Integrity's Haven Equine Rescue Centre Society-IHERC-Non Profit

12/09/2024

⚠️The horses need your help now.

Bill C-355 is currently being debated in the Senate, with a vote to follow, which will determine if it moves on to committee.

Senators need to know how Canadians feel!

Huge thanks to Jann Arden and the team who have made contacting senators even easier for you - with 2 options to make your voice heard!

OPTION #1
Simply fill out the form with your address, name and email. It will send the form letter to one Senator in your area. Fast and easy!

OPTION #2
Scroll down the page for the list of Senators and their contact info. Make a phone call... send personal emails.

➡️ https://horsesh*t.ca/contact-your-politician/ ⬅️

12/06/2024

Animal rights groups have been working to pass a new bill that would ban the export of live horses for slaughter. But the bill has been stalled in the Senate, prompting Canadian celebrities like Jann Arden to sign a letter demanding senators pass it.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1GzKEtYMvN/

Animal rights groups have been working to pass a new bill that would ban the export of live horses for slaughter. But the bill has been stalled in the Senate...

12/05/2024

KINDLY DONATE IF YOU CAN. THANK YOU.

We are an animal rescue centre & sanctuary located in Chester Basin, Nova Scotia helping animals just like Ruby in this picture. Thank you

12/04/2024

Comparative neurobiology of horse and human.

Horses and humans are both mammals.
Our brains may not be the same size, but they are almost identical in their structure and function.

Why can our brains look so similar but our behaviours and sensitivity to the world look so different?

The area in the picture highlighted is the prefrontal cortex or the (PFC). Its job in humans, horses, dogs, dolphins, elephants, cats, mice, rats, all mammals, and even birds is to carry out "higher executive functions" such as:

🧠 problem solving
🧠 decision making
🧠 reasoning
🧠 risk assessment
🧠 forward planning
🧠 impulse control
🧠 intention

Obviously, these executive functions are more advanced in humans than in other species of mammals, but this part of the brain plays a pivotal role in higher levels of learning beyond primal behaviours and learning survival skills.

So why aren't we seeing these higher executive functioning skills and behaviours in horses as much as what we see them in dogs, dolphins, elephants and even birds?

Ultimately it comes down to safety!

The latest neuroscience research suggests that when the brain feels unsafe it causes the body to produce stress response hormones and these stress response hormones cause the PFC to go "offline".
This means that subcortical regions of the brain (deeper parts of the brain) such as the primal brain (AKA limbic system, survival brain, flight/fight brain) completely take over to increase the chances of survival.

Feeling unsafe causes the feeling of fear and it is fear that gets this party started.

So behaviours come from two areas:

1. The PFC, carrying out problem solving skills, reasoning, impulse control, forward planning etc. that may be interpreted as "obedience" and "partnership".

2. The primal brain, carrying out reactive survival behaviours. This brain does NOT carry out impulse control, forward planning, problem solving, etc. It just reacts to the world. This brain heavily relies on patterns and consistency. This brain will cause freeze/flight/fight behaviours such as shutting down, bolting, biting, rearing, bucking, kicking, barging, etc.

Which brain is the domesticated horse spending most of it's time in?
It's primal brain!

This is why we don't get to see their full intellectual and cognitive potential because most of the time, domesticated horses are perceiving their world in a fearful way to some degree.

We can help our horses with this!

Feeling fearful is the OPPOSITE to feeling calm.
If we want to help our horses access their PFC then we MUST do whatever it takes to help them feel calm.

☝️ ONLY when a brain feels calm can it slow down enough to develop TRUE confidence. Only when the brain feels confident will it access TRUE cognition (PFC).

☝️ We first need to understand that when we get "bad behaviour" from our horses, it's not intentional or naughty or rude. What you are seeing is either a horse that is just reacting to the fear they feel or they are carrying out their "coping mechanism" in response to their anticipation of feeling fear.

☝️ Try to remove expectations that your horse should "know better".
"Knowing better" implies that all behaviours are coming from the PFC and there should be some impulse control and reasoning. Unless your horse feels calm, they can't access the PFC to "know better".

THIS STARTS WITH YOU!!!

You need to be consciously aware if YOU feel calm first. If you feel calm, your horse will have a better chance at feeling calm. Expecting them to feel calm when you don't is unfair.

The best way to create calmness is to intentionally be SLOW!!!
SLOW EVERYTHING you do down.
SLOW your movement down.
SLOW your talking down.
SLOW your walking down.
SLOW your breathing down.
SLOW your horse down.
If you feel too slow, then you're going slow enough.

Calmness is slow, not fast.

This will help you and your horse to connect and feel safe together.
When the brain feels stressed, the stress response hormones cause the body to speed up.

Stress = speed

We can reverse engineer this process and create a calm mind through slow intentional movement and a relaxed posture.

The by-product of a calm brain is confidence and cognition (PFC access).

Happy brain training 🧠
Charlotte 😊

Photo: Credit: Adult horse (equine) brain, sagittal section. Michael Frank, Royal Veterinary College. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

12/03/2024

We have some VERY exciting news!! 🤩🎉

Our 15th Feeds'n Needs store in the Maritimes will be opening in Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia!! Keep an eye out for our opening date announcement! 🐕🐈🐴🐔🐷🐹🥕🧤👒🌷🐾🐦🐄🐏

12/03/2024

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/m/124543

12/02/2024

12/01/2024

Funds raised by this raffle will help off set feed, housing, hoof care, and veterinary/medical expenses. (Draw Jan 1 2025)
https://www.rafflebox.ca/raffle/iherc-december2024
https://www.integrityshavenequinerescuecentre.ca/donate

Join thousands of community organizations - big and small - who raise more funds for their worthy causes with Rafflebox.

11/30/2024

Two months today.
He is up 138 pounds ❤️

11/16/2024

Odie enjoying his MagnaWave Therapy. So much so he was drooling and falling asleep.

11/16/2024

Fresh pasture provides an abundance of vitamin E but hay is devoid of vitamins after harvesting.

My horses have always been on VE supplementation during the winter & since moving to Arizona they have been on it full time.

However as of late I’m learning it’s not enough. 😖

The NRC recommends a daily intake of about 1000 IU per day for the average horse in light work, although many experts insist this should be higher.

I typically provide 2-3000 IU to my horses depending on their workload however after my best boy Prowler displaying odd and unusual behavior, off to the vet we went.

Over the last few months he has been becoming unpredictable, overreacting at the smallest thing, feeling out of control even at a trot & exploding for no reason (the latter resulted in bucking me off very badly).

After cervical xrays, ultrasounds, THO & hyoid scopes, the vet came up with nothing. But she agreed something was “wrong” as Prowler seemed to have vision impairment & failed his baseline neuro exam.

We started with running blood work for EPM which came back negative, so her next idea was testing for Vitamin E through which we uncovered he is dangerously low in this essential piece of nutrition. 🏥

Symptoms of VE deficiency that look like other common problems:
🩺Eye & vision changes aka: becoming spooky, reactive or nervous
🩺Muscle pain & stiffness: we often reach for the magnesium here
🩺Dry/damaged coat: more omegas are typically toted as the answer
🩺Neurological problems: often we reach for trial treatment of EPM & Lyme.

Untreated - vitamin E deficiency can cause severe issues including permanent vision problems as well as equine motor neuron disease and equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (this is fatal).

Although we finally have a direction of Prowler’s problems, now begs the question if we found it soon enough. For me, as the ever advocate of prehab & prevention, it feels like I’ve failed my horses once again by having to learn the hard way.

He’s now on 10,000IU of natural VE per day and we will retest in 3 months 🙏 Natural VE is also the key, with liquid form being more bioavailable than powder, but both are better than synthetic. If you do feed a powder it is essential to feed an oil alongside it for optimal absorption.

Running testing for vitamin E will become a regular part of my veterinary workups for all my horses - how about you?

11/14/2024

Coming into winter and many people are changing/thinking about changing their feed regime so I thought this post was well worth a re-visit. Sugarbeet seems to be a bit of a ‘marmite feed’…which side of the fence are you?? 👇🏻👇🏻

🌟Tuesday Topic - Sugarbeet🌟

I thought I’d take a moment to talk about this seriously under-rated and misunderstood feed. All too often people say to me they are nervous of feeding sugarbeet, they think it’s the equivalent of rocket fuel for their horse and have been told to avoid it. So let’s look at some of the facts about sugabeet;

Sugarbeet is a non-heating highly digestible source of energy and fibre.

Unmolassed sugarbeet has a very low sugar content of 5-6% compared to molassed sugarbeet which is approx 23%

The British Hores Feeds Speedibeet is unmolassed and is an approved feed suitable for Laminitics.

Sugarbeet’s fibre content is highly digestible (much more so than hay) and is fermented in the hindgut therefore more sympathetic to the horses digestive system than starchy cereal grains. It also provides similar energy levels of approx 11MJ (megajoules) /kg than many cereal based mixes hence why sugarbeet is often referred to as a ‘superfibre’.

It is high in calcium therefore useful for younger horses or to help balance the calcium:phosphorus ratio

It acts as a excellent buffer for mixing powdered supplements

It is a useful way to increase water intake as once soaked sugarbeet is approx 85% water.

It can be used as a partial hay replacer for poor doers or those with dental problems and similarly unmolassed sugarbeet can be used for good doers as an excellent source of fibre whilst supplying minimal calories.

Some horses can find unmolassed unpalatable or take a bit of time to get used to it but generally over time they will get used to the texture.

It MUST be fed as part of a fully balanced diet because it’s vitamin and mineral content is minimal,

Overall unmolassed sugarbeet is a fabulous and versatile feed that we need to stop being scared to use, it has so many benefits.

11/04/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/FudV1bKfRBWCDRSz/

IS RAIN ROT A FUNGAL OR A BACTERIAL DISEASE?

Rain rot (or rain scald) is the common name for a contagious BACTERIAL skin disease called dermatophilosis. It's caused by the bacterium "Dermatophilus congolensis," which thrives during wet seasons and in geographical locations with high precipitation and humidity. It can also develop after horses have sweat under blankets or tack, and equines with compromised immune systems are more susceptible.

Why should you not mistake rain rot for a fungal disease?
Antifungal medications and topicals have no effect on the bacteria responsible for rain rot, therefore diagnosing the condition correctly is very important!

How does rain rot happen?
The bacteria infects the hair follicles and damages the hair follicle and shaft; the hair will then pull out in small clumps leaving pink skin or purulent scabs behind (pro tip: your horse will NOT thank you for picking at them!) If you do not address the factors that promote the right bacterial environment (for example, you always leave your horse to stand outside in the rain without shelter or the protection of a waterproof rug), rain rot can keep recurring. If left untreated, the condition can even progress to a point where it opens the door for more serious, secondary skin infections.

If you suspect your horse has rain rot, be sure to consult your veterinarian on the best treatment plan based on the severity of your horse's case. While there are a million products that can be found in your local tack store, your horse doctor may have cause to prescribe a specific course of action.

11/02/2024

Pearl and Odie enjoying their first MagnaWave Therapy Session with Lauren Litle of JCL Equine Wellness.

11/01/2024

Urge the senate to take action immediately to ban live horse export for slaughter by sending a quick letter today.