Hoof & Whole Horse Rehab

17/05/2024

01/04/2024

5% discount off all muzzles. Enter code MUZ5 in the coupon box at the end of the checkout - www.urbanhorse.com (the discount ends at midnight 9th April 2024)

Urban Horse - Bringing A Natural Balance Back To Horse And Rider. Urban Horse supplies a complete range of natural products for the barefoot and bitless horse and rider, including hoof boots, hoof trimming tools, bitless bridles, ba****ck pads, horsemanship equipment, slow feeders for horses and alt...

23/03/2024

Approximately 5-20% of newborn foals are diagnosed with failure of passive transfer and are at risk for developing serious medical conditions.

18/03/2024

SURE FOOT is headed across the pond to the UK!
Two Practitioner Workshops coming in May!
Learn more here:
May 4th & 5th
https://info.murdochmethod.com/ukworkshop2024
May 11th & 12th
https://info.murdochmethod.com/ukworkshop2024-0

19/02/2024

One really fascinating finding in Scout's dissection was an adhesion between his liver and diaphragm!

This adhesion, made up of string-like, fibrous scar tissue, was positioned near his girth area and we believe it was the main cause of his broncing issues; not only would the adhesion have been extremely painful, but it would have restricted his ability to breath and move properly.

While we weren't able to find a horse diagnosis, we did find big similarities to a condition in humans called Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome. While this condition primarily occurs in woman, it has also shown in males through lymphatic or hematological spread. Common symptoms include severe pain in the upper right area (quadrant) of the abdomen, fever, chills, headaches, and a general feeling of poor health.

This adhesion was potentially the catalyst for his immune system disfunction (he had some major issues going on in his gut and joints which would not have been picked up in x-rays), or the result of an inflammtory issue, and it shows, yet again, that there is always a reason behind 'poor' behaviour. Just because we can't see it, or pick it up through examinations, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist deeper down.

This watch Scout's whole journey, including his behavioural 'issues' and full dissection findings, please subscribe to www.amandawilsontraining.co.nz.

12/02/2024

Something to think about.....

Laminitis…. a pain in the neck?
Laminitis causes a change in the nerves themselves as they respond to the stress of the laminitic event. During a laminitis event the nerves in the last cervical vertebrae of the neck, situated deep within the shoulder blade of the horse, are changed and actually suffer damage rather than just becoming inflamed, which makes the pain of laminitis difficult to control. The injury to the sensory nerves can be a reason why laminitis pain becomes chronic, with the horse suffering from repeated bouts of lameness even after the original bout of laminitis has been resolved. The nerve injury also causes a change in the behaviour of horses causing them to become withdrawn and spend a longer time at the back of the box.
Herbs offer a good alternative to bute as many can reduce nociceptive pain, the best nerve pain relieving plants are those containing high levels of triterpenes and quinovic acid glycosides such as turmeric and rosemary.
Offering a cocktail of anti-oxidant plants helps to alleviate the damage of laminitis as it affects many structures including the circulation, hoof tissue as well as the unmyelinated nerves.
Jones, E., Viñuela-Fernandez, I., Eager, R. A., Delaney, A., Anderson, H., Patel, A., ... & Fleetwood-Walker, S. M. (2007). Neuropathic changes in equine laminitis pain. Pain, 132(3), 321-331.

06/02/2024

Senior horses with PPID need careful monitoring and preventive care because of equine Cushing’s effects on immunity, exercise tolerance, thermoregulation, and wound healing.

05/02/2024

25/01/2024

This is why short toes and frequent trims are important. 'They don't look like they need a trim' is usually incorrect. By not keeping toes short your horse changing it's bone structure.

15/01/2024

Here’s what you need to know about turnout location, fencing, footing, and enrichment for horses on smaller properties.

06/12/2023

05/12/2023

Interesting study on haynets

**It’s not all about hole size! **

There is a post circulating widely on Facebook suggesting that small hole haynets are directly responsible for causing significant gum damage in equines. Whilst this might occur under some circumstances, unfortunately it is not as simple as blaming just the haynet hole size.

Are you considering how easily your forage breaks before selecting the net you are going to provide it in?

The fracture properties of hay and haylage (e.g., how easily it breaks when pulled) has a strong influence on the pressures used to extract the forage from nets (regardless of the size of the hole) and ultimately therefore the risk the equine is exposed to regarding the potential for dental or gum damage.

Hodgson et al., (2022) demonstrated that equines pull harder to extract haylage (average 300 Newtons) from small hole nets when compared to hay (average 74 Newtons), even if the hay is in a double net (average 156 Newtons). This is because the fracture properties between the hay and haylage in this study were different, with the hay fracturing much easier than the haylage.

Hodgson et al (2022) also demonstrated that pull pressures were significantly higher when nets were hung low, compared to high (30cm above the withers) and that pull pressure was significantly higher if nets were fixed at two points.

So, it’s not ALL about the hole size of your net which is important. When considering the right net, you must first consider how easy it is to fracture the forage you intend to feed and the height you are providing the forage noting that even some hay is hard to fracture.

Putting a small hole net on easy to fracture forage which is somewhat elevated off the ground with wide accessibility will require the equine to exert significantly less forces to extract the forage, than putting a small hole net on difficult to fracture forage provided lower to the ground with limited points to access.

Indeed, in a study published in May this year, Johnson et al., showed that the use of relatively small hole hay nets (4.45cm openings) on large round bales did not have any negative impacts on dental and gum health over a one-year period of time.

Worth noting:
Because of the higher pressure needed to pull forage with low “fractureability”, counter-intuitively more of this type of forage will be extracted per bite (when compared to high fracture forage) and therefore more grams per minute consumed, despite less bites per minute.

In contrast, because of the lower pressure needed to pull forage with high “fractureability”, less of this type of forage is extracted per bite and less grams per minute consumed, despite higher bites per minute.
So equines observed to be taking lots of little successful bites from a small hole haynet are not necessarily consuming more than those observed to take less bites.

In the photo you can see a small hole haynet with easy to fracture hay tied in a position slightly above the wither.

Hodgson S, Bennett-Skinner P, Lancaster B, Upton S, Harris P, Ellis AD. Posture and Pull Pressure by Horses When Eating Hay or Haylage from a Hay Net Hung at Various Positions. Animals (Basel). 2022 Oct 31;12(21):2999. doi: 10.3390/ani12212999. PMID: 36359123; PMCID: PMC9659009.

Johnson L, Martiinson K, Keener L, DeBoer M. A preliminary study: Effect of hay nets on horse hay usage, dental wear, and dental conditions in mature adult horses. 2023 May 124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jevs.2023.104366

04/12/2023

26/11/2023

Question

Is it safe to graze horses after a killing frost? What do I need to consider before turning them back out on pasture? Also, what defines a killing frost?

Response

A killing frost (or hard freeze) refers to a frost that is severe enough to end the growing season. The National Weather Service defines a hard freeze when temperatures fall below 28ºF for a few hours.

We recommend keeping horses off pastures for 7 days after a killing frost. Frost-damaged pastures are higher in nonstructural carbohydrates because plants can not use up their stored carbohydrates as efficiently. It can take plants 7 days to return to more normal nonstructural carbohydrate levels. Higher levels of nonstructural carbohydrates can lead to an increase risk for laminitis, especially in horses diagnosed with or prone to obesity, laminitis, Cushings, and Equine Metabolic Syndrome.

The decision to graze again after a killing frost depends on the condition of your pasture. After a killing frost, no additional regrowth of the pasture will occur, even though the pasture might appear green in color. If your cool-season grass pasture is

✅ taller than 3 to 4 inches, then grazing can resume 7 days after a killing frost and can continue until the pasture is grazed down to 3 to 4 inches.
❌ shorter than 3 to 4 inches, then no grazing should occur after a killing frost.

The 3- to 4-inch minimum height recommendation is necessary to help maximize winter survival and can help predict a vigorous and healthy pasture come spring. We do recognize horses rarely graze uniformly and pastures tend to have areas of both over and under grazing. Therefore, owners need to base decisions on the average appearance of the pasture.

25/11/2023

Fat is not healthy.....

13/11/2023

Look out for yourself and friends at the yard

Top 9 things horse riders need to know about first aid for hypothermia. How to recognise and treat signs of mild hypothermia

02/11/2023

😲 wow.

01/11/2023

Hehe trimmer of the day today. Me and Miss April in a rarely taken photo!

Find details about Becky Ferry and other UK based Barefoot Trimmers

26/10/2023

This is a good point, & why I ask for horses to be dry & in a dry place when I visit....

25/10/2023

This summarises the reason why I ask horses to be dry & in a dry area.

21/10/2023

Might be an interesting event; https://ivesleyequestrian.co.uk/events/event/1267-strangles-talks-and-q-a-with-redwings-and-intervacc?fbclid=IwAR0qR6KULeJTkMBIEW7acLxnjpAybEMzLT1zvOvLxM_fo8Y0ENpz6JLeJxM

Strangles - Lessons Learned and Q&A with Redwings and Intervacc On 27th June 2023, we had the news that every yard owner dreads: a horse on livery here had tested positive for Strangles. Within an hour we had anxious liveries, staff, competitors, vi [...]

08/10/2023

The feet don't just affect the feet!

29/09/2023

27/09/2023

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.