Attention to all the D'tails

21/11/2024

21/11/2024

19/11/2024

Yellowstone fans that are real horse people got a little confusing information on the Sunday, November 17, 2024 episode. This popular show appears to take pride in its western production on being very authentic - yet some how they had a BIG mistake with treating a horse with intramuscular Banamine.

What is the BIG deal? In this Yellowstone episode a horse was administered Banamine (Flunixin Meglumine) intramuscularly. Yet the nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory is only administered orally (in the mouth) or intravenously (in the vein). Remember Banamine is never recommend to be administered to horses any other way.

Why not? Banamine causes muscle damage when injected intramuscularly! There are spores of bacteria known as clostridium that can rest in healthy muscle; however, the bacteria may awaken if the muscle becomes damaged from an IM injection particularly when Banamine is administered this way. This may cause clostridial myositis - which is a serious and sometimes fatal disease. Post injection signs of a problem would be swelling and a painful injection site with gas underneath the skin. The bacterial toxins may migrate into the bloodstream causing depression, colic, fever and a lose of appetite. Treatment by a licensed DVM is necessary if you make this mistake. Supportive care, antibiotics, and possibly a surgical excision of the infected injected site may be necessary.

This episode of Yellowstone was a good reminder - what is entertaining may not always be real and correct. Check with your equine veterinarian if you are unsure how to administer Banamine.

18/11/2024

18/11/2024

Did you know that a horse with a moderate hair coat starts requiring additional calories for body temperature regulation when the outside temperature drops to approximately 50°F?

As the temperatures start to drop, especially overnight, it's important to remember that cold weather prompts special considerations for your horse's diet and care. This is particularly important when it comes to the older members of the herd; consult your primary horse doctor to formulate a plan to keep your horses happy and healthy this fall and winter!

17/11/2024

14/11/2024

In the Bitterroot Valley, the Skaggs family recently adopted a rescue dog who they say chose them.On Halloween, the Skaggs family went out to their property to

12/11/2024

Putting our horses into horse trailers may be one of the most dangerous things we do with them.

If you have driven one very long you know how other drivers often dart out in front of a truck and trailer or cut them off.

Driving a rig in high wind can be harrowing also.

All horse trailers are Not built alike. Some brands hold up better in crashes than others. Horse trailers are often a good example of "you get what you pay for". This is a piece of equipment you don't want to do on the cheap. Talk to lots of people and do your homework here.

Maintenance on your horse trailer should be of utmost importance to you. Shrugging off it's dead battery or your weird tire pattern wear can really and truly cost you your equine friend one day. There isn't much to a horse trailer but what there is is vital to the integrity of the safety system.

One of the craziest things we see is "rescues" raising tons of money for saving horses, and then loading them in the jankiest, patched up, ratchet strapped horse trailers to haul them from wherever they have saved them.

In a crash those patches and ratchet straps will definitely fail and the results will likely be catastrophic.

One of the hardest concepts (it seems) for newer rescues to understand is that it's not about how many you save, it's about how well you do by those you have in your care. If you cannot safely move them, then that's where a big chunk of that fundraising should go.

We also owe it to our horses to learn everything we can about trailering, including how to properly connect it up.

So many times we see the e brake cable hooked to a safety chain. The e brake cable is designed to be engaged when the safety chains fail and the trailer disengages from the truck.

How is it going to do that if it goes with the chain? So many people do not know that it gets hooked to the tow vehicle.

Trailering a horse is scary enough. Set out to buy the safest trailer you can. Do a bunch of research, learn how to hook it up and do maintenance on it, and for Pete's sake

Do Not Jerry rig things.

If they trust us enough to get in that tin can, we owe it to them to be worthy of that.

(We saved this picture from somewhere-not a HOP trailer)

11/11/2024