The Horse Doctor

There is a report on Jacksonville.com of a horse with Eastern Equine Encephalitis in St Johns county. EEE also called sleeping sickness ,like the other encephalitis viruses (Western,Venezuelan and West Nile) are transmitted by mosquitoes . The reservoir for the virus are birds. Once bitten by mosquitoes the virus is then transmitted to any animal that the mosquito chooses to feed on next. Horses are acutely susceptible to the encephalitis viruses and are at increased risk since they are outside (without the benefit of clothes) most of the day. Humans in the nudist colony would be equally susceptible. Since there is now a positive case we know that the virus is in the local bird population and horses are at risk. The vaccine is very effective at preventing infection but the peak immunity is only up to 4 months. This means that all horses should have a booster vaccine this summer, 4 months after their previous vaccine. This should protect them until their fall vaccinations. The...

I just heard a disturbing comment from a friend in Ocala. Since the national uproar over horse slaughter caused the closure of the last plants in Texas ,there has been a problem with unwanted horses. It now appears that those horse are being released into the Ocala National Forest. With rising feed cost ( the idiotic plan of using corn for fuel production) some owners must be unable to feed some of these horses and opt to turn them loose. I haven't been able to confirm this report but they were adamant. I will check with other sources and see if this is true, if so it can't be good for the horses ( thoroughbreds) ....they aren't mustangs.

There have been several horse show signs of acute liver dysfunction recently while eating Purina feeds. The company seems to have jumped on this quickly and found an aflatoxin (mold toxin) contamination from one of their suppliers. It only affects 3 of their plants and the North eastern United States.The following states are under the recall, Connecticut; Delaware; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; North Carolina; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; South Carolina; More info on Aflatoxins can be found HERE . " Aflatoxins are potent toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, immunosuppressive agents, produced as secondary metabolites by the fungus Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus on variety of food products. Among 18 different types of aflatoxins identified, major members are aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is normally predominant in amount in cultures as well as in food products. Pure AFB1 is pale-white to yellow crystalline, odorless so...

The AAEP list serve ( American Association of Equine Practitioners) has been having a vigorous debate about the tragic death of Eight Bells and where we need to pursue changes to help prevent these catastrophic injuries. While the statistics show only a 0.2% occurrence rate , it is still awful when it happens. Unfortunately many pundits are stating opinion and not science and filling the 24 hour news cycle with talk about what is wrong with the racing industry. I'm sure there are those that don't like horse racing or people doing anything with a horse for that matter ( ie .PETA). Thats OK, it's there opinion....I don't like soccer, so we're even. The public needs to be made aware of all the oversight that occurs during a horse race, from drug testing to physical exams . Video of each race is reviewed by the stewards to look for any action that is deemed to be abusive or dangerous, which can lead to fines or suspensions. I'm not sure why Veterinarians are p...

Like everyone else I was amazed at the performance of Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby and terribly saddened at the tragic loss of eight bells. Here we are almost a year after Barbaro was injured and the racing industry suffers another setback and the fans must witness another heartache. Sadly another thing to come from this is the media whirlwind that has spun up creating an endless stream of stories about the dangers of horse racing and all that is wrong. PETA has even taken the opportunity to grab some headlines at the fillies expense by saying the jockey should be suspended , implying "he must have known something was wrong" and that the winnings for 2nd place should be withheld. They complained about the use of the crop saying " the merciless whipping of the horse". First you must realize that the average jockey is not much bigger than most 8th graders (no offense) , is perched atop a 12oo lb animal going faster than 30mph while reaching behind them to "wh...