5 Horse Health

Question 1

Horse diseases

Answer 1

1) Tetanus
2) Strangles
3) Equine Herpesvirus 1 (EHV1)
4) Hendra (zoonosis)
5) Salmonellosis (zoonosis)

Question 2

Tetanus

Answer 2

Tetanus is caused by the toxin produced from Clostridium tetani. Horses are very prone to tetanus, all wounds potentially tetanus wounds; ie small cuts can be tetanus wounds, not only deep, dirty cuts - cant predict. Better off vaccinated than potentially euthanised

Question 3

How does tetanus cause progressive ascending paralysis?

Answer 3

Toxin gets into nerves initially close to where the wound was then works way up towards the brain

Question 4

Incubation

Answer 4

time elapsed between exposure to a pathogenic organism, a chemical, or radiation, and when symptoms and signs are first apparent

Question 5

Strangles

Answer 5

Like a very bad cold; vaccine not 100% effective but some countries require it for protection

Question 6

Why is it important to take a swab of horses nose?

Answer 6

Symptoms of strangles and EHV1 are very similar; to distinguish between the two

Question 7

Symptomatic relief

Answer 7

any medical therapy of a disease that only affects its symptoms, not the underlying cause.

Question 8

Worm Control (Horses)

Answer 8

1) Stronglyes (nematode worms): main cause of colic (abdominal pain)
2) Chemical/pasture control
3) Resistance

Question 9

When is colic minor?

Answer 9

lil stomach ache (but still must take it seriously)

Question 10

When is colic an emergency?

Answer 10

1) high heart rate
2) gum color (dry and tac
3) persistent pain

Question 11

Stronglye lifecycle

Answer 11

• adults live in large intestine of horse (latch onto lining and suck blood)
• lay microscopic eggs into pasture, larvae remain in grass for a few months
• horse eats larvae and it migrates

Question 12

Stronglye damage

Answer 12

• tooth of adult worm cuts through intestinal lining
• as part of migration, larvae wanders up major artery of intestine and lingers there for a while before making it’s way to the intestine; causes damage to the artery

Question 13

Roundworm (Horses)

Answer 13

Not as serious if have proper control of stronglye

Question 14

Pinworm (Horses)

Answer 14

Not very harmful, just annoying

Crawls backwards through anus then lays eggs around anus; horse ends up rubbing it on other surfaces (can be other horses too)

Question 15

Tapeworm

Answer 15

Doesnt really cause problems

Question 16

Worms in horses

Answer 16

not much of a threat

Question 17

Bot fly lifecycle

Answer 17

• adult insect (looks like bee) annoys horse by laying eggs around legs (sometimes ard head); bot fly only exists in late summer/autumn
• eggs hatches, horses licks them, goes into stomach
• maggot stage is inside stomach; attach quite deeply inside stomach (in winter) and grow (sometimes cause haemorrhage)
• after a month, drop out and hatch

Question 18

Bot fly treatment

Answer 18

-anthelmintic treatment
horses are treated for bots in the fall, after a frost that kills the adult flies, and again in the spring, to rid the stomach of all the larvae.

Question 19

Why is it important to rotate chemicals used on pasture?

Answer 19

To prevent the development of resistance of parasites

Question 20

Teeth care for horses

Answer 20

Teeth are continually being worn down and continually being sharpened, and some get sharpened at the wrong part (can cut insides of jaw, tongue); don’t want too much sharpness on wrong parts of the teeth (esp if horse has bitting)

Major factor on the longevity of horse; Horses struggle to get their nutrients in bc they cant effectively chew their food

Question 21

Peridontal disease

Answer 21

Wavyness of bones bc horse started off with sharp edges which led to accumulation of food at the gums (gingiva)—>gingivitis which allows the bacteria to get under gingiva and down along side the tooth –> periodontitis which leads to infection at root of tooth (apical infection) which leads to tooth loss

Question 22

Horse skin; Check regularly for:

Answer 22

• long hair

- lumps and bumps

Question 23

Dermatophillus and how to treat

Answer 23

Greasy heel; formation of hard scabs. If clip out scabs, will be oozy and painful but necessary in order to get the organism out

Question 24

Staph boils

Answer 24

kinda like pimples for horses but contagious; horses will feel pain around the area

Question 25

Horse lice life cycle

Answer 25

• Life cycle 3-12 weeks; all stages on horse
• Nits hatch in 3 weeks
• Feed on skin and blood

Question 26

Checking paddock

Answer 26

1) fences and facilities well maintained
2) weeds: for nutrition but not attractive to horses
3) toxic plants

Question 27

Why dont horses eat weeds?

Answer 27

Horses selectively graze, wont graze where they’ve pooped (areas that will grow weeds)

Question 28

Toxic plants for horses

Answer 28

1) Australian Stringhalt (flatweed)
- neurological problem, tend to kick their legs up high

2) Pattersons curse
- causes extensive liver damage

3) Bracken
- destroys vitamin A

4) Hemlock
- instantly kills horse

Question 29

botfly

Answer 29

Bot flies can be much more than just pests. The annoyance and distraction they cause can interfere with feeding and affect nutrition. The migration of bot larvae under the skin in mucous membranes causes lesions that may provide openings for infection. Flies also carry diseases that can seriously harm your horse’s health and performance. Without treatment, bots can cause severe damage in the stomach and intestine of your horse.

Question 30

pasture control (stronglye)

Answer 30

Employing rotational grazing (moving horses from one small parcel of the pasture to another, leaving them in each area for only a short time so they never graze it very close to the ground) can prevent transmission. The strongyle larvae only access the lower part of forage plants.

-The less aggressively a pasture is grazed, the less the horses are grazing near high-contamination areas