It seems forever since I've been riding, what with Max sick; Tommy Boy, Connor and (now) Jack on hoof convalescing; Star is over worked already, and Tango...well, if I just had more time! Mucking, lessons, parties, camps; planning, organizing - and that's just at the barn. I got a whole household to run with 2 teens and one pre-teen, (cats, dogs, birds....the noisiest, messiest, neediest Green-winged Macaw)
Get your horse's teeth floated at least once a year; more if you suspect dental problems might be at the core of training or behavioral issues.
A couple of things I learned this time around:
1. The term floating comes from the fact that once the teeth are properly rasped, the filing tool should "float" over the teeth.
2. Some Equine Dentist Specialist may go too far in smoothing and filing down the teeth. There needs to be some roughness and irregularities or the horse will be unable to effectively grind his food and it will dribble out.
3. In some states (not California) it is a felony for anyone other than a licenced veterinarian to float your horses teeth. And this is a big issue!!
4. In fact, there is a petition to keep it free and safe for non-veterinarian types of equine dentists to work on your horses teeth. (Read the petition - people are very passionate about the issues - although I think this petition has been allowed to languish.)
The GastroGard appears to have done the trick!! Good thing, too, because the next step was to take him to San Luis Rey Equine Hospital for a fiber-optic endoscope (Gastroscope). Wow!! And I thought the GastroGard was expensive!!!!
I did have a few offers of psychic readings - and I was honestly thinking seriously about that!! I was desperate to help Max!
Luckily, Max seems to have responded (slowly) to the GastroGard. He's eating his own food now, and he prefers the tender, green leaves of the alfalfa - I'll give him just about anything as long as he eats!! He probably lost 50 -75 lbs! Everything seems to be coming out the other end just fine, too!
Tired of rotational deworming? Or just like to try something that is perhaps less chemically invasive? less prone to resistant-buildup? In all my years of being around horses, and struggling to keep on a good deworming schedule or dealing with a horse (Max!!) that would rather flip over backwards (almost) than take a dewormer paste, I can't understand why nobody ever told me about diatomaceous earth as a mechanical/physical internal parasite control!!
This stuff does just about everything good and nothing bad!! You gotta love that!!!
Diatomaceous earth is the remains of microscopic one-celled plants (phytoplankton) called diatoms that lived in the oceans and lakes that once covered the western part of the United States. Apparently, it works by slicing open the internal parasite with microscopic razor sharp edges, then the powdery diatoms sucks the life out of the parasite leaving them dehydrated and dead!
I have started top dressing soaked beet pulp with one cup of diatomaceous earth for each horse. This is all part of my move away from processed, sugary feeds and towards formulating a more natural feed based on the horse's individual needs.
Max is still on Gastroguard - sixth day now - and doesn't have the up and down, turning around episodes anymore! Yeah! He is still not eating much, and what little he does eat, he prefers to steal from his neighbors! He has a whole trough full of food untouched, yet he will squeeze his head through the pipe rails (at the expense of his beautiful mane) to pinch a bite from Connor's trough! There must be some psychological battles going on here as well!!
Yes, this looks like your standard case of colic, and he certainly is suffering from some sort of major stomach ache, but I don't think this is your typical "colic".
This horse does not have a history of colic.
Max is a 20 yr. old American Saddlebred; he's been in my care for 8 yrs. Prior to that, he was a lesson horse at L.A. Equestrian Center (or so I'm told). He's had a nice cushy life with me; I've used him on lazy trail rides, and low key arena work - he's high spirited and an alpha horse. Until recently, he was on Bermuda grass and Creekside Life Stages only. With the coming of Joanna the Holistic Natural Hoof Practitioner, his diet has been modified gradually over time to cut out sugars, and move more towards formulating for specific dietary needs, i.e. still mostly Bermuda grass with a mash of soaked beet pulp, biotin, sea kelp, Red Cell.
It started about three weeks ago...
He was out for a lesson and something just wasn't right - he's a fast, forward moving horse, and that day he was notably slow, sluggish...off!
He was put on paddock rest and observed. He hung his head and licked his lips alot. Doctor called out; vital signs all checked out good.
Within a few days, green snot began running out his left nostril. His stance was odd - he stood with his nose almost on the ground with his head tilted to one side. Doctor called out; again all vital signs checked out good, sinuses not terrible congested; and he was put on sulfur based antibiotic SMZ (Sulfamethoxazole 800 mg and Trimethoprim 160 mg) 16 tablets twice a day. In a few days, the green rheumy nose cleared up, but his stance got worse. His eating was off, he began to go down and lay completely flat several times a day. He was still passing good manure and still eating alittle.
Doctor called out; took a blood sample on June 1st (Max had hepatitis about three years ago with similar symptoms); I'm thinking maybe he has hepatitis again, 'coz he's just not getting any better! We got the results the same day - all blood levels normal! Vital signs still normal; gut sounds still fairly normal - considering he's now not eating and looking very gaunt! Doctor thinks maybe ulcers.
On June 2nd, yesterday, we started dosing Gastroguard. This video was taken today, after a second dose of Gastroguard. No improvement in his condition. He's up and down like this several times an hour; and stands with his head to the ground, tilted to one side. Not eating - no manure at all today.
I gave him Banamine tonight after calling the doctor; tomorrow we will oil him. I'm wondering if there is such a thing as chronic colic and if so, what causes it, or more importantly, how do you control it?
Has anybody had similar symptoms with a horse? And what did you do about it? It doesn't really seem like a standard colic, but what else is there that manifests like this?
Test results on Max's blood work show no abnormalities; liver looks good, so not hepatitis. We're going to try Gastroguard for ulcers. Max looks awful - he's up, then down completely supine, 2o times a day. He's not eating. Stomping. Looks very gaunt! I hope this Gastroguard works.
"Horses are not nasty, mean, naughty or malevolent, they are just plain confused and the blame rests fairly on our own shoulders. We have a moral responsibility to train them as best we can." - Dr. Andrew McLean, Australian Equine Behaviour Center.
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"Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily." Johann Friedrich Von Schiller 1759-1805, German Dramatist, Poet, Historian
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