YourHorseInfo

Courtesy of Posterhorse.com

Most horse owners have a regular de-worming program for
their horses. De-worming your horse is vital to your horses
overall health and without a regular program in place
your horse will become a host for parasites. If your horse is
not de-wormed it can cause diarrhea, rapid and/or severe
weight loss, as well as colic, which can be life threatening.

Your horse should be on a regular de-worming routine. Most
people  worm their horses  for parasites such as roundworms,
pin worms, thread worms, stomach worms, lung worms, and roundworms.
Key treatments for specific parasites can be every 6 months  for the
control of bots, tapeworms and the notorious red worm.

Rotation refers to rotating the class of drug you use to
de-worm your horse or horses. The most popular de wormers
fall into three categories:

(1)avermectins (ivermectin and moxidectin)

(2) benzimazoles (Panacur, Anthelcide)

(3) pyrantels (Strongid) and the like.

Personally I use all three of these categories in my rotation
program. In my personal opinion Ivermectin is the best of all
three categories. It is inexpensive and highly effective.
It kills all types of parasites and it is not harmful to your
horse or other animals.

There are literally dozens of types of worms that can infest
your horse, some worms being more prevalent in different
regions of the country and some are more seasonal. Nevertheless
you will need to de-worm your horse to get rid of the parasites
and keep your horse healthy and happy.

Use of a broad spectrum de-wormer will ensure that all the
worms residing in your horse are eradicated. As a rule of
thumb you should de worm your horse every 6-8 weeks. De-wormers
come in pellet form, granules, pastes, and liquids, which will give you a
variety of choices for the most persnickety horse. Don’t forget to
rotate to a different class of de-wormer every other
month or so to get the best coverage for your horse.

If you are uncertain as to what type and/or brand of wormer to
purchase for your horse, you should ask your Veterinarian
for his /or her advice on de-worming your horse.

To Your Horse’s Health,

Michele D. Anderson

Yourhorseinfo.com & Posterhorse.com

If you have ever seen a horse suffering from symptoms of COPD, also called heaves, then you know that the picture is not pretty. The horse can’t breathe properly, respiration is high, nostrils are flared, and then there’s the heave line, a sure sign of respiratory distress.

Although this used to be a horse health care condition that affected mostly older horses, today it has become common in younger performance horses or horses under stress. While it has always been assumed that COPD or horse heaves is caused by an allergy to hay, dust, mold, or other allergens, I recently discovered that this condition can also be simply a sign of stress.

While many people feel that heaves is a permanent condition, this case study demonstrates how the symptoms of heaves can be alleviated with nutritional support.

Reyacita: A Case Study

Reyacita is a four-year-old mustang mare I adopted about 8 months ago. She had a rattle in her chest when I brought her home, and the rattle always sounded louder when she was under stress (such as when I started her under saddle).

A few months after she came home, the rattle in her chest developed into a full-blown case of heaves, or COPD. She had difficulty breathing, and coughed deeply and constantly. She was clearly suffering and she could not eat her hay.

Since this happened in late winter, I could not put her on pasture. Instead, I took her off hay and began feeding her soaked beet pulp and a senior pelleted feed. I also offered her grass hay cubes that had been soaked.

I supplemented this diet with Xango mangosteen juice, blue-green algae, enzymes, and probiotics to help heal her lungs. Within two weeks, the coughing had stopped but the rattle in her chest always reappeared when Reyacita was stressed. A prime example is when I rode her through our small town for the first time. Although she showed no other signs of stress, when we reached an intersection that had traffic, she put her head down and rattled with each breath. As soon as we turned around and headed for home, the rattle disappeared.

The Veterinarian’s Diagnosis

When I consulted veterinarian Dr. Madalyn Ward about Reyacita’s case, she told me that I was on the right track with the mare’s diet and supplements. She asked me to find out Reyacita’s horse personality type by taking the online test at Horse Harmony. Reyacita turned out to be a Metal personality type, whose typical physical weakness is the lungs, so her bout with COPD or heaves was not surprising.

Recent Changes

Once spring arrived I was able to turn Reyacita out on pasture, although I continued to syringe the mix of mangosteen juice and other supplements into her mouth daily. Her health improved to such a point that the rattle in her chest disappeared, even when she was under stress. Everything went well until she started eating hay again this fall.

I wanted to try feeding her hay again to see whether she had truly conquered her COPD or whether she was truly allergic to hay. For the first 4-5 days, she ate the hay and showed no signs of coughing. Then one day I began training all the horses for cowboy mounted shooting. This involved firing a small revolver at a pretty good distance (about 500 yards) from the horses so they could become accustomed to the noise.

None of the horses showed much alarm, they just all moved to the far end of the pen. However, Reyacita immediately developed a deep heaving cough. The noise from the revolver stressed her enough that her physical weakness, her lungs, immediately showed the effects.

When I discussed her situation with Dr. Ward, she pointed out that when Reyacita heard the sound of the pistol, she probably immediately flipped from the parasympathetic nervous system (the one we use in normal life conditions) to the sympathetic nervous system (used when horses are in fight-or-flight mode). Once the sympathetic nervous system kicked in, Reyacita’s immune system became compromised and she started to have heaves again.

Not convinced that Reyacita’s COPD symptoms were due to a hay allergy, Dr. Ward suggested I supplement the mare with Eleviv, an herbal product that supports the adrenal system and helps restore the parasympathetic nervous system. I fed Reyacita 2 capsules of Eleviv the first day but gave her no hay. The Eleviv calmed the COPD symptoms within a few minutes, and she improved more during the course of the day. On the second day, I fed her 2 more capsules of Elviv and offered her a few flakes of hay. Reyacita was able to eat the hay without any COPD symptoms. The third day was the same.

This indicates that Reyacita’s COPD is the result of stress rather than a hay allergy. While many horses with COPD or heaves are assumed to have hay or dust allergies, this may or may not be the case. As with Reyacita, these horses may simply be under too much stress, and their weakest physical link may be their lungs, hence the COPD.

It would not surprise me to discover that many performance horses operate primarily off their sympathetic (fight-or-flight) nervous system, which depresses the immune system and prevents healing. Bringing this horse back around to the parasympathetic nervous system, as I did by giving Reyacita the adrenal-supporting Eleviv, may allow these horses to not only heal but also to feel a great deal more comfortable.

These days I give Reyacita Eleviv anytime I feel she might be under stress, such as when I haul her to a horse event or when I started her on roping training. So far, she has never shown any signs of COPD or stress when supported in this way with nutrition. It’s not for every horse, but Eleviv is definitely something that stays in my first-aid kit in my horse trailer.

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Stephanie Yeh is a zen cowgirl obsessed about horses, healing, natural remedies, herbs, magic, MLM, and more. Check out natural horse care tips, ways to fund your horse obsession, natural health products, and more on her blog ( http://zencowgirl.blogspot.com ) and order XanGo mangosteen products including Eleviv on her website ( http://www.mangosteengood.com ).

Author: Stephanie H. Yeh
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Canada duty

Ah yes, it is truly the season to be merry, to give thanks, and to give gifts. This year I got to pick out my own Christmas gift: a baby Hughie of a horse named Moose.

To make a long story short, Moose (now named Fezzywig) is a 16.2 hand Holsteiner warmblood horse, a 3 year-old gelding, who developed a roach in his back. I had inquired about him early in the year, when he was for sale rather than for adoption, and passed him up.

Then he became available for adoption, his former owner not being able to help him with his roached back, and I just had to take him. I think I can help him, roached back and all.

Case Study: Moose (a.k.a. Fezzywig), the Roach-Backed Horse

So Fezzywig is a gentle giant with a giant hump in his lower back. The hump in his back is pretty significant, although it does not seem to interfere with his gaits, soundness, or movement. Other than that, he seems to have no other health issues or vices.

Based on my conversation with his former owner, I believe that he developed this roach as a result of jumping out of a six-foot tall round pen. He probably sustained some injury after that leap, and I believe his roach back developed as a result of that injury and subsequent internal adhesions.

Fezzywig’s bump, or roached back, is not tender at all, even when you palpate the area with firm pressure. However, he is sensitive on his flanks and abdomen. His last rib is very close to his pelvis on both sides of his body, and I believe this is caused by the roach in his back. Also, his abdomen is very distended and tense, which leads me to believe that when he jumped from the corral, he perhaps tore some muscles and ligaments in his belly, causing his internal organs to “fall down.” This in turn puts pressure on his abdomen, causing it to sink and pulling his pelvis close to his last rib. Hence, the roached back.

Fezzywig’s Horse Health Care Treatment Plan

In terms of horse health care, my goal with Fezzywigis release his internal adhesions, raise his belly, and shift his pelvis back, thus relieving the roach in his back. I also aim to free up his withers, which are lower than his hind end and a bit bound up. To that end, I am doing network chiropractic sessions on him once a week, and Bowen sessions (also called Equine Touch) on him two to three times a week. I’m lucky that I learned these techniques since I would not be able to pay a veterinarian to work on him that often!

Fezzywig responds very quickly and well to the bodywork, although he is sensitive and often moves away from my hands. When he moves away from me, he’s telling me, “That’s enough. I need to process this change.” He licks and chews and yawns frequently during these sessions, which are all signs that his body is processing the changes.

In terms of diet, Fezzywig is getting my regulation “horse goo” made of mangosteen juice, blue green algae, probiotics, and enzymes. He also gets extra enzymes to help him flush out the toxins generated by released adhesions, and a special herbal supplement to help him shift back into this parasympathetic “healing” nervous system. So far, he’s not too keen on the goo, but is willing enough to eat it.

The Veterinarian’s Report

I’ve checked in with Dr. Madalyn Ward, a well-known holistic horse veterinarian and osteopath, and she feels that Fezzywig can be made healthy again, although he may never fully lose that “roached” look. That’s fine by me. There are tons of roach-back horses who live useful working lives, and I feel that Fezzywig can definitely be helped in that direction.

I have not yet assessed Fezzywig’s horse personality type on the Horse Harmony Test website, but I plan to as soon as I get to know him a bit better. This will help me better assess how to restore his health, what to feed him, and how best to manage his care. You may want to check out the Horse Harmony Test website, along with Dr. Ward’s other horse health care websites, which are Holistic Horsekeeping and Horse Harmony.

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Stephanie Yeh is a zen cowgirl obsessed about horses, healing, natural remedies, herbs, magic, MLM, and more. Learn more about the adrenal herb supplement mentioned in this article (Eleviv) and order XanGo mangosteen products, including Eleviv, on her website ( http://www.mangosteengood.com ). Also, check out natural horse care tips, ways to fund your horse obsession, natural health products, and more on her blog ( http://zencowgirl.blogspot.com ).

Author: Stephanie H. Yeh
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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