About HORSES
| 2008-03-28 13:15:18 | MUDFEVER |
| An old truth says … “If there many solutions for a problem, then probably none work well”. True of mud fever, the painful skin condition of the lower legs and feet of some horses. Every old ‘bushie’ who has been with horses has his own potion. Sometimes this worked a couple of times for him but when someone else uses the same potion, it fails. It is a scabby leakage of serum from inflamed skin in spots or in whole areas most in the white skin of the lower legs. It can be just a small area of scabby irritation or it can make the lower leg swell up beyond the white areas and cause a lot of pain. It will often cause lameness and in severe cases the horse will be unwell. It will resent having its feet picked up and will give the farrier a hard time. These painful memories of foot handling may stay for life. Let’s look at the things that are known White leg and foot areas are usually affected, or at least that’s where it starts. (Sun or light may be therefore be involved in the process). More common in summer to autumn. Not always associated with mud or wet conditions at all. (But they don’t help once it starts). Scabby crusts are mixed in the hair (dried serum from inflamed skin leakage). Horse resents you treating it, and trying to take the scabs off. Lots of treatments don’t seem to work very well. ##Laboratory work on affected skin shows that it seems to be allergy related. This is the most important finding.## This condition has certain visual similarities with white skin photosensitization of cattle and sheep. In these animals it is associated with plant toxins and liver insults from certain plants and fungi in the pasture or feed. There is a build-up of light sensitizing chemicals in the skin which causes sunburn of the white skin. So it is possible that a food component may be involved also in horses. Remember that I am extrapolating from cattle and sheep, and I’ve seen it in humans too but that idea is only my speculation. You can successfully treat cattle and sheep, if they are not pregnant with anti-allergy/anti-inflammatory injections (cortisones) plus antibiotics and keep them in the shade. This often also works for horses. The cortisone addresses the allergic aspect and the antibiotics the secondary infection of the damaged skin. Usually I treat for both bacteria and fungus and yeast, the latter needing skin applications due to cost. Unfortunately there is a small danger of causing founder with cortisone injections and some horses guts don’t take kindly to antibiotics. However both those reactions are rare. Surface treatments will work very well too but if treating it yourself then you can put lotions and potions on the skin until the cows come home and it won’t always work. (It probably does work in the ones that I don’t see and that is why I don’t see them). The skin preparations are usually a combination of a softener such as cod liver oil, an antibiotic and anti-fungal and importantly a type of cortisone. One day I may compound my own but presently there are a couple of expensive proprietary ones on the market. Sometimes I add more cortisone to one of them before use. Surface treatments MUST BE BANDAGED ON FOR A FEW DAYS. (If you don’t believe that then come and see me after the other way has failed and you’ve wasted a lot of medication). I don’t care how you bandage the medications on nor how cheaply you do so so long as they are safe and stay on about 5 days. If you cant get it to stay on that long then either come to us and learn to do it properly or change it daily. The bandages are the difference between success and failure. Why is this…I don’t know but I can take some guesses. One is that it moistens and softens the scabs allowing deeper penetration of the medication. Next it may be that the med is in contact in a moist active state for longer and last is that you are excluding light. Bandages are expensive but I’ve seen some cheap and effective use of “glad wrap, opened-up black garbage bags and electricians tape. Sometimes one period of 5 days is enough, sometimes a second. This is followed by un-bandaged application of a sunblock cream with anti-bug chemicals in it. There is one such product and we stock it. You may have to keep applying it regularly for some time. I don’t give you the names of these things…well that’s because I also have bills to pay and a family to raise so I want you to buy them from me. |
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| 2008-08-23 20:56:23 | COLIC in Horses |
| I'm not going to tell you all about colic in general. You have come here because you have a problem and want it fixed or want to know what to do in an emergency. You can get a lot of useful theory on other web pages or books if you have the spare time. Colic just means abdominal pain from any cause at all. Symptoms Your horse will be uncomfortable, looking behind, maybe sweating and wanting to go down and even roll over. It could look exhausted or have signs of bruising and hair loss from being down. There are subtle differences between the behaviour with different sorts of pain, but leave that judgement to an experienced person. If the pain is mild the horse may only lie down occasionally. Most colic cases are emergencies because of pain. If you can't get me quickly then get someone else. The pain is often extreme and it must be relieved. If you can't get a vet quickly there are one or two trusted people that I will allow to visit on my behalf and they will be under my instruction. If you are not going to do anything about the pain (but just wait and see) then both the horse and myself would prefer that you shoot it on the spot or get someone else to do so. There are two types of colic. 1. The sort that will cause death (almost no matter what is done). 2. The sort that will not cause death, (almost no matter what is done). That may sound too simple (and it is a bit), but it may help if you think of it that way. I do not mean we can't do anything. We can push horses a little from category 1 to category 2, we can relieve pain and suffering and we can make a prognosis. ( A judgement as to the future). The vet's visit A pre-treatment blood sample may be taken to assess the circulatory state before treatment. That may be disposed if recovery occurs quickly. Early treatment is mostly to minimize pain. That may be followed by further examination if the horse was too distressed at first to examine completely. Depending on severity and / or response to the first treatments the vet may choose to give large amounts of fluids into the vein. (20 litres or more). Other drugs may be used if it is believed that infection or worms are involved. It is less common now to give anything by stomach tube but one may be passed to the stomach to check abdominal pressures. (Reflux). An early decision is made by the vet as to just how bad it is. This decision is arrived at by the basic examination involving heart rate, abdominal sounds, circulation, Also judging response to pain drugs and fluids and often by checking the abdominal cavity contents by special needle through the bottom of the belly. Pain killers often give us some breathing space to investigate further or in some cases they may be all that is needed. If the examination suggests that it is a serious case and you do not, (irrespective of cost) want to consider euthanasia, then it quickly needs to go to a specialist surgery equipped with proper facilities and skilled surgeons. Be prepared to spend in excess of five thousand dollars and possibly more than ten...and then with a high chance of a fatal outcome anyway. If you can't get it to that place then euthanasia may be the only option. Field surgery may be considered but it is not a good idea at all. There are some colics that can't be saved. The skill is knowing when to recognize that. Some people put degree of pain as a criterion (as judged by heart rate) but I prefer to use heart rate as only one of many factors. Prevention If you want to know how to prevent it then read some books on the subject. You'll find that it's mostly to do with worm control including tapeworms from when a foal to the present and also with feeding. In performance horses it is occasionally from metabolic exhaustion associated with fluid and electrolyte depletion. Gastric ulceration from high energy foods and boredom and stress as well as ulceration from the increasing use of drugs pre and post racing to minimize joint degeneration. That is to do with the racing of immature horses which is endemic to that industry. |
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| 2008-03-28 13:13:32 | BUYING A HORSE FOR A CHILD? |
| There is a good guide to this put out by the Australian Equine Veterinary Association and it should be read. We can send you a copy. Some of my extra rules are: The first cost is the cheapest. Have you read all the needs and costs in keeping a horse? Where are you going to keep it? Are your fences safe? Are you prepared to spend up to 10 times the cost of the horse on its gear soon after you get it? (Just think of the cost of a float) If this is the first horse for your child then will it be totally safe (and that safety costs money and it should). Your child's life is worth more than a few hundred dollars in the price asked. Don't forget that farriers are needed about once every 4 to 6 weeks if you don't develop the skills yourself. Average visit about $40. Go along to the nearest Pony Club before you buy for at least three reasons. You don't have to own a horse to go along. You will be welcome. First, go because it's a greatworld-wide organization, well disciplined and structured. Second because there are always young people growing out of very good horses (kids get bigger) and you can get a hand me down from friendly people, one that is known and safe and... thirdly because you need to know quite a bit before you commit to any horse and pony clubs are training and fun groups. There are also some trail riding places around such as Highland Trails (Staverton) or other training establishments (Barry Lamprey, Sassafrass) (Bunjarra, Port Sorell). These people are mostly dedicated and will help you avoid errors. I haven't mentioned all and if any want to put links from this site then contact me. Before you buy get a pre-purchase examination by an experienced equine vet first before delivery and NOT after your daughter has fallen in in love with it and won't hear anything said against it. If it is a bit old and stiff in the joints it may be safer to learn on and it has probably been around pony club for a few years as well and knows the ropes. As a parent of a horse loving child be prepared to have a pensioner around the paddock long after your child has grown, moved out, started a family and won't let you get rid of it. There are a few more things to be said but it's in the AEVA book as well as in libraries everywhere. Don't make the error of buying first and then wondering why your kid loses interest fast in an unplanned unpleasant premature and disorganized experience. You can't just point them in the direction of the horse and hope it will all work out. More time of the parents is spent on the job than is spent by the child. However, do it carefully, join a pony club first, borrow an old horse from a friendly member and it may well be a lifetime of rewards...and addiction. |
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