Lesson 5

Stable Management

Lesson Five

OBSERVATION

What makes a good stable manager is the same attribute that separates a novice from the great horseman---attention to details. A solid education in horse management is needed, but if you aren’t aware of a problem, then it’s a waste.

Observation and awareness are the stable manager’s primary offense. By establishing a routine for observing the horses under his or her care, the stable manager is instantly aware of “well-being, or things that just aren’t quite right.” Then the stable manager applies his or her skills to attend the details and assure continued well-being, or correct an imperfect situation.

As mentioned in lesson four, start the day by looking over each and every horse. Examine the horse, the stall, the feed, water and the bedding. Don’t just look in and walk away….study the horse’s eye, nose, stance, breathing and interest in you or whatever has his attention at the time. Is the horse well and happy? Is the horse a little “out of character?” Notice the water container – did the horse drink the normal amount of water? Is the stall torn up or is the bedding banked up along the walls? Did the horse eat all his feed during the night? Does the manure look normal?

Check the horses before feeding. A quick walk through the barn will alert you to a horse in distress. Waiting until after the horses are fed could prolong suffering of a horse in need of immediate help.

Click here for a short video.

CHECK FOR INJURIES

During morning and evening rounds, check all horses for cuts, scrapes, bumps, lumps, slashes or puncture. Horses are always getting one or the other, and it’s your job to “see them, report them or treat them.”

Sometimes the disaster needs a little loving care. Sometimes it needs some professional medical attention. It always needs a little attention.

The first rule of first-aid for horses is to treat all injuries as soon as they are discovered. The initial treatment may be minor, such as rinsing off the injury with clear water. In any case, you must make your first treatment in such a manner as to be of benefit to further treatment and proper healing.

Don’t take action without thought. Putting the wrong medication on a wound may cause severe complications. But don’t move too slowly. Some injuries need emergency first-aid and professional treatment within hours. Using a time frame may be the best way to determine if the injury simply needs care, needs emergency first-aid or needs professional medical attention.

If the horse has a bleeding wound, the question is one of survival. A horse can lose a lot of blood, but not for long. A slow dripping or running of blood which lasts less than 10 minutes is not too serious. A heavy flow of blood which lasts longer than 10 minutes is very serious and is an emergency.

COLIC

Colic is the name given to any undiagnosed abdominal pain a horse suffers. Often the horse is treated, recovers, and the cause is never known.

Know the signs of colic:

· Refusal to eat grain or hay

· Change in attitude

· Restlessness

· Pulse, respiration rate, or temperature may be slightly elevated

· Glancing back at the sides of the barrel

· Kicking at the stomach

· Pawing or foot stomping

· Yawning

· Standing in a stretched position

· Tail switching

· Stumbling

· Groaning or sighing

· Repeated laying down

· Stretching of the legs while laying

· Attempting to roll

It is very important to know how a horse acts when he is normal. Early detection of colic increases the chances of recovery. It is highly recommended to remove all feed and call a veterinarian immediately if colic is suspected.

As the stable manager you are responsible for the health and happiness of all the horses under your care.

Observe constantly, take action quickly, but with thought and follow your natural horsemanship instincts.

Lesson six will cover more details about first-aid and colic.

HORSE CLOTHES

Depending on your location blankets, sheets, hoods and turn-out rugs will take on more or less importance. (Nearly all show barns will have plenty of blankets—blankets keep hair smooth and clean, but not short. You’ll learn about maintaining a show coat in the course Preparation for Competition.)

Horses seem to be happiest when the ambient temperature is around 55 degrees, so most of the time a horse in a barn should not be wearing a heavy blanket and hood. On the morning rounds, slide your hands under any blanketed horse’s blanket and see how warm or hot he is. Remove blankets if the horse is warm….you do not want a horse to sweat under a blanket. Stalls in enclosed barns tend to get very warm, so check frequently and remove blankets if the daytime temperature is climbing.

Do not blanket horses that will be out in rain—even a cold rain. Once a horse gets wet under a wet blanket, the horse’s health is in danger. The horse has a better chance of drying and staying warmer if he is not wearing a cold, wet blanket.

If the horses under your care are going to wear blankets, the blankets should fit. For the correct size, measure from the center of the horse’s chest, running the tape across the point of his shoulder along his side, ending in the middle of his tail. This measurement should be the size blanket the horse is wearing….76 or 78 or whatever. If your measurement was accurate, the blanket should be snug around the neck and the spine of the blanket should end at the top of the tail.

Different styles of blankets have different side lengths. A stall blanket is shorter on the sides than a turnout blanket, which drops lower to afford greater protection from the elements.

In the front there should be a good overlap so there are no gaps across the chest.

Surcingles should be adjusted tight enough so you can barely get your hand sideways (about 4 inches) between the horse and the surcingle. Legs straps should be adjusted in the same way. You want them loose enough so the horse can walk and move comfortably, but not so loose he could get a foot caught in one. Crossing the leg straps at the center (between the horse’s back legs) helps reduce the possibility of a foot getting caught. Always snap to the same side of the blanket as the strap originates.

Horses which wear blankets can be re-blanketed on the evening rounds.

ROUTINE RECORD CHECK

Take time to make a routine check of each horse’s current medical record. (I know - you did it yesterday and the day before and the day before that. Details, details, details. By checking the records daily, you won’t miss anything and you won’t forget “medications to be fed,” teeth to be floated, deworming schedules, or hooves to be trimmed and shod.)

MEDICATIONS

Start with the medications to be fed. Who fed the horses, were the meds mixed and included with the feeding? Ask the person doing the feeding. Be sure all horses ate the morning feed and didn’t refuse the meds.

TEETH

Who needs floating? Did you see any horses having trouble chewing or spitting out bits of roughage? Look at the horse’s ages. Young horses—especially two, three and four year olds—are going to be getting rid of baby teeth, suffering the discomfort or pain of “caps” and erupting new permanent teeth. The teeth of young horses are softer than those of mature horses, so young horses may need floating (having the rough edges smoothed) twice a year. Mature horses can often go well over a year before needing some minor rough edges rasped away.

An equine dentist or your veterinarian will use a long-handled rasp known as a “float” for file away the rough edges on the outside of the upper teeth and the inside of the lower teeth. The rough edges are caused from the grinding of the teeth together as the horse chews. The lower and upper jaws on the horse to not meet perfectly—the horse’s upper jaw being wider than the lower jaw.

DEWORMING

Ignore brands names on dewormer products and learn what the active ingredients in the product actually control.

The five most common ingredients are Febendazole, Ivermectin, Moxidectin, Praziquantel and Pyrantel.

Febendazole controls large strongyles, encysted early third stage, late third stage and fourth stage cyathostome larvae, small strongyles, pinworms and ascarids.

Ivermectin controls large strongyles, small strongyles, pinworms ascarids, hairworms, large-mouth stomach worms, bots, lungworms and intestinal threadworms.

Moxidectin controls large strongyles, small strongyles, pinworms, ascarids, encysted cyathostomes, hairworms, large-mouth stomach worms and bots.

Praziquantel controls tapeworms.

Pyrantel Pamoate controls large strongyles, small strongyles, pinworms, ascarids and tapeworms (when double-dosed.)

Pyrantel Tartrate controls large strongyles, small strongyles, pinworms and ascarids. This is the ingredient in “daily wormers.”

If you do not have a deworming record on the horse and the horse is very old or very young, have a veterinarian run a fecal test to determine the most effective product. Click here to read more about fecal egg counts.

It is advised to deworm for tapeworms at least once per year, so a product containing praziquantel should be used.

Parasites will develop a resistance to some deworming chemicals, so it is a good idea to rotate the products. New dewormers are constantly being developed which are more effective and control worms at different stages of maturity.

The basic idea behind deworming is to “break the parasites” life cycle. Here are some basic guidelines for a deworming schedule. Be sure you get the schedule approved by your barn veterinarian or the horse owner’s veterinarian.

Ascarids, also known as roundworms, mainly affect horses under 15 months of age. It is most often recommended a foal be dewormed the first time before the age of 2 months. Care must be taken with foals, as a heavy kill of worms can cause a blockage of the intestinal tract. A half dose is often suggested, followed by another half dose a week later. A schedule of deworming every 2 months until the age of two is then usually recommended. Older horses usually develop immunity to ascarids.

CAUTION: do not give moxidectin to foals less than 6 months of age. This is a very strong chemical and can be fatal to young foals. (Quest contains moxidectin.)

Horses with a history of colic may benefit from the use of a daily dewormer.

American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) recommendations for deworming follow:

1. Conduct fecal egg count tests to detect strongyles and ascarids. Your veterinarian can conduct this simple test for you. You can also order a test kit and conduct the test yourself.

2. Horses with egg counts of more than 100 eggs per gram need to be dewormed, and then rechecked in two weeks for deworming effectiveness.

3. A basic foundation of anthelmintic treatments should be considered to all horses. This should consist of one or two yearly treatments to target large strongyles, tapeworms, bots, and spirurid nematodes responsible for causing summer sores (Habronema spp. and Draschia spp.). In most cases, one or two yearly treatments will achieve this goal.

4. It is recommended to treat with a boticide once each year during late fall or early winter as a clean-out treatment, which will help to decrease transmission in the next season. Currently, ivermectin and moxidectin are the only available parasiticides for horses with activity against bots. This single treatment can be paired with one of the dewormers for targeting the parasites listed in item number two (2).

* For more information about deworming horses refer to: https://aaep.org/resource/client-education-presentation-internal-parasites/ Download the slide show.

All of the products mentioned come as “paste” wormers. There is no need today to use a “stomach” tube.

The key to giving the wormer is to “dial up” the correct dosage—written on the dewormer tube—for the size of the animal being attended. Then, slowly, gently inserting in the dispensing tube into the horse’s mouth, and dispensing the dewormer paste.

DO NOT make a big deal of giving the dewormer medication. DO NOT grab or start to act with force—the horse will only become fearful and attempt to avoid the process.

Slip the dewormer tube into the corner of the mouth and keep it close to the cheek as you insert it deeper into the mouth. You don’t have to shove it down the horse’s throat, just get it in far enough that it isn’t going to squirt out the sides. Let the horse relax for a few seconds while the dewormer tube is in his mouth. Then with a gentle steady pressure, push the plunger and dispense the medicine. As you retract the tube, tip it so the end is being whipped clean along the horse’s tongue.

If you don’t consider the administration of a dewormer paste a “big deal,” then the horse isn’t going to mind. Relax and do things slowly and gently.

HOOVES

Healthy horses will grow ¼ to 3/8th of an inch of hoof in 30 days, so it is a good idea to have them trimmed or shod every 30 days in an effort to avoid drastic changes to tendons and ligaments. The longer the hoof gets the more chances for injury.

There is no doubt letting a horse go six or eight weeks between trims is a contributor to contracted heels, long toe-low heels, atrophied frog and nasty thrush conditions.

You, of course, can only make suggestions, the horse’s owner will make the final decision; most will opt for a longer period between trims and shoeings. If you are working for a high performance training barn, the trainers, however, will be appreciative of your efforts to “keep hoofs short.”

VACCINATIONS

The suggested vaccinations are generally considered “standard.”

Work with your stable veterinarian to create a program specifically for your locale and existing conditions. The standard is a good place to start.

Tetanus Antitoxin — Duration of protection not more than 10 days. To be given following an injury to an animal that has not received tetanus toxoid. Foal should receive soon after birth.

Tetanus Toxoid — Duration of protection at least one year. Two injections 30 to 60 days apart. Booster given yearly.

Encephalmyelitis — (Sleeping sickness) Duration of protection for season of infection. Two injections about a month apart, usually given in spring prior to mosquito season.

Potomac Horse Fever — Primary protection requires two vaccinations about a month apart. Booster shot should be given annually, or immediately if an epidemic is reported in your area.

Influenza — Primary protection requires two vaccinations about a month apart. The horse should receive boosters four times a year if subject to heavy exposure, such as race and show horses or horses at public stables.

Rhinopneumonitis — Primary protection requires two vaccinations about a month apart. Booster should be given four times a year in areas of heavy exposure. Broodmares need boosters at five, seven and nine months of pregnancy for the virus strain which causes abortion.

Rabies – should be given annually.

Strangles — Primary protection requires two vaccinations about a month apart. Booster should be given annually or immediately if epidemic is reported.

West Nile — Primary protection comes for a two vaccination series. An annual booster is usually given. Check with your veterinarian for additional locale information.

African Horse Sickness – Students who live in Africa and parts of the Middle East should vaccinate against the AHS virus.

Click Here To See AAEP Vaccination Guideline Chart

Other vaccinations used when risk is high — Anthrax, Botulism, Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis, Equine Viral Arteritis and Rotavirus Diarrhea.

I do not recommend you give vaccinations or injections of any kind at any time, unless you are asked to do so by the attending veterinarian. (The course Legal Aspects of Horse Management will help you understand the liability risks.)

If you are asked to give injections as part of a continuing treatment program, then be sure you take precautions.

Read the label on the bottle to be sure you have the correct item.

Be sure the solution is well-mixed. (Shake the bottle—then read the label again.)

Always use a new sterile syringe and needle. Refuse to use a previously used syringe even if the veterinarian suggests just changing the needle. If they want you to do the job, then they need to provide the proper materials.

Cleaning the site with alcohol accomplishes little more than removing some dirt and debris. Alcohol must remain on shaved skin for a minimum of two minutes before any antiseptic action is achieved. Ask for a Betadine, Nolvasan, and alcohol solution to be sure you are getting a good antiseptic action.

The most common areas to give intramuscular injections are the neck, rump and thigh.

To avoid being kicked the neck and rump are the safest targets. Note the triangular- shot shaped area of muscle bordered above by the crest of the neck and below by the jugular groove, at the top well down from the head and at the bottom by the shoulder blade. The rump is made up of a large muscle mass. Draw a line from the horse’s hip to the start of his tail and half way along that line is the perfect target for the injection.

The veterinarian should have provided you with the correct size of syringe and needle for the medication being given.

Usually you have the syringe attached to the needle to make it easy to remove the needle from its protective housing. Once the needle is exposed, remove it from the syringe, holding the needle by it’s hub.

Pinch a fold of neck skin to distract the horse, then insert the needle decisively with a quick thrust, perpendicular to the skin and just below the pinched skin.

If you are going to inject the rump, hold the hub of the needle with you thumb and index finger and tip it up away from the horse as you thump the base of your hand against the horse’s rump several times, then insert the needle with a decisively quick downward thrust.

Once the needle has been properly inserted, attach the syringe.

Always pull back on the plunger before injecting the medication to be certain there is no blood in the hub of the needle. Accidental administration of vaccines or medications into a blood vessel can result in severe allergic reaction—and sometimes death. If blood shows in the syringe, remove the needle, get a new needle and start again.

If a needle is bent during insertion, throw it away and start again. Bent needles have a way of breaking off under the skin.

Despite all the precautions, horse’s still experience some adverse reactions—commonly infected injection sites. A localized, firm and tender swelling at the injection site may be a mild side effect. It is usually accompanied by muscle stiffness and soreness. It is a good idea to give horse a few days off after having vaccinations. (Horses being treated for disease or injury generally are not going to be working for some time.)

If a mild swelling and minor heat become an extremely painful swelling and very hot, call in a veterinarian immediately.

Horses sometimes react to the vaccines, so keep an eye on them for several days. Often they will show flu-like symptoms, some muscle soreness, minor fever, or even hives. Keep a close eye on such conditions and get veterinary attention if the condition worsens.

END OF THE DAY

When leaving the barn at the end of the day you should run through a check list.

· Are feed containers secure?

· Are stalls, gates and doors all closed and latched?

· Do horses have enough water and hay for the night?

· Are all the horses acting normal?

· Are the proper lights off or on?

· If you are operating heated water buckets or other items powered with electric…are they secure?

Take a final look around and concentrate on anything that could create a problem before your first visit of the next day. Don’t be distracted and cavalier during your inspection – what you notice tonight could prevent a crisis.

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VACCINATIONS

Influenza

Rhinopneumonitis

Tetanus

E & W Encephalomyelitis

Ven. Encephalomyelitis

Arteritis

Potomac Horse Fever

Strangles

EPM

West Nile

Rabies

Other

DEWORMING

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HORSE SHOER: PHONE:

*DATE*	*TRIMMED*	*SHOD*	*RESET*	*REMARKS*

ASSIGNMENT:

1. Make a short video describing the morning routine you follow when caring for your horse. If you do not own a horse, check with a friend or stable and ask if you can follow along some morning.

Please load the video to a video hosting site such as YouTube or Photobucket. Send the links to: elblazer@horsecoursesonline.com

2. Tell me your routine when leaving the barn for the last time of the day.

3. Send a completed vaccination, deworming and hoof chart for a horse. You can use the charts in the lesson or use your own.

Send the essay about your routine and the charts to elblazer@horsecoursesonline.com or FAX to (830) 438-6192. Please send me an email if the work is coming in a FAX.

Click Here to Take the Quiz