Horse Health

equo sano (Latin) translates to "Healthy Horse"

In a nutsell -- if you know what characterises a healthy horse, then you will be able to recognise when something is wrong.

Horses are generally considered to be in good health when they have these characteristics:

• Normal temperature (37.5 to 38.6 degrees Celsius).

• Mucous membranes: The horse's gums should be moist and a healthy pink colour.

• Capillary refill time: If you press your finger firmly against your horse's gums, the point of pressure should return to a pink colour within one to two seconds.
  

• A healthy horse will pass (solid & round) manure eight to 12 times a day. their urine should be wheat-coloured and either clear or slightly cloudy.

• Hydration: The average horse drinks between five and 10 gallons of water a day, depending on exercise level and weather conditions.

• Healthy appetite.

• Normal pulse (28 to 44 beats per minute at rest).

• Normal respiration: (8 to 16 breaths per minute at rest).
  

• Intestinal sounds: gurgling and gas-like growls are normal. No intestinal sounds or decreased intestinal sounds can be a sign of colic.

• Relaxed attitude, bright eyes and a shiny coat.

• Right weight (not fat, not thin).

• Legs and feet: The horse should stand squarely with its weight evenly distributed over all four feet. Slightly raising and taking the weight off a hind leg is normal, but not for a foreleg. Your horse's legs should be free of bumps, swelling, cuts or hair loss. There should be no heat in the horse's feet.
  

A quick evaluation of your horse can be done in less than 10 minutes. Check your horse(s) daily so you will know what is normal and what's not.

December Health Tips:

Healthy Hooves

1. Pick out your horse's feet regularly: This may sound logical but it's the single most important thing you can do to maintain your horse's hoof-health. Picking out your horse's hooves regularly means you are more likely to detect issues early on, e.g., thrush or an abscess -- before they become a major issue.

* It is a good idea to pick out your horse's hooves before each ride, after your ride (in case something gets stuck in them during your ride), when you bring them in from the paddock to stable them and also before turning them out the next morning.

Each time you clean your horse's hooves, take an extra couple of minutes after you've pried out any packed debris to gently clear the crevice of the frog and scrape any remaining bits of matter off the sole with the tip of the pick. You want to be able to see the sole's entire surface -- so it's a good idea to finish the job with a stiff brush. Some hoof picks come with brush attached or you can buy a brush separately and inexpensively.

2. Establish what is normal: While handling your horse's feet to pick them out, notice their temperature; when everything's okay they will feel 'slightly' warm. Take a moment to locate the digital pulse with two fingers pressed against the back of his pastern; you are interested in the strength of the pulse under normal conditions, not the rate of it. Also check the frog, which should have the texture and firmness of a new rubber eraser when it's healthy. Do not be alarmed if everything seems healthy but the frog appears to be peeling off -- as most horses shed the frog at least twice a year, and sometimes more often. Your farrier's regular trimming of the frog may have prevented you from noticing this natural process.

3. When picking out the feet, look for signs of...

• Thrush. The first clue to this bacterial condition (usually caused by prolonged standing in manure, mud or other wet, filthy conditions, (or even by prolonged use of pads), is a foul smell and dark ooze from the cleft of the frog. Later, the frog becomes cheesy in texture. Although thrush can eventually cause lameness and significant hoof damage, its early stage is simple to treat. Use a product with anti-fungal properties to treat the fungal infection: such as equosano's Anti-Fungal Spray and make sure your horse's stall is clean and dry. If you normally bed with straw, consider a change to much more absorbent shavings. Some horses -- especially those with upright, narrow feet with deep clefts that tend to trap more dirt, debris, and manure, are predisposed to thrush even when well cared for. If you think your horse has an early case, ask your farrier to check.
• Puncture. If a nail or other object pierces your horse's sole and then falls out, the entry wound will probably be invisible by the time you pick out their feet and you will be unaware of it until it causes an abscess. However, in some cases the object remains in place, to be discovered when you brush the last bits of dirt from the sole. In this situation -- DON'T PULL IT OUT. Put your horse in their stall and protect the punctured foot -- helping the foreign object stay put with wrapping and duct tape or with a slip-on medication boot, and then call your veterinarian right away. An X-ray of the foot can show how far the object has penetrated and which structures are involved. If you pick your horse's feet out regularly, you will detect the problem within a few hours of its occurrence -- then your veterinarian can remove the object and advise a course of treatment.
• Cracks. Some cracks are superficial; others can worsen, involving sensitive hoof structures without appropriate shoeing. One cause of a crack is a hoof abscess, which breaks out through the coronet band at the top of the hoof, creating a weak spot in the hoof wall that must be attended to as it grows out. If you notice a crack in your horse's hoof, call your farrier and describe its location and size so he can decide whether it needs attention now or can wait until the next regular shoeing.
• Abscess. If your horse's digital pulse feels stronger than usual and/or their foot is warmer than normal to the touch -- the cause could be an abscess inside the hoof from a badly placed shoeing nail, a bruise or an overlooked sole puncture. Your routine check can alert you to the problem and get your veterinarian or farrier involved before your horse experiences greater pain -- as your horse may be at least slightly lame already on the abscessed foot, which throbs from the pressure of increased blood flow to the infected area. If you find increased heat and a stronger-than-usual digital pulse in both front feet, and if he's shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, call your veterinarian immediately. These are signs of laminitis -- an inflammatory condition that can cause severe hoof damage, and if not treated promptly, can even be fatal.

4. Schedule regular farrier visits according to your horse's individual needs. Although six to eight weeks is the average, there's really no standard interval for trimming and shoeing. If your farrier is correcting an issue such as under-run heels, a club foot or flare in the hoof wall, your horse may benefit from a shorter interval. If everything looks fine but you notice that he begins forging -- striking the back of a front hoof with the toe of a back hoof in the last few days before his next shoeing, ask your farrier whether a shorter schedule might avoid the problem; possibly four to five weeks in the summer and slightly longer in the winter.

5. If your horse is shod, check his shoes each time you pick out his feet. Look out for:

• Risen clinches: The ends of the nails your farrier trimmed and clinched (bent flush with the outer hoof wall) at his last shoeing are now sticking out from the hoof. This is a sign the shoe is loosening, probably because it's been in place for several weeks; he can injure himself if the risen clinches on one foot brush the inside of the other leg.
• A sprung or shifted shoe: When, instead of sitting flat on your horse's hoof, the shoe is pulled away and perhaps even bent -- it's sprung. If it's moved to one side or the other, it's shifted. In either case, the nails in the problem shoe can press on sensitive hoof structures when he places weight on the foot.

6. Learn how to remove a shoe: Many farriers are glad to teach clients how to do this (you can now buy these tools yourself quite cheaply). If you can remove a sprung or shifted shoe, you may save your horse unnecessary pain and hoof damage and make life easier for your farrier or veterinarian.

7. Help your horse grow the best possible hooves. Some horses naturally have better hooves than others. Your horse may already be producing the best hoof he's capable of, or the following steps may enable him to do better:

• Fine-tune his diet: Ask your veterinarian whether your feeding program is appropriate for your horse's nutritional needs.
• Add a biotin supplement to his ration (ask your farrier for a recommendation). Some hooves benefit from these supplements; others show little change. Plan to use the supplement for six months to a year; that's how long it takes any benefits to show up in new hoof growth.
• Give him consistent exercise: Work on good surfaces, especially at walk and trot -- as this increases circulation to your horse's hooves and promotes growth.

8. Avoid the "summer cycle" of alternate soaking and drying of hooves. Your horse's hooves can adapt well over time to conditions that are consistently dry or consistently damp, but hooves suffer when the environment fluctuates between wet and dry. Unfortunately, this is often the situation during the very months when you want to use him the most: late spring, summer, and early autumn. Evening turnout (a summer strategy to avoid biting insects), puts hooves in prolonged contact with dew-soaked grass; they swell and soften with moisture, just as your fingernails soften after hours in water. Back in a dry, hot environment during the day, the hooves dry and contract. With repetition of this cycle, horseshoe nails loosen as their holes through the hoof wall enlarge slightly. Such summer activities as work, stomping flies, or if your horse is restless, walking the fence accelerates the loosening.

There are a couple of things you can do to minimise this pattern:

• Cut back on summer turnout time: Try to reduce by a few hours the time your horse spends standing in a dewy night-time paddock or stomping flies outside during the day.
• Reduce moisture absorption: Avoid hoof conditioners that leave the hoof feeling oily; they can actually soften hoof wall if used frequently, and if applied before your farrier's visit, they can make hooves harder for him to work on.
• Avoid unnecessary baths: Sponging the sweat off your horse after schooling works just as well, without causing him to stand in a puddle for half an hour or more. Save the full-scale bath for just before the show.
• Shorten his summer shoeing schedule: A lost shoe often means hoof damage, which escalates the cycle of summer shoeing problems. Spacing your farrier's regular visits a week or so closer may avoid emergency calls.

9. Avoid turning out your horse in muddy footing: Hours of standing in mud may encourage thrush or scratches (a skin infection in the fetlock area that can cause lameness). Mud is hard on shoes, too: The suction of deep mud can drag off a shoe already loosened by alternating wet and dry conditions. Mud also makes picking up your horse's feet a harder job; if your horse is slow about getting his front feet out of the way, he may end up pulling off the heels of his front shoes because he's stepping on them with his back toes.

10. Protect your horse's hooves during road travel: Without a covering for his heels, he can easily step on the edge of a shoe and pull it partially loose -- then spend the remainder of the journey standing on the nails of the sprung or shifted shoe. Another vulnerable area is the coronet band: the rim of tissue at the top of each hoof that generates new hoof-wall growth. Injury to this area can happen if your horse steps on himself while struggling to keep his balance in a moving trailer -- which can interrupt hoof growth in the area below the affected spot. Good quality, full-coverage Velcro-fastened shipping boots reduce the likelihood of these problems.

Reference:

10 hoof care tips to help keep your horse's hooves healthy. (2002, June 25). Practical Horseman Magazine. Retrieved from https://practicalhorsemanmag.com/health-archive/ten-horse-hoof-care-tips-11352