Table of contents for Autumn 2019 in Equus

Two things have defined Tracy Cookman since childhood: her drive to help those unable to help themselves and her love of horses. In 2009, those two passions came together when she organized the rescue of 11 PMU foals from slaughter—an act that would shape her life. Rescuing horses became her mission. From auctions to feedlots to neglect cases, Cookman took in horses deemed broken then cast aside, and provided them sanctuary. Though working with horses was rewarding, Cookman felt a calling to do even more. In 2009, she began Charis Youth Ranch, a nonprofit program in the foothills of Northern Colorado that utilizes equine-assisted learning to help at-risk youth. Her herd of 28 rescue horses was key. “The Lord made it clear to me that these broken horses would heal…

Researchers in Utah have discovered that wild parsnip---an invasive weed found throughout the United States---can cause phototoxic reactions in horses even if they don’t eat it. Many photosensitive skin reactions occur after a horse ingests a plant that contains photodynamic compounds. When ultra–violet rays from sunlight pass through the horse’s pink skin, they interact with the compounds in the skin and blood, resulting in painful burns with extensive blistering. However, Utah State University and U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers recently determined that horses and goats may develop photosensitive skin reactions after simply coming in contact with the sap of wild parsnips. A member of the carrot family, wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) can grow up to four feet tall, and looks and smells similar to the cultivated root vegetable found in…

A sad event provided researchers in Portugal with a rare opportunity to observe how feral horses react to the death of a herd mate and to collect data that may advance understanding of emotions and intelligence in all horses. Scientists from the University of Coimbra in Portugal and Kyoto University in Japan were doing routine fieldwork, observing a feral herd, when they noticed a 2-month-old foal whose hind legs had been severely injured in a presumed wolf attack. “We started to work with this horse population in the north of Portugal in 2016,” says Renata Mendonça, PhD. “Every year in the breeding season, from April to July we conduct fieldwork. We are almost every day in the field following and observing horses’ behavior from morning to late afternoon. Additionally, this…

Herbal supplements for horses have gone from novel to mainstream in the last 40 years, just as they have for people. Their appeal is undeniable. After all, herbs were our first medications. In ancient Greece, for example, willow bark---the source of salicylic acid, the base ingredient of aspirin---was used to relieve pain and fever. And all over the world a variety of plants ---including comfrey, cayenne and mint---have long been known for their medicinal properties. Even in this age of modern pharmaceuticals, herbs are the basis for many products, while the plants themselves are still valued by many for their therapeutic effects. In just about any discussion of dietary supplements for horses, the term “herb” refers to plants that contain bioactive compounds or those from which extracts that have desirable…

If you haven’t already, chances are you’ll soon be hearing about cannabidiol (CBD) oil. The compound, extracted from the flowers and buds of cannabis plants, is promoted as providing the health benefits of the herb without the “high” associated with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component. The explosion in CBD products can be linked to the 2018 Farm Bill, which lifted longtime restrictions on the use of hemp, meaning it would no longer be regulated as a controlled substance. The industry took this as a sign to move ahead with plans to market CBD products. In the human market, CBD is promoted as a treatment for everything from anxiety to inflammation to seizures. For horses, the oil is purported to help with anxiety, arthritis, muscle soreness and more. Studies of CBD’s…

The photos of the sorrel mare showed a horse with warm eyes and an elegant carriage. She was a beautiful horse with an uncertain future, and we at The Mustang Acres Farm were committed to ensuring she wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. In May 2017 I rescued Cherry, thinking she would be the perfect horse for our 4-year-old daughter. But the horse advertised online was nothing like the horse in front of us. This was an animal who required extensive care. The day after arriving at our barn, she started showing signs of strangles and developed a heavy, rattling cough. Our veterinarian prescribed multiple antibiotics. In addition to being sick, Cherry was severely underweight. At just 650 pounds, she was hardly more than skin and bones. We established a…

Ace of Hearts (1904, 14:2 hands) was by The Dunderstadt Horse by Sykes Rondo, out of Queen by Dedier (a.k.a. Old D.J.). This early foundational stallion appears somewhere in the pedigree of all the horses named in this article. Correctly conformed, substantial and sound, he was a noted match racer in his day but was also an easy horse to handle, known for his level-headed temperament. Zantanon (1917, 15 hands) was by Little Joe by Traveler, out of Jeanette who was a granddaughter of Big Jim. Jeanette’s dam was out of a mare by Sykes Rondo. Horses of this breeding are speedy because Old Bald Peg, the Hobby-Barb who is a major fount of Thoroughbred short speed, lies buried multiple times at the root of their pedigrees. Zantanon was known…

President Theodore Roosevelt (center) poses between Tom Waggoner (left) and Daniel “Burk” Burnett (right). The tepees in the background belong to Comanche leader Quanah Parker; the wolf hunt actually took place on part of the Big Pasture that Parker had leased to Waggoner. It was Parker who cooked up the idea of the hunt as a way of convincing Roosevelt to block legislation then in Congress to remove the Big Pasture from tribal control. The hunt was unsuccessful on all levels: No wolves were found, and the legislation was passed into law. One would love to say that the stout horse provided to the by-then rather corpulent President was a Joe Hancock, but this photo antedates Joe Hancock’s foaling by almost two decades. The gelding is, however, probably of part-draft…

Horses who undergo a program of abdominal strengthening exercises after colic surgery may resume work more quickly and perform better when they return to competition, according to new research from Michigan State University (MSU). Recovery from colic surgery can be particularly difficult for horses because of the unavoidable damage done to the abdominal muscles, explains Sue Holcombe, VMD, MS, PhD. “Colic surgery requires an abdominal incision, usually through a layer of fibrous tissue called the linea alba,” she says. “Surgical incisions are traumatic and alter the function of skeletal muscles.” To address these healing challenges, Hillary Clayton, BVMS, PhD, and Narelle Stubbs, a professor of physiotherapy, developed a series of exercises to strengthen a horse’s core and back muscles that became the foundation for the MSU’s core abdominal rehabilitation exercise…

Horses are helping to train the next generation of medical doctors—but not in the ways you might think. Instead of serving as models for comparative physiology or subjects for the practice surgeries, they are being used to teach medical students how to cope with ambiguity. Since 2014, students at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Rhode Island have been given the option of participating in a three-and-a-half hour workshop that uses horses to illustrate the real-world uncertainties that can make diagnosis difficult. “Tolerance of ambiguity is important in clinical practice because medical education often trains students to think in black-and-white with definitive answers on tests and other schoolwork,” says Daniel S. Jamorabo, MD, a gastroenterologist who helped develop the program. “Yet trainees have to be able to…

It’s a constant concern with horses in sport: how to shield those all-important fetlocks, knees, elbows, hocks, stifles, shoulders and hips (the list goes on!) from wear and tear. Even the spine consists of a series of joints that are subject to injury. That’s a lot of working parts, and working parts need regular maintenance to continue working. One day, you might notice that your horse isn’t jogging as fluidly as usual, or that he’s less flexible when working cattle, jumping a course, performing a shoulder-in or ambling down the trail. He might even start pulling up lame. Whether a horse is a “greenie” or a veteran, stiffness, heat, swelling and lameness speak to the pernicious process of degenerative joint disease known as osteoarthritis. So how to preserve these precious…

Over the past two centuries, the cattle industry in America has undergone profound change. While farmers in Colonial times commonly kept a few steers to slaughter for meat and hides, as settlers crossed the Mississippi the raising of beef became a full-time occupation. Particularly in Texas, ranchers accumulated huge acreages stocked with thousands of head of cattle. Large numbers of tough yet tractable horses were needed for vaqueros and cowboys to ride---and it helped if those same horses had at least a lick of “cow sense.” During the cattle-drive decades immediately after the Civil War, Texas ranches drove thousands of steers north to railheads in Abilene, Dodge City and Baxter Springs in Kansas. For about 30 years, this was a hugely profitable enterprise. Already by the mid-1880s, however, cattle-drive days…

King P-234 (1932, 14:3 hands) was by Zantanon out of Jabalina, a granddaughter of Yellow Jacket. Jabalina’s dam was a mare by Traveler. King’s registration number is always listed with his name to distinguish him from many other “Kings.” King P-234 is the most famous Quarter Horse ever bred, a winning racehorse and sire of race, roping, cutting, halter and versatility champions, and of course he’s an AQHA Hall of Fame inductee. A compact horse with a huge hindquarter, sloping shoulder, deep chest, big jowl and wedge-shaped head, King P-234 exemplifies the “type” that visually defines the breed. He stands on correctly articulated legs that have just enough “bone” to support his massively muscular body. Royal King (1943, 14:2 hands) was by King P-238 out of Rocket Laning by Dolph,…

In my gut, I knew this wouldn’t go well. I sat on my stunt horse, Jim, as we waited for our cue. We were in full Western tack, and ahead of us was an open-topped buckboard wagon with four large, spoked wheels. A photographer was setting up nearby. The plan called for us to jump the wagon to get some publicity stills for the upcoming movie “The Big Country,” starring Gregory Peck. I had known Peck for years, and when I’d heard about the film, I’d called him to inquire about work as a stunt double for the female leads---Jean Simmons and Carroll Baker. I also asked him if he could use Jim---he was a beautiful horse and he could jump just about anything. I was offered the job as…

We’ve always had working horses on our family ranch. We use them to move, gather and sort cattle in pastures and out on the range. So in 1996, when we were short on a horse, we moved quickly to find a replacement---a work mount for my daughter Andrea’s husband, Jim. Our search took us to a nearby ranch, where we were shown Carmen Willow Breeze, a 5-year-old Morgan mare. Breezy, as we came to call her, had been started under saddle but was still very green. She seemed a bit high-strung but eager to work, so we decided to buy her. That first summer, Jim rode Breezy a few times, but not as much as Andrea, who traded off between Breezy and her Arabian/Thoroughbred cow horse, Snickers. Over the next…

I’ll always remember the day I met Pete. I had been riding for about three years---my childhood dream had come true, and muddy boots and horsehair were finally my new normal. To my delight I discovered I was getting good at it, too. Then came the day I was given Pete, a big brown and white pinto, to ride. “You’re going to try Pete,” my instructor told me. “He’s gorgeous and so fun!” Pete did not disappoint. He was as beautiful as promised. Or, at least, I thought he could become so. He was 19, probably a Tennessee Walking Horse, Saddlebred or something similar---I never learned his breeding. His coat was a little dull and he needed conditioning. How he’ll shine with a little bit of polish, I thought. I…

Have a question about your horse’s health, care or training? Our experts offer solutions for a range of equine-management problems. Write to EQUUS Consultants, P.O. Box 7510, Falls Church, Virginia 22040; email: EQLetters@aimmedia.com. Send photos when helpful. MANAGEMENT A common eye problem Q: My mare, now almost 20, gets conjunctivitis at least once each summer. It seems to occur when the weather is particularly hot and dry. When it happens, her eye swells shut within hours. My veterinarian has assured me that my mare does not have uveitis and he gave me an ointment that clears up the problem in a few days. Still, it’s unpleasant for her, and it can interrupt my riding plans. Is there a reason my mare might be more susceptible to this than the other…

A new study from England offers yet another challenge to the long-held belief that corticosteroids increase a horse’s risk of developing laminitis, a potentially devastating inflammatory condition affecting the hooves. “The concern that corticosteroids cause laminitis is based on a handful of single case reports in the scientific literature in which animals that were treated with corticosteroids also developed laminitis,” explains Nicola Menzies-Gow, VetMB, PhD, of the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in Hertfordshire. “[However,] there are also lots of studies in the scientific literature in which horses were given high doses of corticosteroids over a prolonged period of time and laminitis did not occur.” To investigate whether a link actually exists between these powerful anti-inflammatory medications and the potentially devastating hoof condition, Menzies-Gow and her team embarked on an intensive…

Many an obese horse has been labelled “lazy” or “gluttonous,” but new research from North Carolina State University suggests that, when allowed to make their own choices, most overweight horses do not eat more than their lean peers, nor are they less active. The study focused on 10 mature horses divided into an “obese” group---six horses with body condition scores above 7, and a “lean” group of four horses with body condition scores of 4 or 5. Over a 25-day period, both groups made the transition from grazing pasture to free-choice hay. Then, for the next 11 days, their hay intake and metabolic state were closely monitored. In addition, fecal samples were collected to determine dry-matter digestibility and gross energy digestibility, and the horses wore heartrate monitors with GPS trackers…

Of all the seasons, fall may be the most beloved. Poet and journalist William Cullen Bryant called the season “the year’s last, loveliest smile.” For people who care for horses, the appeal is easy to see. Gone are the bugs and heat of summer, but the icy challenges of winter still lie weeks away. If it were possible to push “pause” on life, many of us would choose to do so on a crisp but sunny day in mid-October. Fall does come with a to-do list for horsekeepers, though. Many tasks tackle immediate challenges and/or help ensure the season is as productive as it is enjoyable. Others prepare for what lies ahead in winter. Here’s a checklist of autumn horsekeeping chores. ✓ MANAGE THE MUD You might welcome the return…

The aloe vera plant (Aloe barbadensis) is a perennial succulent that looks a bit like a cactus. The clear, thick gel obtained from the leaves is one of the earliest herbal-based therapies used by man, with recorded applications for wound and skin care dating back 6,000 years to ancient Egypt. Aloe is used topically in humans to treat burns, psoriasis, frostbite and similar conditions. There are many laboratory and clinical studies supporting this use. Compounds found in aloe gel inhibit molecules that play a role in inflammation, and aloe inhibits the formation of thromboxane, a molecule that is detrimental to the healing of burn wounds. In laboratory studies, aloe kills bacteria and fungi directly. Ingestible aloe products are becoming increasingly popular, but scientific data does not support this use in…

This map shows the location of big Texas ranches of historical significance, along with the state’s ecological zones. Many of the ranches are located in the rolling plains zone, which has a high percentage of arable soil and receives enough rainfall to support shortgrass prairie species such as Indian grass and buffalo grass or to grow wheat. The Pérez Ranch sits below the Edwards Plateau at the junction of desertic brush country and the more cattle-friendly Blackland Prairie zone. The King Ranch, whose history will be told in our next installment, occupies an area of humid coastal grassland bordering the Coastal Sand Plain, which settlers called the Wild Horse Desert. Listed acreages are historically maximum holdings; most operations are now smaller or are no longer in existence as ranches.…

Driftwood (1932, 14:2 hands) was by Miller Boy by the Hobart Horse by John Wilkins (1905) by Peter McCue, out of the Comer Mare by Barlow by Lock’s Rondo. The Comer Mare’s dam was a Thoroughbred from Kentucky. Driftwood was handsome, smoothly and correctly conformed, and fast. Standing 14:2 hands, he was first raced and then was purchased by Ab Nichols of Arizona, who also owned Clabber. Driftwood beat Clabber in a famous match-race, and then Nichols’ son trained him as a rope horse. He could also cut, and his speed helped him to outmaneuver ducking and diving calves. Driftwood became the most famous sire of rodeo arena competitors, both headers and heelers, and his descendants continue to be highly sought-after. Hollywood Gold (1940, 15:0 hands) was by Gold Rush…

STRESS REDUCERS Product: Zen Equine Calming Pastes Description: Because horses have different biological responses to stress, Zen pastes come in two formulas. Zen-X is for horses who exhibit behaviors such as stall walking, weaving and overreactions to stimuli. Ingredients include red reishi mushroom, medical-grade aloe, casein protein and aminoacid chelated magnesium. The other formula, In-Zen is for horses who respond to stress by becoming withdrawn or fearful. In addition to red reishi mushroom and medical-grade aloe, the In Zen formula includes Indian ginseng. Price: suggested retail, $12.50 Source: BioStar Whole Food Supplements; 800-686-9544; BioStarUS.com CURB CRIBBING AND CHEWING Product: Crib-Guard Spray Description: A longlasting spray formulated to prevent horses from chewing, gnawing and cribbing, this product is safe to apply to all types of surfaces, from wood, plastic and metal…