There, that feels better! I now have Karisma at home, and it is sure neat to look out the kitchen window and see her in the back yard! I’ll feel even better once I get a larger area fenced for her, but for now she has a rather large panel pen set up on the flat.

This week as the snow melts a little more, we plan to enlarge it yet again, and that will have to do until the snow is gone and we can start putting in some fence posts. I think I will fence with electric again - I think that will be both safer for her and also prevent her from learning bad habits like leaning on or through the fence.

I also have my new-to-me horse trailer at home, some of my hay unloaded into the shed, and other than still needing to buy a pickup truck, I’m feeling much better about things! I may have found a ride for Tori to Alberta for breeding, and things seem to be on the upswing. Now we can start looking ahead to spring and summer plans!

Speaking of plans, don’t forget that most of your club memberships came due on January 1st. Of your memberships, your HCBC one is probably the most important, as they not only provide you with a collective voice as needed in government matters, but they also provide you with liability insurance.

Zone 7, which covers such communities as Smithers, Vanderhoof, Houston, Terrace and so on, is fairly active for a northern zone, and we get regular updates from Dianne Klick, our Zone 7 Horse Council BC representative.

Photo credit: Chris Hassell

This just in:

Zone Seven HCBC News
Horse Council BC has started the process of identifying ALL HORSE FARMS AND RELATED BUSINESSES in BC. It is their intent to provide a better representation of business contact for the Industry Guide and to post on their website. Should any zone business (farms) member be interested please let me (Dianne Klick, zone rep) or HCBC know. My email is timothyhill@bulkley.net and HCBC’s email is administration@hcbc.ca
The Equine Short Course in Smithers March 1 &2 went well. Thank you to all that supported it. We hope to have a Conformation for Purpose Clinic in the fall.
I have received some interest in Western Coaching Candidates. If any member is interested please contact me as if we have enough, I can host the evaluation and testing in the zone. Saves time and money going south.
Hope some of you are able to get out riding. Weather is very up and down but winter riding can still be great.
Dianne

‘Til next week,
~ Kristi :)

(Kristi has updated the 2003 Events List, again)

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There are other dangerous feeding time traits that don’t deal with the head but instead the feet. Some horses will paw at feeding time - banging the door, pawing in their feed buckets, or just digging at the ground. Others will kick out directly behind them, protecting their feed from other horses even though they may be in an individual pen or stall.

Pawing is less dangerous to you than to the horse and his surroundings. Your horse can wear down his shoes or hooves from repeated pawing, and he can also damage his fence, stall wall, feed buckets, etc. If you feed from a wire fence, he is at serious risk for hanging a leg up in the wire. It is also annoying and frustrating for the person who has to fill in the holes!

Kicking out is very dangerous, and you may never fully rid your horse of this behaviour. For starters, try moving the horse into a pen or stall in which he doesn’t have immediate neighbours, at least at feeding time.

One thing to consider in a kicking problem is that the horse can do serious damage to themselves. As with the front legs pawing, they are at risk for hanging a leg up in a fence. They can also do serious damage to their lower rear legs if they hit them against the fence or wall.

Several methods can be employed, but many of them require vigilance on your part. In order for some of these methods to work, you must be present and ready to act on every infringement. You can try shouting and banging on the wall when they kick it. You can also get more serious and actually threaten them or discipline them when they kick. However, be sure to use last week’s guidelines to differentiate between discipline and abuse.

Another method that is supposed to work, although I personally have no experience with it at all, is kick chains. Kick chains are fastened above the hock with a leather strap, and the chain hangs down behind the horse’s cannon bone. The theory is that when the horse kicks, he immediately gets “kicked back” by the chain. However, this can seriously injure the horse as there are tendons and ligaments running down the backs and sides of the cannon bones.

Another way of helping stop a kicker, at the same time as protecting him from injury, is to hang rubber mats from the ceiling. The idea is to hang the heavy mats a foot or more from the stall walls, which does require a large stall! When the horse kicks the heavy rubber mat, the mat swings towards the wall and prevents the horse from actually making contact with the wood. It then swings back and bumps the horse back, again effectively admonishing him for having kicked out. Beware though that some horses may take this as a threat and may start kicking worse!

One more thing to consider is that this horse may be safer fed outside, than inside, and likely will always be safer fed alone. You may end having to work around this type of horse, rather than fixing the problem.

More next week....

If you have comments or suggestions along the way, please share with me at kristi@hiway16.com

As in last week’s column, the following information does not come from veterinarians, but is compiled from emails that I received when I was on the quest for information about strangles. If you suspect strangles in your horses, please always start by contacting your veterinarian.
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More notes in regards to the strangles vaccines and immunity.
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You need to remember that the strangles vaccine does not keep the horse from getting strangles, it will lessen the severity of it, it is not a 100% in prevention. My vet has also found that MSM does help prevent it by accident. It was going through a local barn and they had two horses on MSM for some reason and they were the only two that did not come down with it.
I know that when we finally ended up with it, I kept my old pony (well over 30 years old) on MSM when he started acting like he was coming down with it and he never did. She had recommended the MSM to other clients and they had the same results.
Margaret
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Don't give your horses the shot, it can also cause strangles. Go for the nasal spray, it is 100% better, more protective and you can give it to foals or mares with foals that are nursing and protect them both. The good thing about this is you can do it yourself, I did my whole herd (30) and it only cost us $10 a wack.
Sandi
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About three weeks after the last case showed no symptoms and was healed over we had a mass inoculation day. We did have a few opt for the spray, but most went with the shots - our vet had seen once case of strangles develop from the spray when the patient had had a small tear somewhere in the nasal passages. The abscess formed up in there & I guess was a real mess. ICK! We had one horse who ran a bit of a temperature for a couple of days after but that was it.
Susan
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These notes came in regards to methods of dealing with strangles.
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Hi: We had strangles all over our area. I placed all the horses on Missing Link and a product called Immunoguard (both mixtures of herbs etc). A couple of the yearlings had the snotty nose and minor abscess, but recovery was real quick with no side effects. You just add these products to the grain. The other horses showed no symptoms and I feel the products helped. I'm in no way connected to these products for profit, just felt they did the job.
K.C.
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Our vets did blood work - something in strangles shows up there... but I can't remember the details. Otherwise all you can do is isolate them and wait and see. If you can't isolate, I'd at least scrub down everything they wipe their nose on, pick up manure & bedding immediately and bag it, and practically soak them in fly spray to keep the flies from spreading it. It really is a pain, I know...
Susan
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We used magna paste with a warm compress on a horse that had strangles last year. It helped draw it out. Magna Paste is basically epsom salts in a paste form I believe.
Marna
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First, if they suspect strangles, the horses who show symptoms need to be isolated immediately. Not just from the healthy horses but also from the others who might have it. The pus is HIGHLY infective. Nothing should be shared between horses, even waterers.

Hot packing the abscesses will help. The abscesses need to be kept open so they will drain and then heal from the inside out. All manure, bedding, wasted hay/feed should be bagged and disposed of promptly. All corral rails, stall walls, etc should be sprayed at least twice daily with bleach water and any dried pus should be scrubbed off with bleach water. Any dirt that has had pus dripped on it should be scraped up & discarded with bedding, etc.
Susan
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More next week...


If you have information to share, please email me at kristi@hiway16.com

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