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Bots: Where Fecal Egg Counts Fail

A fecal egg count test is a common horse health practice designed to combat the overuse of equine dewormers and consequent drug resistance. Though the test is helpful in determining which horses need to be treated for parasites, there is one parasite that escapes being found on the screening: bots.

Fecal egg counts don't show the bot load a horse is carrying because bot eggs are not found in horse manure. Bot flies lay eggs on a horse's body, often on the lower legs and chest. As the horse licks the eggs, they hatch and he swallows the larvae, where they enter his digestive tract. The larvae, not eggs, leave via manure and the process begins again.

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Bot fly eggs look like small yellow grains of rice that stick to horse's hair. To remove them, horse owners can use a bot knife, which has a serrated blade, or a fiberglass block, which grabs and removes the eggs.

If bot fly eggs are removed diligently throughout the year, a horse owner may be able to skip deworming for bots – the horse will be fine if he ingests a few. If the horse isn't groomed regularly, however, it's worthwhile to give him a single dose of moxidectin or ivermectin after the first frost.

Sore Back? Skip The Bute

Horse owners have been known to take medications prescribed to the animals in their care, despite the possible dangers. While some anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and dewormers may be the same in both human and equine medicine, but their formulations can be vastly different; because of this, human ingestion of equine drugs isn't recommended.

An American woman experiencing severe back pain attempted to take some phenylbutazone (Bute) that had been prescribed for one of the horses in her care. She took three doses of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), each suitable for a 400-pound horse, reports the journal Clinics and Practice.

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Three days later, the woman went to the hospital complaining of nausea, vomiting and weakness, which she said she had been experiencing for two weeks. She often had back pain that was controlled by use of over-the-counter naproxen, but reported that this episode was exceptionally painful, which is why she ingested the Bute.

She presented to the hospital with nearly low blood pressure, a high heart rate, and normal O2 levels, as well as dry mucous membranes. Blood work showed a low white blood count, low platelet levels, elevated liver enzymes, and acute kidney injury. Her urine blood screen showed use of amphetamines and marijuana.

Poison control and toxicology were engaged once it was discovered she had ingested the Bute, but no antidote was recommended. She was given an N-acetyl cysteine and sodium bicarbonate drip because of the suspected acute liver damage caused by the phenylbutazone.

After three days of in-hospital treatment, the woman was feeling better and checked herself out.

Though phenylbutazone was used in human medicine for the treatment of multiple forms of arthritis, it was removed from the human medicinal arsenal in 1970 because of an increased risk of agranulocytosis, a life-threatening blood disorder.

The Scoop On Eating Dirt

Many horse owners have been told that a horse that eats dirt is missing specific nutrients in his diet—but this line of thinking is outdated. Seeing a horse licking or chewing dirt is concerning as the ingestion of soil can increase the likelihood he will develop sand colic.

A horse fed the proper amount of a commercial feed formulated for his age and lifestyle should lack for nothing with regards to vitamins, minerals and nutrients; so ingesting soil isn't to “make up” for a deficiency in his diet. If a horse was lacking something in his diet severely enough to make him want to eat dirt, he would show other signs of the deficiency, including weight loss or a dull coat.

Horses typically eat dirt because they're bored. In a natural setting, horses graze nearly constantly—and that time spend chewing is good for their mental health. A horse eating dirt might be seeking the feeling the chewing motion brings, so offering him something like hay in of a slow feeder might give him something to pass the time. Increasing his workload (if possible) or giving him a playful pasturemate may also help ease his boredom.

Wild Parsnip Can Cause Painful Reaction In Horses, But Not For Common Reason

Researchers have recently discovered that wild parsnip can cause trouble for horses—even if they don't ingest it. Drs. Bryan Stegelmeier, Steven Colegate, Edward Knoppel, Kerry Rood and Mark Collett have found that the invasive weed, which is a member of the carrot family that can be found throughout the United States, can cause phototoxic reactions in horses, even if they don't eat it.

Photosensitive skin reactions often occur after a horse eats a plant with photodynamic compounds. These compounds can then found in the horse's skin and blood; when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike a horse's pink skin, painful burns and blisters can occur.

The research team discovered that horses don't need to eat wild parsnip to have phototoxic reactions—they simply have to come in contact with the plant's sap. The sap contains furanocoumarins, which have been known to cause intense skin reactions in humans who come in contact with it on sunny days. The areas of the skin exposed to the sap may be sensitive to sunlight for up to two years after the original contact.