What is “heaves”?
Heaves is a chronic, non-infectious airway condition of horses that also is called recurrent airway obstruction, or RAO and was formerly known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD. The disease occurs in horses more than 6 years of age and is the result of an allergic reaction to inhaled particles. The allergens, [...]
What is Mud Fever?
Mud Fever is a form of dermatitis or skin infection which is caused by caused by a micro-organism called Dermatophilous Congolensis which thrives in wet and muddy conditions.
Mud fever is not a single disease but can be seen in differing forms. Mud fever can range from a mild skin irritation to very [...]
What is Strangles?
Strangles is a highly contagious infection caused by a bacteria known as Streptococcus equi that affects the lymph nodes and in severe cases can be fatal (around 1%). Strangles is one of the most frequently diagnosed infectious diseases in horses in the Britain.
Strangles affects equine species (horses, donkeys, mules, zebras). Strangles gets its [...]
Not sure what’s wrong with your horse? Here are a few conditions that may signal a dental problem:
Difficult to handle when riding
Head tilt
Head tossing
Head shaking
Sitting back
Fighting the bit
Weight loss
Drooling
Sensitive stifle
Head shy
Difficulty in chewing
Inability to eat
Tongue lolling
Bit chewing
Sore back
Because a horse’s mouth health is so important to his overall well-being, you can expect to see these [...]
COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) also known as ‘Heaves’ derives its name from the fact that the horse has to forcibly use its abdominal and respiratory muscles to push air out and pull air in. The owner may notice a large effort from the flanks, and in advanced cases, there will be a distinct line [...]
What is a Sheath?
The sheath is a tube of skin that protects the horses penis. Cleaning a male horse’s sheath is an unpleasant, but necessary job for a horse owner. It should be done at least once every 6 months
Most breeding stallions are probably washed often enough during breeding season, but they might not get [...]
What are Windgalls?
Windgalls or Windpuffs (more commonly used in the USA), are commonly used to describe puffiness in the area of the horse’s ankle. Windgalls usually occur when a horse is young, especially after he begins work and are a chronic problem often lasting the rest of the animal’s life. Windgalls are fluid-filled sacs that [...]
Horses are inheritably couch potatoes. An overeating, slothful horse leads to an obese horse. Unlike humans, however, horse owners often don’t see the dangers of an obese horse. Caretakers may see no harm in giving their horses rich foods, but obesity in horses is just as unhealthy as obesity in humans and can lead to [...]
Horses suffer from a range of parasitic problems. Common parasites found on horses and ponies are biting and sucking lice, mites, midges, ticks, mosquitos, black flies and bot fly.If left untreated parasites can cause serious health problems.
Bot Eggs
Bot eggs are the larvae of the adult bot fly. The adult flies lay eggs on the legs [...]
Now is the time to stop and take stock if your horses are not performing as you had anticipated this summer. Both the stomach and the lungs can be affected by poor nutrition, and could chronically affect health and performance.
Using gastro-endoscopy and bronchiolar lavage, vets can examine the health of the stomach and lungs respectively. [...]
