Re: Horsey colds and cures

[Teddy Lancaster <Teddy@runningbear.com>]

FYI, Health papers don't mean anything to me.  I get them because
the ag inspectors require them.  I phone my vet who faxes or
mails me one.  He knows me and my barn.

BUT, when ANY horse visits or comes to stay at my place, they are
QUARANTINED for at least a week...more like ten days.  They may
be fine, but they can carry something my horses do not have an
immunity to.

This has paid off.  I have NEVER had a horse with a cough or a
cold.  But I did have a visiting mare DIE a week after she
arrived.  She was shipped commercial carrier from Arkansas to
Ohio in the dead of winter with a truckload of others from God
knows where.  I am sure she picked up something from the trailer
trip, got pneumonia and at her age (older broodmare, never been
off the farm before) could not survive.

Last time I ever used a commercial horse hauler....

Teddy

Trishmare@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Dear Cheryl,
>      Last month I got a new boarder on my farm.  Even though she had health
> papers, my two "seniors," Tash, age 26, and Dascha, age 20, woke up one day
> about two weeks later and decided they weren't interested in their grain.  By
> the next day they were both also refusing hay and acting very lethargic, and
> had developed runny stools.  Got the vet out, he was perplexed . . . both
> horses had low gut sounds, and their cbc's came back really low on the white
> cell count. (3.2 and 3.1 respectively . . . 6 to 12 is normal). Yet neither
> was running a temperature, and their respiration was also normal.  During the
> initial exam, when all he could find was the lowered gut sounds and the loose
> stools he thought at first that it might have been something they ate.
> However, all horses get same food, same oats, same hay . . . and only the
> "seniors" were affected. David, Crow and Pal (the new one) all were just fine.
> Vet decided it was probably some kind of a virus, and we'd see more symptoms
> develop withing a few days.  He said he really had no recommendation for me
> until then, as he wasn't quite sure what we were dealing with yet.
>      I immediatly started both horses on a twice daily routine of about 3000
> mg of Vitamin C, Echinacea with Goldenseal (Zand company formula extract),
> Selenium and Vitamin E.  I also upped the Clovite I typically add to their
> feed.  (High in A, D and E, all of which are immune system boosters.)  Since
> they wouldn't eat, I mixed all this with applesauce and squirted it in with a
> lagre, plastic syringe.  Within two days they were eating again, though not
> with lots of enthusiasm.  But within five days, they were eating with gusto
> (even with all the stuff in their feed . . . of course, I kept adding the
> applesauce) and after seven days they were 100% back to their old selves.
>    Maybe this result would have happened had I done nothing, I don't know (you
> know what they say about colds, if you treat them, they go away in about 7
> days, if you don't treat them, they go away in about 7 days . . <G>). . . but
> I can tell you, my vet was impressed.  He said he was just SURE things with
> these two horses were going to go downhill, they'd develop a fever, or snotty
> nose, or something, before they went uphill again.
>     If I were you, I'd continue with the echinacea, though I'd go to a good
> extract, and add some immune-stimulating vitamins (A, C, D, E) as well.  At
> any rate, hope Blue recovers fast!!!
> 
> Trish & pretty David,
> Grand Blanc, Michigan
> 
> << Hi group,
> 
>  Hope you all had a Merry Xmas and are heading towards a great New Year!
> 
>  Ok, my buddy Blue has a cold with a cough and a very small amount of snot.
>   I talked to the vet and right now he is holding his own with no fever.
>   While I was lying in the chiropractors office I was wondering why couldn't
>  I give Blue Echinacea like I do my kids when they have colds?  Granted I'd
>  have to give him a real expensive series of the stuff but I imagine it
>  won't hurt him, after all it is only herbs.  We have a ride to do end of
>  January and I am really hoping he is better by then.  Right now I am using
>  vicks on his nostrils and that is it. What do you all do for your equine
>  pals when they have colds and are under the weather?
> 
>  Also I've been afraid to visit my yearling because of the cold germs.  If I
>  wash my hands shouldn't it be o.k.?  Or since colds are airborne can the
>  germs get on my clothes and could I accidently carry the germs to another
>  farm?
> 
>                                    Cheryl Newbanks >>