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Articles Diagnostic   Beware the Snotty Nose! It is very common for horse owners to assume that a runny nose is likely just a “virus” and that a tincture of time and some professional neglect might be in order. This may well be the case in many instances but let me warn you about some red flags that should immediately get your attention. What if the discharge is from only one nostril? What if there is some intermittent or even continual blood flow from the nostril? What if the discharge has a foul odour? In these instances it is very likely that something more than just “a virus” is at work.    View Article      Strangles - Pay Attention; Don’t Panic The take home message for this article is this: Strangles is a highly contagious disease, and strangles is rarely fatal. This disease is caused by a specific type of bacteria called Streptococcus equi. It is spread by direct horse to horse contact or by transfer from horse to horse on contaminated tack, water troughs, feed buckets and human hands. The organism does not blow across the countryside. Remember: direct contact.    View Article      Navicular Disease: Is There Such A Problem? I suspect that no single bone on earth has ever been blamed for so many ills when it has been in fact innocent of almost all charges laid than the navicular bone. Things were pretty simple up until about 15 years ago. If your horse became sore in the foot, developed a short stilty gait, blocked sound to anesthesia of the foot, then you were pretty safe in declaring that your horse had "navicular". If you took x-rays of the navicular bone and you could see evidence of enlarged or irregular so called "navicular vascular channels" then you really had confirmation of the disease. The fate and lives of horses on clinical examination, purchase exams, yearling sales etc. hung in the balance based on the navicular bone radiographic appearance.    View Article      Proximal Suspensory Injuries. The Silent Killer Lameness due to suspensory problems are not uncommon, particularly in show horses. The suspensory ligament is actually a modified muscle that runs from the top of the back of the cannon bone to the front of the pedal (coffin) bone, crossing the leg at the level of the sesamoids in the fetlock directly behind the superficial and deep digital flexor tendon (looking from the back). Its function is to “suspend” the fetlock like an elastic hammock so it can spring back after loading and this way help to propel the horse forward. This important function is compromised when the ligament is damaged resulting in lameness. Although the suspensory ligament can be damaged in the front and hind legs, the athletic outcome is vey different depending if it affects a front leg (better) or a hind end (worse). The ligament can suffer damage in three different regions, either at its origin where it attaches to the back of the cannon bone, its body, half way down the cannon bone or its branches as it splits and crosses over the sesamoids. As a general rule, the lower the lesion the better its outcome. For the purpose of this discussion I will discuss the worse case-scenario, which occurs when damage happens at its origin. I believe that, with the noted exception of some breeds such as the Paso Fino, most horses sustain a suspensory injury due to their athletic pursuits. However there is a possibility that in older horses a degenerative process is at play. Rarely it will be a direct impact or trauma responsible for the damage. As such, horses that load the fetlock excessively (i.e. dressage, thoroughbred racing, jumpers), are predisposed to suffer this injury, particularly if they are older. The injury can go from an extremely severe pull with damage of the ligament and bone to a milder lesion where just a bit of inflammation exists in the ligament with no boney abnormalities.    View Article      Strangles What is strangles? Strangles is an infection caused by bacteria called Streptococcus equi. It is highly contagious and the infection can be spread by horse-to-horse contact or by humans, tack, drinking troughs and other environmental factors.    View Article    Lameness   What We Know We Don’t Know Lameness diagnosis seemed to be so much easier 25 years ago, as I recall it seemed pretty easy to look a lot smarter than I feel sometimes these days! With the advent of a large array of technological advances in the diagnosis of the source of lameness we have learned that an awful lot of previously held ideas have been proven to be wrong. It is not hard to find a few examples.    View Article    Preventative   Parasite Control Programs to Avoid Resistance and Save You Money It has been identified that the science of worming our horses has changed significantly over the last 5 years. Certain worms that caused severe problems 20 years ago are now rare and other worms previously thought to not be problematic have now emerged to become a serious problem. We now know that about 80% of horses develop a symbiotic relationship with parasites and will be immune to their pathogenic effects. On the other hand about 20% do not develop immunity and parasites are a real threat to these horses health and are a serious source of pasture/paddock contamination and re infection for other horses. There are 5 basic types of horse parasites (worms).    View Article      Puncture Wounds Of The Feet There are few things that can strike fear into your veterinarian’s heart more than the person on the other end of the phone saying, “My horse stepped on a nail two days ago, I pulled it out, gave him some bute, he was fine for a day, now he can’t put his foot down.” This scenario occurs far too often and more often than not this type of situation ends up in a permanently lame horse, or worse, a horse that has to be put down.    View Article      Remember To Sweat The Small Stuff Who ever coined the phrase “Don’t sweat the small stuff” surely wasn’t an equine veterinarian. Without much hesitation my important tip is that when it comes to wounds it is the small ones that most often lead to the biggest problems. More often than I care to recall I have had the sinking feeling of impending disaster when a horse owner calls to say that their horse is dead lame or that the leg is severely swollen after receiving what is they describe as only a small scrape a few days earlier. The reason small wounds can result in major disasters often results from the hole in the skin being like the tip of the iceberg. The major wound is under the skin. On multiple occasions that small wound resulting from a kick, a scrape or a puncture has penetrated into an important underlying structure. Any wound that is anywhere near a joint or tendon/ligament must be carefully explored to ensure that these important structures have not been penetrated. Nothing strikes terror into the hearts of veterinarians more than the sickening feeling that results from sliding a probe through a skin wound and ending up touching bone or tendon/ligament. On many occasions I have explored a small kick wound on the skin only to find that the underlying muscle belly had been torn on impact resulting in a large pocket deep in the muscle tissue that had become contaminated and severely infected. Big wounds drain well, small ones don’t. If wounds can drain chances are they will not become severely infected. Small deep wounds don’t drain well, bacteria get trapped deep inside and after smoldering for a day or two often blow up into a huge disaster.    View Article      Breeding Made Easy(er) With the breeding season soon upon us a few thoughts about optimizing your chances of success seem to be in order. Whether using live cover, fresh cooled transported semen or frozen semen there are a few considerations that are important in any breeding program. The old sayings about timing being everything, planning ahead saving a lot of time, money and grief and that getting it right the first time certainly applies to the breeding shed.    View Article      Sleep Deprivation in the Horse Dr. Joe Bertone from the Western University Veterinary School in California, has provided some very useful and important information about sleep depravation (Excessive Drowsiness) in the horse.    View Article      Idiopathic Pastern Dermatitis What was that? Well, let’s try Mud Fever, or Scratches, or Grease Heel, or Indio Crud. Sound a little more familiar? If it does, it is because all of the above are the same condition.    View Article      Joint Disease – Osteoarthritis Degenerative joint disease (DJD) or osteoarthritis or arthritis is the NUMBER ONE reason for premature horse retirement in the equine industry, regardless of horse occupation. Arthritis is a natural aging process in animals that live long enough to tell. In other animals it is produced by different reason with TRAUMA (one time or repeated) being the most common. Infection is another common insult that may result in DJD. The joint is composed of:    View Article      Is WNV Vaccine Safe in Pregnant Mares? Recently, rumors have been circulating around the horse community that the West Nile Virus Vaccine is causing abortions in pregnant mares and birth defects in foals. The rumors began on May 30, 2003, when the Denver Post newspaper published an article entitled “West Nile Vaccine Eyed in Foal Losses.” On June 16, 2003, the Post published another article entitled, “Vet Wants Warnings on W. Nile Vaccines: Some Blame Shot for Horse Illnesses.” The author of both articles assigned a causal relationship between the use of West Nile virus (WNV) vaccine and subsequent abortions in pregnant mares and newborn foal birth defects. The articles were based on claims from some Midwestern horse breeders that their mares had aborted or produced deformed foals soon after vaccination with the WNV vaccine. Unfortunately, the articles were sensational and compelling to many broodmare owners despite the fact that much of the information was speculative and not based on scientific fact. Despite the misleading information, the rumors are flying and many broodmare owners, including some of my clients, are afraid to vaccinate their mares.    View Article