A Spring Check List For Horses
My friend Ellen is having her large animal vet come out this week and that got me thinking about all the things she should have her vet do while he is at the farm. No need to waste that farm call charge!
The first thing that comes to mind is the Coggins test–a mandatory blood test which screens for Equine Infectious Anemia. This test is required any time a horse is ridden, driven, trucked, or lead down a public road. It is also required for any sale, show, clinic or demonstration. It must be renewed every year.
Along with the Coggins test, several vaccinations are also recommended for your horse. It seems like the list keeps growing every year and that is because they are developing vaccinations for all the new diseases that keep cropping up. Eastern, Western and Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis, tetanus, West Nile virus, Potomac Fever, and Influenza types A1, A2, and KY93, Rhinopneumonitis types EHV-1 and EHV-4, and rabies are all the important ones to me. Other vaccinations are available, but the need for them varies on the situation at your farm. ( I don’t breed horses or have youngsters around so a strangles vaccine wouldn’t be prudent for my money.) Remarkably, all these vaccines are available to residents of Michigan from various stores and catalogs, so you can order them yourself. Of course there is significant risk in vaccinating your own animals and having a veterinarian do it provides much needed peace of mind.
While your vet is there have him/her check your horses teeth for points. Horses chew their food unevenly and develop sharp spots on their teeth that catch the cheeks and create sores. These make the horse reluctant to eat and the horse will either dribble food from his mouth while eating, or stop eating as much and start loosing weight. All that winter hair will cover up weight loss and you might not know what is happening until it is quite severe. So check those teeth regularly even on the younger horses. Magically, riding problems will often disappear when the bit no longer hits a sore spot in the mouth. That is why checking a young horse for tooth troubles is just as important as checking the older ones.
If you have a male horse, have your vet check for a “bean”. A bean is a collection of debris caught in a pocket at the end of the penis that will eventually narrow the urethral opening and shut off the urine stream. This obviously can get to be an emergency and there is no need to wait until your horse cant pee to correct the problem. Although I do not recommend that the sheath be cleaned on a schedule, if a bean is being removed and the horse is already tranquillized, it might be a good time to clean that as well. After all, it is a spring tune up!
Make sure a stethoscope is used to listen to the heart and lungs. If caught early, heaves (a disease similar to chronic asthma in horses) can be managed pretty well giving the horse a good quality of life. Have him/her check the hooves for thrush, and the legs for any obvious underlying bone and/or joint changes as seen in ringbone, splints and bog spavins. Body condition should be assessed and any diet suggestions should be made at that time.
Lastly a discussion on worms needs to take place with your veterinarian. Tell him/her what you are doing for worms both in the horse and in your pastures–you may be surprised at the new information out on worm control. Worms are probably the biggest cause of equine death due to colic so make sure you are doing everything in your power to keep them under control.
The warm weather was great–I am SO ready for spring!
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