Deep Creek Veterinary Services

Another year gone by and what a year it was !! After heat and fires, the arrival of the cool fall air sure felt good! Fortunately, equine casualties due to fires and evacuation were minimal. Our sympathies go out to those who suffered losses. We have not had any cases of West Nile Virus in our practice but there have been some in B.C. which I will elaborate on below.

Breeding season went very smoothly and we really enjoyed having our stallion ‘Titan’ (he is such a gentleman). The use of frozen semen has surpassed that of fresh cooled in our practice and we see this trend continuing. If anyone is interested in purchasing semen from Europe (any breed) please let me know soon as we may be making a trip early in the spring.
Our large new paddocks are working great (thank you Steve Wilson) and we just added some shelters to them which are also great (thank you Nick Postma and Bruce).

We both had the opportunity to go to Kentucky this year. Bruce spent 2 weeks in April at a very large equine hospital (25 equine veterinarians) primarily to work with their reproductive specialist but also to watch some interesting surgeries and lameness work-ups. He came home with lots of new techniques for dealing with problem mares which we were able to use with excellent success.

I was invited for a weekend in August to the Kentucky Classic Horse Trials as the FEI veterinarian. The 3 day event was at the Kentucky Horse Park so I had a great time exploring in my spare time and of course drove around admiring all the beautiful farms. Can’t wait to go back!!

We would like to share with you some of the latest information in the equine veterinary world. Hope you find it interesting and feel free to make suggestions.

Bruce and Susi

SUPER-OVULATION
What is it? Embryo transfer has been a popular breeding tool in most domestic species and humans for decades. The ability to stimulate the ovary to produce many eggs per heat cycle is called super-ovulation. This technique is very useful when doing embryo transfer because it enables retrieval of several embryos per flush. Until recently there has not been a drug available for use in horses that is reliable and flushes have been limited to only one or two embryos. A new drug is being tested for use in horses with promising results.

SHOCK WAVE THERAPY
ESWT – extra-corporeal shock wave therapy
What is it? A machine is used to transmit energy waves through the skin and deeper structures like bone and soft tissues. Two things occur when the shock wave energy is delivered 1) a short period of analgesia (pain relief).
2) an increased rate of bone and tissue remodelling (healing).

These machines have been used in humans for the past 15 years for breaking down kidney stones and gall stones. In horses shock wave therapy has been used in treating high suspensory desmitis, bone spavin, navicular disease and various other orthopedic and ligamentous injuries. More research is needed to better understanding which injuries this modality is most useful for and what the long term effects are.

WEST NILE VIRUS – an update
The cases of West Nile Virus across Canada in 2004 are as follows:

	B.C.	Alta	MB	Sask	ON	QC
Horses	17	180	162	53	42	8
Humans	0	252	709	137	83	17

In general, the horses with mild clinical signs (muscle twitching and asymmetric weakness) survive but the ones that go down (recumbent) usually do not. There is no specific treatment for this virus other than treatment of the clinical signs and nursing care. The best treatment is prevention. The vaccine continues to prove effective and we have not had any serious reactions to the injections. We recommend that horses be vaccinated in the spring of 2004 along with there other routine vaccinations. If we suffer an outbreak later in the year we recommend a booster at that time.

TAPEWORMS – DRONCIT
A new product has been released to control tapeworms in horses. This drug has been available for cats and dogs for years but never formulated for horses until now. Although tapeworms are not a serious problem in horses, they can be difficult to get rid of if your horse has them. We recommend that you use droncit once per year.

BREAK-OVER POINT
No this is not the point of nervous breakdown (as some of us that own horses sometimes feel) but rather it is relating to the horses gait and movement. It has been a topic at many veterinary and farrier seminars recently and is worth mentioning. Horses hooves should leave the ground in a heel-first, toe second fashion. The break-over point is defined as the point when the horses’ heels leave the ground and start to rotate around the toe of the hoof. The shape of the horse hoof and how it has been trimmed dictates where this point of break-over is. The conformation of the leg will also influence break-over. Changing a horses’ break-over point can change their way of going and therefore plays a big role in soundness. Using x-rays, along with watching a horses movement on a flat surface, allows us to determine where the best break-over point is and thus trim the foot accordingly. Careful attention to break-over may reduce lameness incidence and provide a treatment option for navicular syndrome.
We are planning a seminar for veterinarians and farriers in the spring of 2004. The speaker will be an equine podiatrist, will keep you posted on the details.