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Spring tune-up: Wellness tips for your horse
Whether you ride for pleasure or performance, spring is an exciting time that offers a fresh new start. And we know your horse is like family, so as with any member, an annual wellness exam helps provide proactive and preventative health care. Below are five spring tune-up tips to discuss with your Dr. Garfinkel at your horse’s next visit.
1. Schedule an Annual Wellness Exam
Wellness visits help affirm how your horse is doing as well as allow you to check in with Dr. Garfinkel to make any medication/supplement adjustments that set horses up for a healthy, active season ahead.
Routine bloodwork and additional diagnostic tests can provide peace of mind or notify of potential issues that Dr. Garfinkel can watch or further investigate. Dr. Garfinkel can also teach you how to take your horse’s vital signs in case of an emergency and offer advice for stocking up on a first aid kit.
Dr. Garfinkel can help prepare your horse for upcoming travels by ensuring their Coggins test and core/risk-based vaccines are up to date.
Lastly, insulin/ACTH/glucose levels should be monitored for at-risk patients or for horses that are currently being treated for a metabolic disorder.
2. The Perfect Pair: Core & Risk--Based Vaccines
Now is the ideal time to help protect your horse against both the core and risk-based diseases. Core EQ Innovator® helps protect your horse against the five core (potentially fatal) equine diseases—rabies, tetanus, West Nile virus, Eastern and Western equine encephalitis. It is also labeled safe for use in pregnant mares during their third trimester.
Fluvac Innovator EHV-4/1 helps guard your horse against equine influenza and equine herpesvirus 4 & 1 (EHV). Together, these two vaccines make up The Perfect Pair because they were created apart to be stronger together. Studies showed up to 4.7x higher influenza response when core and risk vaccines were given separately versus in combination.3,4
Set horses up for disease protection heading into the spring season, no matter the horse’s work or recreational discipline.
3. Grazing Season = Deworming Season
Parasite transmission increases with the beginning of grazing season time. Talk with Dr. Garfinkel about running a fecal egg count as well as their recommendation for a spring dewormer based on your horse’s age/life stage, fecal egg count and your geographic zone.
4. The Importance off Dental Health
Sharp enamel points (hooks), uneven tooth wear (wave mouth), missing teeth and other issues can interfere with a horse’s ability to chew food correctly, which can impact their weight and gastrointestinal health. Including a sedated oral exam with a mouth speculum during your horse’s spring wellness check-up can help Dr. Garfinkel potential issues preemptively.
Routine annual preventative dental exams can help mitigate potential health issues, including but not limited to choke, behavior or performance issues.8 Some horses, those that are <5yo and="" senior="" horses="">15yo), may require dental care more than once per year. Speak with Dr. Garfinkel to see if this is recommended for your horse.
A standing sedated exam—using a mouth speculum is the only way to provide a thorough and complete oral exam to reach the furthest back cheek teeth.
5. General Body Condition Score
You might have noticed, some older horses tend to lose weight in the cooler months, which may very well go unnoticed, especially if they wear a blanket most of the wintertime.
Ensure that you remove your horse’s blanket routinely for grooming and to assess their general body condition. Have Dr. Garfinkel provide recommendations on nutrition/supplementation as well as overall condition and lameness. A routine evaluation before the upcoming season is a valuable part of wellness check-ups for nearly every horse, no matter their discipline.
Schedule a Spring Wellness Visit
Call Dr. Garfinkel at 619-659-1180 to schedule your spring wellness exam.
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