I saw a horse with a fractured shoulder over the weekend. The bones were very brittle, and the horse was well fed, but had access to a paddock of soursobs. Soursobs leach calcium and can cause osteoporosis making the bones fragile and subject to fractures. If you think your horse is in danger please call us to advise you on calcium replacement.
Small hole above the eye...
Mare presented with small hole above the eye that would not resolve with antibiotics. The radiograph shows a foreign body which was removed. Look at the last picture and you will see the outline of the large piece of wood taken from her head. Yikes!
The Toxic Horse Paddock Hendra Info/Toxic Plants for Horses
- including recent soursob poisioning cases
Paying It Forward
I have found a new calling. The equine vet student club from the new Roseworthy campus has asked for some mentoring, and we have had two sessions here at Adelaide Plains Equine Clinic.
We did a demo of collection Joseph our ancient teaser pony and last weekend we did a castration clinic. Several clients got a significant discount on the price of a castration so the students could learn some of the skills needed in surgery. I am so impressed with the basic knowledge and enthusiasm of these students.
We had a great time, and as I always like to say: it's a good day when you have no unauthorized deaths. We will be having more of these sessions so the students can see what it is like in practice, and learn some of the basic skills needed to become good equine clinicians.
Soursob
I am seeing a lot of spasmodic gas colic this past week. The number one culprit is soursob. The plant not only leaches calcium over time, but causes a fast furious painful colic.
It is often the only plant that comes up in an overgrazed paddock and while it is sour, a desperate horse ie, one who has not had any green for a while, will eat it and then get a significant belly ache. This usually requires pain medication. Avoid Berg Oil. For the “do it yourselfers” just walk them for a while. For the really painful horse call us for further instructions or attendance.
COLIC ALERT
18 April 2010
We are seeing many horses with colic symptoms associated with a fever. Initially these horses just may not want to eat. Any decrease in appetite is a major red flag and you should not ignore it.
At a minimum take your horse’s temperature. The morning high normal is ~38 C but even 38 is suspicious. In the afternoon 38.5 is the high normal.
Other symptoms include: lethargy, swollen legs and poor exercise tolerance. Some of these horses will have a sour smell to their breath. This is from fluid backing up to and sitting on the stomach (reflux). None of the recent horses have had diarrhea, and most have had mild constipation.
Not all horses need to be seen, but it is probably best to call us. I saw four horses with this condition Saturday night and all the owners knew something was wrong in that morning.
While I like getting money for out of hours emergencies fees, my guess is that you don’t like paying it. Really 6 emergencies Saturday night is not my idea of fun. Also we may be able to get by with far less treatment if we deal with it early.
Early intervention may just be control of the fever and keeping the horse hydrated.
HAPPY TRAILS ALISON
Saturday the 24th of April between 2 and 6 pm we are having a goodbye party for Alison Cuddy who is moving on. Come on to the clinic to say goodbye and give her a good kick and start being nice to me too since I am all that is left for a while. We will be having a bring a plate” BYO” type BBQ and you will need a chair if you intend to stay long.
Chaff Mites Abound
We are getting reports of itchy horse. When questioning the owners we find they are itchy too. While many things can cause you or your horses to be itchy, if you have recently acquired new chaff or feed and you are both itchy think MITES!
Mites are more prevalent following summer rains and usually come with newly acquired bags of chaff or hay. The mite bites and does not bore into the skin, unlike some mites.
While not limited to, the most prevalent areas on horses are the legs, underbelly and neck. On you it is often the abdomen and the arms.
The picture you see is our client who was having a second dose of the mites as she didn't know the source of the itch.
If you become itchy after carrying new fodder it is best to remove and wash your clothes and shower immediately. Try not to scratch yourself as that tends to make it worse. You may need to seek medical advice.
Insecticides for the horse such as Frontline spray works well for horses.
Aerogard works well for prevention of the mites on people.
You may need further help for your horse in the form of corticosteroids.
Please advise the fodder store where you get your fodder if it is appropriate.
Dr. Chris Riley
The new veterinary school at Roseworthy is currently in the process of hiring staff and building their facility. One of the newest faculty is Dr. Chris Riley.
He is an Australian who taught in Canada for many years and then migrated back to Australia. His expertise is large animal surgery. He is helping veterinarians in our area with difficult cases and showing us some surgical techniques.
He is a very knowledgeable source of information, and a second or third opinion. Here he is showing Alison how to do a surgery.
Chris is fun to work with and we really appreciate his input with a few cases here at APEC.
Fractures or broken incisors is a common problem in horses. Typically the horse grabs an object and then in an attempt to pull back he pulls a few teeth away in the process. These can often be replaced by wiring the teeth back together. This has an excellent prognosis for cosmetic repair. The wires or "braces" remain in place for a few weeks and then are removed.
Roundworms
In talking to Dr. Mary Carr of Primary Industries I found out that she is seeing a large increase in ruminant parasitism this year. She attributes this to the sequential heavy rains we have had all summer that have kept the eggs going in what normally would be a very dry environment. The equine parasites will most likely follow suit.
So enter a nice 8 month old colt with a very recalcitrant respiratory infection. He was one sick weanling. He was referred to us to do follow-up from treatment for the infection. He was better, but he still had an ongoing infection. His history included several recent wormings for a known sighting of parasites in his feces.
The common most visible parasite is round worms or ascarids or Parascaris equorum if you want to get technical. This is what they look like when a horse passes them:
Figure 1 freshly passed roundworms
They are about 5 inches or 12 centimeters long and round just like good fishing worms. Tape worms can look like that but they are flat.
Round worms pass eggs that on a fecal flotation examination look like this:
Figure 2 Roundworm eggs (4 brownish in color)
The life cycle is typical in that the hardy eggs are shed and the foal picks them up often in the breeding or foaling shed and the larvae hatch and migrate throughout the body, but especially through the liver and lungs and then the larvae return to the intestine where they mature into the worms you see in the first picture. Those worms reside in the intestine, and in large numbers can obstruct the intestine and cause colic and death.
There is some suspected resistance to the ivermectin dewormers but the accepted treatments for roundworms include: ivermectin and the benzimidazoles including fenbendazole and oxibendazole and even daily wormers such as Wormtec 30 may play a role in preventing larval migration and killing adults. The recommended interval to worm is variable but if you see adult roundworms or the eggs with fecal examination then the damage is done and the larvae have migrated through the horse. Most foals should receive their initial worming after two months of age. The maximum interval between worming in foals should be two months.
Another method of reducing worm burden is to pick up the feces in the paddocks twice weekly. The good news is that most horses develop immunity to roundworms in their first year of life so that it is rare (but not impossible) to have round worms in adult horses.
Our case of the “respiratory weaner” started to pass these adults after being on daily wormer for two days. The daily wormer will not kill migrating larvae so foals also need one of the other products. Most likely his immune system was down due to chronic infection and the overwhelming worm burden.
The bottom line is that foals and weanlings need to be monitored and wormed regularly and we all need to be aware of the potential increase in parasites due to environmental factors that favor the parasites this year. Don’t be blaming Al Gore for this one; not that blaming Al Gore for a few things isn’t all bad, but the worm thing was around for a lot longer than global warming…. Don’t get me started.
South Australia's expressway that isn't FARRIN FOSTER
14 Nov, 2009
The Northern Expressway isn’t living up to Government promises,
say locals.
The state’s largest infrastructure project is designed to create “a
high-speed freight corridor” between the Gawler bypass and Port
Wakefield Road. According to government the project will direct heavy
trucks away from existing roads, which will then be used for suburban
and regional traffic. >>more
But locals say the Northern Expressway is making life harder.
Two Wells resident
Elizabeth Herbert: the Northern Expressway is "ridiculously
mismanaged". Photo: Kate Elmes
Elizabeth Herbert owns an equine clinic along Two Wells Rd and says
there are long-term problems now that local roads have changed as part
of the expressway development.
“Every single one of these overpasses has roundabouts on the end and it
really slows you down. To tackle them you have to go 40km/h on roads
where you used to go at 80km/h,” she said.
Liberal candidate for Light Cosie Costa said market gardeners were also
worried about how the expressway affected their businesses.
“In some locations it has split their property in
half which makes it really difficult for them to operate. They’re going
to have to go out on roads and all the way round to get onto the other
side of their farms,” he said.
Ms Herbert worries about construction problems. She says sections of the
project have been started, delayed and re-started and detours are
unnecessarily long and often unsealed.
“I have to factor in an extra 30 minutes of travel. Clients call me all
the time saying they’re completely lost on the detours. It’s the most
ridiculously mismanaged project,” she said.
Businesses and local concerns echo similar worries surrounding the
redevelopment of the South Rd-Anzac Highway intersection and, more
recently, over the South Rd superway.
Greens MLC Mark Parnell said the State Government has a history of poor
planning which doesn’t consider all aspects of a project.
“We need a transport plan. They reckon they’ve got an infrastructure
plan but it’s just a piecemeal collection of projects,” he said.
Opposition transport spokesperson David Ridgway said the South Road
superway plan proved the Government had no longterm plan.
“Addressing this small section of road in isolation to the whole
transport corridor problem will create even further bottlenecks for both
freight and commuter traffic,” he said.
The Department for Transport did not respond before
deadline.
