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RE: [RC] Let Play:"Stump the Vets!!" ;0) - Mike Sherrell

You might try a course of antibiotics -- grasping at straws.

You might try several days of anti-fungal shampoo -- more straws.

Perhaps rake up all leaves or any other dubious nibbleable items?

Examine hay very closely for fungus or mold? Is it dusty with wind-blown
dust? In Calif there are molds that live in the soil that can infect people
when the dust blows.

Examine belly swellings very closely -- maybe tiny bugs, maybe who knows
what? Push hair back so you can see skin, maybe use magnifying glass?

Seems to me like it could be an allergic reaction, so it would depend on the
individual equid's immune response, i.e. not all would be susceptible.
Analyze the environment very closely for insects whose life cycle this time
of year might include biting horseflesh, and also analyze for plants that
have some life cycle transition right now that might come into contact with
the inside or outside of the horse and cause immune response. Local ag
extension or university might make a brilliant connection for you.

Good thing you don't have anything better to do.

Regards,

Mike Sherrell
www.postindustrialhorsemanship.com

-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of L gin
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 8:46 AM
To: Ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [RC] Let Play:"Stump the Vets!!" ;0)



 Ok-Direct me to any ideas, websites etc.--I am on the HUNT to figure this
out. Second time, year apart  different animals.  I  care for these animals
at home for years on a daily basis. I read these guys well.
  Crept out to the  pasture (recovering from Staph and cold)  with my
Hunter Insturctor/ trainer daughter who was visiting  Labor day. --- My mare
was stocked up  in back legs, and had 2 swellings about 4" wide by  8-12" on
her belly in front of her  udder. Her expression was one of  "I don't feel
so good". She was walking  in a sort of stilted manner.
   I said " I thought she looked like  she was walking funny , when I
looked outside yesterday!"
   My daughter who  has cared for a barn of horses , said" look,  probably
from that fungus on her canon bones'. "Noooo, thats not  fungus , that is
Warpaint". It has been dry as a bone here, only a few 5 minute showers and
they go stand in the barn if it rains.Plus , no one has gotten rain rot ,
since I started vitamins and Flax and BOSS.
  I bathed her yesterday, hosed her legs and went over her real good.
Nothing else out of the ordinary.
   I had noticed before I got sick about a week ago, that she had some
swelling/endema in front of her udder on  two parallel  lines  forward on
her belly.Then I was sick in bed a week. Now it is worse including  both
back legs. thermometer was broken, so didn't take temp. But she is  EDPP ,
seem normal.
    BINGO! this is following exactly what happened to my donkey last year!
Only he is a boy, duh.And His swelling included his  sheath, which grew to
3 times normal size and the endema included his entire belly, which became a
thick mass  about  4" thick.
   Enviornment.- Only dirt turnout with  a grass aobut 1.5 acre. There are
oak trees starting to drop a few leaves, which are dry , there is a poplar,
and  pines. Everything is drought stressed. No nuts or fruit. They have a
grass hay roundbale, pretty good hay, dryed  and put up right.
    Insects in area. Very few now, it is so dry. I let out fly predators
monthly. I have fly traps. I  sprinkle Fireant mounds as soon as I find
them. There are a few  hornets /bees/  etc.  Sometimes I see deer flys and
an occasional  horse fly.But very few it has been so dry. Very few mysquitos
this year., I know , cause I attract them.  I try to  keep them comfortable.
    Last year I called the local farm vet. He  shrugged and said , maybe he
got kicked..Nobody kicks anyone. These guys have been together a long time
and though there is  an occasional  rare bite on the neck from playing  by
the  donkey and  young horse and  "if"  someone comes near Rascals stall at
dinner time , they may get a "nip at..".
     Donkey actually got worse from vets  visit  for another week , then it
gradually subsided. I treated with Bute. Feeding habits never changed.--I
didn't call the vet  in again with him, cause he didn't seem interested  in
figuring it out  and just kind of brushed me off.
   This seems to be following the same  scenario.---WE do have  roughly  8
dumptruck loads of chicken manure in front of our house dumped by the local
farmer  who then spreads it on the fields .To get our horses it would have
to travel about  500 plus feet on the wind uphill and  over the treeline.
This has been there for months and  another neighbor is trying to get it
covered or something, but the  ol'd guy doesn't care, ti is furtherst from
his house , even though  there are  3 babies next door.
   There are bats, crows, bluebirds, sparrows, finches,  owls, vultures,
hawks int he area. Coyotes, loose dogs and cats, etc. Typical North Georgia
flora and Fauna.
    And didn't someoneelses'  mare  have mysterious stocking up a couple
weeks ago? I tried to  look her up in archives, but didn't find a date. I
have looked up  in my vet books et.
    BTW. This mare is a 12 yr old pasture  potato. Just green broke , isn't
 being ridden, has always been on turnout , Never lame or sick. Only one
choke , in   7 years.  Does  get a hay belly. Regular worming and shots.
Basic shots,  EWT,WNile, Rabies. No physical contact with outside horses .
But there are horses , within  a couple hundred feet. Electric  rope fence.
Feet are a little chippy, were past due for  filing. So I filed and checked
them yesterday.
     I am stumped--- and am concerned-- as to what effects this can have.
Someone said last year about the donkeys , may be congestive heart failure.
But here I have another horse with same symptoms....  So far , this seems to
have started 7-10 days ago before I went out  OOT , came back and was sick
inside , and non -horsey son was feeding and checking on them.  So if this
follows the same scenario,  she will stay the same or get worse another
week, then gradually    clear up.
   All I can think to do is give her some bute, may be hose , her. I will
talk to my neighbor, she  does endurance and  is a vet tech and see if she
has noticed anything with her 3 horses.
   If it is insect stings, then I have 2 animals getting way overexposed
and reactive , which doesn't seem to likely. They all get Warpaint on  them,
pretty regularly, and sometimes a mix of   flick, citronella and
Pymethrins--not necessarily daily, but if bugs are  bad.  This is a very
even endema,  so I rule out sankebites, or even insect bites. Seems more
systemic.....
     Any ideas? Timiing  seems to  possibly be involved. Last year it was
roughly same time period , give or take a few weeks  and   someone else had
a horse  she mentioned on here, a couple weeks ago, but think she was
further north. I am in the  Tenn./Ga/Ala. corner. This started last week of
August.

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Replies
[RC] Let Play:"Stump the Vets!!" ;0), L gin