E-Vet Clinic - Horse Health Care

Tennessee Walking Horse Shows last year had an increase in USDA inspections. In fact the inspections were so diligent and strict that there was no World Grand Champion from the 2006 National Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration - the reason? Only 3 horses passed inspection, so they cancelled the class!

Mary Reeves from the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, TN did a story about this - Walking horse controversy makes this year’s show better

OK previously I have talked about some of the problems in the showing world and especially the racing world. Problems meaning the things we do to horses, which do not improve horse health, that either border on or actually are abuse in order to try to improve “performance” in the horse for their specific event. In Tennesse Walkers (TWH), the USDA inspectors are focusing on “soring”. Soring is a general term used to describe a wide variety of techniques used to make a TWH’s feet sore so that they pick them up higher and quicker, which exaggerates their normal gaits, thus improving their chances of being noticed by the judge. One of the most common techniques is to use shoes that put pressure on the sole of the horse, causing bruising. Imagine, you having to compete in running shoes that are crushing your little toe! Other things such as screws and needle or pin sticks are used as well, not exactly the best things for the horses health.

Well the inspections have done both good and bad for the TWH industry. For the bad? Some people are not attending the shows. Also it has been discovered that there are inconsistencies in the inspections from show to show. The good news? The horses that are at the shows are the ones that are not being sored - imagine that?? Also steps are being taken to make the inspections more uniform and consistent, and lastly, the horse shows and the industry itself is taking greater measures to be even more strict than the USDA and are trying to police themselves. This will be improve the quality of life for a show horse as well as improving their disposition and health.

In my opinion this is a good start to improving not just the TWH breed but all of horse showing. Other breeds and horse organizations are going to notice what has happened in the TWH world and improve themselves. The racing industry will be the most difficult to change as it involves the most money, but I believe it also can be improved.

OK I think I have read one of the bizarrest ideas I have heard in a long time. That Head Position matters to digestion in a horse. Here’s the exact quote -

Feeding at chest level makes it easier for the horse to digest the food, which means he is getting more nutrients out of his food, than he would be if he was eating at ground level.

I could not believe what I was reading when I read this - I said outloud - WHAT?!?!
I was tempted to write this person to find out where they heard such a thing - and if any of my readers have heard this please comment and point me to the reasoning or research behind this.

Let me take a moment to give you my opinion as to why I feel this is nonsense. First horses are grazers, they are not giraffes in which there food is in the trees, they are like cattle and deer and other such animals in which they graze the ground for their food. They were built this way, thousands of years of being on this earth has not changed the fact that horses are grazers. In order to be a grazer your head must be down to eat.

Lets put some facts to the design of the horse as a grazer, the first part of digestion is the mouth and teeth and the chewing process, so I can only assume that the individual writing the article that included the quote I am refering to realizes that this could be the only thing associated with digestion that head position could remotely change - at least I can hope that they realize this. So what happens to teeth position when the horse raises and lowers its head, well interestingly enough it does change. If you examine a typical horses mouth from a side profile with the incisor teeth (front teeth) exposed with the head elevated to your eye level you will notice that the majority have a very mild overbite in this position, basically about 1/2 cm or so, very mild almost imperceptible. When the head is lowered so that the nose is close to the ground the lower jaw shifts forward allowing for the front incisors to meet more exactly which gives the horse a better cutting surface to graze pasture and cut grass to eat.

So what does this do to the molars which do the majority of the grinding and first part of digestion, it also moves the lower molars forward about 1/2 cm or so. Well the molars consist of 6 teeth top and bottom on both sides of the mouth with each tooth being between 3 and 4 cm long by 2cm wide of chewing surface. The little 1/2 cm movement in the lower jaw means absolutely nothing when given this chewing surface not to mention that the jaw completely moves well well well beyond that 1/2 cm movement while chewing and it does not matter which position the head is in when the horse chews.

So unless your horse has a jaw, neck, or even a breathing problem such as COPD, heaves, it does not matter what position your horses head is in for digestion and if the horse was designed to be a grazer what makes people think that they would have better digestion if their head is raised??? Feeding at chest level is a convenience for humans not a horse health benefit!

Thumbelina is the World’s Smallest Horse and holds the Gusiness World Record for it. The reason - she is a miniature horse that also has dwarvism!

Well this diminutive horse is doing some heavy charity work. Standing only 17.5 inches tall, that is just over 4 hands, she is on a nationwide tour to raise $1 million for children. The charitable list is quite long but includes hospitals such as St. Jude Children’s Hospital and national organizations such as Ronald McDonalds House as well as therpuetic centers, shelters, and a few others. Check out her home page - www.worldssmallesthorse.com and of course the donation page for this very worthwhile cause - www.worldssmallesthorse.com/foundation.htm (You will find the extensive list of charitites on this page)

Be sure to check out the tour page as well to see if she is stopping by an event somewhere near you.