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Ask The Expert: Ice Management And Prevention

Question: The December rains and strange weather has turned my property into an ice skating rink. What can I do to make my paddocks safer for myself and my horses?

University of Minnesota Extension responds: Ice is a major safety concern for both horses and their owners. The first step to ice management is prevention. Before the ground freezes, try to provide channels for water to flow away from alleyways, turn out sheds, and areas that horses frequently gather. Gutters on barns and sheds are also recommended as long as they direct water away from high traffic areas. When the temperature is below freezing, avoid dumping or draining whole water tanks, larger buckets, or automatic waterers into paddocks. Finally, when plowing or blowing snow, it is best to move as much snow as possible into areas where the water will drain away from paddocks and alleyways. However, use caution with this approach as melting after snow removal can lead to slick surfaces.

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When there is a build-up of ice, poultry grit, sand, and fresh manure are options to help increase traction. Avoid using straw, hay, or fresh shavings as these tend to slide over the ice and will not provide consistent traction. When using grit or sand, make sure to feed horses away from the area, or provide hay and grain in feeders off the ground so that horses do not accidentally ingest the substrate. When temperatures are not too cold, pure salt can be used to speed melting, but should be used in moderation. The effect of salt on horse hooves has not been researched and prolonged exposure has unknown consequences. Additionally, avoid applying salt and sand at the same time as horses may accidentally ingest the sand while licking the salt. Finally, ensure that your horse has the best traction from their hooves. Regularly removing built-up snow and ice from hooves will help the hoof better grip ice and snow and will reduce slipping and falling.

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Study: Colic The Primary Cause Of Death For Geriatric Horses In Retirement Centers

The primary causes of death among horses at a retirement facility include colic, lameness, neurological deficits, and the cumulative effects of old age, according to new research from the Netherlands.

Using records from a private equine retirement center gathered over an eight-year period, researchers aimed to pinpoint the most common causes of death in aged horses and, more specifically, to determine the effects of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) on mortality.^*

For this study, any horse 15 years of age or older was considered geriatric.

After an exhaustive review of records, researchers created fourteen categories for the cause of death: colic, lameness excluding laminitis, laminitis, down in the field, neurological deficit, sudden death, acute illness, chronic weight loss, tumor, fracture or trauma, behavior, financial, and old age. A “financial” cause of death indicated euthanasia occurred because of an owner's inability to pay for care, and “old age” designated a horse with multiple problems that cumulatively decreased welfare and whose life ended by planned euthanasia.

All horses at the facility were overseen by professional horsemen and veterinarians and were provided with routine care. Testing for PPID occurred if there were any clinical indications of the disease (cresty neck, history of laminitis, chronic infections, weight loss).

Of the 194 horses that resided at the facility, 80 geriatric horses died during the eight-year period. Twelve were between the ages of 15 and 19 years old, 25 were between 21 and 25 years old, 32 were between 25 and 30 years old, and 11 were 31 or older. The average age of those horses that died was 26 years old. All were euthanized or died of natural causes.

The most common cause of death among this population of geriatric horses was colic (20% of cases) followed by old age (15%) and lameness that did not involve laminitis (12%). Neurologic problems and an inability to rise after lying down rounded out the top five causes of death.

“For those of us that live and breathe horses, that spend time each day with horses, that study horses, these causes of death come as no surprise,” said Catherine Whitehouse, M.S., a nutritionist with Kentucky Equine Research. “The interesting aspect of this study is that this data was all mined from the records of horses housed at a single facility under similar management conditions. Because of this, there was less variation in care than there would have been if horses had been managed at multiple farms.”

With regard to PPID, of the 194 horses that resided at the facility, 125 (63%) were tested at least once for PPID. During the eight-year-study period, 62 horses of the 125 tested died, and 47 of those 62 (76%) had tested positive for PPID at an average age of 27 years old.

According to the study, horses were maintained on a diet of free-choice haylage with and were offered supplemental feed if necessary. The teeth of all horses were examined regularly and those with missing or problematic teeth were given mashes when necessary. Weight was monitored monthly using scales. “The horses at this facility appeared to be given top-flight care, especially when it came to provision of adequate feed, dental care, and regular deworming, all of which is important when it comes to lifespan,” Whitehouse said. “Old horses sometimes require more management, but the extra investment may pay off in added years at the end of a life.”

Aged horses often benefit from targeted supplementation. High-quality joint supplements can help ease the discomfort associated with the effects of a lifetime of service, and a research-proven hindgut buffer, like EquiShure, can help stabilize the pH of the hindgut so microbes can efficiently ferment forages.

^*Van Proosdij, R., and S. Frietman. 2021. Retrospective analysis of cause-of-death at an equine retirement center in the Netherlands over an eight-year period. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 110:103824.

Reprinted courtesy of Kentucky Equine Research. Visit ker.com for the latest in equine nutrition and management, and subscribe to Equinews to receive these articles directly.

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OTTB Kid Blast Enjoying New ‘Challenges’ At Therapeutic Horses Of Saratoga

In 2014, a bay gelding named Kid Blast created lasting memories for owner Parting Glass Racing, winning or finishing on the board in all eight of his starts at New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) tracks. Now, at the age of 13, Kid Blast is still bringing joy to those around him as a therapy horse just five miles from Saratoga Race Course at Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga.

Trained by Bruce Levine during his racing days, the son of Posse made 26 career starts throughout his five seasons of racing, compiling a record of 5-4-7 with earnings of $151,576. Upon retirement from racing, “Kid”, as he is affectionately known, became a track pony at NYRA, his friendly and easy-going personality making him a good candidate for assisting racehorses on the track.

When a back injury forced his retirement from pony work, Lisa Molloy's Re-Run Thoroughbred Retirement took in the gelding and provided him with a place to rehabilitate.

Tom Gallo, managing partner of Parting Glass Racing and now Dream Maker Racing, reached out to Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga (THS) after Kid Blast retired from pony work, suggesting the gelding's experience would allow him to excel as a therapy horse.

“Kid's personality was just perfect,” said Laura LaRue, the Director of Equine Care at Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga. “We got him in 2019 and he's got a big brother kind of personality. He flowed right into his role here and just wants to please everyone.”

A Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) accredited not-for-profit organization, Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga was founded in 2018 with the mission of retraining retired thoroughbreds and standardbreds to become therapy horses for clients in partnership with ECS Psychological Services in Saratoga Springs.

Patients are taught equine husbandry at the organization's Lake Avenue farm, learning to problem solve and work through their emotions.

“Our clients typically spend time getting to know the horses on their first few visits,” LaRue said. “We'll ask them to catch and bring us a horse from the field and provide them with a halter and lead rope, but most do not know what those are or how to use them. Sometimes they will just entice them over with a piece of hay. This helps our patients learn how to figure things out for themselves and then down the road, we can have them do other things like lead the horses through obstacle courses. The horses challenge them to work through it.”

Kid Blast has proved popular on the farm, a gentle giant who can work in a variety of the program's activities.

“Kid does everything because he's amazing,” said LaRue “He's a very big, stoic and mellow horse and the herd leader in his paddock. Patients will spend time with him and groom him, take him for walks, and go through the obstacle courses. We made this thing we call the car wash. It's made of pool noodles and the goal is for the clients to guide the horses through it while the noodles brush up against them. Kid Blast has done it a million times and sometimes plants his feet and challenges them to make it through.

“We also have the clients build a corral where they use things like traffic cones and hula hoops to create a pen to lead the horse into,” LaRue added. “There's a lot of metaphors in it.”

As THS continues to see success in their programs, LaRue credits the emotional capacity of horses as the reason equine therapy can provide another level of support for patients along with traditional therapies.

“The horses are very good at reading emotions and are reactive in a way that is both challenging and comforting,” LaRue said. “They have a very good balance of what the client needs. They can do all this in a way that humans can't. We are setting the experience up but it's the horses who are doing all of the mental and emotional work.”

With many success stories to reflect on in the organization's three years, LaRue fondly recalled her favorite moment shared between Kid Blast and one of their clients.

“We had someone who was saying they were fine when they weren't, and in therapy it's kind of hard to turn that off sometimes,” LaRue said. “They were trying to place a halter on another horse and the horse kept walking away. The client was getting frustrated and you could tell that they were feeling like they wanted to give up. Kid walked up from behind and gave them a nudge on their back and placed his face in the halter for them. He reaches out when you need it. He takes good care of everyone.”

Now in his third career, Kid Blast is exemplary of the wide array of new jobs available to racehorses when their days on the track are over. LaRue emphasized that both thoroughbred and standardbred racehorses are favorable to work with in new settings because of how they are handled on the racetrack.

“Racehorses are exposed to things like the starting gate, noise, and crowds and they get used to it pretty quickly,” said LaRue. “Here on the farm, they aren't nervous around tractors or a tarp flapping around in the breeze. All of their exposure on the track made it a lot easier for them to transition here. It makes a big difference.”

NYRA and its horsemen are committed supporters of the TAA, which accredits, inspects, and awards grants to approved aftercare organizations using industry-wide funding.

Every owner competing at NYRA racetracks donates $10 per start to the TAA, helping to fund aftercare organizations that provide homes for retired racehorses. New York's horsemen also donate 1.5 percent of the purchase price of every horse claimed at a NYRA track to TAA and the New York
Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association's TAKE THE LEAD (TTL) program, which provides preliminary vet exams and treatment, as well as costs related to transportation and rehabilitation or retraining.

“The conversations have grown about aftercare over the last few years which is great,” said LaRue. “NYRA has a day at the races where they bring horses in from the TAA and educate fans to show them options for the racehorses after their careers. It's really important to continue to have the aftercare conversation and we are excited to be a part of it.”

For more information on Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga, visit https://thsaratoga.org/.

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Equine Supplement Shows Promise For Improving Gut Health

Collaborating on three recent research papers on a nutraceutical called “Gs Formula,” Dr. Wendy Pearson of the University of Guelph has been very busy. Approached by GS Organic solutions out in British Columbia, Pearson has been investigating the potential for Gs Formula to improve gastric health, particularly for horses with a history of lower severity colic episodes.

“In the first study, we found that there was actually a significant increase in contractility of gastric smooth muscle when the smooth muscle was exposed to the GS Formula,” said Pearson of the first in vitro study. “The smooth muscle strips became more sensitive to a contractile stimulus (acetylcholine), which may indicate an application of the product to increasing contractility of the GI tract.” A feed additive that can accelerate transit time of food through the horse's digestive tract could prove hugely beneficial to horses at risk for developing impaction colic.

The second in vitro study also pointed to a role in accelerating gastric transit time, noting that small pieces of gastric mucosa cultured in the presence of Gs Formula produced an increased amount of a hormone (gastrin), which promotes contractility of the stomach.

Watch this video interview to find out what happened in the third study involving Standardbred racehorses.

Dr. Pearson has been involved in Nutraceutical studies since 1997 and can attest to the progress in the field as far as regulations go, including there is now oversight from Health Canada. When asked the hallmarks of a supplement backed by research, Pearson says “a horse person's best protection is to buy products from companies that invest in objective third party research.” Pearson goes on to explain efficacy research is still a big problem. A lot of the research that's used to scientifically back products is not on the actual product; it's on research that other companies have done on similar products, or from research on individual ingredients. But there are a few equine supplement companies making substantial investments in their product line by conducting evidence-based product research.

“The future of nutraceuticals is very exciting, and the sky is the limit,” says Pearson, “the interest and the availability of research funding for this type of research is growing and that's really coming from the manufacturers, so they deserve a big shout out.”