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TOP ROW, L-R Photo courtesy of Woodmont Canadians | Photo: The Tony Leonard Collection | Photo: Clix Photography CENTRE ROW Photo: Glenbow Archives NA-1234-5 BOTTOM ROW, L-R Photo: Robin Duncan Photography | Photo: Dave Landry Photography | Photo: Anne DeHaas

b IN THIS ISSUE

SPECIAL FEATURE

Celebrating the Horses of Canada

Marking Canadaâ€™s 150th anniversary with 20 stories of exceptional horses that have reflected our values and fired our national pride.

www.HORSE Journals.com

JULY/AUGUST 2017

14 Help Your Horse with Acupuncture

Acupuncture can be a rewarding therapy option for several conditions.

18 Colic Surgery with Positive Outcomes

A recent study of 236 post-operative colic horses showed excellent long-term results.

22 Better Hoof Care… With Some Help From Your Farrier

How to work with your farrier to help your horse stay sound and perform better.

30 Therapeutic Tools Top Riders Can’t Live Without

A huge variety of therapeutic tools are available to keep horses healthy and rehabilitate them after injury.

38 Seasonal Parasite Control

Pay special attention to tapeworms and stomach bots in fall parasite management. www.HORSE Journals.com

JULY/AUGUST 2017

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HORSE HEALTH

ON THE COVER

Through all the wide border his steed was the best. – Sir Walter Scott Photo: Shutterstock/Olga I

DEPARTMENTS 2 Celebration of Horses Photo Contest 4 To Subscribe 10 Editorial 11 Letters

76 Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association News

78 New & Noteworthy Products 79 Country Homes & Acreages

72 Horse Council BC News

80, 82 The Hoofbeat

74 Manitoba Horse Council News

81-83 H itchin’ Post, Index to Advertisers

75 Ontario Equestrian Federation News

84 Roundup

14 Photo courtesy of Agwest Veterinary Group Ltd. | 18 Photo: Shutterstock/135pixels | 22 Photo: Shutterstock/VerityJohnson | 30 Photo: Hawley Bennett-Awad

b IN THIS ISSUE

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HELP YOUR HORSE

with Acupuncture

Acupuncture points in the upper neck are commonly used in the treatment of neck pain secondary to forelimb lameness. 14

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JULY/AUGUST 2017

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AGWEST VETERINARY GROUP LTD.

By Steve Chiasson, DVM, CVMA We are living in an exciting time for the world of equine medicine. With advances in the last few decades, horse owners have at their disposal a huge variety of both diagnostic and therapeutic options for the health care of their horses. Internal medicine, surgery, reproductive management, lameness diagnostics, dental care, neurologic care, and more can all be offered to clients either in-hospital or onfarm. Along with these advancing traditional equine health care services, we are seeing an increasing popularity of alternative therapies for many conditions. One of these fantastic therapeutic options is acupuncture. We do, however, need to get away from the idea that other types of treatment are alternative. Many times there are several ways to treat a specific condition your

Myofascial physical exam markings are outlined in sidewalk chalk for recording. Selected points for needles are often different from just the painful areas.

Your veterinarian is best trained to assist you with the medical needs of your horse. The theory of acupuncture is very simple. Very fine sterile needles are inserted into the body at specific locations. Those needles stimulate the nervous system and cause the body to respond. That’s it! The complex part of this treatment is knowing where those specific points are, and what the complicated responses will be. Becoming certified in veterinary acupuncture is more about studying the muscular and neurologic systems than anything else. Acupuncture points are found along lines or “channels” on the body. Originally these paths were named after body organs, and that naming system has stuck to this day. Humans, dogs, horses, etc., all have these channels such as bladder, kidney, liver, stomach, and gall bladder (although the horse doesn’t have the latter organ). For the most part the location of these channels and points has nothing to do with the organ it’s named after, but keeping this same terminology allows for consistency when recording and discussing treatments for your horse. The central nervous system (CNS) is made up of the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system is made up of all other nerves connecting to the CNS; for example, hitting your funny bone is stimulating your ulnar nerve of your peripheral nervous system. Placement of

Electrical stimulation provides extra input to the acupuncture points and muscles surrounding them. E-stim may be used on specific points, or to span an area of tense muscle.

acupuncture needles is used to stimulate the peripheral system in this same way. The goal is for the peripheral system to “talk to” the central system and let the body regulate function itself. Horses have two great design features for acupuncture — long spines and long legs. While you might think this just makes for more areas to get sore, it actually gives us lots of access points to treat many problems.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AGWEST VETERINARY GROUP LTD.

horse may have. Laminitis cases may benefit from both anti-inflammatory medication and therapeutic shoeing. A chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) respiratory case may benefit from both bronchodilator medication and housing changes to control the environment. I think everyone would agree that all of these treatments may be beneficial, but we would not consider one treatment above as an alternative to the paired one. They are complimentary to each other. That is the integrated medicine approach we use with equine acupuncture. Given the length of time acupuncture has been used to treat humans and animals, we definitely can’t call it a new treatment method. Historical records show that acupuncture was first used over 2000 years ago in ancient China. This origin of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is the basis of the naming system we still use in acupuncture points to this day. It is important to note that there are two differing concepts on how acupuncture is used and how it works. The TCM concept is that energy (Qi - pronounced chee) flows through the body in a natural state of balance. Disruptions in this state of Qi occur when there are health or pain-related conditions in the body. According to TCM, placement of acupuncture needles allows the restoration of normal energy flow and a return to normal health. Scientific or medical acupuncture is an adaptation of Chinese medicine that does not rely on the metaphors of external factors such as “wind and energy” affecting the body. Rather, medical acupuncture uses current knowledge of equine anatomy, physiology, and pathology to identify and treat specific conditions affecting your horse. Leading this approach to veterinary acupuncture is Dr. Narda Robinson, Founder and CEO of Curacore®. Along with several other types of therapy instruction, Medical Acupuncture for Veterinarians courses are available for your vet, and offer tremendous in-depth training for equine acupuncture. It should go without saying, but beware of non-veterinarian acupuncture services wanting to treat your horse. Scientific integrated medicine and acupuncture is as much about internal medicine, neurology, and anatomy as any other form of health care for your horse.

JULY/AUGUST 2017

CANADIAN HORSE JOURNAL

b HORSE HEALTH

Colic Surgery with

POSITIVE

Outcomes

By Margaret Evans

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/135PIXELS

When our 18-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Jack, began to display symptoms of colic, it was immediately worrisome. Over the years we had lost two other horses to more serious colic caused by strangulating tumours wrapped around the intestine. Both horses had to be euthanized. So Jack’s restlessness, lack of appetite, pawing, anxiety, and his need to roll set off alarm bells. I kept him moving constantly until the vet arrived. Diagnosed with spasmodic colic, Jack was given an anti-inflammatory medication. A few hours later, he had relaxed and started to eat and drink. Colic is a condition many horse owners worry about, hoping it can be treated quickly and simply should it occur. But some conditions call for surgery and owners are then faced with challenging decisions about surgical outcomes, complications, postoperative care, cost, and future performance. 18

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Colic, an umbrella term for abdominal pain, can have many causes. It can affect anywhere from four to ten percent of horses at some point during their lives and can be mild as in Jack’s case, or serious and sometimes life-threatening. Typical physical signs exhibited by the horse include agitation, rolling, looking at the flanks, kicking at the

stomach, hunching the back, sweating, not wanting to eat, and being unable to defecate. Often it is a mild bout of gas pain that can be resolved with a single dose of anti-inflammatory medication and hand-walking. But the exact same symptoms can herald much more sinister conditions, which is why colic should always be taken seriously with a visit from the vet for proper diagnosis. For horses requiring surgery, a recent study that followed postoperative colic horses in Finland showed that colic surgery can result in excellent positive outcomes for both horses and their owners. “Many horses encounter colic at some point of their life and, fortunately, many of the episodes can be treated conservatively with medication and fluids,” says Dr. Isa Immonen with the

PHOTOS: KATI NIINISTÖ, COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

Before surgery, a sedated horse is led to the induction stall for anesthesia.

Surgical findings and lesions in the small intestine during surgery.

intervention as the condition rarely resolves itself. “In many cases, displacements (both non-strangulating and strangulating) are accompanied by an intestinal obstruction (as one of the inflicting causes or a secondary problem to the strangulating lesion/displacement) so the division between the types of colic is not that simple. Simple obstructions are a common type of colic in horses and can, most of the time, be treated conservatively. But if the clinical status of the patient deteriorates, there are only a few options left. The real strangulating colics are the ones that have only a few treatment possibilities and most of the time conservative therapy is not an option because of the deteriorating clinical status of the horse.” Understandably, horse owners worry about the cost of surgery, especially if they do not have insurance coverage. And there is no doubt that the status of insurance plays a big role in the decision to go ahead, the emotional value of the horse notwithstanding. “In my experience, it would seem that finances are the factor that almost 20

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forcibly play the biggest role,” she says. “It is not cheap to go through a colic surgery (adding also the pre- and postoperative care to the end of the bill) but in the long-term questionnaire a large number of the owners felt that the price of the end bill was reasonable compared to the end results.” There is no doubt in Immonen’s mind that today’s better diagnosis procedures, surgical care, and new technologies have played a large role in the improved percentages of better outcomes. However, she says, the most important factors have been early recognition and intervention as well as timely referral of surgical colic cases. If the colic continues over a longer period, the clinical status and potential

Dr. Isa Immonen, University of Helsinki, Finland.

outcomes for survival may deteriorate. For post-operative conditions, better knowledge and more effective ways to manage immediate complications have positively increased survival outcomes. “Colic surgery might not always be perceived as the last possible resort to avoid death but [can now be considered] a treatment option for certain types of colic,” she says. “It should be noted that, in general, most possibly the increasing amount of information has aided the survival outcomes. Referring clinicians and owners are well informed and clinicians are able to recognize and refer the serious colic cases early.” Immonen feels that the long-term survival and prognosis studies can definitely help the decisionmaking process of owners generally, bearing in mind that every horse and every colic episode is different. The overall results cannot always be extrapolated for each individual. “Most often, the questions I encounter in my daily work are about finances, survival, prognosis, and postoperative athletic function when dealing with patients with serious colic in need of an operation. Therefore, I feel that the results clearly help [both] the owners and the clinicians.” Providing the horse survived and was healthy enough for discharge from the hospital, the prognosis for long-term survival and return to its previous level of sports activity and performance was good following the colic surgery regardless of breed. None of the factors studied were found to compromise performance in the same discipline or the intended discipline. The majority of the horses in the study returned to their previous activity and performed satisfactorily for several years after surgery. b The research was published in the journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica.

HORSE HEALTH

How to Achieve a

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/VERITYJOHNSON

SOUNDER HORSE By Ben Yager, CJF

…WITH SOME HELP FROM YOUR FARRIER The horse is a companion, a worker, an athlete, a pet. This noble beast has been our ally and partner since first domesticated some 6,000 years ago. They deserve the best possible care and respect for their faithful toil and service. 22

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Today the horse continues to serve us in a variety of roles. The job description may be that of a pasture companion, a trail riding partner, or a school horse. He might pull a sightseeing carriage, skid logs in the bush, push cattle on a ranch, or compete as a top international athlete. But one overarching issue that remains controversial across all areas of the horse industry is hoof care. And without the help of a qualified farrier, hooves and the physical structure of the horse are going to suffer. Is your farrier certified with the American Farrier’s Association (AFA)? Does your farrier continue to educate themself? Did they serve an extensive apprenticeship at the beginning of their career? It takes approximately four to five years of extensive studies and training to become a competent farrier who is useful and helpful in solving hoof-related issues — instead of causing them. And this is just the platform from which their career should launch; the learning and education should never stop. In Canada, there are no minimum

requirements or licensing to regulate a person practicing farriery. This is why the American Farrier’s Association has played such an important role in the education of students graduating from farrier schools here in Canada. The AHA also offers continual education to already-established farriers through certification clinics and contests. Unlike other countries such as England, where you must serve a strict apprenticeship complete with classes, internship, and exams, here in Canada it’s left completely up to the individual farrier to educate themself. Some circumstances allow farriers to be placed in an apprenticeship situation for four years after they graduate school. They can go on to do their AFA exams to attain their Certified Journeyman Farrier (CJF) status after completing their apprenticeship. Although there are many other farrier examination processes in North America and abroad, the AFA Journeyman exams remain the standard that all farriers should ideally attain in North America.

Not many farriers will take on apprentices. Not many farriers are certified or qualified to educate an apprentice. We therefore have a vicious cycle of isolation and under-educated persons practicing farriery in this country. This results in some horse owners believing that more harm than good is being done, and that all shoeing is detrimental to horses. The basic shoeing job by many farriers is a flat shoe, fit hot or cold, nailed on the foot. In preparing the foot to receive a shoe, the foot should be properly trimmed, flare-dressed, and balanced to accept the appropriately fitted shoe. Properly positioned nails of adequate number and size should be used to attach the shoe to the foot. Shoes can also have clips; a well-fitted clip is the equivalent of two nails in the hoof. Flare dressing is the act of removing excess growth and hoof wall distortion caused by inequality of weight-bearing upon the hoof capsule. Flare dressing should mimic the natural intended shape of the hoof (baring any gross pathology that may require different trimming techniques),

FIGURE 1

TOE

WHITE LINE

WALL

APEX OF FROG

SOLE

BARS

CENTRAL SULCUS

OF FROG

COLLATERAL SULCUS BULB

HEEL

BULB

HORSE HOOF ANATOMY The hoof capsule is comprised of the hoof wall, sole, frog, and bulbs of the heels. These continuously bonded components provide protection to the soft tissue and ossified structures within the capsule. The white line is the narrow, light yellow band between the hoof wall and the sole.

JULY/AUGUST 2017

CANADIAN HORSE JOURNAL

HORSE HEALTH

Wendy MacCoubrey has found that therapeutic tools help maintain her horse’s health and increase their endurance riding competitiveness.

Therapeutic Tools Top Riders Can’t Live Without

PHOTO: WENDY WEBB

By Tania Millen Therapeutic tools have been used to prevent and treat horse injuries for many years, but cutting edge therapies continue to be sought out by riders to improve their horse’s health and performance. Twenty years ago, the technology of the day for icing the legs of Olympic and World Championship level event horses was giant rubber boots filled with ice water attached to noisy pumps that burbled bubbles up through the boots. After enticing their horses to stand still in “whirlpool boots,” event grooms then slathered their horses’ legs with handfuls of messy clay and packed their feet with smelly black gunk – both of which inevitably managed to end up everywhere they shouldn’t. But in the last 20 years, science, technology, and product companies have moved on. Now a huge variety of therapeutic tools are available to keep horses healthy and competitive, as well as rehabilitate them after injuries. Choices range from simple to complex and are available for every budget. Therapies include heat lamps, 30

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JULY/AUGUST 2017

ice boots, vibrating plates, magnetic blankets, laser wands, ceramic bandages, massage machines, shockwave therapy, and many more. With all this choice, it’s difficult to decide which of the myriad therapies available are worth investing in. But professional riders depend on their horses for their livelihoods, hence they’re highly motivated to use the best therapeutic tools. So, I asked four top Canadian riders which therapeutic tools they use and why, in the hope that their experience might translate into advice for the rest of us. Here’s what they had to say. Hawley Bennett-Awad, CCI**** international rider and coach, says she learned early in her career that preventing injury is paramount. “Pam Arthur (Hawley’s coach and mentor) insisted that injury prevention is key, and she’s right. Livingstone, my first top horse, competed at FEI level for 11 years and did nine CCI**** events. He was one of the soundest

who had received laser therapy following an injury less than three weeks before the competition.

PHOTOS: HAWLEY BENNETT-AWAD

PHOTO: WENDY WEBB

Therapeutic tools can be key to maintaining soundness and passing vet checks at endurance competitions.

PHOTO: BECKY SILER PEARMAN

> Wendy MacCoubrey competing on Golden Miles,

Professional’s Choice magnetic blanket is one therapeutic tool that Hawley BennettAwad uses to keep her horses in top shape.

Ceramic blankets are a popular and reasonably priced therapy.

horses at that level. But I only had one horse, so if he didn’t stay sound, then I didn’t have anything to ride.” Bennett-Awad places strong emphasis on injury prevention by using tools that increase circulation and prevent swelling. “I only have a few top horses. Unlike some other top event riders, if I break one, I can’t just go back to the barn and grab another one.” In keeping with Hawley’s beliefs, prior to each workout she uses a Professional’s Choice ceramic blanket and Professional’s Choice ceramic leg wraps. Ceramic blankets and wraps are

One of Hawley Bennett-Awad’s horses enjoying a massage prior to work.

popular therapeutic tools as they’re easy to use and relatively inexpensive. The science behind them is also quite simple. Ceramic therapeutic products contain ceramic fibres, which are inorganic and have poor conductivity; so, most of the natural long wave infrared heat radiation produced by a living being (horse) does not pass through the material, but is reflected back to the horse. This heat then stimulates cells in the body and increases blood circulation to the area, hence the products are often used to “warm up” muscles prior to work. Heat therapy is also good for muscle pain from overexertion, JULY/AUGUST 2017

CANADIAN HORSE JOURNAL

b HORSE HEALTH

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK/ESOLEX

SEASONAL PARASITE CONTROL

Stomach Bots & Tapeworms By Margaret Evans As the season moves toward late summer and early fall, your parasite management program should give some attention to stomach bots and tapeworms. To control these parasites more effectively, it helps to understand their life cycles.

Stomach Bots Bot flies are honeybee-sized flies that attach their tiny yellow, orange, or creamcoloured eggs to the horse’s haircoat during summer and fall. The eggs are readily visible on most horses, especially those with dark coats. The larvae are triggered to hatch when the horse selfgrooms or licks the site, generating warmth. The flies themselves are not a particular nuisance to horses; it is the ingestion of the larvae and their accumulation in the intestine that may create infestation problems. According to Dr. Wendy Pearson, Ph.D. (Dr. of Veterinary Toxicology) with the University of Guelph, North 38

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Botfly eggs attached to the horse’s haircoat can be removed by clipping the hair, scraping the hair with a bot knife, or washing with warm water which will cause the eggs to hatch and the larvae to die before they enter the horse’s mouth.

America has three primary species of bot fly and they are identified by where they lay their eggs on the horse. The common bot fly lays eggs on the shoulders and front legs. The throat bot deposits yellowish-white eggs on the

hairs growing in the space between the jawbones, and the nose bot lays black eggs on the tiny hairs adjoining the lips. All three of these bot species hatch outside the horse, and the emerging larvae find their way into the horse’s

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150 Years

of Horses in Canada A TALE OF 20 HORSES BY MARGARET EVANS

An unknown author once wrote that the history of mankind is carried on the back of a horse. That simple yet profound statement underscores the very foundation of Canadian society that was driven, quite literally, by the contribution of horses. Most horses mean the world to their owners, but every now and then a horse comes along with the power to inspire a nation. In this issue, we celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary with the stories of 20 exceptional horses that have reflected our values and fired our national pride.

Big Ben with Ian Millar at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.

PHOTO: CLIX PHOTOGRAPHY

Big Ben

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Few horses are such household names as Big Ben, Ian Millar’s legendary show jumper. Born in 1976 at the van Hooydonk Farm in Kalmthout in northern Belgium, the liver chestnut Warmblood with a blaze and two white hind socks grew to be a giant of a horse at 17.3 hands. Miller acquired the horse as a seven-year-old and he was imported to Canada in 1983 where he was permanently stabled at Millar Brooke Farm in Perth, Ontario. Over the next decade, Big Ben would jump his way into the hearts of hundreds of thousands of fans and become a luminary in the show jumping world. Millar and Big Ben won over 40 grand prix titles and took the World Cup championship two years in a row, in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1988 and in Tampa, Florida in 1989. Also in 1989, he won the grand prix in Bordeaux, France, and the grand prix in Stuttgart, Germany. Those successes ranked Millar as number one show jumper in the world. In 1987 and 1991 the duo won the du Maurier International, the world’s richest grand prix event at the time. Big Ben represented Canada in the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Olympic Games. At the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis, the pair brought home both individual and team gold medals. Throughout his decade long jumping career, Big Ben earned over $1.5 million.

< Big Ben with Ian Millar, his wife Lynn,

and Olympic rower Silken Laumann at the Royal Winter Fair in 1992.

But life had its challenges and Big Ben survived two colic surgeries. And in 1992 he survived a head-on trailer collision with a car in which two other horses died, a third had injuries so serious he couldnâ€™t be ridden again, and a fourth refused to ever enter a trailer again. Big Ben was retired to pasture at Millar Brooke Farm in 1994. But on December 11, 1999, at age 23, he suffered a third bout of colic, which was untreatable. He was humanely euthanized and is buried on a knoll overlooking the farm. Tributes poured in. Canada Post celebrated him with his own postage stamp and he was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, then joined Canadian racehorse Northern Dancer as the only other horse to be inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

PHOTOS: CLIX PHOTOGRAPHY

Big Ben retired in 1994, and fans had the opportunity to say a fond goodbye to the chestnut superstar at horse shows across Canada throughout the year, including here at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, Ontario, in November.

JULY/AUGUST 2017

CANADIAN HORSE JOURNAL

MIDNIGHT

One of the wildest saddle bronc bucking horses was the legendary Midnight. Foaled in 1916 on Jim McNab’s Cottonwood Ranch in the Porcupine Hills west of Fort MacLeod, Alberta, Midnight was a crossbred between a Thoroughbred on his dam’s side and a Percheron/Morgan cross on his sire’s side. He grew to a sturdy 1300-pounds and stood 15.1 hands.

By the age of three, the black colt was gelded and broke to ride, but he proved difficult and unpredictable. By the time Midnight was eight years old, McNab decided he was too dangerous as a saddle horse, and tried him out as a bucking horse. Midnight would go down in history as one of the greatest bucking horses in the world. McNab started out with local rodeos, but soon entered

Midnight in the Calgary Stampede in 1924, where no rider was able to stay on his back. The horse was quiet to handle on the ground, but the moment anyone got on his back he was a flying demon, bucking wildly, leaping and twisting. Cowboys would bite the dust after just two to three seconds. He rapidly became the champion bucking horse of Western Canada with a reputation for being unrideable. It is said the horse took delight in adding a final insult to injury by bucking in a circle around his fallen rider before leaving the arena.

Over the years, Midnight did the circuit of the biggest rodeos in North America — Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Madison Square Gardens — and defeated the very best bronc riders. The renegade gelding was a huge draw and featured attraction at rodeos. Midnight kept bucking cowboys off until 1933 when he was retired due to a ringbone disorder. But, with his last owner Vern Elliott, Midnight was brought out of retirement and taken to England where he did four exhibition rides in Wembley Stadium just outside

PHOTOS: PRO RODEO HALL OF FAME

Midnight with owner Jim McNab in 1923, and in action at a rodeo.

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London. On return to Elliott’s ranch in Colorado, Midnight was turned loose on pasture to live out his days. He died on November 5, 1936 at age 20. The following is said to be written by a Colorado senator and is inscribed on Midnight’s tombstone:

His remains were later moved and interred on the grounds of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. In honour of his horse, Jim McNab opened the Midnight Stadium in Fort Macleod on July 9, 1967. Midnight was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979. Joe Fisher attempts to ride Midnight at the Calgary Stampede, circa 1925.

PHOTO: GLENBOW ARCHIVES NA-1234-5

Underneath this sod lies a great bucking horse. There never lived a cowboy he couldn’t toss. His name was Midnight, his coat as black as coal. If there is a hoss-heaven, God please, rest his soul.

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