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July 2008 
Feed RecallBy the time the recall notices went out to dealers, some of these feeds had been on the market for as long as three months. The recalled feeds were manufactured between November 2007 and March 2008. However, the recall notice on the Purina web site did not go up until the first week in May, six months after the first manufacturing date of the involved feed and two months after the manufacturing date of the last involved feed. Click here to read the full story... Black-Light Grain-Screening For Toxins Black light is light in the invisible ultraviolet wavelengths. It can be used to screen feeds for aflatoxin contamination. It’s a pretty sad day when we have to consider making a black light a barn tool, but with the most recent horse feed scare (see page 3), it’s actually not a bad idea. Black light can also be useful in other ways. Grains infested with the Aspergillus flavus mold that produces aflatoxin will fluoresce a greenish-yellow color under black light. The color is not due to the aflatoxin itself, but a substance called kojic acid that the infected grains produce. To determine actual aflatoxin level, the grain has to be sent to a laboratory for more specific testing. Commercial hay-testing labs often offer fungal toxin testing, including aflatoxin, or you can contact your state’s Department of Agriculture and request testing. Click here to read the full story... Horse Bell Boots We tried all the boots with the horses being worked, on turnout and overnight in stalls. To test the strength of Velcro closures beyond what they were subjected to in our test period, we also tested how easily it pulled apart when pulling the two bottom/ground edges of the boot in opposite directions, as would happen if a horse managed to get his toe wedged between the Velcro and boot on one side, which could easily happen. The only non-pull-on boot that did not have some sort of double Velcro closure was the Dover white ribbed boot. Bell boots protect against injuries to the coronary band and heel bulbs—areas that, when hurt, can cause lameness, bleed heavily, are slow to heal and may cause permanent problems. Damage from a shoe slicing into these areas is something to avoid. Loose Ring Snaffles Probably the biggest reminder this experiment gave us was that the main difference among snaffle bits of all kinds is whether they’re single-jointed or double-jointed. Almost all horses prefer one to the other, a preference largely determined by the size and shape of the horse’s mouth. It’s a fitting issue roughly comparable to us humans and our shoes. We tested five types of loose-ring bits on seven of these horses: a three-year-old Thoroughbred filly being started under tack; a six-year-old Thoroughbred gelding and a seven-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, each quite green but with rather different personalities; a 10-year-old Connemara/Quarter Horse-cross who’s an eager worker; a five-year-old Irish Draught/warmblood-cross; a five-year-old Hanoverian; and a 14-year-old Thoroughbred gelding who’s won intermediate horse trials. Cutting Equine Drug Costs Although there are many human medications you should not give to your horse, the human-pain medication Aleve (generic drug-name naproxen) is OK. The drug comes in 220 mg tablets, and your horse would receive 2.2 to 4.4 mg per pound of bodyweight twice a day. This means that you give a 1000-lb. horse 10 Aleve capsules twice each day. Be careful, though. First, you should have your veterinarian’s approval and a firm diagnosis on what you’re treating. Second, it may not be that easy to get your horse to eat 10 capsules at once. Third, you might want to weigh the cost against other pain medications. Genetics Studies Have Far-Reaching Benefits We spoke with E. Gus Cothran, Ph.D., at Texas A&M to learn the real-life benefits of genetic typing, research and testing labs. Dr. Gus Cothran is in charge of the genotyping laboratory at Texas A&M. His work includes DNA typing and genetic links. At some point, utilizing the new tools that have become available, we can start asking questions about what genes influence the specific traits that are important to horse breeders. These aren’t necessarily single-gene simple traits. We’ll be able to look at quantitative traits and traits that have a number of genes influencing them. It might not be possible to select for all of the genes that influence a trait, but we can take the ones of major effect and select for them while trying to maintain the others. EquiRab Rabies Vaccine’s Smaller Dose Intervet has joined the marketplace for equine rabies vaccines with its new product EquiRab. A low incidence of injection site reactions and side effects (less than 3%) was reported from the premarket trials but, as always, this can’t be used to predict individual risk. Compared to the other two vaccines labelled for equine use, EquiRab requires only a 1 mL dose versus 2 mL. The cost of vaccination if performed by your vet should be similar. Chloride Deserves Dietary Attention We’ve all heard of chloride. It’s the "Cl" mineral that tags along behind sodium in sodium chloride or potassium in salt-alternative products. You probably also know that chloride is the major mineral in electrolyte supplements matched to sweat composition. It’s required to produce stomach acid (hydrochloric acid), regulate fluid balance in cells, control the excitability of muscle and nervous tissue, produce sweat and is the major negatively charged electrolyte in the blood and tissues surrounding the cells. Spirulina: The Superfood Spirulina platensis is an algae that has medicinal effects. In December 2004, we shared our successful trials with this supplement on several horses with a variety of seasonal breathing and allergy problems. Spirulina is a useful supplement for horses with allergic lung disease, both young performance horses and older horses with "heaves." Heaves is a more advanced lung disease, similar to COPD in humans and known as RAO, recurrent airway obstruction. These breathing difficulties are a complex interaction between a genetic predisposition, irritants in the air (dust, bacterial toxins), specific allergic triggers and in some cases infectious organisms. Feeding Spirulina at a dose of 20 grams twice a day (2 tablespoons of the powder) can reduce symptoms. |
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