Horse Health Topics
Equine Flu Epidemic
There's always an epidemic of something, somewhere. I've read on the internet there are entire continents devoid of humans because of "swine flu", "bird flu", "Asian flu". What...there aren't? I guess there's no vaccine for paranoia. Biosecurity is a fairly new term...
Veterinary Medical News
Technology, leader of that schizophrenic dance between wonder and abject, hair-pulling aggravation, is the source of an amazing body of new information. Much of the new stuff is true, but some of it is fiction, so the internet is not always our friend. My job is to...
Hot Days Hot Horses
It's hot. Of course it's hot, it's August. I love it when somebody says: "but it's a dry heat". Yeah, so is a convection oven. I can suffer indoors by the air conditioner with a frosty beverage in my hand. My horses don't have that luxury. However, we must remember...
It’s Just A Scratch
Some things in life are not always as they initially appear. For example, "Buy one get one free" may imply a "gift", but it really means they just sold you twice as many as you wanted. Although horses seldom mislead us like this, there are groups of various problems...
Milk Maids, Spoiled Wine and Dead Chickens
I was vaccinating a horse the other day, something I do on a real regular basis. This particular patient was unique, and his reluctance to see the benefits of preventive medicine, also known as “needle shyness” had distracted me. This is not usually a dangerous...
Stallion Hygiene and The Farmer’s Wife
For most folks, spring is a favorite time of year. Many parts of the season serve as a reminder of the cycle of life and its renewal, but the sight of new foals cavorting around contented mares is definitely my favorite. If you have never been around a horse breeding...
How much protein should I feed my adult horse?
Nutrition Basics: Protein and the feed tag dilemma. By Madison Seamans MS DVM Did you ever read the tag on a bag of horse feed? For me the tags were confusing because they had lots of numbers, but no pictures. Tags on some products can be downright scary-- read the...
What should I do for my horse with a cough and/or runnynose?
It’s just a cough? By Madison Seamans MS DVM Respiratory disease in horses, aka “the snots”, “the crud”, “barn cough”, “strangles”, “distemper”, “pneumonia”, “rhino”—all describe symptoms seen in different equine diseases. Some horse health problems are pretty...
How often should my horses’ feet be trimmed and/or shod. What is “normal”?
They taught us a lot of things in vet school. We spent the first year just studying anatomy and physiology—the thought being if you don’t know what “right” looks like, you can’t know what “wrong” is. It didn’t seem real important at the time. We were all eager to get...
Is there a link between fat, cresty-necked horses and founder/laminitis?
Fat Horses, Thrifty Hogs and Foundered Mares By Madison Seamans MS DVM It’s spring! We know this because the irrigation water is flowing, there’s bugs on the windshield, the air smells like skunk, (I don’t know why skunks feel the need to perfume the air more this...
Do I need anything special for my horse this winter?
Winterizing Horses By Madison Seamans MS DVM Fall. You know it is here even if there is no thermometer handy. Horses, with tails over their backs floating over frosted grass, steam forced from flared nostrils like they really are the fire-breathers they think they...
What do I do if my horse is cut?
“The bleeding is just about stopped. Is it clotting or is he runnin’ out of blood?” By Madison Seamans MS DVM Although the average thousand pound horse has about ten gallons of blood, there’s really no such thing as “a little” hemorrhage—especially if it is from your...
Hoof Growth
They taught us a lot of things in vet school. We spent the first year just studying anatomy and physiology—the thought being if you don’t know what “right” looks like, you can’t know what “wrong” is. It didn’t seem real important at the time. We were all eager to get...
Equine Health Information
We have a special bond with our horses. Learn how to properly care for your horse's health with these equine health tips!
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