Índex per January 2018 a Equus

When colder weather sets in, you may be tempted to keep older horses inside the barn rather than turn them out. Resist that temptation. Outdoor living holds significant benefits for an aging horse: Movement, for instance, is crucial to maintaining the health of arthritic joints, and fresh air is the best defense against respiratory disease. What’s more, he will likely be more comfortable outside during the winter months than inside. That said, the most successful wintertime turnout for older horses does take a bit of planning and preparation. Here are a few tips for making it work: • Make sure older horses are properly blanketed. If an older horse has a thick winter coat and a good body condition, he may not need a blanket to stay warm outdoors. Thinner…

“The bridle reins hang loose in the hold of his lean left hand; As the tether gives, the horse bends browsing down to the sand, On the pommel the right hand rests with a smoking briar black, Whose thin rings rise and break as he gazes from the track.”—Thomas Heney, “The Boundary Rider” Designed for show jumping, dressage or everyday riding, the Digital Winter Lined riding glove (suggested retail, $41.95), from SSG Riding Gloves, is fleece-lined for warmth with a textured surface to increase durability and grip. In black, in unisex sizes 6 to 10. To find a dealer, visit www.ssgridinggloves.com. A durable work glove designed for maximal dexterity, the Ladies Dex II (suggested retail, $25.99), from Carhartt, is made with textured, breathable spandex reinforced with leather over the palm…

In the depths of winter, certain aspects of your horse’s health and care demand your immediate attention: Is he warm enough? Is his water bucket iced over? Is he holding his weight? As you focus on these pressing questions, it can be easy to overlook seasonspecific tasks related to hoof management. But your horse’s feet are subject to some particular stressors during the cold-weather months, and if you don’t address them you may find yourself looking at a compromised hoof and wondering what exactly went wrong. The following questions represent some of the hoof-care challenges that com monly arise during the winter, and the answers provide information on managing or preventing those problems so your horse stays sound and is ready for spring. SLOW GROWTH For the past several months,…

I don’t know why some people refuse to believe that animals have emotions and form deep attachments to others. I’ve witnessed this phenomenon firsthand in my own animals many times over the years. I know they experience real love and consequently miss their friends and mates when they are separated. One of the best examples of this was Bodie and Mouse. It started when my husband, Nate, suggested I get another horse. Our finances were tight, so I couldn’t just go buy one. Plus, I wasn’t sure I was ready to open my heart again. I was still mourning Bobo, the Morgan gelding I’d owned for 26 years. When Bobo died, I felt like I’d been cut loose from my anchor and was adrift in sadness and loss. I stayed…

A new study challenges the belief that equine athletes in training require a diet high in concentrates (grains or pelleted feed) to meet their nutritional needs. Concentrate-based feeding programs provide reliable energy to hard-working horses, but they also carry certain health risks—such as colic, tying up and laminitis— and are associated with “hot” behavior and stereotypies0 such as cribbing and weaving. To investigate the feasibility of maintaining an equine athlete on a diet free of concentrates, researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences followed 16 2-yearold Standardbred horses as they entered training in preparation for harness racing. The horses were fed a free-choice forage diet along with a mineral supplement. The diet combined haylage, a small amount of alfalfa pellets to increase protein levels when necessary, and pasture grazing…

Cooking a hot meal for your horse is a comforting wintertime ritual. Skip the traditional bran-based mashes, however: They can lead to digestive upset from the sudden ration change or nutritional imbalances if fed too often. You can make a safer hot meal by adding a few cups of warm water to your horse’s normal grain ration. Most pellets will soak up water within a few minutes. If you want to add a special treat to a hot meal, keep your horse’s dietary restrictions in mind. Skip sugary addins— like apples, molasses and even carrots—for horses who have insulin resistance or other metabolic challenges. Instead, try a treat with a lowglycemic index like celery, peanuts in their shells or alfalfa pellets. For horses with no restrictions, you can have a…

Like many horses, Simon found his people in a roundabout manner. The journey started when Nuala C. Galbari and her partner David L. Justis, MD, PhD, started half-leasing the palomino Tennessee Walking Horse with another rider in 2014. The couple was smitten with the gelding, who was perfect for their lowkey riding style. “He has some issues with nerve damage in his back, so we had to experiment with saddles to find one he was comfortable with, but he does light work in the arena, including cavalletti,” says Galbari. Although he can be standoffish in his stall, Simon was a willing mount. “He’s a great little horse—as calm as can be. I don’t think he has ever spooked,” she says. The other lessor, however, didn’t develop the same relationship with…

Winter is a fairly quiet time around many barns, especially in northern climates. The bustle of show season is past, and many riding and training schedules are less demanding. At the same time, equine diets tend to shift toward more hay, and making sure drinking water remains free of ice is a daily chore. But all of these circumstances— frigid weather, icy water, reduced activity, a lack of pasture grazing —come together to create a perfect storm that puts horses at a higher risk for one serious health problem: impaction colic. Impaction colic occurs when a mass of some sort gets lodged in the intestinal tract and blocks the flow of ingesta. The mass can include foreign materials the horse has ingested, or it can be a concentration of dry,…

When we signed the contract to purchase 53 acres near Pie Town, New Mexico, one year ago, we knew we were embarking on an adventure, but we had little idea of where it would lead. We’d found a secluded property with 360-degree mountain views and rolling hills covered with grama grass and studded with pinyon and juniper trees. No other horse property we visited could compare with its pristine beauty, and after much thought, we decided to take the plunge and start from scratch. It wasn’t long into the process that we realized how much it would cost to hire a contractor to construct outbuildings, such as a horse barn or hay storage shed, complete with cement slabs. My husband Kenny has a background in building and engineering, so we…

New research suggests that a darkening of coat colors was part of the prehistoric horse’s adaptation to changing environments and may have helped the species escape extinction. For nearly a decade, researchers from academic institutions across Europe have been working with the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany, to study equine coat colors throughout history. The group’s early findings showed that many coat colors and patterns arose only after domestication, under the influence of selective breeding. But there was a significant exception to that phenomenon: The black allele0, which produces darker coat colors, went from near zero frequency to greater than 75 percent of coat colors more than 1,000 years before the horse was domesticated. This led the researchers to hypothesize that an environmental event, such…

Condition: thrombophlebitis Definition: inflammation of the vein wall Causes: Usually results from a kick or bite, injection, insertion of a catheter or other trauma to a vein. The trauma may also trigger the release of clotting factors, leading to the formation of a clot within the vein lumen (interior). Signs: discrete swelling following the contour of a vein; if a clot develops a lump will be noticeable, which may be painful to touch. Treatment: nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, hot compresses. In addition, an anticoagulant, such as heparin, may be administered to prevent clotting or reduce the size of a clot.…

When your horse is colicking, it can be nerve-racking to watch him suffer while waiting for your veterinarian to arrive. Your impulse, of course, is to try to make your horse more comfortable, perhaps by giving him some leftover Banamine or another painkiller— but that’s a bad idea. You can mask the horse’s pain and reduce his fever so that the veterinarian cannot accurately assess the severity of his condition. Instead, focus on doing the following: • Remove all food and water from the stall. Chances are, your colicking horse won’t be interested in eating or drinking anyway, but anything he consumes will only increase the pressure behind an impaction. • Walk him-or don't walk him-as appropriate. It’s a myth that all horses with colic must be walked. If your…

Of all the kinds of evidence that may be present at a crime scene, teeth often prove to be the most telling. Of course, no crimes have been committed with the horses we have under investigation. The analysis I am making of the remains is, however, wholly in the style now called “forensic”—an area of science that has proven to be fascinating to many people. Because of the complex structure of horse teeth and the many unique changes which may befall them, they can be analyzed to reveal the age, health status and lifestyle of the “decedent.” I hope you have kept last month’s issue handy so you can refer to the examples and explanations in that article as you work through the actual “forensic analyses” that we’re about to…