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Woodland View Farm and Equine Service © 2007. All rights reserved.
Site Designed and Maintained by Willow Bend Designs
December 2010
As this year draws to an end I wanted to update our clients on what has been going on at WVES. Early in the year we hosted a Roy Bloom farrier clinic. Roy is a Certified Journeyman Farrier and a very capable instructor. Several area farriers attended this hands or forging clinic in an effort to refine their skills on making and modifying shoes. Farriers in attendance included Chris Kline, Adam Carpenter, Chuck Gibson and Luke Taviano. Helping with instruction was Findlay farrier Bobby Menker CJF.
In February we hosted a clinic and leg dissection for the Southwest Ohio Farriers Association ( SWOFA). 15 -20 area farriers attended this clinic. A lamanitic horse, Bo, that we had done a deep digital tenotomy ( cut the deep digital flexor tendons ) on the previous summer was reset using wooden shoes. A deep digital flexor tenotomy is done to allow the coffin bone of a rotated lamanitic horse to settle back into a more normal relationship with the hoof capsule( derotation). Fortunately for Bo this procedure helped him live a more comfortable life after a very severe case of laminitis. This was followed by the dissection of several cadaver legs. Dissection is a useful tool to see what the inside of a horse’s leg looks like and enables us to better trim and shoe the horse as well as helping veterinarian get a handle on anatomy that might be useful in certain surgical procedures.
2010 in Review
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principles in our treatment, prognosis and shoeing of lamanitic, club footed and navicular horses.
Please check back!
While on the subject of laminitic horses, I am happy to say that many have benefitted by putting them into wooden shoes. The shoes are made out of plywood or 2x6 or 2x8 material and beveled at the front and sides to allow easier breakover for a horse with painful lamellar attachments between the coffin bone and the hoof capsule. These are available premade or we custom make them to fit the horse. They are attached with dry wall screws and cast material. We have also used variations of wooden shoes on horses with abscesses and bruised soles. As with any treatment for laminitis nothing works 100% of the time but it is another method that we have in our arsenal.
In September Chris and I as well as farriers Adam Carpenter and Dave Hall attended a Dr. Ric Redden clinic hosted by Drs. Galen and Grant Johnson. Dr. Redden has devoted his life to helping foundered horses and we hope to incorporate some of his 
In March we purchased a computerized radiology system. This eliminates the need to use chemicals to develop the film. We simply take the xray and scan the reusable plate enabling an image to appear on the computer screen in about 60 seconds. This can be done in our clinic or at the client’s farm eliminating the need to go back to the clinic to develop the film. The advantages are1.) We can see and discuss the images with clients before we leave the farm. 2.) If retakes are required or a slightly different angle is needed it can be done right away. 3.) We can provide immediate images for farriers so changes in trimming and shoeing can be immediately assessed and altered if needed. 4.) Images can be emailed to other veterinarians for second opinions or consultations. The images can be burned to a CD so the owner can have his own copy. 5.) This system can be used for equine as well as small animals.
This must have been the year for abscessed teeth because we saw 3 of them. We enlisted the help of Dr Tom Johnson, a veterinarian from Michigan who specializes in equine dentistry, to extract the teeth. He was able to extract all three teeth with the horse under sedation and local nerve blocks. None of the 3 horses suffered any complications and all are doing well. This illustrates 2 things. 1.) The need to examine horse’s teeth annually and float and correct problems before they get to an advanced stage of deterioration. 2.) Have someone who specializes and is a licensed veterinarian do advanced dental procedures. Without the right equipment and knowledge any procedure can end in disaster. None of these teeth were easy to remove and they took 2-6 hours of patiently loosening them before they could be extracted. Be sure to schedule your horse’s dental exam this fall.We did not hold a client education meeting this year. Much work goes into having a meeting and we feel that by doing them every other year we can provide a better meeting. We are thinking of having one on a Saturday and including several topics and demonstrations. If anyone has suggestions on topics please contact us.continued
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New products that became available this year include Dormosedan gel and Excede. Dormosedan gel is a tranquilizer made by Pfizer that can be given orally( under the tongue). It is useful for needle shy horses or horses who resist having their feet trimmed. Given 40 minutes prior to the stressful event this product works well to sedate the horse and keep the handler, farrier and veterinarian safer. Excede is an injectable antibiotic that maintains a therapeutic blood level for 4 days. It is given IM(in the muscle) once and repeated in 4 days giving the horse 8 days of therapy with 2 injections. With that length of treatment hopefully we can prevent the relapse of respiratory infections. The ingredient in the drug is ceftiofur which is the same drug that is in Naxcel.
Horses going to Michigan are now required to be tested negative for piroplasmosis which is a tick borne disease. As I understand it the reason for all the hoopla from Michigan is that an imported horse that had originally tested negative for piroplasmosis was retested this year using a different test in order to go to a show and that test was positive. We do not at this time have an epidemic of piroplasmosis but if horses are going to Michigan they need to be tested or I cannot write a health paper for them.You may have also heard that at least 2 horses in Mercer county died of Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis ( EEE ). As the name implies it is a viral brain infection that is spread by mosquitoes like West Nile Virus. The death toll which is nearly 100% is higher for EEE than it is for WNV. Symptoms of EEE include dementia, head pressing and ataxia or in coordination. The West Nile EWT vaccine that we give contains protection against Eastern and Western Encephalomyelitis as well as Tetanus and WNV. This combination contains the minimal vaccinations that all horses should have annually. Call us if your horses have not been vaccinated this year.November is the time to deworm for bots and tapeworms. Quest plus is on backorder at this time so we are using Equimax to deworm horses this fall. This product is approved for pregnant mares, breeding stallions and foals over 4 weeks of age. Also pregnant mares should be given pneumabort K shots the third, fifth, seventh and ninth month of pregnancy to help prevent abortion due to herpes virus. Mares should be palpated in the fall if there is any question as to their pregnancy status. Mares with a history of abortion should be checked for progesterone and estrogen levels to avoid late term abortions. The immunity provided by the Rhino Flu vaccines lasts only 4-6 months therefore we recommend boostering horses in the fall with that product. Contact us if any of your horses need the above health care procedures.Our small animal section continues to grow. We do wellness exams, vaccinations, dentals and spays and neuters. We also carry flea and heartworm products. During the month of January we will be offering a 10% discount for canine and feline spays and neuters. Contact us if your pets and barn cats need any attention.This newsletter was emailed to the people whose email addresses we have. If you were not one of those people please email your email address to us at horsedoc@bright.net so we can contact you in the future in regards to health care updates and state health requirement changes.
Going into the year end, we would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season. We would also like to thank everyone for their business as it is greatly appreciated.