Summer 2006 Newsletter

Welcome to the summer newsletter from Sunrise Equine Veterinary Services. I am excited to introduce our new associate to you. Dr. Kirsten Voigt is a University of Minnesota graduate. She started with us the beginning of July and will soon be out on her own helping to keep your horses healthy. Please welcome her when you meet her at our barn or yours.

Dr. Emily Decker is getting married at the end of August and will be changing her name to Dr. Steele. I am continuing my cancer treatment and am doing well – I even have hair on my head again! Thank you for your well wishes, prayers and cards. Our office staff – Sue, Tina and Julie – remain busy answering your questions and setting up appointments. Lastly, we have had a college student, David, riding with us also 1-2 days a week which has been enjoyable.

Our barn is almost done. The concrete is in, as are the stalls and stocks. The stocks are wonderful for dentals and reproductive work and confining horses that would prefer not to visit with a veterinarian! Bringing your horses to us also saves you money on the farm call. We are planning an open house for this fall so you can see it for yourself.

We appreciate your business and referrals. As always, you can request which doctor sees your horses, but we feel that you will enjoy getting to know Dr. Kirsten Voigt. Enjoy the rest of your summer and get lots of riding in.

We also wanted to include in this newsletter a reminder of the tools we use to help you keep your horse healthy.

Portable x-ray machine: Can be used to help diagnose lameness issues such as coffin bone rotation, arthritis, fractures and thin soles. We can also x-ray the head for tooth fractures or abscesses, or for eye issues.

Portable ultrasound: We most commonly use this for determining pregnancies, but it also valuable to diagnose abscesses beneath the skin, or soft tissue injuries such as tendon lesions in the legs.

Power Float: This is our dental power tool used mainly for correcting major dental irregularities and malformations, but it can also be used for routine dental work.

All of these tools are portable – we can bring them to you, or if you prefer, you can haul your horse to us for these procedures.     Please call our office for more information!!

Sheath cleaning is an important part of caring for male horses, both geldings and stallions. The sheath needs to be cleaned to remove an accumulation of a waxy secretion known as "smegma". Smegma can be very irritating to the sensitive tissues of the sheath and can lead to swelling, infection, and even masses on the prepuce and penis. Smegma beans can also put pressure on the urethra making urination difficult. Having your horse’s sheath cleaned every 6 months or at least once a year will help prevent these problems. In addition, during the cleaning, which is usually done with the horse sedated, your veterinarian is able to fully examine your horse’s penis for tumors. Even with proper cleaning, horses can develop both benign and malignant tumors on their penis and prepuce. Early detection and removal of tumors is essential in the treatment plan.

Why do some horses develop laminitis when they eat grass, while others don’t? When is the best time to let your horse out on pasture and where should you put your overweight horse or pony? These are some questions that are answered by Kathy Watts, an agricultural researcher and consultant. She has developed an excellent website, www.safergrass.org, which discusses these problems and gives good advice based on sound research.

I will mention a few of her findings. It has long been assumed that turning horses out in a lush pasture will cause laminitis, but that overgrazed areas are safe, especially later in the day. This is not true. Plants make sugar by photosynthesis during the day and use it at night. Thus the best time for an overweight horse or pony to graze is actually early in the morning, after the plant has used the accumulated sugars during the night to build cell walls. Plants that are stressed by cool temperatures, drought, salinity or lack of essential nutrients accumulate sugar in the stems and leaves so as to be ready to grow rapidly once the conditions are good again. Horses grazing grasses in these conditions end up eating grasses that are full of these harmful stored sugars.

Why is sugar bad for my horse? If more sugar is present in the grass than the stomach can digest, the sugar overflows to the area where fermentation occurs. This overflow causes a sudden change in the population dynamics of the gut microbes. The lactic acid bacteria have a population explosion, releasing lactic acid. This in turn causes a massive die-off of the microbes, which then release toxins. This toxemia can lead to laminitis, thus the concern. This is similar to what happens when your horses get into grain which we all know is dangerous.

There are also many horses out there with sugar intolerance due to Cushing’s Disease or Insulin Resistance. These diseases can either be caused by having a pituitary gland that doesn’t work well as with Cushing’s or by having a high glucose level as with Insulin Resistance. These horses need to be on a controlled diet just as people with diabetes do. We can do blood tests to diagnose theses diseases and treat these horses to control the clinical signs they develop. The drug of choice is usually pergolide which works by interfering with insulin production.

For horses with laminitis, put them on a dry lot. If you don’t have a dry lot, make one now. Fence off a portion of your pasture small enough that they will eat it down and trample and destroy the grass down to bare dirt. A number of horses can destroy grass in a hurry. Just short, stunted grass is NOT enough! It must be BARE DIRT. Once you can put your horse back on pasture, reintroduce them to the grass slowly and early in the day. Remember, just as "bad" food has become too easy for us to obtain (fast food), sugar rich grass has become too available for horses.

Keep our phone number and first aid kit handy. See our website for a list of things to stock in your first aid kit! By acting quickly, you can minimize the consequences of an injury or illness. Your horse’s health depends on you!

Arthritis in Horses

Arthritis can be a career ending condition both in people and horses. Arthritis develops when joints become injured either from wear and tear or from a specific injury. The components of a joint include bone, which is covered with cartilage, and joint fluid. The cartilage acts as cushioning and the joint fluid acts as the lubricant. With an injury, the cartilage may become torn or worn leading to bone on bone. There is usually pain and the joint may be enlarged as the body tries to help by making more lubrication. Unfortunately, this extra lubrication is much thinner and is less effective.

Arthritis is usually seen on x-rays. There are several components to treating an arthritic joint. The aim is to decrease the inflammation in the joint, improve the quality of the joint fluid, and if possible, have the cartilage heal. If the body has already put down big bone spurs on the edge of the joint, the prognosis is not as good; but caught early, appropriate medications can help the joint heal. Adequan is one of these medications as it helps with cartilage healing. Luitpold, the company which makes Adequan, has even done a study using it as a preventative in Thoroughbreds before they start their training. The number of joint injuries were decreased in the small group of horses in the trial.

If your horse is limping, don’t wait to call your vet. Early treatment has a higher rate of success.