Fall shots

First, a little shot taken earlier this week on my way up to work. I love fall in Vermont! Up in the mountains, the foliage has changed more than down by the barn, where it's still pretty green. But the temperatures this week are a little crisper and the horses seem to like that, along with the fact that there are fewer bugs outside. Fly masks have been retired until next spring.

Normally we do Potomac Horse Fever and flu/rhino boosters in the fall. This year, Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile have been recommended by our veterinarian as boosters, due to recent evidence of both in Vermont in an area not too far south of us. I think it's the first time in the 12-plus years we have lived here that I've heard of EEE surfacing. There has been local news coverage over the last few weeks and it's a bit scary. Heartbreaking for the families impacted by the two infections and subsequent deaths that have occurred with people. Our vet's Facebook page has identified two equine cases thus far.

Dude and Bestie had their boosters last Friday, and will get the rest of the shots this coming Friday. No ill effects, just very slight lumps on their necks at the booster site.

I was off to Tennessee mid-September for several days to visit my parents so I haven't ridden much lately. The two rides I've had since I've been back have been good ones. Bestie was off a week and a half while I was traveling, and I was able to get right on her. Once upon a time that wouldn't have been a good idea. Hugs and kisses to the new mellow Bestie. :)

Supplementing with Vitamin E

Dude's been on a vitamin E supplement for, gosh, I don't even remember how many years. It was suggested by the vet one fall when he seemed to drop a bit of weight, and the hay quality wasn't that good going into winter. He gets a scoop of Elevate powder that delivers 1000 IU in his evening grain. The hay at this barn is definitely higher quality, but the grass gets eaten down pretty quickly in the summer, so I just keep him on the dosage year round. I was interested recently to read an article in the Holistic Horse newsletter about vitamin E supplementation; it sounds like he could go a bit higher, and I'm wondering if Bestie should start on it, too. Something to discuss with the vet when they visit for the next go-round of Potomac shots, which should be coming up soon.

Importance of Vitamin E in horses, holistichorse.com

Update on Dude

Back in June I wrote about Dude and Bestie having a visit from the holistic vet we've known for years. Dude was off on the right hind during that visit, and she diagnosed him with a possible abscess in his right hind hoof and a hind end injury, possibly groin, from his slippy slidey fall in the mud the previous month. For a few days after her visit we tried to soak his foot in an attempt to draw out the abscess, but he was unusually uncooperative. One day Katie was there attempting yet again to soak him, and there happened to be another farrier there trimming horses. When prompted by barn owner Julie he offered to take a look at Dude's foot and trim it up to see if the abscess would release. He trimmed him up pretty good, and thought it might actually be a bad case of thrush rather than an abscess. Given his hunch, and the fact that Dude wasn't interested in soaking - odd, as with past experience he's normally fine with soaking for abscesses - we decided to treat for thrush.

His hoof ended up cleaning up pretty well (as much as his back feet ever do), but he was definitely still off on that right hind. So we called in our regular vet from Vermont Large Animal Clinic. After ruling out other possibilities, Dr. Phil said it seemed like a right hip injury, and pointed out that his muscle tone looked a little sunken on his right hip. He recommended that Dude should be on solo turnout on as flat a pasture as possible for four months in hopes of preventing further tweaking. No riding, of course. Deja vu moment ... haven't we heard this before ... flashbacks to his hip injury several years ago = * heavy sigh*. At least the vet said four months this time; last time it was a full year off.

So, at this point, Dude's about a month and a half in to his treatment. He seems to be doing ok in the little paddock; there are a couple geldings next to him on solo turnout that he likes to hang out with along the fenceline. It's wonderful that he can go out all day and stroll around because he'd be going nuts if stallbound. There's not much grass in the paddock, especially in the last couple weeks as summer winds down, so we try to give him at least a half hour of hand grazing when we get there at the end of the day.

At Dr. Phil's suggestion, I added MSM to Dude's supplements for anti-inflammatory benefits. Over the last month or so, he definitely has filled out some and isn't so ribby. Perhaps the probiotics, which he started in late June, are helping him hang on to the nutrients in his grain and hay better. He's got a full supplement container now with HorseTech's Glanzen GL Lite and MSM, vitamin E, Equilite's PrePro plus a 1/4 cup of rice bran to wash it all down tastily.