29 Oct 2018

Equine impact of a ‘Great British bake-off’

Samantha Castle describes the impact of a scorching summer and a beast of a winter on UK equines.

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Samantha Castle

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Equine impact of a ‘Great British bake-off’

Image: ba11istic / Adobe Stock

Well, 2018 has certainly thrown some extreme weather at the UK. The early months were wet and freezing, with winter feeling like a never-ending season.

The “Beast from the East” deposited huge drifts of snow in some parts of the country during February and March, meaning animals were often harder to reach for care and management. Most horse owners developed huge, bulging biceps by the continuous breaking of ice and carrying endless water buckets to provide fresh, clean water fortheir charges.

A warm, wet and short (April to May) spring followed, where we saw many laminitic and spasmodic colic cases.

Then came a positively tropical summer – the hottest and driest since 1976 – with temperatures tipping above the previous record highs since records began in 1910.

So, what has this meant for horses, ponies and donkeys?

It is a known fact equids don’t deal with dramatic weather changes very well, and that has certainly been true this year. As we all know, horses are far from being perfectly designed, either.

Gastrointestinal issues

Let’s start with the horse’s gastrointestinal system – metres of intestines with a stupidly small stomach, combined with a ridiculously strong valvular system (the cardiac sphincter) that does not allow contents back out by vomiting, therefore making gastric rupture more than just a rare possibility.

Colic

My colleagues and I have seen a plethora of colics this year – particularly timed around the weather changes, with spasmodic colics and cases of diarrhoea being very prevalent whenever it has rained. Added to that, we have seen many impaction colic cases related to dehydration in horses.

In previous years, this is common in the winter months when the water supplies freeze and horses drink less. This year, however, we have also seen many in the hot weather, with either horses not having access to enough clean drinking water to compensate for how much they are sweating in the heat or the water becoming contaminated with algae, mould and insects, so making it less palatable.

Encouraging owners to clean out water troughs and buckets regularly, provide plenty of fresh water and add in electrolytes if the horse is doing heavy work, travelling or competing on a hot day have been our recommendations.

The “Beast from the East” back in February and March left some horses harder to reach.
The “Beast from the East” back in February and March left some horses harder to reach.

Also, soaking hay and adding water to hard feed are good ways of increasing water intake, with even the addition of apple juice or molassed water if the horse is particularly fussy.

Sand colic cases, which I have predominantly seen when working in Australia and Spain previously, have been more prevalent this summer also. Again, this is most likely due to the horses being on much drier paddocks with far less grass covering than normal years.

Worms

Worm burdens, in both equids and farm animals, have been generally much higher this year.

We suspect the lack of grass this summer has meant animals have been grazing more closely to the ground and closer to droppings, therefore picking up a greater number of worm eggs than usual.

We have had several colic cases in our hospital, with worm egg counts in the thousands that have responded to anthelmintic therapy. Our recommendation to horse owners will be to worm with moxidectin after the first frosts to treat any encysted cyathostome burdens (as the larvicidal stages are not testable) and test for tapeworm (blood test for serology or the saliva test), as well as the routine worm egg counts for roundworms.

Hepatic cases

We have also seen an increase in the number of hepatic cases over the summer months, with ragwort poisoning being diagnosed in several.

This has, no doubt, been caused by the poor grass growth due to the lack of rain and hot temperatures. The lack of grass has meant ponies have been less selective when grazing and eaten other plants in the field, including liver toxic ones such as ragwort.

Staying sound

Moving on from conditions of the abdomen, our other main problem as equine vets is keeping horses sound.

Feet

The hot, dry summer months meant the ground became rock hard, like concrete. This, as expected, showed up any foot issue. Horses with poor foot balance, broken-back hoof-pastern axis and flat feet with little sole struggled this summer.

The concussion caused by the hard, unforgiving ground highlighted any little foot problem with many “navicular syndrome” cases being seen. Not only this, with the lack of moisture, even normally good feet started crumbling and weakening.

Then we had some rain and, within three days, the foot abscesses started. The moisture penetrated the brittle, dried feet and found the weakened spots, allowing small stones and grit to get in, causing infection and pus to brew.

Body condition

Having had far less grass than usual, certainly here in the south, a lot of horses are heading into winter in leaner body condition than usual. In many cases, this is a good thing, as we see far more overweight horses in this area than underweight. However, as less hay has been cut, this may be a hard winter for some horses to maintain weight.

This will be particularly true of older horses, perhaps with dental or endocrine issues, or youngsters – especially those turned out in a group to “grow up” and are not provided with additional feed. Advice to clients should be to monitor horses carefully over the coming months, with additional forage and/or feed being supplemented in some individuals or groups.

So, what do we have to look forward to (I use that phrase lightly) for the winter of 2018-19? The long-term weather forecast is relatively vague on all the weather sites at this stage, but most UK and European websites are predicting a mild winter – certainly compared to the end of last year.

Like most Brits, all equine vets, no doubt, will continue to be prepared for all four seasons in one day, carrying a whole range of different clothing in our trucks to accommodate whatever our great British weather throws at us.