Animal Hospital of Omak

01/11/2025

01/04/2025

FUN FACT FRIDAY!

Are you familiar with the many adaptations that help your horse stay warm during the cold winter months?

🌾 Hindgut digestion of hay produces the most heat, acting as a small furnace inside of the horse. This is why free choice; good quality hay is so important in the winter.

💪 Horses have a huge muscle mass and muscle activity produces heat. This includes running and playing and even shivering if their body temperature starts to drop. It is important to remember that these activities also will result in a bigger caloric demand so free choice hay and in some cases, grain, is often needed.

🧥 To blanket or not to blanket is a constant debate but either way, as it starts to get cold your horse will grow a thicker coat. If you decide to leave your horse unblanketed you may notice that they look “fluffy”. This is due to a phenomenon called piloerection where the hair stands up to better trap air within. Two layers of the coat also help with warmth. The inner layer is softer and has air pockets to create an insulating layer. The outer layer is coarse and has oils that keep moisture from penetrating the insulating layer and keep the horse warm.

⚖️ Wild horses go into the winter heavier than ideal, and the fat serves as an extra layer of insulation. However, if a horse is going to be kept heavily blanketed and in a barn during the cold weather months this is unnecessary and can lead to obesity related issues.

🦵Their distal limbs (below the knees and hocks) are made of mostly bones and tendons, tissues that are resistant to the cold temperatures.

🦶The hooves have an alternative route of blood circulation through larger vessels that can be used in low temperatures. This is why horses can stand in snow without detrimental effects.

👃A horse’s nose has a robust blood supply and is rounded so that it is less susceptible to frostbite than a human’s nose.
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Courtesy of the AAEP Horse Owner Education Committee

12/25/2024

So how do you know it’s Christmas?
’Cause the sheep can always tell.
They follow a little tradition and have for quite a spell.
On Christmas Eve around midnight, the sheep, wherever they are,
All rise in quiet unison and fixate on a star.
And from their stirring comes a sound, a chuckling tra, la, la,
That weaves and builds itself into a soft melodious baaa,
Which carries like a dove’s lament when nights are very still,
As if they’re calling for someone beyond a yonder hill.

The legend herders passed on down attributes this tradition
To one late night in Bethlehem, a heavenly petition,
Wherein a host of angels came and lured them with a song.
The herders left in haste, they say, and stayed gone all night long.
Well, sheep don’t do too well alone. They’ve never comprehended,
That on that night they waited up, the world was upended.

So now when daylight shortens up and nights get long and cold,
I make my check at midnight like we’ve done since days of old.
And if I find the flock intent and standing all around,
I listen for the heavenly host above their throaty sound,
And scan the dim horizon in an effort to discern,
The sign the sheep are seeking, that their shepherds will return.

And I am but a watchman in this drama that replays,
Around the earth this time of year, and so I stand and gaze,
And though I see no special star or hear no sweet noel.
I know it must be Christmas, ’cause the sheep can always tell.
— Baxter Black

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas 🎄 to all the hardworking men and women who, no matter the weather or circumstances, dedicate their lives to raising and feeding the world!

📸: Marty Stingley

12/25/2024

Get tips for helping prepare beet pulp for horses even when it’s cold outside.

12/25/2024

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas guys

12/25/2024

We're wishing everyone a very merry Christmas Day! 🎄🎅🏻

We also extend a very heartfelt thanks to the horse doctors and support veterinary staff who are giving up their family time today to care for horses in need of medical attention.

12/20/2024

Puckering up under the mistletoe? Keep it away from your pets. Mistletoe also known as American mistletoe or Phoradendron leucarpum is common decorative plant seen during the holiday season. Mistletoe is consider a toxic plant and best to keep it away from your pet. While small ingestions of berries may lead to mild tummy troubles like vomiting and diarrhea, ingestions of leaves and stems may lead to more significant concerns like depression, tremors and blood diarrhea.

12/20/2024

Don't Miss This!

Horse Nutrition Live Q & A with Dr. Tania Cubitt

Co-hosts of the Beyond the Barn® podcast, PhD equine nutrition expert, Dr. Tania Cubitt and Katy Starr are bringing you a live Q & A event for all your burning nutrition questions!

• How can I safely transition my horse from a summer to fall feeding program with the weather change?
• Can feeding straw to easy keeper horses cause impaction colic?
• How much hay should I plan to have for the winter months?

What do YOU want to know about when it comes to feeding your horse? Join us!

We’ll also be giving away some Standlee free product coupons to two lucky winners who joins us during our Facebook Live – don’t miss this!

Date: Wednesday, September 14th, 2022
Time: 5 PM Pacific/6 PM Mountain/7 PM Central/8 PM Eastern

https://fb.me/e/1INeBnNzl

12/20/2024

12/20/2024

Do you know how much forage a horse needs per day?

✅ Prepare for winter and learn more: https://standleeforage.com/nutrition/nutritional-webinars/winter-feeding

12/13/2024

Is your horse's hay meeting his nutritional, health, and welfare needs? Learn how to make informed forage decisions.

12/13/2024

Like you, I’ve seen the Facebook articles and comments about letting horses be horses, and sensitive “city” owners who cover their horses because they can’t take the cold th…

12/13/2024

Learn how to avoid and address impaction colic, a common cause of cold-weather emergency farm calls.

12/13/2024

Cat owners love their cats, but when it comes to cat p*e, they don't want to see it, smell it or — you get the...