EquiSearch» First Aid

A Paint’s Dilated Pupil Baffles Horse Owners and Veterinarians

kfrank — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:26:16 +0000

Obie, my 6-year-old Paint gelding, had loads of potential, so last summer my husband and I sent him to my friend Jason to be tuned up for sale. We were excited when

: When Obie's pupil suddenly became dilated, his owner was immediately worried.; Photo © EQUUS

Obie caught the eye of an excellent eventing trainer seeking a new prospect, and we agreed to deliver him to her farm on July 9th for an evaluation period.

Jason bathed Obie the evening before he was scheduled to leave and then, to keep him clean, placed him in a stall for the night instead of turning him back out in his dirt paddock. Noticing that the flies were bad that evening, Jason went back to the tack room, grabbed the nearest fly mask and put it on our horse.

When I arrived early the following morning, Obie came out of the stall looking great. Even with the barn lights turned off I could see that he was gleaming. He was still wearing the fly mask, and we decided to keep it in place for the trip. My trailer has stock sides, and the mask would provide protection from any debris that might come up off the road. Jason took a quick peek under the mask to make sure Obie’s eyes weren’t gooey, and since everything looked good, we loaded up and left.

We pulled into the trainer’s farm two hours later, and Obie, always a good traveler, came out looking relaxed and regal. It wasn’t until we led him into the barn and took the fly mask off that we discovered a problem: Obie’s left eye looked strangely blue. On closer inspection, we saw that the blue appearance was the result of huge dilation of the pupil.

Although more oval than round, a horse’s pupils function just as our own do: They expand to take in more light when necessary, then constrict to limit the glare in brighter conditions. And, also as in people, both of a horse’s pupils ought to be the same size at the same time. Any noticeable difference between the appearance of the pupils can be a sign of serious trouble.

That was exactly the problem confronting us: Obie’s right eye looked normal, and the left pupil was wide open and completely unresponsive to light.

No clues
My first thought was that Obie must have hit his eye or whacked his head in the trailer. But we found no other signs of trouble---no tearing, swelling, discharge or any marks that would indicate trauma. Obie didn’t appear to be in pain; he let us touch his face all around the eye without protest. In fact, he was acting perfectly normal---interested in his surroundings and even more focused on the possibility of getting some of the hay stacked in the corner. Neither Jason, the trainer nor I---all lifelong horsepeople---had ever seen anything like this.

I was truly alarmed, so we called the trainer’s veterinarian, who arrived within the hour. After her initial examination, she agreed there was no obvious sign of trauma or disease and that Obie didn’t seem to be in pain. She did offer one possibility---glaucoma, an increase of fluid pressure in the eye that is a common cause of pupil dilation. In horses, glaucoma is usually secondary to a disease such as uveitis or a tumor within the eye. If the pressure within the eye remains elevated long enough, the optic nerve can be damaged, leading to blindness. The good news was that Obie didn’t show any other signs of glaucoma, such as pain or squinting.

To get a closer look at the internal structures of the eye, the veterinarian gave Obie a dose of tranquilizer and a local anesthetic. Once the gelding was relaxed and numbed up, she examined the retina more closely and found it to be perfectly normal. She also stained the eye with a fluorescein dye, which would settle into any scratches in his cornea to appear as bright yellow streaks or spots. But the veterinarian saw no evidence of even subtle trauma.

Next, she used a small penlight to check what is known as the “consensual response.” Normally, if you shine a light into one eye, the pupils in both eyes will react in exactly the same way. If they don’t, then the horse may not have vision in the eye being tested. Fortunately, shining the light in Obie’s left eye caused his right pupil to constrict, so he still had at least some sight on the left side. But we still had no clue what was wrong---or if he was in danger of going blind.

As she finished her examination, the veterinarian was unable to make a diagnosis. Based on the clues she had, her best assumption was that the dilation of the pupil was due to some kind of trauma, despite the lack of cuts, bumps or scrapes on Obie’s face. She prescribed a course of phenylbutazone, in case there was any inflammatory process at work, and suggested that, if there was no improvement within a few days, we take Obie to the ophthalmology department at the University of California–Davis for a more thorough workup. As she packed up to leave, she told us to keep a fly mask on Obie to protect the eye---too much sunlight entering through the dilated pupil could damage the retina and create a very real danger of blindness.

A flash of insight
After conferring with the prospective buyer we decided to leave Obie at her place rather than trailer him again with this undiagnosed ailment. We were also hoping that the problem would resolve on its own, as quickly as it had appeared. Unfortunately, after three days there was no change in Obie’s pupil, so my husband and I brought him home.

Back at our place, Obie still seemed completely normal except for that ominous eye. I was worried about the possibility of sun damage, so I made a “pirate patch” by cutting up an old fly mask and sewing two extra layers on top of his existing mask. He accepted this impediment to his vision with his usual good nature. Meanwhile, I went into research mode and read up on every equine eye problem I could find on the Internet. Obie’s single sign of trouble didn’t seem to match up with anything.

I also called the ophthalmology department at UC–Davis and was put in touch with Ann R. Strom, DVM. I explained Obie’s case and asked what they could do that the trainer’s veterinarian hadn’t already done. Strom explained that the UC–Davis clinic had specialized equipment that would enable them to detect problems not visible with the tools available to a veterinarian in the field. If the physical exam turned up nothing, they would start looking for possible neurological causes, such as a brain tumor or a tumor between the eye and the brain, which could best be viewed with a CT scan. Unfortunately, the cost of all this could easily run into the thousands, which we simply couldn’t afford. I had no idea what to do.

My friend Jason had also been racking his brain, trying to think of anything he had seen or done that might offer clues. He was absolutely certain Obie’s eye had been fine after his bath on the evening before the problem was discovered. What he didn’t know was whether the eye was dilated before the trailer ride the next morning
---although he had glanced under the fly mask, it was too dark for him to have noticed any changes in the pupil.

Then Jason had a light bulb moment: He remembered that the last horse to occupy the stall Obie had been in was a mare who was being treated for an eye problem. He dug through the ranch’s medical records and discovered that six weeks previously, this mare had sustained an injury to her left eye. She had been treated with atropine ointment, a powerful and long-lasting drug used to dilate the pupil. Could that horse have rubbed her medicated eye on something in the stall, something that Obie then rubbed on, too, causing him to get some residual atropine into his eye? It didn’t seem entirely implausible.

Jason and I ran this scenario by several veterinarians, all of whom seemed to think the idea was too far-fetched. My own veterinarian, Jen Powers, DVM, of Above and Beyond Animal Care in Redding, California, was also dubious, but she didn’t discount the idea entirely: “I think it’s highly unlikely, but stranger things have happened.”

Powers, like Strom, mentioned the possibilities of glaucoma or a tumor, although she agreed that it would be unusual for a horse to have either condition without showing any additional signs of trouble. She was fairly sure that the dilation was not due to trauma. In her 18 years of experience as an equine veterinarian, she said, she had never seen a traumatic eye injury with a dilated pupil as the only sign. Any blow severe enough to cause the pupil to dilate that much should have caused some other obvious injury to the head or eye itself.

If exposure to atropine had caused the dilation, Powers said, we would start to see gradual improvement within seven to 10 days of the initial exposure, although it could take a couple of weeks to fully resolve.

Jason then contacted us with another important clue: After consulting with his staff, he discovered that the fly mask he had put on Obie that night was very likely the same one the injured mare had worn during the course of her treatment. We found no sign of any ointment on the mask, but it seemed more plausible that he might have come in contact with residue from the fly mask than from some random spot in the stall.

With this news, my husband and I decided to wait a few more days to see if Obie’s eye showed any improvement. If it didn’t, we were going to have to bite the bullet and haul him to Davis.

Back to normal
To our joy, we found that the dilation of Obie’s left pupil did begin to subside, all on its own, exactly one week after that fly mask was first put on him. The progress was slow, but the eye continued to improve day by day.

On July 19, the 10th day after the trouble began, I emailed Powers a photo of Obie’s eye and asked if she felt it was OK to continue to wait or whether we should go ahead and take him to Davis. She responded, “The amount of dilation Obie shows at this point is not severe, which decreases my fears of glaucoma, tumor or blindness. I think you are fine to wait another week.”

We continued to see improvement with each passing day, and by July 21, his pupil was able to constrict enough that we felt we could safely remove the extra layers of material on his fly mask, and five days later, his eye seemed completely normal again. The entire ordeal had lasted 18 days.

Powers now agrees that atropine was the most likely cause of this strange problem. “Without the stimulation of pain [there was no injury] or light [due to the eye patch], there was no stimulus for the pupillary muscles, so it is possible for the effects of atropine to have lasted this long,” she told me. “The atropine theory is also supported by the resolution course and the story of the fly mask---a good example of why it is important to wash and disinfect shared items!”

I am happy to report that Obie now shows no sign of having ever had a problem with his eye, and he has a wonderful new home.

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue 424.

When to Bandage Your Horse’s Wound

cbarakat — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:49:34 +0000

: Wounds in locations where the skin in highly mobile may benefit from the extra stability a bandage can provide.

Your gelding scrapes the front of his hind cannon. Should it be bandaged? Use these criteria to help you decide how to handle any leg wound:

Depth. Wounds that penetrate all the way through the skin—enabling you to see the underlying tissues—provide deep access for infection-causing bacteria and are best covered until granulation tissue fills the gap.
Mobility. Wounds that are pulled open with each step can be stabilized with a bandage for faster healing. A wound on a knee, for instance, often benefits from a bandage.
Proximity to the ground. A wound on the pastern or coronary band is likely to become contaminated with dirt, or worse, manure, making it a candidate for bandaging. A gelding’s hind cannon wound is a special case because urine splash can irritate exposed and healing tissue. A horse who often accumulates “splash crud” on his cannons will benefit from having wounds in that area bandaged.

Wounds that do not require bandaging can be protected from dirt, insects and bacteria with a thick, greasy ointment such as Desitin or ichthamol. It will need to be applied at least twice daily, but that still may be more convenient than bandaging.

Is Your Horse’s Wound Infected?

cbarakat — Mon, 21 May 2012 20:27:30 +0000

: Wounds of all sizes can potentially become infected, but larger ones take longer to heal so you'll have to be watchful for complications longer. ©EQUUS Magazine

Most equine wounds heal without complications after only routine cleaning. However, it’s still wise to keep an eye out for infection. Call your veterinarian if a wound on your horse shows any of the following signs.

• Heat: With a clean hand, gently feel the wound and surrounding areas for excessive warmth. You may want to compare it to the same area on the opposite side of your horse.
• Swelling: After an injury, damaged capillaries leak fluids into the surrounding soft tissues, while infection-fighting cells rush to the site. This influx of healing forces is seen externally as swelling. Initial swelling in the hours after an injury is normal and usually subsides within a few days. However, if the swelling worsens or returns after waning, it may indicate infection. • Odor: Any “off” or pungent odor coming from a wound, especially the oddly sweet smell of dead tissue, can be a sign of infection.
• Color: Red skin adjacent to the wound can indicate infection, especially if red streaks radiate from the area outward. Keep in mind, however, that redness may be difficult to see on dark skin. Also observe the color of any exudate draining from the wound. Healthy exudate has a clear or creamy tinge---the result of natural sloughing of dead white blood cells and wound debris. On the other hand, bright green or yellow discharge indicates that bacteria and inflammatory cells are present and an infection is at work.
• Tenderness: Any new injury is likely to be sore. However, if your horse’s wound seems more sensitive to the touch than it was previously, or the pain has spread to the surrounding area, suspect infection.

Life after Equine Laminitis

equusintern — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:13:25 +0000

: Farriers use a variety of shoes and pads to help keep a horse comfortable as he recovers from laminitis. Photo © EQUUS Magazine. All Rights Reserved

The more researchers learn about laminitis, the clearer it becomes that it’s not a disease just of the hooves. The events that culminate in the inflammation of the soft tissue of the feet usually begin in the digestive tract or even the endocrine system. Horses who are prone to laminitis also typically have characteristic traits evident far from the feet, such as fat pads over the withers or large, cresty necks. Indeed, to understand the causes and earliest physiologic processes of laminitis, you need to look at the entire horse, not just his hooves.

Nonetheless, when a horse is diagnosed with laminitis, it’s his feet that require the most attention. That’s because by the time a horse begins showing clinical signs of laminitis, the tissues of his hooves may be so damaged that they give way, releasing the coffin bone from its moorings to rotate out of position or “sink” downward to and even through the sole of the hoof. This change in the hoof anatomy, commonly known as founder, can be devastating.

Intensive hoof care, however, can help mitigate the pain associated with these changes as well as halt the damage. No trim or shoe can restore the hoof to its original condition, but a treatment approach devised by a veterinarian and farrier can be the difference between a sound, useful life and eventual euthanasia for a horse. A successful treatment plan will likely combine specialized trims and therapeutic shoes and will need to continue for months as the hooves recover. In some cases, a horse may require lifelong therapy to remain comfortable and sound. Knowing what’s involved with post-founder hoof care can help you be prepared to do all you can to help your horse.

Damage assessment
In the immediate aftermath of a laminitic episode, a farrier or veterinarian will formulate a treatment plan based on how much damage has been done to the hooves. Hoof testers and an experienced eye are helpful, but they are no substitute for radiographs. “I take x-rays to see how much rotation there is,” says Tia Nelson, DVM, a veterinarian/farrier in Helena, Montana. “These can be useful to have as a baseline, a starting point. If we need to, we can refer back to those first x-rays to see if we are making progress or are still at ground zero.”

In the best-case scenario, an x-ray reveals no movement of the coffin bone, which means the laminitis did not progress to founder. Once the acute inflammation dissipates, a full recovery is possible without any specialized hoof care. Unfortunately, many laminitis cases don’t unfold that way, and the radiographs become a tool for determining the extent of the resulting founder.

Radiographs also provide a basic blueprint for shoeing, says Scott Morrison, DVM, a veterinary podiatrist at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky: “Knowing exactly where the bone is will tell you where the breakover needs to be, how much heel to take off, how much wedge you need. Without radiographs you are guessing. Unfortunately, there are circumstances where radiographs won’t be possible. Then you are working under compromised conditions. A farrier who has worked on hundreds of chronic founder cases can probably look at a foot and draw a picture of where that coffin bone is in the foot and be pretty close, but even then a person can be fooled occasionally. I still shoot radiographs because it’s good insurance---to know exactly how the coffin bone is sitting---and it may also show any other pathology that might be there.”

There is no standardized scale for grading founder so the terms individual veterinarians, farriers and horsemen will use can vary. (You may hear the word “chronic” used along with “founder,” but that’s a redundancy. Chronic, in medical parlance, means long-term and not likely to be resolved. Laminae do not regrow. Damaged tissues may heal to strengthen the attachment of the bone to the hoof wall, but dead laminae are gone forever and a bone moved out of place permanently alters the internal conformation of the hoof. All founder then, by definition, is chronic.)

Morrison puts founder into three categories: “low grade,” “stable” and “unstable.” The category a horse falls into will depend upon the changes seen in the hoof and provide guidance on how to best manage them.

Low-grade founder: It’s all about sole
This insidious type of founder develops slowly over the course of months or even years, usually as a result of metabolic imbalance or neglected hooves. “A low-grade case of founder is sometimes misdiagnosed as just a bad-footed horse,” says Morrison. These horses may have never had an acute episode of laminitis to draw the attention of caretakers. They may never even seem lame. Instead, they may simply seem “ouchy” for a few days in the spring or appear to have a preference for softer footing. Often the problem isn’t even suspected until radiographs are taken.

The exterior of the hoof with low-grade founder is likely to appear normal, but a close look at the bottom of the foot and radiography reveal minor but important changes. “Usually the white line is stretched at the toe, making the horse more prone to white line disease,” says Morrison. “When you radiograph these feet there may be a degree or two of coffin bone rotation.”

Fortunately, he says, hooves with chronic low-grade founder are fairly easy to manage by just improving the condition of the sole, which in turn supports the coffin bone: “If the horse has thin soles that are easily bruised you may just need to thicken up the sole depth. Sometimes just shoeing with a regular keg shoe, a wedge and a rolled toe is all that’s required to help the sole become stronger and thicker.” Morrison usually uses glue rather than nails to apply the shoes for the first two or three shoeings. Once the sole is thickened, he lets the horse go barefoot and rolls the edge of the hoof walls.

“Where the sole meets the wall it is fairly tough and strong, compared to the inner central part of the sole. The perimeter becomes calloused and strong,” Morrison explains. “With this process of letting the sole thicken by first protecting it with shoeing, the feet grow out beautifully. The cracks in the wall grow out and the foot becomes shiny and healthy rather than dull and shelly; the integrity of the wall changes.”

Julie Bullock, DVM, of Mount Sidney, Virginia, adds that frequent trimming is paramount in these cases, because it keeps the toe short to ease breakover. “Some of these horses grow very little sole, so they are often sore. Sometimes I put them in boots that can be taken on and off with Velcro. Those boots can be used intermittently, depending on the footing,” she says. “Ideally, you want to get the horse to where he can go barefoot. That’s easier on the horse and the pocketbook---just doing frequent trimming to keep the feet short and at the proper angle.”

Travis Burns, a lecturer and farrier at the Virginia–Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, says it can be helpful to use sole and frog supports in low-grade cases of founder until the sole naturally thickens. “Chronic laminitic horses that have adequate sole depth do very well, but if they lose their sole depth they become uncomfortable and tender very quickly,” he says. “You can create artificial sole depth, using things like packing or silicone pads. If you are lucky, the horse can grow more sole himself, after a while.”

Stable founder: Out of rotation
Cases of what Morrison describes as “stable founder” typically have mild rotation or movement of the coffin bone due to persistent low-level inflammation of the tissues. Like low-grade founder, the condition doesn’t arise from a single carbohydrate overload after a raid on the feed room, but instead from an underlying physiological problem that continually stresses the structures of the hoof. Nor are these horses likely to have an episode of acute pain, but they are more likely than horses with low-grade founder to be continually tenderfooted and “off.” Stable founder is also more likely to produce exterior evidence of the damage being done inside the hooves.

“There is more hoof capsule distortion than in low-grade cases. The heels grow faster than the toe, and there are founder rings around the hoof. There’s more dishing at the front of the foot, and stretching of the white line,” says Morrison. “This is the typical foot you’ll see in a horse with metabolic syndrome.”

Radiographs will reveal rotation of the coffin bone, caused by the pull of the deep flexor tendon. The rotation isn’t typically progressing, hence the term “stable,” but is still the primary consideration in mapping out a shoeing protocol. “One of our major shoeing goals is to decrease the pull of the deep digital flexor tendon and rehabilitate those feet,” says Morrison. “Therefore, the shoe requires some degree of wedge at the rear and also a rolled toe, to take some of the stress off the laminae during breakover.”

Even when an underlying metabolic problem is controlled through management changes, stable founder will persist and require continual care. “Usually those feet can’t get to where they can go barefoot,” says Morrison. “The majority of them need to stay in some type of shoe because the laminae are more compromised. The foot needs more protection and you need to keep the coffin bone at a better angle.”

A common and time-honored shoeing technique in these cases is a standard shoe tacked on backward, says Paul Goodness, a farrier with Forging Ahead in Round Hill, Virginia: “Some people may use a reversed shoe to provide support across the heels without putting pressure on the toes. The toe area is usually painful for about three months and incapable of being a weight-bearing structure. So we concentrate support on the back part of the foot---the frog and the heels---any area that is not painful. This gives the damaged laminae in that area some relief.”

Other styles of shoe perform the same function. “We do this with many different types of shoes, such as an egg bar, heart bar or anything that provides support across the back of the foot,” says Goodness. The exact shoe will depend on the specific situation, but some aspects of the technique are universal: “The ground surface of the shoe must be beveled appropriately, for easy breakover, to relieve some of the stress on the front of the foot when moving forward, or help prevent shearing of the laminae when the horse turns,” he says.

Whether it’s better to use nails or glue to attach the shoes depends on the quality of the horse’s wall, says Morrison: “If the foot is very sore, the horse may not tolerate nailing. Low-grade foundered feet tend to have very thin walls. I often glue the shoes on those. By contrast, many of the stable founder cases are Cushing’s horses or have metabolic issues, and some of these individuals have good, strong walls, especially ponies, Andalusians, Arabians and Morgans. These hardy horses usually have strong, good-quality feet and hoof walls, and you can nail the shoes on when correcting the rotation. But if an individual is painful you should glue the shoe instead---at least for a couple of shoeings until the feet are more comfortable.”

Whatever the approach, horses with stable founder need frequent farriery work to make sure the hoof doesn’t grow too long, which would put more leverage stress on the foot. “Those horses tend to get more out of balance than a normal foot would between each trimming/shoeing,” says Morrison.

You’ll know when the shoeing is correct by looking at the growth rings on the foot. Foundered feet typically have wide growth rings at the heel and narrow rings at the front because that hoof horn grows more slowly there. “When you get the shoeing mechanics and hoof angle just right, you start to see the hoof wall growing out more evenly, heel to toe,” explains Morrison.

Unstable founder: All hands on deck
In unstable founder, the foot has sustained significant structural damage that will worsen without intensive intervention. These cases typically occur in the aftermath of an acute laminitic episode, such as one brought on by an overload of grain or systemic illness, but they are also seen in horses whose minor founder went untreated and was exacerbated by poor hoof care or metabolic imbalances. In any case, growth centers of the foot are so severely compromised that growth of the sole, wall or both stops.

A horse with unstable founder is likely to be very lame, and radiographs will reveal dramatic rotation of the coffin bone, which may even also drop down to or through the sole (“sinking”). And, because the hoof is so compromised, the damage escalates quickly. “These horses are best treated by a veterinarian and farrier who specialize in these cases, or by an equine podiatrist---a veterinarian who specializes in foot problems,” says Morrison. “With such help, the unstable cases often can be stabilized and rehabilitated back to pasture soundness or even low-intensity riding.”

Standard treatments of unstable founder incorporate the techniques used in the low-grade and stable cases---including increasing sole depth and supporting the hoof heels while taking pressure off the toe---but with fewer guarantees. “There is a limit to what can be done with shoeing, if the pull of the tendon is overpowering, so we have to try something else,” says Goodness.

In unstable cases, it’s critical that farriers and veterinarians work together closely, combining skills and techniques to help the horse. For instance, says Goodness: “The veterinarian will often use something like Botox to lessen the pull of the tendon by temporarily paralyzing the muscle/tendon. The Botox is generally injected into one of the deep flexor muscle bellies and it temporarily weakens them, which reduces the pull from that tendon. Effects of the Botox seem to wear off in about six months. This may give the farrier a window of opportunity to correct the rotation and realign the coffin bone so the horse can regrow a new hoof capsule down around it.”

A more drastic approach is to cut the deep flexor tendon. “This also gives the farrier quite a bit of time to get things straightened out,” says Goodness. “Eventually the tendon heals and reattaches and often, the horse progresses and his feet and tendon heal so he can be turned out or sometimes even used for light riding. A certain percentage, however, develop some scar tissue and adhesions around the surgical site. If that happens, the horse may have limited athletic ability because the tendon doesn’t work quite as well anymore.”

Research into rehabilitating the hooves of horses with unstable founder continues: “One of the newer things some people have been trying on severe cases is injecting the foot with stem cells,” says Goodness. “The jury is still out on that, but the early information indicates that this may be a useful treatment, especially for sinkers. We are still learning about this treatment possibility, but in the future this may become a good weapon to add to the arsenal for treating chronic founder.”

No matter where it starts within a horse, laminitis that progresses to founder takes the harshest toll on his feet. That’s why hoof care is such an important cornerstone of treating, rehabilitating and maintaining horses who have foundered, and why it continues to be an area of intensive research for both farriers and veterinarians. Until a way to prevent laminitis entirely is found, the best defense against long-term debilitation will remain focused on the feet.

Understand the USEF Equine Drug Testing Rules

Stacey Nedrow-Wigmore — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:06:50 +0000

Your trainer meets you at the out-gate and starts to critique your round as you hop off your horse. That’s when a total stranger walks up and says, “Hi. I’m with the U.S. Equestrian Federation, and your horse has been selected for testing.”

If you’re like 99 percent of horse-show competitors, you don’t dope your horse. But you can’t help gulping when you hear those words—it’s like being called to the principal’s office in junior high. Did you or your trainer make a mistake? Are you in trouble?

The USEF regulations for drugs and medications can seem complicated, and changes this year may affect you. In this article Stephen Schumacher, DVM, chief administrator of the USEF Equine Drugs and Medications Program, explains the changes and tells you how to make sure you stay on the right side of the rules.

The goal of the USEF program is to protect horses from abuse and maintain a level playing field, so no competitor gains an unfair advantage through chemistry. And it’s working, Dr. Schumacher says. Of the 10,000 to 12,000 horses that the USEF tests annually (not a huge number, considering how often horses compete and the number of disciplines that the federation oversees), anywhere from 50 to 100 may test positive in a given year—1 percent or less.

“The low rate of positives doesn’t mean the program isn’t needed,” Dr. Schumacher says. “The numbers are low because the program is there—deterrence is its main effect. We would rather educate than adjudicate.”

Education starts with understanding what is and isn’t legal. It’s all spelled out in the USEF Rule Book.

Read All About It
General rules 401 through 413 outline the procedures for testing and enforcement and explain in general what is and isn’t permitted. These rules are carefully (and sometimes densely) worded but definitely worth the read. Anyone who signs an entry form at a USEF-recognized show needs to understand them because that person (usually the trainer, acting as the agent of the owner) has the primary responsibility for making sure the rules are followed. The separate “2012 Guidelines for Drugs and Medications,” available on the USEF website or in a pamphlet from the federation, provide a roadmap for staying out of trouble.

The rules allow different breeds and divisions to adopt different standards for permitted medications; endurance horses, for example, are subject to strict “no foreign substances” requirements. Here we’ll focus on the rules and guidelines that apply to hunter, jumper, eventing and dressage divisions. These rules don’t give you a list of every substance that is and isn’t allowed, although they do mention some specifics. New drugs are always being developed, and there will always be a few people willing to try new ways to gain an advantage.

To cover all cases, the rules classify substances based on their actions and uses. Permitted substances, which are not regulated by USEF, include vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, dewormers and most antibiotics (except procaine penicillin—penicillin is OK, but procaine is a local anesthetic that can linger in the horse’s system). They can be given to a horse at any time, including at a competition. Other drugs are sorted into two groups, restricted and forbidden.

Restricted Substances
These drugs can be used for therapeutic reasons—that is, to treat an injury or disease—but they’re subject to strict limits on the amount of the drug or its metabolites (breakdown products) that can be in blood or urine at the time of competition, as set out in Rule 410. They include the muscle relaxant methocarbamol (Robaxin), the corticosteroid dexamethasone (Azium) and seven nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: phenylbutazone, flunixin meglumine (Banamine), ketoprofen (Ketofen), meclofenamic acid (Arquel), naproxen (Equiproxen), diclofenac (Surpass, a topical) and firocoxib (Equioxx). Theobromine, a metabolite of caffeine and related substances, is also in this category; the limit is just enough to account for any the horse might get through diet.

You should know:

The “2012 Guidelines for Drugs and Medications” provide detection times for restricted substances, to help you judge when blood and urine levels are likely to be within legal limits. For example, if your horse breaks out in hives and you give him oral dexamethasone at the dosage listed in the guidelines, his blood levels should be OK in six hours.
The times listed in the guidelines are recommendations, not rules, and the drug clearance times vary with dosage rates, the form of the drug and how it’s delivered. If your horse tests over the limit, he’s in violation whether or not you followed the guidelines.
Compounded medications (made up to order by compounding pharmacies) call for special care because ingredients may vary more than they do in manufactured drugs.

New this year:

Only one NSAID can be present in a sample; previously the rules allowed two. “This is probably the most significant change this year,” Dr. Schumacher says. The change, which took effect December 1, 2011, was made to end the potentially harmful practice of “stacking” these drugs.
With just one NSAID allowed, detection times have been reduced from seven days to 72 hours for these drugs. If your horse has been getting two NSAIDs, you need to stop one of them at least 72 hours before competing. Only one can be administered in the 72 hours before a competition, and that one must be within the limits set by the rules.
Although only one NSAID is allowed, there’s a new emergency provision for therapeutic use of Banamine (flunixin meglumine) for colic or eye problems, conditions for which this drug is particularly helpful. Suppose your horse was given phenylbutazone before a competition and you stopped the drug to allow for the recommended withdrawal time. Then, at the show, he colics. Under the new rule, he can have Banamine—a single dose, limited quantity—and return to competition in 24 hours. “Under the old rules he couldn’t have Banamine unless he waited seven days to compete, so the change is an improvement.” Schumacher says. “The caveat is that you must have a veterinarian administer the drug and submit a medication report to show officials.”

Large-Animal Rescue

tmead — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:54:31 +0000

Several facilities throughout the United States provide Large Animal and Horse Rescue training to firefighters, police, animal control officers, veterinarians, emergency medical technicians, and anyone interested in knowing more.

John and Deb Fox are firefighters and LAR instructors based in Felton, California. The couple gathers information from many sources to provide their students with new and creative rescue techniques. “Not only does our department schedule regular large animal rescue drills, we attend talks and classes given by experts in related fields,” Deb says. “When we teach classes, our students gain information from our constant learning.”

: “Our horses are trained to demonstrate mud rescues and lifts without sedation so our students work in real-life scenarios,” says Rebecca Gimenez, PhD.; Photo by Rebecca Gimenez, PhD

If you attend a rescue-training session with the Foxes, you’ll work with life-size, weighted horse manikins that allow students to learn in real-life situations without stressing a live horse.

The Foxes recommend attending a training session with your entire rescue team — or as many people as possible — as you’ll want to know how to work together in an emergency situation. Once your team is trained, attend future sessions to keep your rescue skills sharp and up-to-date.

Dr. Tomas and Rebecca Gimenez travel nationwide to teach their Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue training classes. Their courses, like others listed here, help emergency personnel respond quickly and safely when a horse or other large animal is injured or stuck. The couple uses well-trained horses to mimic tragic scenarios.

“We welcome any opportunity to share education with trail riders and horse owners in general” Rebecca explains. “Our horses are trained to demonstrate mud rescues and lifts without sedation so our students work in real-life scenarios.”

The Gimenezes remind students that horses are heavy, fast-moving, confused, and terrified during accidents. In addition to teaching hands-on rescue techniques, they teach a bit of horse psychology — how to approach frightened animals so horse and handlers remain safe.

To find a large animal-rescue course, ask your local extension agent for information on training in your area, or contact the organizations listed here.

Rescue-Training Organizations

Days End Farm Horse Rescue

Eastern Kentucky University, (859) 622-1009

Large Animal Rescue Company (email)

The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at Nevins Farm

Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue

University of California-Davis Veterinary Emergency Response Team

Heidi Melocco is a lifelong horsewoman, equine journalist, and photographer based in Mead, Colorado.

Avoid Big Vet Bills

jpreble — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 06:00:59 +0000

: Illustration by June Brigman

You probably need no lessons on how to cut your everyday horse-care costs. As mandatory enrollees in The School of Struggling Economy, that's something we've all had to learn in the last few years. Many of us even have become A students in the subjects of scrimping, saving, and getting by. We could write term papers about buying bulk, giving shots on our own, and making old things last.

But there's one thing guaranteed to flunk just about anyone's carefully studied horsekeeping budget, and that's the unexpected big vet bill for a horse that's injured or ill. A single emergency farm call can run into hundreds, and ongoing crisis-care costs can come to resemble student loans-large, with lots of zeroes, and daunting, in terms of what it'll take to pay them off.

Once your horse incurs a need for emergency treatment, there’s not a lot you can do to control its expense. But there’s plenty you can do in the name of vet-bill prevention, which is where the real savings lie. Money you don’t have to spend—on farm calls, x-rays, suturing, bandaging, medications, and more—is money you get to keep and use for something else. And let’s face it: The pain of a large vet bill is an even bigger ouch when you look back and realize you could have avoided the situation that brought it on.

This makes it well worth your while to enact simple, preventive changes to your everyday horse care and management routines. Here are 21 flashcard ways to go about it.

It Only Takes One Bad Step
In many cases, equine accident prevention begins from the ground up—literally. To proactively keep big vet bills at bay, pay attention to the surface areas your horses find themselves on.

1. Never be nice to ice. Untreated icy spots—around water troughs, atop concrete walkways, or any other surfaces your horses tread—can bring on a serious vet bill (perhaps even a fatal fracture) after a horse’s feet go out from under him and he crashes hard to the ground. Use a non-toxic ice-melting product where needed. Never lead a horse, especially one that’s shod, over an icy surface. If you must do so—in a winter emergency, let’s say—boost traction with sand or gravel.

2. Pick the poopsicles. Frozen manure balls, left uncleaned from corrals and pens, are just like egg-sized rocks. If your horse strides down onto just one of them, his sole can be bruised so badly that it abscesses, and that’d mean a call to your vet and farrier alike. Don’t leave those iceballs lying around.

3. When in doubt, don't turn out. A recent study showed more injuries to horses during turnout time than when under saddle. If your turnout area’s footing is frozen solid, bogged with mud, or slick from recent rain or snow, the safest way to manage his risk and yours is to keep your horse in until conditions improve.

4. Take good care of your training ground. Sure, it takes time to keep your arena or other training ground in good condition, but which would you rather do—work the arena, or pay the bills to treat a splint, bowed tendon, or pulled ligament?

5. Protect the horse, not the shelf. Protective boots and wraps don’t do a thing for your horse if you don’t bother to put them on. And remember: When you do use them, for riding, turn-outs, and hauling, you’re protecting your wallet as well as the horse.

Enclosure Patrol
Stalls, corrals, paddocks, and pastures—all are erected as necessary means of keeping horses safely behind a barrier. Yet all are capable of bringing on an injury if neglected or poorly made, and virtually all need maintenance at some point.

6. Designate a barn hammer. A single protruding nail or screw end, left for a horse to brush against, can slice his flesh open like a box cutter. Instead of meaning to fix a problem (whenever you get around to locating a hammer missing in action), take care of it right away with the hammer you keep at hand for that purpose. Then put it back in its designated place.

7. Walk the line. Horses are hard on manmade fixtures, and can set up their own accident traps if you’re not looking. Make it a habit to inspect every fence line or other enclosure, including stall walls, on a regular basis. Take your toolbelt with you.

8. Shake hands with the fence posts. Your fencing’s only as good as the integrity of the posts, and to avoid vet bills, you want to find and fix the small problems before they add up to a full-on fencing failure that lets your horses escape to mayhem and injury. As you walk each fence line, grab and try to tug each post top back and forth. If you can move it, a horse can, too, and that’s not good. Reset, retamp, or replace, and do it right away.

9. Leave no metal T-post uncapped. The bare-metal top of a T-post can spear a horse if he runs into it or happens to rear and come down on top of it. Head gory wounds off at the pass by using protective vinyl T-post caps, readily available online or at your nearest farm/ranch store.

10. Eliminate leg traps. Anything with a four-inch opening is capable of ensnaring a horse if he puts a foot through it and can’t get it back out. Common culprits include certain types of woven or welded fencing designed for sheep or cattle; gaps beneath stall doors that trap a leg after a horse lies down; and the V-shaped, fetlock-snagging spaces formed when some styles of portable metal fencing panels are pinned together. If you can’t make something safer, replace it. (Visit panelcaps.net to see photos of panel-fencing dangers, and a product designed to eliminate them.)

11. Check every gate fastener, every time. A gate’s fastener is to a fence’s security as a cinch strap is to security of a saddle—as soon as it breaks or is left undone, a wreck is sure to happen. (Picture your escaped horse running loose down a highway.) You’ve been taught to double-check your cinch before every ride. Now, teach yourself to double-check the fastener on any gate, stall, or trailer door, before you walk away.

Colic: Stand Guard
After old age, colic is the leading cause of death in horses over 30 days of age, and treating it is expensive. Treatment of a non-surgical colic can run into hundreds, and according to the American Association of Equine Practitioners, the cost of colic surgery now exceeds $4,000 in most cases. The good news: You can prevent many colics with savvy management.

12. Beware known risks. AAEP names the following as known colic risk factors: stall confinement with gastric ulceration, ileal compaction from coastal Bermuda hay, and cribbing with recurrent colic and strangulation of the small intestine. So it follows that the more you can do to manage away from these risks, the less colic cost you’re likely to incur.

13. Provide plenty of clean, convenient water. Your horse's greatest need for water is right after he eats, and ready access to fresh drinking water is key to prevention of colic caused by feed impaction. Inspect and top off each horse’s water supply at each daily feeding time. If you rely on a large tank or natural water source, such as a pond, make sure the water hasn’t frozen, gone bad, or run out.

14. Restock feedstuffs before running out. The equine digestive system doesn’t take kindly to abrupt feeding changes of any kind. If you feed a special grain mix, always reorder far enough ahead to keep the supply steady. Likewise, bring a new hay supply in early enough that you can make a gradual changeover from the hay you’re feeding now.

15. Get a barometer (and be a weather watching in general). Though science has yet to explain why, vets and owners alike have noted that colic incidence tends to go up with big swings in barometric pressure—such as might occur with the onset of a storm. Keep a close eye on your horses whenever a steep barometric climb or plunge takes place, so you can nip any suspected colic in the bud.

16. Get your vet involved early in a suspected colic. Contradictory as it may seem, the sooner you get your vet involved in helping you with a colic case, the better your horse’s chances of survival and the more money you could save. It’s always better to spend a little at the start than a lot after it’s too late, and the longer your horse goes without expert treatment, the worse his colic is likely to get.

Prevent Feed Wrecks
Is it possible to have a feeding accident? Absolutely—just ask the owner of the horse that broke into the grain bin and gorged himself, or the person who lost a horse to an episode of choke, even after spending over $1,000 on emergency vet care.

17. Horse-proof the grain supply. Keep your grain supply behind a closed door or in a bin you can lock and that a horse can’t tip over. (This rules out the idea of storing your grain in an aisleway garbage can.)

18. Consider soaking pelleted feeds before feeding. If your horse is one that bolts his feed, or if he’s dentally challenged due to old age, feeding him dry pellets is risky. Should he gulp a mouthful without chewing it well, the dry mass could lodge in his esophagus and cause choke—always a veterinary emergency.

19. Keep herd dynamics in mind. Any time you feed horses in a group, some kind of pecking-order squabbling is sure to take place. You can do much to reduce costly kick injuries by keeping feed piles well spread out, with no tight corners where a low-ranked horse can’t get away from an aggressor.

20. Don't overfeed anything. Beyond the matter of letting your horse get too fat, overfeeding can push him into the vet-bill danger zone in lots of ways. Give too much high-energy sweet feed, for example, and he can hurt himself during an over-exuberant turnout. Feed certain nutrients in excess, and you can find yourself fighting a case of orthopedic disease.

21. Be careful with grass. As spring approaches and grass resumes growth, limit your horse’s initial access to no more than 10 to 15 minutes of grazing a day. The high volume of sugars in new grass can trigger a metabolic emergency, such as acute-onset laminitis, and some horses are more prone to it than others. Save by playing it safe.

Ten Reasons to Love Sticky Ichthammol Ointment

equusintern — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:52:47 +0000

Messy, smelly and downright gross, the drawing salve called ichthammol may not be your first choice for treating your horse, but you can’t beat its versatility and affordability. The sticky ointment, a derivative of coal tar, reduces inflammation, draws out infection, kills germs and soothes pain.

Here are 10 uses for ichthammol:

Pack it around and over draining hoof punctures to draw out pus.
Use it to coax “gravels” (subsolar abscesses) to burst at the coronary band and then speed healing.
Slather it on a case of scratches, and cover the pastern with a sock or shipping boot. Within a day, the scabs come off easily and painlessly. For really crusty cases, put plastic wrap over the ichthammol to hold the heat.
Cover a rainrot-riddled back and rump with ichthammol to soften the scabs and kill bacterial agent. A soapy bath a few days later removes the ichthammol and loosened crusts.
Clear up “saddle acne” overnight with a spot of ichthammol on each “pimple.”
Coat minor cuts and abrasions immediately to minimize pain and protect from infection.
Rub it on the muzzle to take the sting out of sunburn on a light-skinned nose. But don’t expect it to prevent a reoccurrence; ichthammol is not a sunscreen.
Ease the painful effects of photosensitivity with a coating on scabs and raw skin. Plastic wrap and bandages over the ichthammol accelerate the benefits to affected lower legs,
Work a teaspoon or so of greasy ichthammol onto the dock of the tail to repel ticks for as long as two weeks.
Relieve the maddening itch of insect bits with ichthammol. The persistent goo wards off further feasts as well, particularly along the crest of the back and on the middle line of the belly.

Horse Wounds: To Bandage or Not to Bandage?

equusintern — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:22:12 +0000

Does your horse's wound need a bandage? It depends. To heal quickly, most cuts and abrasions need nothing more than to remain clean and free of irritation. When bandages promote these conditions, they are the preferred choice. But the quick-growing replacement skin that forms under a horse's bandage is fragile and may need to be treated with greater care than the slower-growing tissue that fills wounds left exposed to the air. In some circumstances, a bandage's pressure and friction can actually prolong healing. Add in the expense of the materials and the requisite caretaking efforts, and you’ll see that unnecessary bandaging benefits neither horse nor owner.

In deciding whether to bandage a wound, location and depth are the key considerations:

Leave high wounds uncovered; put low wounds under wraps. Uncontaminated wounds above the elbow and stifle are likely to scab over and heal well on their own. This rapid response is a function of the relative immobility of the horse’s torso and the superior circulation at or above the heart level. In contrast, lower-leg wounds are often irritated by dirt, motion and abrasion. The high capillary pressure in the legs, resulting from their location below the heart, promotes the formation of proud flesh, an excessive growth of granulation tissue that won’t heal over. Carefully applied bandages are often beneficial for wounds at or below the knees or hocks.
Leave shallow wounds unbandaged; keep “full-thickness” wounds covered. Once they’re thoroughly cleaned, superficial scrapes and abrasions are left open to the air, as they form strong scabs almost immediately. A full-thickness wound – one that penetrates all skin layers so that the edges separate or can be pulled apart to reveal underlying structures – does not form a strong scab and can invite deep infection if left exposed. For wounds that require stitching, ask the attending veterinarian about bandaging recommendations.

In general, simple wounds above the knee and hock do just fine without bandages, which most full-thickness wounds heal better with bandages. New skin formed under bandages may require surface ointments or a loose covering until it toughens up enough to face the elements.

Is that Blood in your Horse’s Urine? Probably not

cbarakat — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:31:53 +0000

: Cold temperatures can cause a chemical reaction in equine urine that leads unecessary worry. Photo © EQUUS Magazine

If you think you see blood in your horse's urine this winter, don't panic. Finding bloody-looking urine in the snow under your horse may send you racing to call the veterinarian, but chances are what you're seeing perfectly normal.

The red spots that you see are a result of your horse’s urine reacting with the cold snow. Proteins in the urine, called pyrocatechines, oxidize in low temperatures, which produces colors ranging from a light pink to red, orange or brown. The same thing can occur when a sample of urine is refrigerated.

When in doubt, collect a fresh urine sample from your horse---a process that involves a large can duct-taped to a long stick and a lot of patience. If the collected sample isn’t red, your horse is probably just fine.