition, at this time of year hormone fluctuations also increase the risk of laminitis in horses with pituitary0 pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID). Approach fall pastures just as you do new spring growth. If your horse has any risk factors for laminitis, such as insulin0 resistance, consider having him wear a grazing muzzle fulltime or moving him to a dry lot until growth has stopped entirely for the year. Keep a close watch on other horses as well, and take any signs of…

Productive discussions of equine welfare issues require examining your own perceptions and potential biases closely. But they also require an understanding of what might motivate people to care for horses in ways that risk their welfare. As part of ongoing research into perceptions of welfare issues, Cordelie DuBois, a doctoral candidate at the University of Guelph, asked 14 equine professionals to speculate on the motivation behind 12 hypothetical situations involving horse use and management. “We wanted to know why people thought other people made the choices they did,” says DuBois. The overwhelmingly common perceived motivation across the 12 scenarios was “ignorance,” which was mentioned 97 times. The overwhelmingly common perceived motivation across the 12 scenarios was “ignorance,” which was mentioned 97 times. The most common secondary descriptor in that category…

The map below shows the original route of the first Transcontinental Railroad, completed in 1869, and the major wagon train routes. By 1870 there was already an extensive network (bottom). The oldest major cattle drive route was the Sedalia-Baxter Springs Trail, also called the Shawnee Trail or Texas Road, which was in use by 1845. The Goodnight-Loving and Chisholm Trails came into use during the mid-1860s and the Western Trail in 1874. Railways, cattle trails and wagon train routes all served to bring large numbers of horses of English extraction into formerly Spanish-Mexican territory.…

This author’s color rendering is based on a detail from an 1852 sketch by A. de Vauducort showing the plaza mayor in El Paso. I was so transported by the accuracy of the artist’s original sketch that I could not resist bringing it to life in color with all the details of Spanish-Mexican dress and equipment. I particularly admire the way the artist has captured the perfect aplomb of the caballero and the lively elastic step of the horses—a walk, yet so full of life it is almost a trot. These animals are of pure Spanish Colonial extraction; I’ve chosen to show two more of the wide array of their unusual colors—the ponied horse a linebacked dun with four white socks and a blaze, and the ridden horse a gateado…

Texas ranger Ira Aten poses on a Plains Cayuse in 1887. The most interesting features of his tack and equipment are the Bowie knife, pearl-handled revolver, Winchester rifle and the long tie-rope made of braided hemp. Note the two mohair cinches, both done up snug–the rear one is all the way into the horse’s flank, but the animal does not seem to mind. Texas ranger Sgt. J.B. Gillett rides a “proto Quarter Horse” in 1879. Like Roosevelt’s mount of the same decade, this is a horse with a lot of Alsup “Billy” blood. Note the full armamentarium, platter-horned Mexican saddle with Spanish widetread box stirrups, and big-O snaffle: truly a creole outfit. Mountain man, trapper and journalist Andrew Garcia in Montana, 1872. The handsome and friendly horse is a Cayuse…

When I first laid eyes on Dorian, he was lying in his pasture and surveying the world on a cool, gray early spring afternoon. I glanced his way but didn’t pay much attention, to be honest. He was just another chestnut with a blaze, and we had plenty of those at Renaissance Rescue Ranch, a Farmingham, Missouri, operation that handles mainly off-the-track Thoroughbreds. That day, like most others, I had a lot of work to do, helping to feed, water and train the nearly 60 horses we were preparing for a new life. Besides, I wasn’t really looking for a horse of my own. And yet. I remember how I’d smile when potential adopters came to the ranch with a clear idea in mind of what sort of horse they…

bronchitis—inflammation of the bronchi (bronchial tubes), the airway tubes extending from the trachea into both lungs. capillaries—smallest of the blood vessels; they connect arteries to veins. eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE, encephalomyelitis)—brain and spinal-cord inflammation in horses, caused by a specific viral strain transmitted by mosquitoes. EEE is characterized by fever and/or stupor and is almost always fatal. equine metabolic syndrome (EMS)—endocrine disorder characterized by increased fat deposits in specific locations of the body or overall obesity; insulin resistance, which leads to abnormally high levels of the hormone circulating in the bloodstream; and a predisposition toward laminitis in the absence of other recognized causes. equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) —inflammation of the brain and spinal cord caused by protozoal infection. eustachian tube—slender tube between the middle ear and pharynx that equalizes air…

New research from Austria suggests that the stress of transport late in a mare’s pregnancy can cause her to deliver her foal prematurely. Foaling is normally triggered when the maturation of a healthy fetus causes levels of the hormone cortisol to rise. But cortisol is also associated with stress, and researchers hypothesized that increased production of the hormone in response to other stimuli, such as shipping, might influence the timing of foaling. To determine the influence of transportation-associated stress on foaling, researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna shipped a group of 12 pregnant mares for three hours. Another group of three pregnant mares remained in the barn to serve as a control group. At the start of the study, researchers determined that all mares were close to…

I use a lightweight three-rung wooden blanket rack to store my horses’ bell boots and splint boots. I simply attach them around one of the dowels, fastening the Velcro. My rack holds about five pairs of boots. Not only does this keep them in once place, but it helps them dry faster. Send your suggestions for inexpensive horse-care substitutes as well as hints for saving effort and time to Hands On, EQUUS, P.O. Box 7510, Falls Church, Virginia 22040; email: EQLetters@aimmedia.com. Senders of published items will receive selected EQUUS merchandise.…

On the day before Thanksgiving last year, I received one of those calls from my boarding stable you never want: “Blessi is bleeding from his nose,” the barn manager told me. “You should come check him out.” I dashed out the door. Blessi is my 20-year-old Icelandic gelding. He’d never had a nosebleed before, and my mind raced with possibilities about what could be wrong. When I arrived at the barn, Blessi was standing with his head over the stall door. He was alert, curious and seemingly normal—except for the blood seeping from both nostrils. I immediately called Blessi’s veterinarian, Bo Weeks, DVM, of Rocky Bay Equine in nearby Gig Harbor, Washington. Because Blessi had been galloping in the pasture with another horse when the stable owner spotted his nosebleed,…

Pleuropneumonia can require intensive and expensive treatment. Once it develops–and the horse is accumulating fluids between his lungs and his chest wall–the fluids will need to be drained via tubes inserted through the rib cage. This procedure is likely to be repeated multiple times over the course of the illness. And it may difficult to drain the fluid. “The inflamed pleural membrane forms fibrin, a type of stringy tissue that can trap bacteria and also make it hard to remove the fluid in the chest,” says Virginia Buechner-Maxwell, DVM, DACVIM, of the Virginia–Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia. “It becomes a cobweb of fibrous material between the lung and chest wall, like a honeycomb of tissue. This is a very serious condition.” In these cases, the veterinarian…

This series of photos represents a time sequence. This image, taken by Edward Curtis, captures a cowboy on the Chisholm Trail, about 1885; his Cayuse is a smooth blend of “Billy” and Mustang. An African-American cowboy attends a ranch rodeo and roundup on his day off. His horse is almost pure “Billy”—very close in type to the modern registered Quarter Horse, with straight neck and huge muscular hindquarters. A little Spanish influence shows through the head. Note the high-bowed saddle with two fully functional cinches (this cowboy was smart enough to tie them together with a safety strap). Mat Walker sits atop his famous cutting horse “Doodle Bug”—note that his mount has as much Spanish character as it does “Billy.” Cow sense in the Quarter Horse largely derives from that…

Q: For about a year, I had been having problems with blurred vision and a slight balance issue. My doctor diagnosed it as an inner ear problem. The issue turned out to be water: I had been using a spray nozzle to rinse my hair, and I would occasionally get water in my ears. Once I learned this, I took care to keep water out of my ear canals and my balance and eye problems both cleared up. My question is, can horses have this problem? I am careful not to get water in my horses’ ears while I bathe them, but I know a lot of people spray their horses’ faces more indiscriminately. Is it possible that water in a horse’s inner ear might be misdiagnosed as a mild…