Geneva, Florida
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Categorized in: Florida Horses
CENTRAL FLORIDA SAND COLIC
www.OrlandoCountryLiving.com
Mailto:john@johnhenline.com
Living in Central Florida creates many challenges for horses. One of the more serious is Sand Colic. Florida is after all one big sand pile. Horses that graze on pastures are very prone to ingesting large amounts of sand in their stomachs. This can be a very serious and life threatening condition.
One way to tell if your horse has sand in his digestive system is to take a clear glass or jar and place a fresh piece of manure in the container and fill the glass with water. Shake the glass until the manure dissolves and then let it settle. If you see sand in the bottom of the glass then your horse should be given a preventative.
I feel that the most effective and most economical preventative is generic Metamucil. Metamucil is mainly psyllium husk. It will swell up and get sticky in the horses stomach and the sand will stick to it as it passes through the system.
I give my horses one cup twice a week, but there are different doses for different horses and the amount of sand that they are eating. A minimum of once a week is highly recommended. I add a little vegetable oil to their feed, and mix it completely. Then I add the psyllium and mix it. The psyllium sticks to the feed so the horses eat all of it.
I hope this is helpful,
John
John@JRHenline.com
www.CentralFloridaCountryLiving.com
407-451-5154
Categorized in: Florida Horses
FIRE ANTS AND THE FLORIDA HORSE
For anyone planning on living in Central Florida or really most of the Southern United States with their horse(s) understanding insects is a must. The Fire Ant is one of the insect dangers that can have a devastating affect on your horses.
The Fire ant was introduced in the United States from Brazil in the 1930's through the Port of Mobile Alabama. There are actually over 280 species of "Fire Ants" and most of these are not particularly harmful. The species Solenopsis invicta which is in the South is very invasive and harmful. Fire ants only bite to get a grip and then sting (from the abdomen) and inject a toxic alkaloid venom, ( piperidine). This sting is immediately painful and then becomes a raised puss filled blister. Although most discussions on fire ants concern people being bitten, they can cause extensive injury to horses that are in an infected pasture or paddock. The fire ant colonies build large underground nests that can be seen from the surface as a mound of freshly sifted dirt on top of the grass. Depending on the time of year and if it has rained the mound may be easily visible or the mound may be virtually invisible. This invisible period is when they are the most dangerous to both horses and humans. These ants are very aggressive when anything disturbs their territory and they will send hundreds of ants out to attack the intruder. They also tend to wait until they have thoroughly covered their victim and then they start stinging all at once. This is why they can do such extensive damage to a horse. A horse will unknowingly stand on a mound or will roll in a mound that they are attracted to by the cleared earth. A horse can have several hundred ants on them before feeling the first sting and then has very little ability to remove the ants once they start stinging. The initial pain of the sting is really the least of the problems for the horse. The itching that follows is where the problem starts. The itching starts the rubbing. The rubbing can then cause the stings to become infected raw sores.
OK, know that I have scared everyone from ever moving to Florida….. Let's talk about living with Fire Ants.
Treatment for a horse that has been bitten by fire ants includes external treatments and antibacterial medicines. Keeping the bites clean and keeping the horse from rubbing are the two key treatments. A topical steroid cream (hydrocortisone), alcohol, bleach, a whipped mixture of egg whites and salt (spread over the affected skin for 30 minutes, removes the pain). Hosing the horse down with cold water will give immediate relief and if done immediately and will also remove any ants that are still on the horse. Antibiotics may be needed if the bites become infected.
You MUST treat your pasture with a fire ant insecticide. The bad news is that there isn't anything that is 100% effective and I am unaware of any natural preventative or environmentally safe products. Maybe there is something, but I have never heard of them. The "good old day" remedy was to pour gasoline on the mound and light it on fire. Yes, it did kill a lot of ants but there are a number of products sold in the local garden stores that are more effective and much less dangerous. They all make claims of their effectiveness and I am not trying to plug or sell one over the other. I use bait called "Amdro". It is sprinkled around the mound (not on the mound) and the ants take the ground up corn looking insecticide down to the Queen and when she dies in theory the colony dies. The reality is that it never kills the whole colony and in a few days a new mound will appear a few feet away from the one that was treated. Treating these mounds several times is the key. Control is the essential idea with fire ants. You will never completely get ride of them all. The one down side to these baits is that they look like corn and should be used when the horses are off the pasture for a few hours.
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POISONOUS PLANTS IN FLORIDA
John Henline
407-451-5154
I want to start off by saying that I am not an expert on poisonous plants. I have a very good "green thumb", I can grow grass on sand, and I have a very nice collection of orchids, but I am NOT an expert on poisonous plants.
Lantana
I recently attended a seminar at the "Tack Shack', a feed store in Oviedo Florida and the guest speaker, Professor Dennis Mudge spoke on "Poisonous Plants in Pastures". Prof. Mudge is a livestock agent with the University of Florida and serves the Central Florida area. If you have any questions or problems with a potentially poisonous plant please call Prof. Mudge. He is extremely knowledgeable and very helpful. Black Nightshade
Most people with horses tend to believe that their horses are smart enough to know which plants to eat and which ones to stay away from, and for the most part that theory is correct. The problem is when a horse is introduced to a new pasture in a new area and they are exposed to plants that they have no experience with. Even a new plant appearing on an existing pasture by accident, (neighbors ornamental plants or seeds from questionable hay) can threaten a horse. Some plants in Florida pastures don't grow in northern pastures and some plants that are poisonous in one area of the country are not as toxic in other areas.
Bracken Fern
The very best way to control and prevent poisonous plants from becoming a problem is to mow the pasture. Regular mowing will do more than anything else in solving the threat of your horse ingesting something toxic. We all see weeds in the pasture that have thorns and weird colored berries and know that they are not good for the horse or our children. The plants and shrubs that are more normal looking and that have beautiful foliage and flowers are the ones that will fool you.
Crotalaria
This link is very helpful and has numerous photos and details of poisonous plants but it does not cover all plants or trees that can be harmful to your horse, you or your children.
Oleander
If you have any concerns please call an expert. This article is intended an introduction to poisonous plants, a first step in a better understanding of the enviremont that we live in. Many of these plants are wonderful for landscaping, but not in our pastures or around our children.
John Henline
407-451-5154
Categorized in: Florida Horses
HORSE EYE PATCH
John Henline
407-451-5154
They say that necessity is the mother of all inventions. Well, I found myself desperately needing a way to protect one of my horse's eyes so I came up with a very easy and quick way.
Sara, my high strung Arabian mare, caught her eyelid on something in the pasture. Probably was rubbing on something and when her eyelid got caught she jerked and ripped her eyelid half off. We got Dr. Roberts out, who stitched it back on. Got through about 5 days and she started rubbing it and ripped the stitches out. Dr. Roberts stitched it back on again and said that we were going to have to cover the eye with something, but that the "store bought" patch that they usually use had been broken and it being Sunday it would probably be at least two days to get another one shipped in.
One idea that the Vet suggested came from one of her colleagues. Supposedly, back in the "good ole days" they would take a ladies nursing bra and strap it on the head of the horse (I still can't get the visualization out of my head). Leaving one side open and the other side could be opened when the eye needed cleaned or looked at. Well, I was flat out of nursing bras (no pun intended). I also thought that I would need something with a little bit more protection considering the horse I was dealing with. So, we eventually decided to use a fly mask as a starting point. We knew that we needed to attach something to the mask that would protect the eye, not injure the eye, and allow air for the wound to heal. After several failed ideas, I was even going to use an old athletic cup, I remembered that I had an old pair of knee pads that I used for laying tile. They were padded on the inside and made of a hard but pliable plastic on the outside. I cut the straps off and attached it to the fly mask with plastic lock-ties. Walla, it worked perfect.
 Darth Vader
We were thinking of painting it black and calling her Darth Vader, but she has been through enough without adding insult to injury.
I hope you never have to use this idea but when you're in a bind and you need something that will help, maybe you will remember this.
Happy Trails
John Henline
407-451-5154
John@JohnHenline.com
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