Wow, things are really looking up! Tori is at home too, we have purchased another set of panels for a larger pen, all of my hay is moved, and I’m really enjoying having both horses at home with me.

If you have always had horses at home, and then board them out somewhere, you will first experience the relief that comes from having no daily responsibilities, and then you will most likely experience the feeling of loss of that closeness.

When Tori was boarded out (as she has been mostly since I bought her two years ago), I did spend some time with her, but never enough. Many things that she had difficulty with I just skirted around, rather than trying to fix the problem. I also often didn’t have time to spend just being her friend, which with Tori’s lack of confidence is important. Mostly it was just groom, tack up, and ride. It’s an easy thing to do, hurrying your ride time because so many other areas of your life are busy.

I noticed a huge difference in Tori when she stayed at my friend John’s back in January and February. When she came back, she’d had some individual attention, and some spoiling, that is harder to come by when stabled in a barn full of horses.

Photo credit: Chris Hassell

John loves a challenge, and so he spent lots of time deliberately trying to get Tori used to regular life things such as the tractor working right next to her pen, being backed through doorways, and the like.

Tori thrived under the individual attention and it made me more determined to bring both of my horses home, where I can spend a few minutes grooming if I have a few to spare. If I want to hop on and sit on one of them while they eat, I can do that without making a special trip to where they are. I can also shape their behaviours and manners at feeding time, so that they act the way I want them too.

I believe that any time you can develop a deeper bond with your horse, you are increasing the possibilities you have before you. A horse who trusts you and respects you will always be willing to give you more in training than one who doesn’t.

‘Til next week, I hope you find some special time for your equine pals, even if they are boarded away from home.
~ Kristi :)

(Kristi has updated the 2003 Events List, again)

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For the last three weeks, we’ve talked about single horse misbehaviours that can develop at feeding time. This week, I’ll explain some of the more common problems you may see while feeding a group of horses.

For starters, any time you are feeding several horses in a group, you are at a far greater risk of injury than any other. The reason for this is simple - horses have their own established pecking order, and in a dash for safety, a lower level horse may feel he outranks you - and he definitely outweighs you!

If your horses are in a group, consider changing your feeding procedures to keep yourself safer. You can throw hay over the fence in several different locations, to keep the horses separated. Grain can also be fed into buckets hung at intervals along the fence.

Another method that works well is to have small pens set up for feeding time only. I have used electric fence in the past, or you can use portable fence panels. One by one allow the horses into their own pen, and then feed them all while they are separated.

If for some reason you can’t change your feeding procedures (for instance, if your fence is made of wire and you don’t feel safe hanging grain buckets next to the wire), you need to plan your approach into the field with care.

Make yourself bigger by walking with head and eyes up, shoulders back, and a confident, even aggressive stance. Use your voice firmly and sternly to insist the horses move back from you. If they don’t, use your body and your gestures to move them. You’ll find far greater success with the horses that have had lots of time working in hand with you - they understand better when they have crossed your boundaries and should obediently back down when you insist.

At all times be careful! Keep eyes open in all directions, and be alert to horses milling behind you. If possible, remove your toque, scarf and ear muffs before entering the field so as to not impair your hearing and vision.

If you still feel intimidated by the horses, consider carrying a lunge whip or buggy whip with you. You likely won’t need to actually use it on anyone, as most of them will take the hint and stay out of your space. However, if you do feel you need to use it, always warn first with your voice and body language, then raise the whip threateningly before ever striking. The horse should have several chances to back off before you use the whip.

Never, ever, strike at the horse’s head as you can do serious damage. Be careful not to strike a horse who feels there is no way out of a situation either - this horse may then end up falling on the ice, running through a fence, getting himself kicked when he crowds another horse, or even perhaps coming over top of you in his panic.

Feeding in a herd can be done relatively safely if you teach your horses that there are boundaries around you that they are not permitted to cross. You still need to watch out as anything can happen with horses, and it will happen quickly, but if you have established the ground rules you can make it much safer for yourself.

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 methods of dealing with strangles.
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We are having a run in with Strangles right now. We breed quite a few of outside mares each year and somehow this year something came in with Strangles. Luckily nothing has died, but several babies have been sick.

Once the horses swell behind the jaw line, they can bust out around the eye, side of face in the throatlatch area and everywhere in between. We take bleach and water and clean everything from fence rows to water buckets to the ground where the horses where. In this case it was one of the "mare" pastures so getting the ground is almost impossible.

To treat the babies that busted out we gave them 20 cc of penicillin a day. 10 in the morning and 10 at night. The babies weighed about 350 lbs a piece. We then would take betadine and water in a syringe and shoot it inside the pus pockets and flush all of the infection out twice a day. It takes about 2 weeks for the site to get to looking better, but the horse should be feeling better in about 5 days.

In some cases the swelling can cut off breathing and the horse with sound very raspy, in these severe cases you need to call your vet, because sometime a tracheotomy is needed to help with breathing.

Hope this helped a little.
Carmen
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Carmen,
You should give thanks to who ever you do that to/with, because by giving them antibiotics, you can send them into bastard strangles, according to the vet, and then its good bye, I lost 3 in 1997 by doing that very same thing. I thought I was helping, even though I was told not to give them anything.
A lesson learned.
Lyn
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I had strangles hit my herd about four years ago. I didn't lose any horses but the best thing you can use is Naxel and Penicillin. Naxel, once a day with the maximum dose required. Along with the penicillin morning and night for somewhere in the neighbourhood of 14 days. When horses show clear of running nose along with any fever. This is a hard thing to handle when it hits, for one reason the gland under the mouth and throat area have to bust before they will start to improve, if not it can and will move deeper down into the horse, such as the lungs, some horses can't be saved if it gets that far. But thanks heavens mine didn't get that bad. It is a vaccine that can be given now to help prevent the contagious disease called Pinnacle, to be administered in the nasal, also it is safe for your broodmares, stallions and can be given to babies at the age of 3 months. After the mare is give the medication, her system will take care of the foal up to three months so her antibodies is what takes care of the colt. So you are safe until they get old enough to vaccinate your weanlings.

The thing that is bad after the strangles has ran it course is the clean up, that is a bit of an ordeal. Clean out all of the bedding, bury it or burn it with something that will destroy all the germs. Everyday we used Clorox in our barn, floor, walls, drinking water containers and feeders, along with any hay bags, also dip them in Clorox water to kill any germs. We just Cloroxed anything in sight, and burned everything. Some people might bag up everything that is diseased, but I think burning is better, because it ends the problem. Also keep all sick horse away from each other, I have a barn we call it the Sick Bay if we have a new horse to come in, we keep it there for a couple of weeks, just in case there might be a problem. My advise is to handle the strangles with a lot of respect. It can and will destroy a herd of animals. I had never heard of this disease before, I purchased a horse and it was delivered to me, they owner told me he had a bad cold and I didn't know any different other than to believe the person. I learned my lesson hard, so vaccinate for the strangles.
Linda
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I have had lots of experience with this and bastard strangles is not always caused by antibiotics - had a filly almost lose her eye with abscesses around it...so many in the mouth that they could not eat...I could go on and on. after 3 weeks of abscesses opening , closing and reopening the vet put them on massive doses of antibiotics and then we did get rid of it.
Bonnie
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If you have information to share, please email me at kristi@hiway16.com

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