s! p o O
10
TOP
LUNGING
MISTAKES MANAGING
6
FRUITS & VEGGIES
you can share with your horse
HIDDEN SUGARS
3 SLOW
SIMPLE WAYS TO
DOWN
MUST-KNOW
TIPS TO EVALUATE HAY AND HAYLAGE
FAST EATERS
Re-thinking how we use
DE-WORMERS VOLUME 14 ISSUE 1
Display until March 25, 2019
$5.95 USA/Canada
February/March 2019
EquineWellnessMagazine.com
Conte 46 58 FEATURES 10 3 SIMPLE WAYS TO SLOW DOWN THE FAST EATER
If your horse is a fast eater, you may think she’s greedy; but in fact, she may just be a little stressed out. Here’s what you can do to help.
14 CHOOSING THE RIGHT
HEMP PRODUCT FOR YOUR HORSE One of the newer trends we’re
seeing in holistic animal care is the use of hemp products. Being an informed consumer will help ensure you’re providing the best for your horse.
16 REVISITING HOW WE
UNDERSTAND EQUINE PARASITE CONTROL When it
comes to intestinal parasites, caretakers often look to de-wormers as a first line of defense. However, you may be doing more harm than good. Take a look at why parasites, like bacteria, aren’t all bad.
22 TOP 10 LUNGING
MISTAKES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM Lunging is a great way for horses to exercise and build muscle. But it’s easy to fall into bad habits. See if you’re making these lunging mistakes and learn how to correct them.
28 INTRODUCING A
programs can take a toll on the horses’ well-being. Here’s how to keep them happy and strong.
to admit their horses are getting a bit overweight. But the reality is that weight is one of the most important things for us to monitor. You may want to consider a grazing muzzle as part of your own horse’s diet plan.
50 CONNECTING WITH
GRAZING MUZZLE TO YOUR HORSE No one wants
32 QUALITY CONTROL:
CHECKING YOUR HORSE’S HAY AND HAYLAGE Hay and
haylage are a vital part of your horse’s diet, so it is important to provide optimal quality. Learn how to evaluate your forage and determine if it’s right for your horse.
42 MANAGING HIDDEN
SUGARS IN YOUR HORSE’S DIET Pasture grazing is often considered
one of the most natural sources of nutrition for a horse. While this is largely true, both lush pastures and grain-based concentrates can also contain staggering levels of unhealthy sugars – here’s what you can do.
46 MAINTAINING HORSE
WELL-BEING IN AN EQUINEASSISTED LEARNING SETTING Horses in Equine-Assisted
Learning environments do so much to improve the welfare of humans – but these 4
Equine Wellness
YOUR HORSE THROUGH YOGA AND MEDITATION Looking to build a deeper bond with your horse? Try harnessing the power of yoga and meditation.
56 6 FRUITS AND VEGGIES YOU CAN SHARE WITH YOUR HORSE If you’re in the
barn having a tasty snack and your horse expresses interest, you may be tempted to offer her a bite. The good news is there are fruits and vegetables you can safely share with her! In fact, they can even be beneficial.
58 IS YOUR BROODMARE
GETTING THE NUTRITION SHE NEEDS? What the equine body needs and what we think it needs can be two different things. Fortunately, there’s a test that can help.
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50 COLUMNS
DEPARTMENTS
8 Neighborhood news
6 Editorial
20 Herb blurb
27 Product picks
26 Saddle fit
49 Heads up
36 Rewind
63 Equine Wellness resource guide
40 Rider fitness
64 Marketplace
54 Acupressure at-a-glance
65 Classifieds
62 To the rescue 66 Equine chakras
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REVISITING HOW WE UNDERSTAND
equine parasite control When it comes to intestinal parasites, caretakers often look to de-wormers as a first line of defense. However, you may be doing more harm than good. Take a look at why parasites, like bacteria, aren’t all bad. By Martin Nielsen, DVM
I
t’s a common misconception that all parasites are bad – but this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, it’s normal for horses to harbor intestinal parasites the same way they harbor bacteria. The intestinal tract is full of bacteria and some are potentially harmful, yet we don’t administer penicillin to all our horses with fixed intervals. Why not? Because there are several potential unwanted side effects to such a strategy – most notably antimicrobial resistance and disruption to natural bacterial flora. Worm parasites should be thought of in a similar manner. They are normal inhabitants of the gut and are going to be there no matter what we do. Decades of intensive de-worming have only led to lots of drug-resistant parasites around the world, and that’s a significant problem. There are situations in which de-worming a horse with an appropriate anthelmintic product is warranted, and we want to make sure we have safe and effective products should such situations arise. Unfortunately, we are slowly running out of treatment options, since it’s a lengthy process for the 16
Equine Wellness
pharmaceutical industry to test and develop safe and effective new products with completely new modes of action. We have not seen any new classes of de-wormers developed for horses since the early 1980s.
Why de-worm? At this point you might be asking yourself – why de-worm at all? The truth of the matter is that intestinal parasites can cause disease in individual horses that are exposed to an unusually high infection pressure (a high number of infective eggs or larvae) and/or are particularly susceptible to parasite infection due to young or old age, concurrent disease or other predisposing factors. We want to make sure we keep a low infection pressure and may choose to de-worm horses at certain ages or certain times of the year based on the parasite and climatic conditions.
What can be done to mitigate parasite infections? To help lessen your horse’s risk of parasite infection, good management of his health, paddocks and pastures is key.
Making sure pastures are not overgrazed is essential, as all major parasites are acquired while grazing on pasture. High stocking density on overgrazed pastures means high parasite infection pressure. Good pasture management, which has been shown to reduce parasite infections, includes pasture rotation and mixed/ alternate grazing with ruminants such as sheep or cattle. The specifics on how well this might work and how it should be set up is highly weather- and climate-dependent. In some countries, it is quite normal to have sheep “clean up” paddocks after horses. The horses graze first, and then the sheep take over and graze everything down. Finally, the paddock is rested until the grass has come back up, and horses can be turned out again. This can have a huge impact on reducing pasture parasite infectivity – especially for foals and young horses.
What are the most important parasites to think about? • In foals, the most important parasite is the ascarid (Parascaris spp.), which infects virtually every foal during its first six months of age. Ascarids can cause stunted growth, weight loss, and most importantly, small intestinal impactions in the young foal.
• Tapeworms are very common in most horse establishments, except for the more arid and dry climates. They can cause certain types of colic in horses with high burdens. Not all dewormers have activity against tapeworms.
Are there any effective natural de-wormers? The short answer is no, unfortunately. There are lots of natural products, but very few with any documented effects against parasites. I have been involved with testing some of these products and have yet to find any that reduce parasite burdens. Colleagues elsewhere in the world have similar experiences. And no, diatomaceous earth does not work. But as a famous parasitologist once said: “Somewhere out there is an excellent de-wormer that just hasn’t been discovered yet.” So we keep an open mind and continue the search. Using a natural product for parasite control should never be a goal in itself. The goal should be to use safe and effective products of good quality. The term “chemical de-wormer” is misleading, since everything is chemistry. Even a natural dewormer would only work if the plant, root, fruit, flower, oil, etc. contains a chemical with activity against the parasite. The term “natural de-wormer”, therefore, is equally misleading. Ivermectin is an example of a natural de-wormer that has undergone quality control for the concentration and activity of its active
Photos courtesy of Martin Nielsen
• In other age groups, strongyle and tapeworm parasites are most important. Among the strongyles is the bloodworm, which has become rare in most managed horse populations, but has been found to re-emerge in horses that never or rarely receive anthelmintic treatment. The bloodworm is the most
harmful of all equine worm parasites as it migrates through the blood vessels and causes substantial damage. This can lead to severe and sometimes fatal disease in the horse.
Large roundworm (ascarid) parasites are common in foals and can cause general ill-thrift as well as small intestinal impactions.
The equine tapeworm commonly occurs in young and adult horses and can cause certain types of colic associated with the junction between the large and small intestines.
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