Oak Leaf Equine Veterinary Care

09/26/2024

Hey everyone, I'm having Frontier issues again AND Dr. Ben isn't working until Monday. If you have an emergency and you call our office, I very much HOPE you will get our answering service. If not, please call Alamo Pintado for help. SO SORRY!!

04/12/2024

Like your massage therapist will happily tell you, it's ALL connected! Horses, humans, it doesn't matter - if you're putting stress on one area, another area is compensating for that stress.

: Unlike humans, horses don’t have collarbones. Their shoulders are held to the rest of their skeleton via a sling of muscles and ligaments instead, often referred to as the “thoracic sling.”

Why is this important? We often ask our equine athletes to perform complex movements that require tremendous strength and coordination, and horses carry the majority of their weight in their front end. Therefore, it is imperative that the bulk of the muscles that support the front end are kept healthy and conditioned, and the horse is trained to use their “motor” — that is, engaging the large hind end muscles as much as possible to avoid excessive weight bearing on the front end.

If the front end of the horse is consistently overweighted or not at an appropriate level of fitness, repetitive biomechanical stresses get transferred down the leg to the smaller ligaments and tendons that were not designed to bear this weight, which can then lead to injury.
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Brough to you by the AAEP Horse Owner Education Committee

03/19/2024

Hi everyone - personal post here (sorry): I need to find a new place to live in the next few months (before the end of June) with my 2 indoor cats. If anyone has a barn apartment and wants someone to muck stalls and feed in exchange for some rent, or if you have a rental in the $1600-1800 range, please keep me in mind. I'm middle-aged and my hobbies are all very quiet, plus I know and love ALL the animals! Alicia

03/01/2024

02/19/2024

Sorry everyone, the storm has knocked out our phones! I'm contacting Frontier now, but if you need us, our answering service is on duty.
Stay home and safe!

11/20/2023

Just a note to let you all know that Dr. Bramsen will not be working this week for the holiday. I'll be in the office every day except Thursday if you need anything, and Dr. Ingrid Wolff is available for emergencies.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

11/03/2023

Good information to have on hand - keep it next to your thermometer and stethoscope in your tack trunk!!

Great practical information courtesy of the horse doctors at Barrow Veterinary Service:

NORMAL: NOT JUST A SETTING ON THE DRYER!
If your horse seems a little "off," do you know what his "normal" is? One of the best ways you can determine if your horse is ill is to know his normal vitals—temperature, breaths per minute, heart rate, and capillary refill time. If they are outside the normal range, a call to your equine veterinarian is definitely warranted! Any refusal to eat a meal or to get up from a recumbent position is also a clue that you and your equine friend need assistance.

10/17/2023

The phones are working again!! One little wire can cause SO much trouble!

10/17/2023

Good morning everyone! Frontier is working on our lines now. Hopefully the phones will be working again soon. In the meantime, our answering service is still engaged.
Thank you for your patience!! If you have an emergency, let the service know and Ben will be called to help you.

10/16/2023

OMG, everybody!! I've been on hold with Frontier for 20 minutes so far just trying to get the phones forwarded to our answering service so you can reach Ben for emergencies tonight...real life horror movie right here

10/16/2023

Hi everyone! Our phones aren't working for some reason (yay, Frontier!) so if you need Ben, please call my cell number: 805-245-8134 or try 805-688-3797. That's our line 2, might work...

Trying hard to get this fixed ASAP. Sorry!!

08/03/2023

UPDATE: Confirmed with Dr. Herthel and rodeo officials - you don't need a photo, just a description of the horse is perfectly fine. Have fun down there everyone!!
Hey everyone! Just a heads up for everyone going to rodeo this week: One of our clients was forced to get another health certificate when she got to the gate because is didn't have a photo of the horse, only a description. This was posted yesterday on the rodeo page, so I would show them this before agreeing to that if I were you. The certificates we do are absolutely legal with our without photos!

When coming with a CVI-Please make sure either the animals picture is included or specific identifying markers are listed.

Thank you in helping us to check you all in quickly!

07/25/2023

Update on the VSV outbreak and procedures from CDFA vet this morning: There are positive cases in Santa Barbara and San Luis counties now, so it's here. The virus is spread by insect vectors and/or shared water sources. Most of you have already found that horse shows and rodeos are taking extra precautions, requiring health certificates, etc. This is necessary and important!

For horses, all we are worried about is pain management and quarantine, but if the horse lives with pigs or cattle, it's a bigger problem. If those animals test positive, the herd gets quarantined and people can't ship milk, animals for slaughter, breeding, etc.

If we all act responsibly, observe the new rules, quarantine, etc. and keep up on the fly control, we will get through this.

05/26/2023

Researchers investigated how you can best protect your horses from contracting the vesicular stomatitis virus. Here’s what they found.

05/25/2023

Just getting out ahead of the phone calls: San Diego and Riverside Counties have positive cases of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) which is a zoonotic, reportable disease. If you are planning to travel with your horse this summer either within or out of the state, be aware that there may be additional regulations to meet.
As of now, horses from California (and other susceptible species) are prohibited from travel to Canada.

I know Summer is show season, so check in with your show offices in case you need to do anything extra this year, and as always, practice good hygiene to protect your horses and yourselves. VSV is spread by insect vectors and can infect humans, though it is rare.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but maybe you can save on show premiums and nonrefundable travel expenses if you plan ahead.

04/28/2023

Did you know? Zero F***l Egg Count (FEC) does NOT mean you don’t need to deworm your horse!

F***l Egg Counts can give a good indication of parasite egg shedding status, but a FEC cannot determine if a horse is free from parasites as there are several parasite eggs that do not consistently appear with routine FECs. Additionally, the most dangerous stage of a parasite lifecycle is the immature, larval stage which does not lay eggs, and therefore cannot be identified in a FEC.

Talk to your vet about the best course of action when it comes to developing a deworming treatment for your equine friend. All adult horses need to have 1-2 dewormer treatments per year and FEC can help identify horses that might need additional treatments.

Brought to you by the AAEP Horse Owner Education Committee.
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03/17/2023

Happy St. Paddy's!!

Sometimes it's easy to get so caught up in our worries and to-do lists that we forget we already have all the luck we need.
Happy St. Paddy's day! 🍀

02/23/2023

We recommend vaccinating in the Spring...

09/08/2022

We miss you, Peggy ❤

08/18/2022

Local horse ranch hoping to raise $100K for major renovations at upcoming Cowboy Ball

08/12/2022

Hi everyone! Apparently Frontier has an outage right now...ugh. I seem to be able to receive calls, but I can't call out. They are working on it now, so hopefully it will be fixed soon. Meanwhile, please be patient with us. I'm gonna see if my cell phone works....

08/05/2022

If you'd like to help, this is a good organization...

07/28/2022

One of the most common issues horse owners need Ben to fix! Here's some info in case you haven't had to deal with it yet...

HOOF ABSCESSES EXPLAINED

Sooner or later, nearly all horse owners will deal with a hoof abscess. But what does "hoof abscess" actually mean?

Although most commonly seen during the wet winter and spring months, hoof abscesses can plague horses year-round and usually occur when debris and bacteria enter the foot through hoof cracks and wounds, even horseshoeing holes. The bacteria then get trapped between the sensitive laminae (the tissue layer that bonds the hoof capsule to the coffin bone) and the hoof wall or sole and create pus; the pus builds up over the course of time and puts pressure behind the hoof wall or sole, until it causes the sudden onset of acute lameness when the pain finally becomes too great.
(The diagram below shows a simplified view of the equine hoof to help you visualize the structures involved in this process.)

Hoof abscesses can mimic other more serious diseases or injuries, so involving your veterinarian early on in the diagnosis and prompt treatment of this condition is always a good idea. Some abscesses will be uncomplicated and rupture on their own like a large pimple at the coronary band or heel bulbs; other abscesses, however, could require radiographs and will need to be surgically drained.

Read more about hoof abscesses on our website at https://aaep.org/horsehealth/hoof-abscesses

06/28/2022

FYI, our power will be out all day tomorrow (thanks, PG&E), so the office will be closed. Dr. Ben will be checking messages and seeing appointments, though. He has a full day scheduled already, so tell your horses to behave themselves until later in the week, please!😅