The Horse

SEP 2017

The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.

Issue link: https://thehorse.epubxp.com/i/858568

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 19 of 51

20 TheHorse.com THE HORSE September 2017 We also know that for strangles (an infection of the upper respiratory tract and lymph nodes caused by Streptococ- cus equi), in particular, some horses are silent carriers. So when you get into that environment with a lot of stress, a silent carrier may start shedding." Wilson suggests potential own- ers looking in these venues check the Equine Disease Communication Center ( equinediseasecc.org) website for recent local disease outbreaks. She says buy- ers should be wary of owners trying to "dump" horses with conditions such as laminitis at auctions. She also cautions buyers to be aware that sometimes sellers at auction adver- tise horses younger than they really are, so it's important to take someone along who knows how to tell a horse's age. Williams says she frequently sees peo- ple acquire horses at auction that aren't as well-trained as they seemed at the sale. Dealers aim for turnover, so many don't keep and work with horses very long to see what they know. "They don't really know the horse's background," she says. "You can ride a horse once and the horse behaves, and you think the horse is a decently broke horse and advertise it as such, but some horses are unpredictable, and they don't behave the same way each time. It's not that they're necessarily willfully misrep- resenting the horse, but I don't think you can really get a good gauge out of one or two rides." Eller says that despite the problem horses at auctions and kill pens, you can find some good animals. "Many healthy young horses who have absolutely no health or behavior problems at all can end up in a kill pen or auction through a series of unfortunate events," she says. Common Problems With Free Horses Let's say you take on a free horse that hasn't had the best of care, or maybe you simply don't know his history. Rehabbing these horses is often your first step. Here are some of the common situations you might face. If the horse was previously neglected, he might be skinny and have overgrown hooves, pressure sores from time spent lying down due to poor health, wounds from overcrowding or poorly main- tained facilities, and skin conditions due to unsanitary conditions and lack of grooming. Eller says some rescue horses have pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction, or PPID (also known as equine Cushing's disease), which is an endocrine disor- der that can cause hirsutism (delayed While you can find some good horses at auctions, beware of own- ers trying to "dump" injured or problem animals. JANIS TREMPER What Does a 'Free' Horse Cost? PART 1

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Horse - SEP 2017