The Horse Doctor

This is a short film produced by a Dutch politician named Geert Wilders. In it he uses the Quran and video clips of the extremists that perpetrate this global jihad. I must warn you that it is quite shocking. His point appears to be that someone in the Muslim world needs to step forward and propose a reformation where the violent passages are removed. I have over the last year read the Quran ( it' s really not long, just hard to read) many of the stories are similar to Old Testiment Bible stories. What is missing is the concept of Grace and forgiveness. The Netherlands ,specifically and Europe in general, is seeing a great deal of Islamic violence, using free speech and democracy against them. This film has caused outrage among the religion of perpetual outrage and forced Live Leak ( Europes You Tube) to pull it down, even getting condemnation from the UN Secretary General. Watch it for yourself and make up your own mind. Listening to many of these Imams speak in there own words mi...

Here is a disturbing story from Utah. Someone in a red truck stopped on a Interstate overpass and threw a Boxer over the edge. The dog survived with amazingly minor injuries.

A friend sent me this yesterday and it is hilarious. You can tell this Anchorman has never set foot on a farm.

This is just a follow up on a previous post about "bute toxicity". The horse that received 60 grams of bute by mistake was finally put down. It is a very sad story but it highlights the need to be constantly aware of exactly what medications you are giving your horse......make sure you know what you are are giving,how much to give and what problems can occur. Once the drugs are in you cant get them out. Here is a sonogram I did the other night on this horse and it is far and away the worst Right Dorsal Colitis I have ever seen. The ulcered area was over 3 feet long. Can you imagine how painful a 3 foot long ulcer would be. Additionally, typical anti-ulcer medications don't reach this part of the bowel very effectively so there is little that can be done. The liver is to the right and the RDC is to the left, the measured area is the colon wall that should o nly be 3mm thick. You can see how swollen it is. Double click on the image to enlarge.

I had to look at a horse for tying up the other day and the owner Pam Cramer, has a very unique business. She makes jewelery from your horses mane or tail hair. We have recommended this to clients that have lost a horse. It's a wonderful way to remember a special friend. In the past many owners held onto a horse's shoes,halter,blankets, ect. Now they can have a bracelet or other form of beautiful jewelery made from a small segment of mane or tail to keep forever. I would never have thought that something so nice could be made from horse hair but Pam does it somehow. You can look at her website here www.cottagetails.com

The USS New York was christened today in New Orleans. This is significant because the Bow was constructed with steel salvaged from the World Trade Center . I had heard that the steel was to be used but didn't know what the destination would be. " The vessel's bow stem comprises 7.5 tons of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center . As the Navy notes: "The ship is named New York in honor of the state, the city and the victims of Sept. 11, 2001.... Use of this steel symbolizes the spirit and resiliency of the people of New York." And the official motto of the vessel? "Never Forget." How appropriate....I think it's a shame that so many of us have forgoten what happened and that the threat still remains. Our sensitivities prevent our media from showing the images on TV, I feel we should see that over and over, because our enemies have not gone away. The massive, 684-foot-long ship was a sketch on a drawing board on 9/11 when the towers fell. The...

This kind of news just makes me laugh and blogging about it I'm sure will torque off all of those followers of the Church of Global Warming and the High Priest Al Gore. As I've stated many times....the weather is cyclical and it changes. Historically we have been coming out of the little ice age so naturally the climate has warmed. Now there is this startling news ....this past years showed the largest cooling trend since we started recording it. There have been many reports of cooler temps and more snow "But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS , UAH , RSS ) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously. A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here . The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. ...

NSAIDS (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) have been around for a long time. Many people know that these drugs by their common names, aspirin,Advil, bute Banamine, etc. Additionally most people realize that like all medications...to much can cause a problem. We see this toxicity several times a year, usually after someone has been treating a colic with many doses of Banamine. This last week Dr. Thomas saw one that had mistakenly been given Bute tablets when the owner thought they were antibiotic. They were giving the horse 10 tablets (10 grams) twice a day for 3 days. You can imagine the damage. Phenylbutazone can cause many problems at such high doses but the principle one is a condition called Right Dorsal Colitis. In this disease the colon becomes edematous and large ulcers form on the inner surface that are very difficult to treat. The horse frequently becomes colicky and loses protein as it oozes from the large ulcerated colon. Fluid replacement and Plasma replacement are ...

I just got back from our annual trip to Cumberland Island Georgia, and ohhhh did I need it. You can feel your blood pressure drop the moment you get off the boat. We've been very fortunate to rent Nancy's Fancy for a week each year since we were married over there. It is a house on pilings behind the dunes overlooking the beach......a deserted beach. The kids can run wild and like it was when I was a kid, you just have to be back before dark. One of the cool things about Cumberland Island are the wild horses....I know, I see horses everyday so whats the big deal. I don't usually see herds of them walking down the beach. There are those that want the horses removed and have their own agenda but for everyone else it really adds to the whole Cumberland experience.The National Park Service does a good job of keeping the environmental extremists at bay and follows the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 to protect them." The Wild Free Roaming Horses and B...

I received a good response and question from a reader and it touches on one of my favorite topics......medical scams, holistic treatments and other 3rd world treatments. This person researched the problem and applied some scientific rigor and has a highly likely diagnosis of Photic Head shaking. Here's the email.. "Hi I have a 17hh warmblood who was treated with steriods last yr and we changed all bedding soaked hay fly masks etc etc and it alll stopped so we put it down to allergy! Well he is off work now and the sun came out this w/e and I found him violently head shaking in the field and in the stable he goes to the back, after alot of research he is looking like a photic cause. I have come accross a product and was wandering if anyone has tried it or heard any feedback? Equiwinner performance patches they are formulated for a variety of things but seem to cure headshaking or so they say? " .....and even better, this scientist questions the claims of a product....

I don't know how this sort of thing happens, but my youngest boy Mac ended up on the cover of the School Magazine. A more suitable debut would be the poor disruptive youth articles in the local paper. You will notice that 1. his shirt is clean 2. his hair is combed 3. nothing is bleeding 4. he's wearing a tie and 5. nobody is screaming. This all makes me think that the school computer department has "photo-shopped" this picture. Beth did find out that the teacher brushed his hair and tucked in his shirt just before the photo....I knew it! He really does look like a nice boy in this picture doesn't he...but he can't fool me. I'm positive he was messin' with somebody as soon as the photographer said " thats a wrap". I guess he is his Fathers boy, what can I expect.

We seem to have had a run on laryngeal disease over the last month so I thought i would post a quick tutorial. Horses can get a variety of Laryngeal diseases, including arytenoid paralysis, ulcers, neoplasia, epiglottic displacement, epiglottic entrapment and sub-epiglottic cysts. Image 1- This is a normal view through a fiber optic endoscope. What you see is epiglottis in the foreground that looks like a pointed tongue. behind this are the arytenoids that work like curtains covering the opening to the trachea. Image 2- In this horse you can see the left arytenoid is hanging down into the airway. This is an example of Laryngeal paralysis. Frequently this is caused by damage to the left recurrent laryngeal nerve. It can also be related to damage to the arytenoid itself such as infection of the cartilage. This is what typically is known as roaring, when the horse makes a respiratory noise (usually on inspiration) while working. Image 3- This is a picture of an arytenoid ulcer. It is act...

While I confess to being a proud southerner with all rights and privileges thereto appertaining.....I really get aggravated by commercials or TV shows that make us look stupid. I also don't like those that make guys in general look stupid or those that make surfers look stupid. Now as a member of all three categories I have to complain about the antics of some of my fellow brethren...."Fellas this ain't helpin the cause" .....but it sure looks like fun.

I'm sure everyone knows that the price of keeping a horse has gone up substantially over the last year. If you look at rising fuel costs, increased feed costs and a poor hay harvest this year you can see the problem. Now you must add the increased cost of shavings. According to a report from " The Horse .com " the downturn in the housing market has caused a subsequent shortage in shavings and increased the cost. "The cost of shavings has increased by 70% in the past two years," noted halter horse trainer Ted Turner of Turner Ranch in Aubrey, Texas. He said he has been forced to pass the increased cost on to his clients. Since shavings are bulky they are expensive to ship so you need to live close to where the lumber industry is. Other things impacting the cost of keeping a horse are also going up. With the increased interest in ethanol fuel a lot of the corn production has been shifted to that use causing a large increase in feed costs. The rise in gas prices ...

American politics and our News Media have really turned me off as of late. To say they spend money like drunken sailors is an insult to drunken sailors. I read a great deal of history and I really wish we had statesmen like those that sacrificed everything in the founding of this country. With a Presidential campaign in full swing I can't tell the TV anchors from the candidates. That is why I was surprised to see this video on you tube. Is Fred just an actor or is he for real? He's definitely not great looking and how long has it been since we elected a bald President? (Not that theres anything wrong with that). It's a bit long, about 15 minutes but it was really refreshing, made me feel good about a politician...I can't believe I wrote that. How it all works out...I don't know, but I think I'll give him a close look. If you plan on voting or even if you can't stomach it any more......it might be worth you're time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VblJ...

I think I could really increase my "gross" income if I can get into this project. This from Purdue University " here ". "WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Some college students will do anything for extra cash, even if it means sniffing livestock excrement.Students at Purdue University in Indiana can earn $30 per session to inhale and then rate whiffs of air collected from barns filled with hogs, cows and chickens. It's a science experiment conducted by a professor of agricultural and biological engineering.He's searching for ways to improve methods for estimating a given livestock farm's odor emissions." They are going to sniff different barns trying to determine how far away you need to be so you don't smell it. It is supposed to help determine how far away you should build housing developments. I think I can lend some expertise here.....don't Mooooooove to where the cows are, simple enough. It's like the people that buy a house next to the...

This week the Dept of Health in Massachusetts reported that 4 human cases (including 2 deaths and 1 miscarriage) of Listeria infection over the last 6 mos. were linked by 'DNA fingerprinting' to retail milk samples obtained from a local dairy farm (Whittier Farms, Sutton MA). Listeria Monocytogenes is a gram positive bacteria that can cause septicemia GI disease and spread to the Nervous system. Listeria is a common soil organism that can cause disease when ingested, especially in pregnant women, children and people with weakened immune systems. I have seen several cases of menengitis/encephalitis in animals and I can only imagine how devastating this can be in people. From the Milford Daily News " The Department of Public Health (DPH) has issued a warning to consumers not to drink any milk products from Whittier Farms in Shrewsbury because of listeria bacteria contamination, which has contributed to the death of two people. Four cases of listeriosis infection have b...

Beth has for years written a Christmas letter that documents the ups and downs of the Weldon household. The mailing list has become quite large due to it's popularity so this year I thought I would post it for those that might think it was worth the read. It's a bit long but pretty funny. The Christmas Letter Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! All are well. Mom turned 75 and she and dad went on the QE2 for 16 days to celebrate. Dad still practices part-time and plays tennis on Monday nights occasionally. Both have some health issues but are still quite active. Alan’s family is doing well but his parents also have health issues. All 4 kids are at Episcopal and though the monthly tuition check is painful it is nice having them at the same school with many cousins and an aunt, as well as each other to keep me apprised of “relevant” (like Polly, who hates peas, donating every can of peas in the house to the food drive) developments. My boss of 16 years sold th...

We really don't get to do this very often but squeezed it in this year. When the kids finished their exams ( I should say I finished their exams, didn't think I would be doing Chemistry, History, Physics and Biology at this stage in my life) we bugged out for North Carolina . It's a 7 hour drive to Cataloochie and while not the best skiing it was great for the kids. All of their cousins went as well, Katie,Anna, Sally, Tucker and Meg as well as the Stiefels. We had 17 in all. What I learned. 1. Sarah is cautious 2. Murphy likes to get air 3. Polly hates wearing a helmet and 4. Mac is fearless and goes real fast. We got to ski 10-11 hours on Wednesday and nobody got hurt. we only did a 2 day trip and made it back for work on Friday. The bad thing is that since I'm such a last minute shopper it really cut into my Christmas shopping time......but it was worth it.

I didn't believe it when i saw this, but.......seeing is believing. A group of South Korean scientists led by Kong Il-keun, a cloning expert at Gyeongsang National University, produced three cats possessing altered fluorescence protein (RFP) genes, the Ministry of Science and Technology said. The plan is to be able to manipulate the genome so that certain genetic diseases can be eliminated. I suspect the fluorescent protein gene was added from fish that possess a similar gene but it didn't say in the report. "This technology can be applied to clone animals suffering from the same diseases as humans," the leading scientist, Kong, told AFP. "It will also help develop stemcell treatments," he said, noting that cats have some 250 kinds of genetic diseases that affect humans, too. The South Koreans were discredited several years ago when one of their scientists was found cheating on his cloning studies, he is now standing trial. The North Koreans tried to...