You asked, we answered! In this episode of our monthly series, Ask the Vet, Dr. Lydia Gray and SmartPaker Dan answer 5 new questions on topics like blanketing and its effect on winter coat growth, how to sanitize your stall at show grounds, horse sleep habits, the most important thing you can do to help keep your horse healthy, how to compost manure, and so much more!
If your question was answered in this video, reach out to us at CustomerCare@SmartPak.com and let us know! We’ll get your gift card out to you as soon as we can! Have some of your own questions? Ask away using #AsktheVetVideo! If your question gets selected to be in one of our Ask the Vet videos, you win a SmartPak gift card! How awesome is that!?
Additional reading/watching material mentioned in the video:
Ask the Vet individual topics playlist
Ask the Vet blogs
Horse Health Library videos
Ask the Vet form
University safety study on the effects of turmeric and devil’s claw on horse stomach health
Ask the Vet – Disinfecting barn items
Biosecurity Toolkit for Equine Events
How to take equine vital signs
Ask the Vet – What to track in your horse’s journal
Ask the Vet – Sleep deprivation in horses
Questions answered in this episode:
1. I compete often, which requires my horse to stable at a show ground facility for several days. What is your recommendation on preparing a stall in terms of sanitizing before you allow your horse to enter the stall? I don’t want to use harsh spray chemicals that may irritate their respiratory system.
2. What is the most important and helpful thing to keep your horse healthy (other than the obvious food, water, and shelter)? Ex. Picking hooves, vaccinations, deworming, or grooming.
3. Horse sleep habits! Are there any unusual patterns that should cause concern, like not laying down enough, sleep position (my pony lays on her back sometimes never seen that before!)? And what you can do to help encourage better sleep habits?
4. Does blanketing impede winter coat growth?
5. What is the best way to compost manure? Things that can and can’t go in a manure pile, average time, best bedding conducive to composting.
What are the best ways to treat and prevent rain rot during the cold winter months when you have no access to hot water or very little access to hot water?
Over the last 2 months I’ve noticed that my 15 year old horse is sweating more on her right side than her left. There is no distinct line, as with Horner’s syndrome, but it can be significantly noticeable at times and never changes sides. She will occasionally sweat mildly only on he right shoulder while in a blanket on warmer winter days. The uneven sweating occurs more frequently with longer rides. I try to change directions frequently while in the ring, and she is pretty balanced muscle-wise. Could this be a sign of pain? A pinched nerve? Other neuro or endocrine abnormality?