(6/2020) The majority of my clients call me out to their farm at least once per year for annual check-ups and vaccines for their horses. However, we have the occasional client who doesn't believe in preventative health care and only calls for emergencies. Even more frustrating is when these emergencies could have been prevented or less costly had the client been seen for an annual exam. At an annual exam, health problems can be noticed before they are severe.

Annual check-ups can inform the owner that the horse has a dental issue before the horse chokes and needs an emergency visit or before the tooth abscesses. Skin tumors can be addressed before they become huge and expensive to treat. Owners can also be educated about nutrition and proper exercise for their horse before the horse develops laminitis. Less common problems are sometimes easily found with a quick exam. Just yesterday I noticed a horse had an irregular heartbeat. The owner will set up an appointment with a cardiologist so they will know if there is a risk of the horse collapsing and felling on the rider. While not all health problems can be prevented by routine check-ups, some can.

One of my clients only calls for emergency care. He usually has a few very serious emergencies every year. He has had horses impale themselves on the t-post fencing and die. I have been out there for numerous laceration repairs, laminitis, and colic emergencies. This time he was calling about his horse named Peaches. Peaches got her name because when the owner first bought her, he turned her out in a field with a peach tree and she ate so many peaches that she got sick and coliced. I treated her successfully for the colic. I saw her the following year for a deep cut, which I was able to stitch up.

This year, I was called for a foaling emergency. The owner had decided to breed Peaches. He had a friend with a stallion so he took her to him to get in foal. After that Peaches was brought home. No pre-natal visits, vaccines, keeping Peaches off fescue grass at the end of the pregnancy, or reading about caring for a pregnant mare were done by the owner. After a foal is born, there is a very specific timeline of what should happen in what time. For example, the placenta should be delivered within 2-3 hour of foaling.

The foal should be standing up within 1 hour of birth and nursing from the mare within 2 hours of birth. Most healthy foals nurse about every 30 minutes. The foal should pass the first meconium manure within 3 hours of birth. Many owners realize that they will be exhausted and sleep deprived after a foal is born. A written list of the timeline milestones is helpful. The owner writes down the time of birth and then fills in each box with the time that the milestone was completed. Peaches' owner didn't know the proper timeline.

I was called because Peaches had failed to pass her placenta after 6 hours. It was while I was talking with the owner on the phone that I realized that Peaches was also kicking at her foal and not allowing him to nurse. When I arrived at the farm I found Peaches and foal in a stall that was way too small to be used as a foaling stall and was also dirty and full of several days worth of manure. So while the retained placenta was easy to fix, I informed the owner that he had a lot more serious problems and I was concerned that the foal was going to die.

Not only was the foal born in a filthy environment, the umbilicus had not been dipped in antiseptic, and the mare had not allowed the foal to drink colostrum (the first milk that contains protective antibodies). Luckily Peaches is a very nice mare and after a little sedation and coaxing, she allowed the foal to nurse. However, Peaches had been out on fescue grass and was not producing enough milk to properly nourish the baby. I gave the owner all the information about sepsis, dehydration, and death. I told him this foal's best chance at survival was going to the Leesburg horse hospital for intensive care. As the foal was bright and alert, the owner declined to go. The owner also declined the medication that counters fescue toxicity and helps the mare produce milk. He did agree to go get powdered foal milk to mix and bottle feed the baby.

I treated the baby on the farm and gave synthetic colostrum. I called back a few hours later to check and see how bottle-feeding was going. The owner said that Peaches was allowing the baby to nurse and everything was going well so he decided not bottle-feeding. The next day Peaches' foal was dead. The owner was very upset and didn't understand what went wrong. He told me he thought I was exaggerating the severity of the situation because wild horses have babies all the time and don't need any human assistance.

While good preventative care can't prevent all illnesses, it can help. Properly preparing your horse and providing vaccines, dewormings, and other routine care can help keep your horse healthy for years. If you decide to breed your mare, preventive care becomes even more important. Sometimes, an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure!