The Village Horse Doctor

The Village Horse Doctor Dr. Madison Seamans is an equine specialty veterinarian (and lifelong horseman)

Equine Snobbery Syndrome (ESS)   Good morning fellow, crazed horse fanatics. Some of you may have noticed my absence ove...
09/23/2024

Equine Snobbery Syndrome (ESS)
Good morning fellow, crazed horse fanatics. Some of you may have noticed my absence over the last few weeks, some of you may have been glad about it! I have been horse camping with my lovely bride, some really good horses and two questionable canines loosely termed “Jack Russell Terrorists” (the spelling here is not a mistake, think about that for a minute—anyone associated with one of these furry little fireballs can relate to this) We meet some fine folks on the trails and in various horse camps we have visited in our extensive travels throughout the western states of this great land. I have seen some outstanding horses in my travels, and a few that may be considered not so good. But now, I have a confession to make: I have been plagued, afflicted, and infected with an old mental disorder with a brand-new name: Equine Snobbery Syndrome (ESS). This is not Equine Racism (ER), a disease that makes you think YOUR favorite breed is far superior to all other breeds. No, ESS is worse, much worse. Victims of ESS think their horse is superior to every other horse alive. Yes, it's true, I have it…at least, I DID have it.
A few years ago, Annette and I took a trip to the Holy Land. Apart from a spiritual and geopolitical awakening (we will leave those for another place and time) I was able to self-diagnose ESS when I was in—where else—the Holy Land.
One of many amazing things we did was ride horses through the ancient stone city of Petra, in modern day Jordan. Although I was officially a tourist, the vet part of me took hold as I was observing these amazing "dude horses" at work packing tourists through this fantastic setting. Guess what breed they were? Take your time, I'll wait.... If you guessed Arabians, you should be on Jeopardy!
Several things were obvious here. First, most of these horses were small and absolutely NOT the kind 81.6% of Americans would ever consider owning. They were not "poor" by my estimation, but there were no fat horses in Jordan. They work hard every day, packing saddles--a cobbled up mixture of old McClellans, or ancient cheap western saddles with iron stirrups and homemade cinches of an undetermined material-- that none of us would have even as a "decoration" on a fence, much less on a horse. And they dutifully packed dudes that have probably never ridden anything other than something mechanical in front of the grocery store. They survived on forage we would not use as bedding.
Yet, despite all the apparent hardships, these hardy creatures worked all day, every day. Never balking, never shying, never "complaining" under conditions most barn-fed, deep stall-bedded, groomed to perfection, pampered American horses cannot imagine. I saw about fifty of these magnificent beasts and noticed none that were exquisitely groomed, bathed, or clipped, but otherwise well-kept and had absolutely NO lameness. The most impressive part of these horses was that all were well shod, with small, hard, and perfectly conformed feet…and I do mean perfectly formed. I did see two horses that had hind distal limbs wrapped for what I suspect was suspensory desmitis, but all were moving sound.
In the past, I have been guilty of judging some horses as "inferior". I have heard (but I am NOT guilty of) some horses referred to as "junk". But I was reminded of Tom Smith, the real live trainer featured in the 2003 film "Seabiscuit" who was rehabbing an old grey 'nag' too lame to race anymore. His line: "no use throwing away a perfectly good life just 'cuz you're bunged up a bit"” just about gut-punched me. It was then that I realized I suffer from ESS. Thanks to my visit with the hardy little Jordanian dude horses, I am cured—or, at least in remission.
So next time I am tempted to look down my nose at a horse, any horse, I need to remember the image this little story has conjured up. I am thankful for horses, even more now than before. These willing partners have carried mankind in exploration of the entire world, packing our possessions, our families, and our pioneering spirit to places we would not likely see without ‘em. They have plowed our fields, helped harvest our crops and carried us into battle without thought of political motives that brought them there. They may not always think like we do, but they have no "agenda" other than to survive and--if we treat them properly--to serve us.
This trip to Jordan has been life-altering on several levels. This should not have required an airplane trip halfway around the world to receive this particular lesson, as I can learn a lot from a horse right here in the mountains. All I gotta do is pay attention. That’s what I think, anyway.
Strive for perfection, accept only excellence, ride with purpose.
Equine Snobbery Syndrome (ESS)
Good morning fellow, crazed horse fanatics. Some of you may have noticed my absence over the last few weeks, some of you may have been glad about it! I have been horse camping with my lovely bride, some really good horses and two questionable canines loosely termed “Jack Russell Terrorists” (the spelling here is not a mistake, think about that for a minute—anyone associated with one of these furry little fireballs can relate to this) We meet some fine folks on the trails and in various horse camps we have visited in our extensive travels throughout the western states of this great land. I have seen some outstanding horses in my travels, and a few that may be considered not so good. But now, I have a confession to make: I have been plagued, afflicted, and infected with an old mental disorder with a brand-new name: Equine Snobbery Syndrome (ESS). This is not Equine Racism (ER), a disease that makes you think YOUR favorite breed is far superior to all other breeds. No, ESS is worse, much worse. Victims of ESS think their horse is superior to every other horse alive. Yes, it's true, I have it…at least, I DID have it.
A few years ago, Annette and I took a trip to the Holy Land. Apart from a spiritual and geopolitical awakening (we will leave those for another place and time) I was able to self-diagnose ESS when I was in—where else—the Holy Land.
One of many amazing things we did was ride horses through the ancient stone city of Petra, in modern day Jordan. Although I was officially a tourist, the vet part of me took hold as I was observing these amazing "dude horses" at work packing tourists through this fantastic setting. Guess what breed they were? Take your time, I'll wait.... If you guessed Arabians, you should be on Jeopardy!
Several things were obvious here. First, most of these horses were small and absolutely NOT the kind 81.6% of Americans would ever consider owning. They were not "poor" by my estimation, but there were no fat horses in Jordan. They work hard every day, packing saddles--a cobbled up mixture of old McClellans, or ancient cheap western saddles with iron stirrups and homemade cinches of an undetermined material-- that none of us would have even as a "decoration" on a fence, much less on a horse. And they dutifully packed dudes that have probably never ridden anything other than something mechanical in front of the grocery store. They survived on forage we would not use as bedding.
Yet, despite all the apparent hardships, these hardy creatures worked all day, every day. Never balking, never shying, never "complaining" under conditions most barn-fed, deep stall-bedded, groomed to perfection, pampered American horses cannot imagine. I saw about fifty of these magnificent beasts and noticed none that were exquisitely groomed, bathed, or clipped, but otherwise well-kept and had absolutely NO lameness. The most impressive part of these horses was that all were well shod, with small, hard, and perfectly conformed feet…and I do mean perfectly formed. I did see two horses that had hind distal limbs wrapped for what I suspect was suspensory desmitis, but all were moving sound.
In the past, I have been guilty of judging some horses as "inferior". I have heard (but I am NOT guilty of) some horses referred to as "junk". But I was reminded of Tom Smith, the real live trainer featured in the 2003 film "Seabiscuit" who was rehabbing an old grey 'nag' too lame to race anymore. His line: "no use throwing away a perfectly good life just 'cuz you're bunged up a bit"” just about gut-punched me. It was then that I realized I suffer from ESS. Thanks to my visit with the hardy little Jordanian dude horses, I am cured—or, at least in remission.
So next time I am tempted to look down my nose at a horse, any horse, I need to remember the image this little story has conjured up. I am thankful for horses, even more now than before. These willing partners have carried mankind in exploration of the entire world, packing our possessions, our families, and our pioneering spirit to places we would not likely see without ‘em. They have plowed our fields, helped harvest our crops and carried us into battle without thought of political motives that brought them there. They may not always think like we do, but they have no "agenda" other than to survive and--if we treat them properly--to serve us.
This trip to Jordan has been life-altering on several levels. This should not have required an airplane trip halfway around the world to receive this particular lesson, as I can learn a lot from a horse right here in the mountains. All I gotta do is pay attention. That’s what I think, anyway.
Strive for perfection, accept only excellence, ride with purpose.

Equine Snobbery Syndrome (ESS)   Good morning fellow, crazed horse fanatics. Some of you may have noticed my absence ove...
09/23/2024

Equine Snobbery Syndrome (ESS)
Good morning fellow, crazed horse fanatics. Some of you may have noticed my absence over the last few weeks, some of you may have been glad about it! I have been horse camping with my lovely bride, some really good horses and two questionable canines loosely termed “Jack Russell Terrorists” (the spelling here is not a mistake, think about that for a minute—anyone associated with one of these furry little fireballs can relate to this) We meet some fine folks on the trails and in various horse camps we have visited in our extensive travels throughout the western states of this great land. I have seen some outstanding horses in my travels, and a few that may be considered not so good. But now, I have a confession to make: I have been plagued, afflicted, and infected with an old mental disorder with a brand-new name: Equine Snobbery Syndrome (ESS). This is not Equine Racism (ER), a disease that makes you think YOUR favorite breed is far superior to all other breeds. No, ESS is worse, much worse. Victims of ESS think their horse is superior to every other horse alive. Yes, it's true, I have it…at least, I DID have it.
A few years ago, Annette and I took a trip to the Holy Land. Apart from a spiritual and geopolitical awakening (we will leave those for another place and time) I was able to self-diagnose ESS when I was in—where else—the Holy Land.
One of many amazing things we did was ride horses through the ancient stone city of Petra, in modern day Jordan. Although I was officially a tourist, the vet part of me took hold as I was observing these amazing "dude horses" at work packing tourists through this fantastic setting. Guess what breed they were? Take your time, I'll wait.... If you guessed Arabians, you should be on Jeopardy!
Several things were obvious here. First, most of these horses were small and absolutely NOT the kind 81.6% of Americans would ever consider owning. They were not "poor" by my estimation, but there were no fat horses in Jordan. They work hard every day, packing saddles--a cobbled up mixture of old McClellans, or ancient cheap western saddles with iron stirrups and homemade cinches of an undetermined material-- that none of us would have even as a "decoration" on a fence, much less on a horse. And they dutifully packed dudes that have probably never ridden anything other than something mechanical in front of the grocery store. They survived on forage we would not use as bedding.
Yet, despite all the apparent hardships, these hardy creatures worked all day, every day. Never balking, never shying, never "complaining" under conditions most barn-fed, deep stall-bedded, groomed to perfection, pampered American horses cannot imagine. I saw about fifty of these magnificent beasts and noticed none that were exquisitely groomed, bathed, or clipped, but otherwise well-kept and had absolutely NO lameness. The most impressive part of these horses was that all were well shod, with small, hard, and perfectly conformed feet…and I do mean perfectly formed. I did see two horses that had hind distal limbs wrapped for what I suspect was suspensory desmitis, but all were moving sound.
In the past, I have been guilty of judging some horses as "inferior". I have heard (but I am NOT guilty of) some horses referred to as "junk". But I was reminded of Tom Smith, the real live trainer featured in the 2003 film "Seabiscuit" who was rehabbing an old grey 'nag' too lame to race anymore. His line: "no use throwing away a perfectly good life just 'cuz you're bunged up a bit"” just about gut-punched me. It was then that I realized I suffer from ESS. Thanks to my visit with the hardy little Jordanian dude horses, I am cured—or, at least in remission.
So next time I am tempted to look down my nose at a horse, any horse, I need to remember the image this little story has conjured up. I am thankful for horses, even more now than before. These willing partners have carried mankind in exploration of the entire world, packing our possessions, our families, and our pioneering spirit to places we would not likely see without ‘em. They have plowed our fields, helped harvest our crops and carried us into battle without thought of political motives that brought them there. They may not always think like we do, but they have no "agenda" other than to survive and--if we treat them properly--to serve us.
This trip to Jordan has been life-altering on several levels. This should not have required an airplane trip halfway around the world to receive this particular lesson, as I can learn a lot from a horse right here in the mountains. All I gotta do is pay attention. That’s what I think, anyway.
Strive for perfection, accept only excellence, ride with purpose.
Picks of me and Tucson at Mt Rushmore two years ago. (Little Jackrat accomplice in the foreground) and Petra. Either place is worth the trip) more stuff like this is available on my website: www.cornerstonequine.com

Wood Chewers…a common plague among us crazed horse fanatics.  We can learn a lot from animals, including many undeniable...
07/08/2024

Wood Chewers…a common plague among us crazed horse fanatics. We can learn a lot from animals, including many undeniable truths of life: dogs chase cars, cats don’t care what you think, and horses chew wood. (This is not to be confused with cribbing, this is one that grabs hold of a fence, tree, stump, slow child—anything stationary, arches his neck and sucks air. This is NOT wood chewing, per se) As if all the accessories associated with “owning” these beasts, wasn’t enough, replacing wooden fences, barns, gates, anything not made of steel or depleted uranium is a significant edition to the debit column on your finances. And an example of the amazing dentition of Equus caballus. The smaller the area fenced in, the more likely the top board will miraculously develop the scalloped appearance—the telltale signs you have some large, four-footed, furry termites in the vicinity. Why? That's what they do. In fact, your neighbors will know just how inexperienced you are with horses, as this level of “greenness”, if that’s a word, is in direct proportion to how much money you spend on wood fences. That's when you discover that you do not, in fact, have a pure-bred Quarter Horse, Hanoverian, Arabian (fill in the blank) but there was a dang beaver somewhere in his lineage.
So, how do we fix this? There was a time that you could buy creosote. Paint this on a fence, and it will turn the wood a nice shade of dark brown to almost black and renders it real un-tasty to horses, wood ants, termites…you know, parasites. But someone in the government decided that creosote was too dangerous for the average person to use, so it is no longer available to most of us. Well… that is unless you sell railroad ties or phone poles, then it is perfectly safe, but I digress. There are other types of coatings you can try, but good luck with that. Or… you can try vitamin and mineral supplements (in the horse, not on the fence). You should get the most expensive supplements you can find—the extra money won't help, but you'll feel like you have done all you can while you watch “Beaver caballus” eat another $20 2x6. The photo below is a clue that you have a wood chewer in your vicinity. Note the new board on the top rail...missing the dentally mediated customization...AKA more "thanks for the new wood to eat".
In the meantime, strive for perfection, accept only excellence, ride with purpose. Madison Seamans MS DVM (AKA The Village Horse Doctor)

Life: it’s all about balance.       Spring is a great time of year, but there’s a balance here.  We get wildflowers bloo...
04/19/2024

Life: it’s all about balance.
Spring is a great time of year, but there’s a balance here. We get wildflowers blooming, and pollens that trigger allergies. Equine-related businesses begin to pick up, and taxes are due. Foals are born, and so are flies. Thoughts like these are the mothers of cliché: Without the valleys the mountains don’t mean much, a big pile of manure is a good sign, cuz there’s bound to be a pony nearby, and my personal favorite: a pessimist is just an optimist with inside information.
One of my favorite parts of this season is seeing mares and new babies frolicking in verdant lush pastures with butterflies and hummingbirds fluttering about like an old Disney movie. (Mosquitoes, rattlesnakes and rabid skunks are seldom depicted in idyllic scenes like these). OK, in my part of the world, the mares and foals look like most any in the world, but a more accurate view of our environment is sage brush, cedar and some really tough grama grasses that somehow manage to hang on, no matter how dry it gets. Your vision may vary, but the point is the resiliency and regeneration of nature.
For example, your mare really hated the stallion all winter long, but suddenly, for about a week every month or so, he looks pretty good to her! If the timing is just right, the stars are aligned perfectly and you’re wearing your lucky socks, a single s***m cell becomes intimately acquainted with an equine egg and…BINGO the magic begins! About 345 days later, you get a new addition to your feed/vet/farrier bills. What can be better?
Part of the miracle of birth, among many miraculous aspects of mammalian life, is the transition from prenatal to neonatal physiology. This is the critical period that the foal/puppy/baby makes the trip from being an internal parasite, to an external one. (Let that sink in a minute, you’ll appreciate the irony.) Although it looks like the foal just dives out of the mare, jumps up and starts nursing (as an external parasite now…you’re catching on!), there’s some real interesting stuff that’s happening on the inside.
There are three shunts, or gates, in the foal’s body that must open instantly after the first breath in order to make the shift to life on the outside. These are in the heart, the large vessel from the heart to the lung, and the tube that runs from the bladder to the umbilicus. If we think about it, foal doesn’t need to breathe when he’s in the mare. So, the blood gets shunted away from the lungs, supplying nourishment to the rapidly growing cells during the development of the fetus. The foal doesn’t need to p*e, so the bladder is open to the umbilicus where the waste products strained out by the kidney get dumped into the maternal circulation through the placenta…and you thought changing diapers was bad? Imagine having someone else’s urine in your blood!
If all this wasn’t complicated enough, the lining of the foal’s gut is very porous during the first few hours of life on the outside—just to make this balancing act interesting. A porous gut allows the absorption of colostrum, the first milk that contains most of the foal’s immune system for the near future, but this can sometimes result in the absorption of bacteria, and that’s bad.
The challenges of this neonatal adjustment can escalate with alarming sp*ed, as the sick foal’s metabolism wants to go back inside where it was safe and warm. That’s why the navel starts dripping, the pulse and respiration goes up to compensate for diminished cardiovascular function, and bacterial infection raises its ugly head because some many other things are going wrong. The point here is the importance of a thorough examination of the foal during the first few hours of life on the outside. Signs of impending problems are easy to spot; A temperature of 102 or higher, a pulse of over 120 beats per minute, and urine dripping from the belly button are indications that the transition is not going as planned. Veterinary intervention is essential in these cases.
Although almost all foals do just fine without our help, but when there’s a wreck, it’s a wreck! AND (it gets worse) if we wait until the foal isn’t nursing, has a swollen joint or diarrhea, it may be too late. SO, with that cheerful note, Happy Spring! Madison Seamans MS DVM (AKA “The Village Horse Doctor”)
Strive for perfection, accept only excellence, ride with purpose. Check out my website: www.cornerstonquine.com Pics here of a couple of our 'external parasites'

Life: it’s all about balance.       Spring is a great time of year, but there’s a balance here.  We get wildflowers bloo...
04/19/2024

Life: it’s all about balance.
Spring is a great time of year, but there’s a balance here. We get wildflowers blooming, and pollens that trigger allergies. Equine-related businesses begin to pick up, and taxes are due. Foals are born, and so are flies. Thoughts like these are the mothers of cliché: Without the valleys the mountains don’t mean much, a big pile of manure is a good sign, cuz there’s bound to be a pony nearby, and my personal favorite: a pessimist is just an optimist with inside information.
One of my favorite parts of this season is seeing mares and new babies frolicking in verdant lush pastures with butterflies and hummingbirds fluttering about like an old Disney movie. (Mosquitoes, rattlesnakes and rabid skunks are seldom depicted in idyllic scenes like these). OK, in my part of the world, the mares and foals look like most any in the world, but a more accurate view of our environment is sage brush, cedar and some really tough grama grasses that somehow manage to hang on, no matter how dry it gets. Your vision may vary, but the point is the resiliency and regeneration of nature.
For example, your mare really hated the stallion all winter long, but suddenly, for about a week every month or so, he looks pretty good to her! If the timing is just right, the stars are aligned perfectly and you’re wearing your lucky socks, a single s***m cell becomes intimately acquainted with an equine egg and…BINGO the magic begins! About 345 days later, you get a new addition to your feed/vet/farrier bills. What can be better?
Part of the miracle of birth, among many miraculous aspects of mammalian life, is the transition from prenatal to neonatal physiology. This is the critical period that the foal/puppy/baby makes the trip from being an internal parasite, to an external one. (Let that sink in a minute, you’ll appreciate the irony.) Although it looks like the foal just dives out of the mare, jumps up and starts nursing (as an external parasite now…you’re catching on!), there’s some real interesting stuff that’s happening on the inside.
There are three shunts, or gates, in the foal’s body that must open instantly after the first breath in order to make the shift to life on the outside. These are in the heart, the large vessel from the heart to the lung, and the tube that runs from the bladder to the umbilicus. If we think about it, foal doesn’t need to breathe when he’s in the mare. So, the blood gets shunted away from the lungs, supplying nourishment to the rapidly growing cells during the development of the fetus. The foal doesn’t need to p*e, so the bladder is open to the umbilicus where the waste products strained out by the kidney get dumped into the maternal circulation through the placenta…and you thought changing diapers was bad? Imagine having someone else’s urine in your blood!
If all this wasn’t complicated enough, the lining of the foal’s gut is very porous during the first few hours of life on the outside—just to make this balancing act interesting. A porous gut allows the absorption of colostrum, the first milk that contains most of the foal’s immune system for the near future, but this can sometimes result in the absorption of bacteria, and that’s bad.
The challenges of this neonatal adjustment can escalate with alarming sp*ed, as the sick foal’s metabolism wants to go back inside where it was safe and warm. That’s why the navel starts dripping, the pulse and respiration goes up to compensate for diminished cardiovascular function, and bacterial infection raises its ugly head because some many other things are going wrong. The point here is the importance of a thorough examination of the foal during the first few hours of life on the outside. Signs of impending problems are easy to spot; A temperature of 102 or higher, a pulse of over 120 beats per minute, and urine dripping from the belly button are indications that the transition is not going as planned. Veterinary intervention is essential in these cases.
Although almost all foals do just fine without our help, but when there’s a wreck, it’s a wreck! AND (it gets worse) if we wait until the foal isn’t nursing, has a swollen joint or diarrhea, it may be too late. SO, with that cheerful note, Happy Spring! Madison Seamans MS DVM (AKA “The Village Horse Doctor”) If you like my twisted sense of humor, check our my website: www.cornerstonequine.com Pics here of couple of our external parasites from a couple years back

Cancer, the big “C”—ughh!  We can tame the discussion a bit by calling it “neoplasia” or “a mass”, but it’s cancer, and ...
01/29/2024

Cancer, the big “C”—ughh! We can tame the discussion a bit by calling it “neoplasia” or “a mass”, but it’s cancer, and that’s usually bad. Although cancer has been the subject of extensive study for hundreds of years, this is a very complicated process that is still poorly understood. Basically, something inside the cell goes crazy and it starts multiplying rapidly. The affected cells lose normal function and want to spread to other organs in a process called malignancy. Something called “contact inhibition” is what causes normal cells to stop growing once a damaged area is repaired. Neoplastic, cancerous tissue loses this attribute, so the surrounding area(s) get lumpy. This may sound fairly simple but it ain’t. Thankfully, in horses, this is almost always a skin problem which is usually easy to see and treat. It is more common than you’d think and, thankfully, usually benign. We must remember, the terms “benign and malignant” are relative words. “Malignant” means the tendency for cancer to spread to other organs: liver, lung and kidney are favorite sites for this unwanted resident. “Benign” is not what you “be after you are eight”, but it means these masses tend to stay put. But even a relatively benign tumor can become locally invasive and very damaging, and this is why a nasty little thing called “sarcoid” is such a problem.
The most common skin cancer in horses is called equine sarcoid. This comes from the Greek word meaning “meat-like”, but the masses I’ve seen over the years look more barf-like than any anything I’d eat. There are at least six types recognized by most pathologists, three of the most common are seen in the photos here. Like most cancers, the cause is not clear, but this has been linked to bovine papilloma virus--cow warts—for over seventy years. Many of my patients have never seen a picture of a cow, much less been around one, so the risk of this exposure remains a mystery.
Viruses are the perfect parasite. All other parasites, except unemployed relatives living in your basement, require their own mechanisms to eat, live and reproduce. Viruses only need the genetic blueprint, DNA, to force the host cell to replicate the invading virus, not its own cells. In fact, there have been some real arguments among smart people about whether viruses are even alive at all. No matter, dead or alive, they can be a real pain.
Young horses, usually yearlings or two-year-olds, can develop lesions from a papilloma virus infection called “juvenile warts” around the muzzle. (See photos below. The first one is juvenile warts, the others are common flavors of sarcoids) These are always self-limiting; they go away on their own. So why does this type of papilloma not turn into cancer? It all depends on where the virus is in the cell. And a piece of this is why viruses are so hard to treat: these tricky little devils know how to hide in cells. Most bacterial infections remain extracellular: outside the cell. Viruses, on the contrary, can invade the cell. This is one reason they cannot be easily attacked by antibiotics or the host immune system, even a vaccinated one. It’s like they have the gate code memorized.
Papilloma viruses are unique in that they can replicate inside the cell, but not necessarily in the nucleus, where the DNA resides. If they invade the host’s DNA, that’s where it gets interesting.
So, back to sarcoids. Once the virus has invaded the host DNA, everything changes: it becomes cancerous. As the human papilloma virus (HPV) is known to cause cervical cancer in women, the bovine papilloma virus (BPV) is likely the cause of skin cancers in horses and neither one of ‘em is easy to treat. Although this disease in horses is rarely fatal, the tumors have a very high probability of returning to the original site or elsewhere, regardless of the treatment method.
Although there are many treatments for these aggravating uglymegawarts (technical term), one novel approach is the subject of some very interesting research. Christoph Jindra and his colleagues at the Austrian Veterinary University recently published a study on the use of human influenza vaccine on equine sarcoid. Let that sink in a minute. We have long known that vaccines are fairly effective at preventing some diseases, but only if they are injected before the invading organisms attack, not as a treatment after the fact (rabies is the one exception here). And these are generally restricted to species. Since human flu virus(es) don’t infect horses…well the rationale here is complicated, but the concept involves stimulation of the immune system in a very specific, complicated way. Since human flu vaccines won’t prevent influenza in horses, why someone thought this was a good treatment for horse lumps, well you’d have to ask them.
Dr. Jindra’s study suggested some promise in the use of this unconventional treatment. It appears that the simple, relatively minor cases responded well to multiple injections directly into the mass. More severe or advanced cases either stopped growing or got worse… a lot worse. So a degree of caution should be used here. This is still very experimental, but it is encouraging to know that treatments other than chemo, caustic topical medications (causing chemical burns) or surgery may be available soon.
As always, strive for perfection, accept only excellence, ride with purpose. If you like my somewhat twisted way of thinking, check out my website: wwwcornerstonequine.com for more information. If not, lets just keep this our little secret.

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Capitan, NM
88316

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