Winter in this country is a beast. As I write this, we are into our 4th blast of snowy and cold weather already this fall (did I count right?), and it seems that winter is already well on its way to settling in. So a blogpost about proactive winter horse care may already seem a little past tense, but if you’re like me and living in denial that summer is already well past and fall quickly disappearing, you will have a few horse health care items to check off your list!
Teeth
As “hay burners”, horse’s need a healthy set of teeth to help them maximize the use of their feed, and be able to process it efficiently, without pain or discomfort. Through the digestion of the roughage that they consume in the winter, horses gain not only energy and nutrients, but also generate a significant amount of the heat they need to stay warm. As a riding or driving animal, horses also need to have dentition that is free from issues that may interfere with their ability to use themselves athletically, or that can cause outright pain or discomfort when bridling, unbridling and responding to cues. Contrary to popular belief, even horses that are being ridden in a bitless bridle, sidepull, bosal or hackamore can experience oral discomfort when asked to respond to the aid.
Horse’s teeth differ from ours in two important ways. As a grazing animal, horses wear the chewing surfaces of their teeth considerably more than we do. Secondly, in order to prevent excessive wear, horses have significant “reserve crown” (think extra tooth length) that they slowly work their way through over their lifetime. This constant wearing action at the tooth surface and replacement of worn tooth from below the gumline is similar to honing the edge of a knife to make it sharp! This commonly causes the development of sharp points, hooks, ramps and ridges in your horse’s teeth that can cause oral pain, sensitivity and difficulty properly chewing feed. Though there are considerable differences between horses, most horses will require a yearly float to help address these issues.
Older horses will also often reach a “critical mass” when getting towards the end of their reserve crown or “extra tooth”. When getting towards the tapered end or “nubs” of the remaining tooth roots, we often start to see gaps developing between teeth where feed can become trapped. This can result in a long list of dental issues including gum or periodontal disease, fractures, cavities, infections, loose teeth and imbalances in the dental arcades. In many cases, dental work can mean the difference between a comfortable, relatively functional mouth and a long, potentially painful and cold winter.
Though winter often means less riding for many of us, it is a time when your horse may be relying on their teeth more than ever to help them get through winter and on into the next riding season.
Feet
As we’ve all heard before, your horses’ feet typically tend to grow slower in the winter. That combined with the fact that many horses will either be turned out for the winter, or at least be in reduced work, this may lead us to be a little less vigilant in their hoof-care. When we consider that it takes anywhere from 8-12 months for your horse to grow their hoof-wall from coronary band to the ground, the hoofwall your horse grows this winter is still an essential part of next summer’s hooves! Keeping on top of their trimming/shoeing schedule through the winter will help prevent small imbalances, stretched white lines, flares and cracks from becoming bigger issues during your next riding season. Horses with chronic lameness issues, poor hoof health, conformation issues, or that are expected to perform at a high level would also benefit from an in depth evaluation with our in-house podiatrist and farrier team. Given that many issues will take several shoeing/trimming cycles to resolve, getting a head start through the long winter months will mean you and your steed are ready to hit the ground running, so to speak, in the spring!
Vaccines
Given that several of the diseases we routinely vaccinate for are transmitted by mosquitos, it usually makes the most sense to do your horse’s annual vaccinations in the spring (unless, of course, your horse will be heading south for the winter!). That said, there are still some diseases out there that are important to think about and potentially protect against through the winter.
The tetanus vaccine is generally recommended to be given annually after your horse’s initial vaccination series, however, if your horse gets a wound and hasn’t had a tetanus vaccine within the past 6 months, they may be at increased risk of contracting the disease. So one option is to booster your horse’s tetanus vaccine now to ensure they are covered through to spring. This might be particularly important if your horse is prone to injuries or where a cut might go unnoticed for several days.
Just like us, winter also tends to be “cold and flu” season for horses as well. There are a variety of respiratory viruses that your horse can get, but the primary ones we can vaccinate for are Equine Influenza (Flu) and Equine Herpes Virus (Rhino). A previously vaccinated horse will typically only require annual boosters for both vaccines, however, for horses with a higher risk of exposure, i.e. on farms or stables where there are a lot of animals coming and going or for a horse that regularly trailers out for shows and other events, vaccinating semi-annually (every 6 months) is a good strategy. This may also make sense for horses who are immunocompromised due to age (under age 5 or over age 15), or other conditions. In the case of Equine Herpes Virus, semi-annual vaccination should be considered for any horse that is in contact with broodmares due to the risk of this disease causing abortion.
Similar to Flu and Rhino, Strangles is another condition that is typically vaccinated against annually. By the same token, horses that are at increased risk of exposure may benefit from a semi-annual vaccine. Again, this would include the young, the old, and those that are regularly exposed to outside horses, either directly or indirectly through other horses at the same facility.
Alberta winters can be a stressful time for all of us, and just like us, stress can make your horse more vulnerable to a variety of viral and bacterial diseases. Some proactive health care now, may result in a healthier, more disease free season.
Parasites
Over the past several years there has been a massive change in the way we approach parasite control. Gone are the days where rotational deworming, i.e. switching between products at predetermined intervals, was the recommendation. Most of you are already quite savvy about this but it seems that the message hasn’t quite reached all corners.
Basically, any time a deworming product is administered, we are giving the parasites an opportunity to develop resistance to it. We have already seen some dewormers becoming less effective at eliminating some of the parasites that they used to be effective against. With this in mind, for most of the year strategic deworming, i.e. only deworming those horses that really need it (as indicated by a fecal egg count), makes the most sense. That said, by the end of the summer/fall, virtually all horses will have at least some parasite burden, some of which will not appear on a fecal egg count. With that in mind, the recommendation is to deworm all horses with a product that is still known to be effective against these parasites as we go into winter. Currently that recommendation is to use Quest (moxidectin) or Quest Plus (moxidectin + praziquantel) after we’ve had a few good hard killing frosts, as the parasites should remain dormant through the winter. This means your horse should be essentially parasite free until spring! The difference between the two products is that the latter contains a medication that is effective against tapeworms. Given what seems to be low prevalence of tapeworms in Alberta, the current recommendation is to alternate between using Quest and Quest Plus from year to year. Given that these products remain the most effective class of dewormers, and that there really aren’t any new dewormingParasites
Over the past several years there has been a massive change in the way we approach parasite control. Gone are the days where rotational deworming, i.e. switching between products at predetermined intervals, was the recommendation. Most of you are already quite savvy about this but it seems that the message hasn’t quite reached all corners.
Basically, any time a deworming product is administered, we are giving the parasites an opportunity to develop resistance to it. We have already seen some dewormers becoming less effective at eliminating some of the parasites that they used to be effective against. With this in mind, for most of the year strategic deworming, i.e. only deworming those horses that really need it (as indicated by a fecal egg count), makes the most sense. That said, by the end of the summer/fall, virtually all horses will have at least some parasite burden, some of which will not appear on a fecal egg count. With that in mind, the recommendation is to deworm all horses with a product that is still known to be effective against these parasites as we go into winter. Currently that recommendation is to use Quest (moxidectin) or Quest Plus (moxidectin + praziquantel) after we’ve had a few good hard killing frosts, as the parasites should remain dormant through the winter. This means your horse should be essentially parasite free until spring! The difference between the two products is that the latter contains a medication that is effective against tapeworms. Given what seems to be low prevalence of tapeworms in Alberta, the current recommendation is to alternate between using Quest and Quest Plus from year to year. Given that these products remain the most effective class of dewormers, and that there really aren’t any new deworming products being developed, we really want to reserve their use for when they will have the greatest effect. That means late fall/early winter.
I am always so impressed at how knowledgeable and educated our clients typically are! I hope this blogpost has given you all something to consider when cogitating on the winter months ahead and that it may have increased your winter preparation horse care IQ!
Hope you and your beasts are all warm and (almost) ready for the beast that is winter.
— Dr. Ben Reed, DVM