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Horse Communities
Blog by John Henline
Geneva, Florida
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Horse Communities
Categorized in: Florida Horses
Tagged with: acreage, central florida, country living, equestrian, farm, horse, orlando, pasture, real estate, rural
CENTRAL FLORIDA SAND COLIC 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,
Tagged with: acreage, central florida, country living, equestrian, horse, orlando, pasture, real estate, rural
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.
I have added a couple of photographs of some of the more common and toxic plants and a link to a web site called, Poisonous Plants of the South East.
 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
Tagged with: acreage, central florida, country living, equestrian, horse, orlando, pasture, real estate, rural
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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