Watch the Ask the Vet Success Story SmartPaker Dan mentions at the beginning of this video here.
You asked, we answered! In our latest episode of our monthly series, Ask the Vet, Dr. Lydia Gray and SmartPaker Dan welcome some special guests to help them answer YOUR questions! First, Danvers Child, Certified Journeyman Farrier and member of the International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame joins to talk about why some horses seem to be prone to thrush. Later on, Dr. Cheyenne Sams and Dr. Meredith Frey share their secrets about how they recently got through vet school and lived to tell the tale! Dr. Gray and Dan also talk about how to help a young horse that is exhausted after working, whether or not you can (or should) feed honey to horses, Free Fecal Water Syndrome, 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:
Horse Health Library Videos
Ask the Vet form
Ask the Vet – COVID-19 and equine coronavirus
Hoof Health Videos with Danvers Child
How to Pack a Hoof
Ask the Vet – What to track in your horse’s journal
Ask the Vet – Dapples on horses
Diarrhea and Fecal Water Syndrome in Horses
Research studies on Fecal Water Syndrome
Questions answered in this episode:
1. With all the spring rain & mud there is a concern for the development of conditions in the hoof such as Thrush. Besides picking the hoof & regular trims, is there any other treatment that one can use to prevent this? Also, it seems that when a horse develops thrush in a foot this hoof tends to get thrush more often than the others, even after treatment. Does it lay dormant or is there a change in the hoof that causes it to be more susceptible to thrush again? Thanks in advance for your answer!
2. I have a 3 year old mare that is a barrel horse and does heavier workouts. She will be laying down sleeping in the morning and is exhausted but won’t show it to me when we are riding because she wants to please me so badly. She is on light workouts for now until we get a supplement for her and shoes. No she is not colicking she is just so tired in the mornings and her muscles are sore. DO YOU HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A SUPPLEMENT FOR HER?
3. Can you feed honey? If so, what nutrients does it provide to our horses? Thank you very much i love your videos.
4. Any tips for going through vet school? Thinking about making that my career path and want to be as knowledgeable about the process as possible. 🙂
5. Could you talk a bit about diarrhea in horses and your experiences about correlation with ad libitum hay or too much roughage in general? Especially horses that have normally shaped droppings but excess “water” apart from the droppings. I get the feeling that a lot of horse owners have this problem. Also, 15 years ago this was not so much a problem as it seems to be nowadays. I have also heard of studies that showed dappled horses in a herd are more susceptible to this, which I find very interesting.
Great information from the vet and farrier regarding thrush. My thoroughbred has chronic canker in his back hooves. Our vet has had to cut it out 3 times. We tried to prevent it by following care instructions but have learned that there are many factors in the environment that can cause it to flare up. The information you presented here also states that circulation plays a role in healing. Up until our last vet visit we had always thought that we had to hold the work and/or riding for the horse while healing took place. Now we have a different perspective on this! We have been using a mixture of formaldehyde and iodine to treat and harden the hooves (very wet season in Florida). Do you have an opinion on this? We tried Durasole but it didn’t seem to work. We have also used “Purple Mush” but it has to be wrapped and this horse is a master at unwrapping!
So, through all these blogs, I have learned a lot but canker has me stumped. Any suggestions on how to help my thoroughbred? I have tried many supplements for him. He is out in a pasture (often a bit wet) through the day but comes into a dry stall at night. Thank you!
Hi M. Martin thanks for watching, we appreciate your great feedback! You shared an excellent question, too, which we’ll be including in our pool of questions to choose from for future episodes. For the time being we do have some additional information on canker in one of our Horse Health Articles, which you can read by clicking on the link below. Best wishes to you and your horse! -SmartPaker Jenna
https://www.smartpakequine.com/content/equine-canker
My horse is a 17 year old half paint/half Percheron gelding…..with Fecal Water Syndrome.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Kind of confirmed what I suspected , but I will keep a journal.
27 year old paint mare. Fecal water for 3 years now. Much worse when fed hay only, so it is better in summer when she has access to pasture for about 6 to 8 hours but they come in for breaks. Otherwise on track system with 2 geldings. She is the leader. No stress.on Pergolide for cushings. It started right before she was diagnosed 3 years ago.
She is on a balanced diet (I have my hay tested and supplemented with balancing minerals).
She also is on a probiotic.
I was researching fecal transplant or metronidazole (vet recommended).
I know I have to do something before winter….