Beckie’s Equine Letter
News, Case Studies, Questions & Answers
And a Lesson of the Month in every Issue
April 2005 -- Issue 1
News of the Month
Hi everyone. I have just about got my head round the computer now and completed the first issue of my newsletter. I’m sure some of you are wondering why I’ve chose to do this, well it’s simple. Firstly I want to give something back to all of you, to thank you for all the effort you put in for me. Secondly I’m really passionate about what I do, and want to be able to share some of the knowledge and experiences I have. This way we’ll all be far more aware of what our equine friends are trying to tell us. It’s also a good way for you to see methods that are working for other customers, that may benefit your own horses.
In each issue I will include a lesson of the month, a question and answers section, some feedback from you, and a case study of an exciting horse I’ve been working on.
As most of you know I go to Liphook Veterinary Hospital every Wednesday and see some fantastic stuff, so it wouldn’t be fair if I kept it all to myself would it!
If anyone else would like to contribute with questions or feedback, or if you want to advertise ponies for sale please contact me.
Date for your Diary
I’m off to France for five days, from Tuesday 17th to Sunday 22nd of May, to visit my Mum in Limoges. If you have any EMERGENCIES you can call my mobile and receive Ross Eager’s number (another Farrier). He will try to help you out. He won’t be able to do full sets for you, just odd shoes – just so you don’t get your hopes up!
Top tip of the Month
- The sugars (fructans) in the grass are at their most rich first thing in the morning. So if you are concerned about Laminitis and were wondering when to keep your pony in, I would suggest between 7am and 11am.
Lesson of the Month
Finding the Digital Pulse
As we are all aware we are coming into the main Laminitis season. The other day a customer was concerned whether her pony was getting Laminitis. She wanted to know how to check the Digital Pulse, as an increase in the Digital Pulse can be a good indicator of Laminitis. I thought after explaining it to her it would be useful for us all to know how to find it.
Finding the Digital Pulse is no easy task, especially if you own a thick-skinned hairy cob. So you’ll probably find it easier to try on a thin-skinned thoroughbred first.
In healthy horses the Digital Pulse tends to be soft, and beats at between 25-40 bpm. In a Laminitic horse the pulse is stronger and faster, beating above 50bpm. In many cases, due to the horse’s thick skin and hair, an untrained person may find it hard to find the soft pulse of a healthy horse. So don’t worry if you can’t find the pulse, your horse is likely to be healthy – but you can use this as a useful check during this troublesome season.
As you can see on the drawings, there’s an artery that branches either side of the fetlock joint. If you place two fingers on one side this is where you would feel the pulse. Use your fingers as apposed to your thumb as you thumb has quite a strong pulse and that may fool your reading.
If the pulse is above 50 bpm it would suggest your horse may have a problem. So I’d recommend you to call your vet ASAP.
Next month we will be going over the basic anatomy of the foot…
Case Study
Laura Roberts – Kerry
Laura bought a new horse Kerry to keep their old family horse Shannon company. When she arrived Laura realised she had really bad thrush. Thrush usually leaves the frog smelling and with a black discharge. But in this instance the whole consistency of the frog was like a soft cheese. All four of her feet were affected, but it was worse on her left front.
When dealing with thrush you would ideally keep the feet as dry as possible, but as we all know this isn’t always practical. It occurred in winter, and there was only one stable to share between the two horses, so they were turned out a lot of the time.
I’ll just explain a bit about thrush. There are 3 main bacteria’s that are involved with thrush:
- Spherophorus
- Necrophorus
- Fusobactereum Necrophoruim
(Be ready for your pronunciation test at your next shoeing).
These bacteria’s can only breed in anaerobic conditions (where there is no oxygen). This is why it’s so important to trim them regularly, to allow the air to get to them.
We tried all of the usual treatments for thrush (purple spray, peroxide, thrush magic etc), but none seemed to have an effect.
The vet was also involved. We ended up trimming the frogs back as hard as possible every two weeks. The vet was even considering taking Kerry into surgery, and removing the entire frog, to try and regenerate some healthy growth underneath.
I then heard of an alternative method that worked for another Farrier – using Copper Sulphate Crystals, which have a drying out effect. The method involved stuffing them into all the gaps and crevices in the frog twice a day.
They are Turquoise looking crystals that you can buy from your local chemist.
Within days of using them Laura was noticing incredible changes. The frogs were really hardening up. A couple of weeks later the consistency had turned from a soft Philadelphia cheese to more of a hard cheddar! And over the next few weeks they were close to becoming normal frogs.
A good experience I thought we could all learn from. The more tools we have in our tool kit to combat these problems the better.
Questions & Answers
Q: I’ve got a five year old show jumper that I hack two miles on the road to get to the sand school and two miles back. I do this about four times a week. Is there anything we can do to absorb the concussion to her joints? Dex Whiteley
A: You can absorb some of the concussion by using pads to protect her young joints. Putting a thick plastic pad under the shoe with extra frog support will really help. Medicated hoof packing under the pad would absorb more concussion and keep her frogs healthy. This should prolong her competing life by years.
Q: When I pick out my horse’s feet white chalky foot sometimes comes off. Am I causing damage and pushing too hard? Mel Haymen
A: No not at all. It is just part of the natural process of the sole exfoliating, just like your skin. The sole will only shed off when it’s good and ready, and you’ll see me exfoliating the sole with my knife when I trim. Hope that puts your mind at rest.
Feedback
“I have a seven-year-old Grey Cob called Ted. He was really clumsy, I blamed it on the fact he was young. He would trip over nothing, stumble when walking in a straight line, and always be kicking his front feet with his back feet. My daughter (Emma) couldn’t have a nice smooth ride. When we had icy weather, there was no way I was letting Emma go for a ride on this clown. I had visions of them both being carted off to hospital!
Then a couple of weeks ago, it was time for shoeing. Beckie had only shod Ted twice before and that was over winter when he hadn’t done much work. But in the last six weeks Emma had ridden quite a lot, and the shoes were pretty worn. Beckie showed me his shoes and asked, “Is Ted clumsy by chance?” I was surprised, she then explained that the way he wore his shoes down told her he was having trouble walking normally. Beckie fitted Ted with Natural Balance Shoes, and the change was amazing. Not one stumble, kick or anything. He now goes like a rocket. I wouldn’t have believed shoes could have made so much difference to a pony if I hadn’t seen if myself. All I can say now is thanks a lot Beckie, don’t give up the fantastic work.” Jackie Taylor