Red Pony Farm: A journey in motion

Hot Spot has Lyme or Anaplasma Phagocytophilum

I am awaiting the test results from N. Grafton. I had his complete CBC done and a full blood chemistry profile on Friday her at work and the results were consistent with lyme, anaplasma, and or infection.

He went from happy and sound on Wednesday to having 4 hugely stocked up legs and a fever of 103 on Friday morning. He got a huge dose of intravenous antibiotics Friday and started on an oral (I'll get you names of those later tonight). he never stopped eating, that was good cause he's not an easy keeper and has no weight to spare.He needs to keep moving to dissipate the leg fluids and now that his temp is normal he is trotting after Lucy whenever she goes galloping off across the hill top. Details ASAP.

Details: He tested High positive for Lyme with the western blot test, positive for rocky mountain spotted fever also. He will be on the Doxycycline Hyclate 100 mg tabs, 45 of them twice a day. These pills do not dissolve well in water. I use the little coffee grinder to turn them to dust (remember to leave the cap on for a few minutes after grinding till the dust in there settles or you'll be choking on a cloud of antibiotics) I mix with mayonnaise the consistency is good for keeping the meds in the horses mouth and it keeps the plunger on the oral syringe lubed (olive oil mayo precisely) lots of Cinnamon and some sugar, unlike with the SMZ and water mixture, it's easy to mix sugar in this one, keeping the mixture in a small enough portion to fit into the 60 ml oral syringe. Spot is so good taking it I don't even ave to put his halter on first. I do have to be sure he is not holding any 1/2 chewed grass or hay in his mouth. If he is the meds will stick to that and he can spit the whole gooey mess out in the dirt. At $55.00 per 500 when he's taking 90 per day for 6 weeks it too expensive to risk. When I am in doubt I halter him and tie him for a few minutes, walking away so I know he's relaxed and will chew and swallow the grass or hay.

The fever was gone in the first 24 hours with bute(phenylbutazone). I stopped the bute the second day and fever did not return. The legs remained hugely swollen though. The swelling would go down in the cool of night while they were out roaming the hill top and grazing, but return during the day when they stood around munching hay in the mostly woods paddock. Today (day 12) the swelling is staying down a lot more during the day. I like that progress.

He has to have blood-work done again in another week or so. I found a lab tech at work who will come teach me how to draw for a six pack, so I can save the 80.00 vet call (130.00 if she comes on short notice). I have given many injections but never drawn blood.

EEE: Not Just for Horses

Check out the Maine CDC web page. Open the EEE advisory message for September 04, 2009 in the center column, to read more information including the following excerpt.

"About one-third of those who have symptoms of EEE die.  Approximately half of those identified with EEE and who survive will have permanent neurological damage.  Unlike horses, there is no vaccine available for humans.  There is also no known effective treatment. 

The transmission cycle of EEE among birds and mosquitoes is most common in coastal areas and freshwater swamps. Those people at most risk are:

• Residents of and visitors to endemic areas, especially near wetlands
• People who engage in outdoor work and recreational activities
• Persons over age 50 and younger than age 15 seem to be at greatest risk for developing severe disease"

More Horses have fallen to EEE

On Saturday, August 29 we received this bulletin concerning Eastern Encephalitis from Dr Hoenig, Maine State Veterinarian:  

 

"I wanted to bring you up to date on the latest situation with regard to EEE in

Main. Yesterday we received word from NVSL in Ames, Iowa that a one year old miniature mare that had died on August 24 was IgM capture ELISA positive for EEE. This horse came from a farm in Stetson in southern Penobscot County and had a questionable vaccination history. We did not get tissues for testing on this animal.

Yesterday, Dr. Alexander and I euthanized a five year old Standardbred mare on a farm in Thorndike with acute onset of neurologic signs consistent with EEE. The head will be delivered to the Public Health Lab on Monday morning for rabies and EEE tests. This unvaccinated horse was stabled about two miles from the other positive Thorndike horse from last week.

Additionally, we received a call from Dr. Erin Dahill of

Post Rd. Veterinary Hospital in Wells that she euthanized a three year old Morgan colt last night on a farm in Gorham. Samples from this horse will also be submitted to the Public Health Lab on Monday morning. There are 33 other horses on this farm and this horse was also unvaccinated.

On Monday, I need to check on results from a Berwick horse with signs consistent with EEE that was euthanized and sampled by a NH veterinary clinic on Weds. These samples were going to be submitted to a NH lab."

 

If your horse was vaccinated before April 1 this spring we are recommending a booster vaccination for both EEE and  West Nile.

  These are effective vaccines, but in the face of this outbreak we consider it prudent to have boosters for both of these insect borne diseases.   If your horse(s) were vaccinated after April 1 we consider them protected.  None of the several horses now found to have EEE in the state were vaccinated. 

Dr David A. Jefferson

Dr Rachel E Flaherty

Dr Janelle D Tirrell

Horse in Maine Dies of EEE

Maine Equine Associates Newsletter    

August,  2009

 

Eastern Equine Encephalitis

We just received a report from Dr Hoenig, our Maine State Veterinarian.   A 4 year old Quarter Horse gelding in the town of Troy (west of  Bangor, south Of Newport) just died of the disease.   This is an insect borne disease that we don’t often see in  Maine, but most veterinary practices in Maine include it in their vaccinations.  The horse from Troy was not vaccinated.  If we vaccinated your horses this year, they received the vaccine for EEE. Before this the last case reported was in Lebanon (in the southwest corner of the state) in 2008.   Before that were 2 horses in Berwick and Kittery in 2005.  This disease causes neurologic signs and is often fatal (as in these cases).

 A horse that gets the disease is considered a ‘dead end host’ in that he is not contagious to other horses.   It has to come from an insect bite.  We are assuming that the wet summer this year had something to do with this incident.   The disease is not usually seen until later in the summer season, but before the first killing frost.   If you have not yet vaccinated this year it would be important to do so soon.  

 

The Hay Crisis

Dr Flaherty of our practice gave the Portland area veterinarians an excellent presentation the other day on what farms should be thinking, and not thinking about in terms of supplementing hay in this very poor hay year.   Here is a very short summary of her comments.  

            Roughage (pasture, hay) should always be the main part of a horse’s diet.   Never make up for a roughage deficit with increased grain.  Hay stretcher pellets should only be used as a partial supplement as the fiber size is too short (should be at least 1 inch long).  The pellets are mostly alfalfa meal with peanut shells.  Hay cubes are an OK source of fiber, but are richer than native hay, and are very dry and should be soaked for 10 minutes before use.  Chopped hay ( Lucerne farms) is good, but adds expense.  Beet Pulp as a supplement is good, but you can overdo, and soaking for several hours is critical to prevent choke.   Straw, seldom seen these days, has the fiber, but limited nutritional value  Lawn clippings  in limited quantities are OK, but because the moisture content is high, if the grass is left in a big pile it will ferment and mold quickly.   If you feed too much when they aren’t accustomed to it the grass will upset the bacteria in a horse’s gut and may cause colic.

 

Watch upcoming Issues of The Horses Maine For more info.

Hayledge for Horses?

Hayledge is, for those who don't know, hay baled into round bales at 40 - 60 % moisture and plastic wrapped. The plastic must be air-tight and the moisture content within limits in order to create the right conditions for fermentation without the development of mold. It is very rich in nutrients

As we face another wet summer in Maine and it becomes increasingly difficult to dry hay for horse feed, A local hay producer who makes hay for horses and hayledge for cows  has been researching the fact that hayledge is fed to horses fairly commonly in UK , Ireland and other European countries. He is working with two area Vets to examine the pros and cons. While waiting for the developing story, I am wondering if anyone on this forum has any information and or experience to share regarding feeding hayledge to horses.

I asked the ECTRA chat list got several responses including what she called a mini lecture from Elaine Larson; published with permission:

"Haylage and silage are made with the moist plant matter, rather than dried like
hay. Because of the moisture they will support the growth of microbes - ie mold
etc. Left out in the air, these microbes would gradually consume all the
nutrients in the plants for themselves, leaving behind their waste products and
toxins which is not a good feed.

To make haylage or silage, the plant material is put a place that can be sealed
from the air (a silo, silage pit, or the white "marshmallow" wrappers). Once
sealed, the aerobic microbes run out of oxygen and stop growing. The anaerobic
microbes keep going for a while, and their metabolic byproducts are organic
acids such as acetic, proprionic and butyric acids, so the pH of the material
decreases. Eventually the pH falls to the point that the anaerobic microbes
can't grow either. So you now have a feed that is "stable" - it can be stored
in this condition for a long time without further microbial growth and
deterioration. Sort of like pickles.

The catch is that when the material is fed, it is exposed to air and oxygen
again. Since the material is still moist, the microbes are happy to start right
back up again. So, care must be used to store the material properly, minimize
exposure to air when taking out material to feed, and feeding only enough to be
consumed in a fairly short amount of time so that microbial growth is minimal.
If that can be done, it should be ok to feed for horses, although they will
probably have to become accustomed to it gradually as with any change in feed."

There is some concern over botulism in the moist environment of the hayledgebale I hear. Cows can process it when they encounter it, horses cannot, But I also learned that there is a botulism vaccine available for horses.

(Check out the comments for additional information)

Lucy Liu has Cataracts

She has them in both eyes. Dr. Flaherty says they are mild. She needs to wear a fly mask for protection on bright sunny days. She may be a lot more susceptible to eye soreness and other eye issues. I'm bummed. But Annabelle has had them for the 6 or 7 years I've owned her and not had an issue with any eye problems. Hers have not gotten significantly worse over time either. But it's a wait and see sort of thing.

I found a couple of interesting pieces of information through a search:

"Cataracts in Horses
  by Robert N. Oglesby DVM

A cataract is any opacity of the lens or its capsule. There are many small structures and imperfections of the lens that are not cataracts, and harmless. Many types of equine cataracts are nonprogressive and harmless. Equine ophthalmologists are very noncommittal when asked to predict the future of a cataract and even argue among themselves over nomenclature and significance. . ."

The other thing, and I can't find the link again, was that surgeryis becoming more  common. It isn't something I could afford I'm sure but it was interesting.

Annabelle (Chestnut in above photo with Lucy) is 23 this summer (estimated) she may have cushings. She is particularly shaggy this spring. The blood test isn't back yet though. Old Willie lived 5 years past his predicted demise with the help of Pergolide. It's also more than I have to spend for treatments. But the tests to make the diagnosis is free through my work, so I decided to find out.

Hot Spot (aka Rocky):

 

Needs to gain 50 - 75 pounds. None of my horses are getting grain since first of March. (They have as much hay as they can keep up with in front of them continually and they are turned out to find what grazing there is to be had for 4 hours each day at least.) I have to get my winter feed bill paid first before buying grain or beet pulp! I will get seriously close to caught up this month, then we'll see.

I met someone today who may come and pay to ride Annabelle. That sure would help. I really have no business trying to feed 3 horses!!

Anyhoo, my horses get for yearly vaccines: Rabies, tetanus, EEE/ WEE/Flu/ Rhino. They have blood drawn for coggins tests which I also have run free of charge at Our North Grafton MA Lab. Lucy's teeth were the worst of the three by some degree and so she had hers done. The other 2 may posibly be done this fall, after fly season is over. And with the Farm call being split between two of us and even with all the freeby stuff from work, it was $596.00 for which I had to write 3 post dated checks.

Tainted BIODYL Vitamin Suppliment

21 polo ponies in Wellington Florida and 3 Endurance horses in Uruguay are dead.

Story

A Florida Pharmacy made a mistake on a formula given to the polo ponies. Investigation continues . . . Latest Report  (April 23, 2009)

On the ECTRA forum today (April 24, 2009) I found  one explaination to the question on a lot of folks minds.

An ECTRA forum contributor wrote:

"Why was a Florida pharmacy preparing this medication/vitamin supplement if it is illegal (not FDA approved) in the U.S.?"

The injectable formulation of the supplement is subject to approval
by the FDA because it is injectable. The formulation is not approved
because the French manufacturer has not applied for approval; that
does not equal illegal, nor banned (the other word being misused as
an equivalent). Compounding by a pharmacy is legal and not subject
to FDA approval ... although that may be changing.

By the way, compounded drugs are not generic drugs. Generic drugs
are subject to the same FDA approval process as brand name drugs, so
they are equally safe (or unsafe) as brand name drugs.

Una Smith
New Mexico

Update 30-April-09:

Appearantly it was too much Selenium, Story from The Horse

The Original Red Pony Came Home to RPF

Annabelle and I had our first ride together in 3 years today. It was so great!!

In November 2008. The same day that "Holy" Cow arrived Annabelle Lee named after the poem by Edgar Alan Poe, aka: Annabellina, Belle, bellina buttons, or when I am put out by ger: Penelope Jane, came home to Red Pony Farm. Not the Red Pony Farm she might have remembered in Standish. But the new one on the big rock in Hollis. She went to Broad Park equestrian center (part of the Pine Land complex of New Glocester Maine) to be a lesson pony in the community riding program there when we were paying for two mortages and I couldn't bring myself to sell her or give her away, but couldn't feed her either. Broad Park agreed to send her home when she was no longer happy or if she couldn't keep up with the full schedule of lessons. At 23 she decided she was ready for a break. She had been off work for nearly 3 months when they sent her back.

(Lucy just adores AnnaB! She could stand there and just smell her all day long)

The trailer with her on it came right up the driveway in the rain that day no problem. Seasoned haulers seem to have no issue with my driveway. Some folks take one look and are horrified. Some folks in cars I mean, never mind a horse hauling rig.

Anyhoo, Bellina lives with Holy and they get alone quite well. Belle has no need to push Holy around and lets her lounge about wherever she likes even when she perfers to wedge herself right against the round bale and Belle has to reach over her to eat.

Annabelle draws the line at Holy getting too close to her grain or being in the way of "THE" cribbing spot when it's needed. And still she moves her nicely, no biting. Holy is horse savy and knows her limits, and doesn't ever want to get bitten I think.

Oh yes, Annabellina is a wind sucker. During times of stress, when eating grain, or for a period of time after eating grain. She can to me at age 16 with the habit well established and I never minded.

Wind sucking , what we often refer to for some strange reason as "Cribbing" is the act of  sucking in gulps of air through the gutteral flat at the end of the esophagus at the back of the throat. To get the flap open the horse has to brace its upper teeth firmly on a very solid surface, pull back forcefully and rather quickly arching the neck "just so" while drawing in a gasp of air through the mouth.

It was once believed that this added air in the gut would lead to colic and the behavior should be stopped at all costs. You can still buy horrible collars that fit very tighly around the neck with a metal  piece at the base that causes the horse pain when it tries to crib. Hiddeously cruel.

Fortunately There is newer research that suggests that the process increases the level of a particular something in the stomach that reduces discomfort. I heard the report on the radio one day, but haven't been able to find the source or any other evidence of the research. This is very frustrating to me. I'm hoping that someone out there will read this and be able to tell me where it came from. Because it is the first news on cribbing that makes sense to me and what I see Annabelle doing: Something triggers discomfort and she has found a way to relieve it. In the 7 years I've known her she has not ever coliced.

So then back to our ride. Belle walks very very slowly. So slowly that I am always reminded of a story book I loved as a kid: "Hurry Up Slow Poke" were Simon is holding up a journey to "Grandmothers house on the far side of the pond. The far far side of the pond". I am like Simon's sister Lucy who has to nag him continually to "Hurry Up Simon!" 

When riding Annabelle at the walk I have to exercise my relaxation and patience building techniques, breath, try not to hyperventilate, and keep myself from bumping her with my heels to urge her to go. I did that for the first two years we were together and just got a pissed off horse, frustrated, and stiff calf muscles. Then I found that she was perfectly happy to trot for miles on end if I felt I needed to go faster than a snail crawl.

Today I wanted her to walk and I was surprisingly willing to go slow, very very slow. I want to bring her back into work gradually. She had an aditional 2 months off here, with the added benefit of not being closed in a box and having lots of in line walking time (no circles and turning round and round in a confined box!

But, On the way home we did have a lovely canter. A very wonderful lovely long canter. I love that mares canter! I probably let her canter for too long, over 1/2 mile. But it was bliss. I can't wait till we have our first real flat out run. Annabelle loves to gallop flat out, and she is fast! After our canter I hopped off to lead her while she caught her breath. I love that pony!!

Willie got his Wings (Warning: detailed departure story)

  On the window sill I collected spent needles from Willies large quantity of pain medication. The eye did not improve after 3 weeks of fighting. The Banamin alone was not enough to ease the pain and at the end of the 3rd week, when we halted the butorphenol the eye closed up again. The tears rolled out of his eye continually and on the cold mornings we had that last couple of days there would be tear icicles hanging from the whiskers of his lower lip. Poor old thing. The Vet sedated him and took a scraping from the eye to try and pinpoint what sort of infection we were dealing with. The results were clean. No bacteria, no fungus. And still he just couldn't heal it. What with the increased deterioration of his hocks due to the arthritis he has had for years, the deficient immune system from suffering with cushings for 7 years, and the decreased neurological response in his hind end, we decided it was time to set Willie free.

Sunday morning on a cold but sunny morning.

He went so fast. Dr. Rachel was with me again as she was with Kashmir and Ranger more than 7 years ago now. She has the perfect personality for Veterinarian work like this and the controlled yet compassionate manner for such a scene; She is extremely professional, but very sensitive. She does her job quickly and matter of factly, setting about preparing the various syringes and giving Willie a good dose of tranquilizer to fully relax him. Finally she stands still for a moment and asks if I'm ready, then waits for me to stop trying to find my voice and make the choice to simply nod instead,

she waits for that like she's been there 1000 times,

like she has witnessed that pause 1000 times, that awkward pause when one's attempt to speak the final "OK" always fails,

and she probably has.

The nod finally comes and she nods back, setting her jaw, she goes back to work.

She tells me how good I was to the old horse, as she places the needle in the large vein of his massive neck. She speaks to the horse as she works, and even says: "Your such a good boy" even though he wouldn't let her use the clippers to clear a nice clean spot to get the needle in so that the changes of syringes could be done more easily. Even so she is very fast and smooth. I could have counted the seconds on one hand if I had known at that moment how to count. In willies case she had ~90 ccs of deadly pink serum ready for Willies massive bulk. It only took about 75 I think--I could be mistaken--I was a little distracted. 

We have positioned him far from the truck and the fence line in the middle of the arena, she doesn't know how violently he may react. She hides her apprehension of this uncertainty of the process from me well. She is precise and focused and she is blessedly fast. He started to go and she said be ready to let go now,

He fell without taking a step and never took another breath after he hit the ground. She tells me that it is a sign that he was ready to go. I don't know if that is what she always says, but it is exactly what I need to hear.

She sheds a tear or two, I can hear her sniffles mingled with mine while she listens intently to her stethoscope for any lingering signs of life, and as she taps his eye ball to check for the reflex of a blink.

She finds none, she says that that is "incompatible with life".

Willie has taken flight, he was in a hurry to shed this old worn out shell. (I told him the day before how grand it would be--but not how deeply wrenching it would be for me to share that moment with him). 

Dr. Rachel hugs me long, twice before she leaves, she smiles and that helps too, she wishes me a happy thanksgiving, and this simple everyday gesture reminds me that very soon I will be on the other side of this trauma. Three days later I find a lovely sympathy card from her in my mail box.

Equine Eye Infection

 Willie has an eye infection. The eye is half closed and tearing continually. It's very painful.

There is unceration (a gray film and a couple of white dots over the eyeball).

It likely started with getting something it the eye, scratching the eyball on something etc.

Two weeks of treatment so far and not much improvement. This could go on for months with me working to get meds into Willies eye and Willie working to keep me away from his eye.

The last one he had about 4 years ago did last months, but it wasn't as hard to medicate for some reason. There may come some talk of removing the eye. But that will include much contemplation over how well he will heal from surgery as he has cushings and therefore supressed immune system. And he is 28 years old.

This is what we're doing (me directed by the vet) Week one:

 

The pupil was constricted and that causes more pain. Also continued restriction of the pupil can lead to blindness. The vet used atrophine to open the pupil. Then Willie had to wear his flymask with ductape over the the right 1/2 of it to keep the sun out.

Week Two:

As you can see in week two list we had more trouble with the pupil. And then the worry over the chance that the atrophine would cause a colic episode! It didn't.

The gray film and Willie's pain level keeping the eye half closed, made it real hard to see what the pupil was doing! Then I discovered that the red light on my little LED headlamp looked right through the gray film!! And it didn't cause further Wincing from Willie.

We also added SMZ's to the mix on the second week: 20 twice a day.

This is what poor Willies feed bucket looked like twice a day:

 

From top to bottom:

Two little needless syringes, one with the 2 types of eye drops (#6,7 from above list) mixed together, the other with his own blood serum (#8) to fight any posible  auto-immune response. (those are in the larger plastic capped tube to keep them clean) 

Eye ointments (#3,4). Injectable pain med #1. Injectable pain med #2. The Ointment #5 on the list--never heard of vaginal antifungle being used in the eye. Just goes to show: You learn something new every day.

And the 20 SMZs in the oral syringe. Just visible sticking out from under the plastic bag is a small syringe containing the usual Cushing med (oral pergolide) which he only gets once a day.

Click here for information on preparing SMZs for the oral syringe. 

In case you're interested: Willie eats Blue Seal Vintage Senior (ectruded feed with low sugars) and pelletted hay. He still gets free choice baled hay too. Even though he ends up having to spit out many of the mouthfulls he wads up in his old teeth and finds he cannot swallow, he still loves having it to work on. I know he still gets down a fair amount, and he has not yet choked, so I continue.

If you happen to notice the doses are sort of large, that's because Willie is sort of large, ~1800lbs

Willie is a boarder. He is a retired dressage school horse who's generous owner foots the board and all other bills for this old faithful worker.

Week three starts today. I don't have a new list just directions to repeat the week two list without the butorphanol (pain med #2)