Insulin Resistance

There has recently been some interest from horse owners in learning about insulin resistance in their animals.  Insulin resistance occurs when cells become resistant to the glucose uptake action of insulin.  Veterinarians are able to diagnose insulin resistance with a blood sample.  Please see some very important information from the University of Connecticut for more details at:  http://animalscience.uconn.edu/extension../publications/insulinresistance.htm

Feeding Horses? There's an App for that!

Ever find yourself trying to calculate how much hay or feed to purchase and you have to guess how much they should eat?  There's an App for that!

The University of Minnesota Extension has developed two apps for smartphones that can help determine how much to feed a horse based on body weight.  See the link below for great details about these two helpful tools.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/horse/apps/

Managing Bots this Fall

 

This has been an interesting fall to say the least.  With a very active hurricane season, horse flies hanging around longer than usual, and bot flies coming out later than usual!  Most of what I have seen started earlier this month.  But, if you haven’t seen the bot fly buzzing around and hovering over your horse, you might have seen the yellow eggs they left on your horse.  The bot fly, which resembles a honey bee, has non-functional mouthparts and does not bite the horse, but can cause significant internal damage to the digestive system. The eggs of the bot fly are what we are more concerned with, since they contain the bot larvae that can be dangerous to your horse’s digestive tract.   Bot flies usually lay eggs on the horse’s legs, flank and belly area, but sometimes even in the mane, neck, chest, throat and other areas.  There actually are three types of bot flies: the common horse bot fly (Gastrophilis intestinalis), the throat bot fly (G. nasalis) and the nose horse bot fly (G. haemorrhoidalis).  The common and throat bot flies are found throughout the U.S., but the nose bot fly is more common in the northern and Midwestern states.  The female bot fly can lay between 150-500 eggs in her 7-10 day life cycle.  What’s most important is that the eggs are removed promptly, before the horse licks them and the larvae are allowed to enter the mouth and start causing problems. 

Bot eggs require two things to hatch: friction and moisture.  The horse provides both of these if they lick or scratch an area with their mouth.  The small bot larvae will attach to the horse’s tongue, burrowing into the tissues of the mouth.  Some of the bot larvae found closer to the head will even emerge and migrate on their own without the horse’s help.  It takes about one to five days for the egg to incubate before hatching, so its best to remove the eggs as soon as you see new ones on your horse.  After about three weeks, they will leave the mouth area and travel to the stomach and the upper portion of the small intestine.  The cycle is complete when the fully grown larvae pass through the horse feces and burrow in the soil to pupate, then emerge as flies after a couple months. 

Damages caused by bot larvae can be extensive.  Horses may lose weight due to the inability to graze because of the pain in their mouth from the burrowing larvae in the tongue, gum, or lips.   They may rub or bite at objects to relieve pain from the burrowing and injure themselves.  In the stomach, the larvae can cause obstruction of the flow of food, colic, or even perforations of the stomach or small intestine wall.  Ulcers, peritonitis, esophageal paralysis, and even rupture of the stomach can occur in very severe cases. 

Controlling bots is not hard, but routine inspection for eggs and frequent removal is required to minimize their effects.  Breaking the life cycle is the key.  Sponging affected areas of the horse with warm water will cause the eggs to hatch, and including an insecticide with the water will kill any eggs exposed once hatched. If you’d rather not use them, a quick method of removal is to either use a bot knife or clip the area.  Oral treatment and in most cases prevention of the horse from bot infestation is done through certain deworming products.  Dichlorvos, ivermectin, trichlorfon, and moxidectin are all effective for bots. It is recommended to deworm both in the late summer and immediately after a killing frost for best results.  After such an abnormal fall, we will see when that frost comes!  Best wishes for controlling those bots in the meantime.     

Eileen A. Coite

County Extension Director,  Sampson County

Recommendations for the use of chemicals are included in this publication as a convenience to the reader.  The use of brand names and any mention or listing of commercial products or services in this publication does not imply endorsement by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension nor discrimination against similar products or services not mentioned.  Individuals  who use chemicals are responsible for ensuring that the intended use complies with current regulations and conforms to the product label.  Be sure to obtain current information about usage and examine a current product label before applying any chemical.  For assistance, contact an agent of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension in your county.  

Choosing a blanket for your horse

Although it’s still fairly warm and sunny for most of NC right now, old man winter could be just around the corner, so it’s not too early to start thinking about finding the right blanket for your horse.  There are several factors to keep in mind when selecting a blanket for your horse.  

Will the blanket be used in the barn or for turn-out? 

Is inclement weather a common problem where you live? 

Has the horse been clipped or left to grow a coat for the winter?

                There are three main types of blankets when looking to select a blanket for your horse.  There are horse sheets, which are light-weight and provide little additional warmth.  These are usually used for protection from the sun and to keep dust off of your horse.  Since they are light weight they are also not as durable as some of the other options.  These are best used during warm weather.

 

Shown: Horse Sheet

 

                Another option is a stable blanket.  These are heavier weight than the horse sheets so they provide a good bit of additional warmth but are not usually made of waterproof or particularly durable material, so they can actually soak up the rain or snow, making your horse colder than if they had on no blanket.  These blankets are made to be used on horses while they are housed inside a stall or barn.

 

Shown: Stable Blanket

                

 The last option is a turnout blanket.  These are usually a similar weight to the stable blanket but are made of a thick, durable, waterproof material that makes them ideal for horses that are outdoors, especially during very cold or wet weather.

 

Shown: Turnout Blanket 

All of the styles come in different weight options, usually light, medium and heavy, all having varying thickness, therefore providing varying degrees of warmth.  You should choose the weight based on the climate in which you and your horses live.  Whether your horse is clipped or has grown a winter coat will also factor into which weight you choose.  Most horses that are able to grow their winter coat do not need a blanket, but if you prefer to put one on them, a lighter weight one would be best.  Horses that are clipped for showing or other reasons may need a heavier weight depending on how cold it gets where you live.

There are also options in the durability or “denier” of the blanket.  A very light strength sheet would have a denier of 210 versus a super heavy strength turnout blanket with a denier of 2100.  You should choose your denier based on how often your horse will be wearing the blanket and for what purposes.  A horse that needs to be covered at show events just to keep dust off and may only have the blanket on for a couple of hours would be fine with a lower denier, whereas a horse that is wearing the blanket for most of the day out in a pasture where he may roll around or rub against fencing would need a much higher denier.

Fitting the blanket to your horse is the last step in selecting the right blanket.  Most standard blankets will fit from the shoulder to the tail and will cover the horse’s entire body.  They can have closed or open fronts and typically have a strap around the girth and back leg straps to keep the blanket in place.  To measure your horse, use a soft measuring tape such as a tailors measuring tape.  You should take your measurements slowly to make sure your horse does not spook from the new item touching them.  It’s also a good idea to have someone help you, so that one person can hold one end of the tape while the other person can accurately measure your horse.  Take the measuring tape and hold one end of the tape right at the middle point of your horses’ chest and then slowly run the tape along the side of his body, coming all the way to the middle part of his tail. In order to get a precise measurement, you’ll need to make sure that you are running a straight line across the middle length of his body and that you are not holding the measuring tape too high up or down too low. You should measure in inches since this is the number used to find the right size.  If the measurement you get falls on a size that is not offered by blanket companies, then you can round the number up to the next size offered. Standard size blankets range from 64 inches for small ponies to 90 inches for large draft horses, so carefully measuring your horse is the key to selecting a well fitted blanket that will give him complete coverage. Generally speaking, an average size horse will most likely measure somewhere between 74 and 78 inches.

 

Shown:  A diagram of how to measure your horse for a blanket.

 

If you have any questions on how to choose the right blanket for your horse your local tack shop should be able to help you, or you can always contact your local livestock extension agent.