Equine Parasite Control: Deworming and Beyond
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Normal Horse Vital Signs and Health Indicators
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Taking a Horse’s Heart Rate
The easiest place to take a horse’s heart rate, or pulse, is the mandibular artery located under the jaw.
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Doug Byars, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM
Articles by Doug Byars, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM
Checking the Vitals: Is My Horse Sick? How Sick?
Being familiar with your horse’s normal resting temperature, pulse, and respiration rates (TPR) help you recognize when things are abnormal. The TPR vitals help you determine “how abnormal.”
Read MoreChecking the Vitals: The Lungs
Since you can’t tell your horse to “Take a deep breath,” listening to your horse requires some technique to hear lung sounds.
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Checking the Vitals: Heart Function and Sound
Knowing how to identify abnormalities in your horse’s heart rate and rhythm will help you and your veterinarian treat him or her when illness strikes.
Read MoreChecking the Vitals: Abdominal Sounds
Unlike heart and respiratory rates, abdominal sounds do not punch a specific time clock for generating “gut sounds.” The rhythmic peristaltic churning of food mixed with fluids within the gut varies in slower waves depending on meal time, the meal itself, and the level of activity. You don’t actually “time” bowel sounds, but you do want to know if they are present.
Read MoreRabies Danger, Exposure Cost Reinforce Equine Vaccination Need
Rabies is a rhabdovirus that has been a human threat since antiquity. The virus is capable of infecting all warm-blooded animals with some variation in susceptibility. Rabies is considered 100% fatal to the infected host. However, in order for
Read More“Sticky” Third Eyelid
Twice, my 12-year-old Paint gelding has gotten his third eyelid “stuck” over the top of his eyeball for 10 or 20 seconds. The first time was when water splashed in his eye during a bath.
Read MoreInsulin Resistance and Layup Time
My 18-year-old Percheron/ Morgan gelding was diagnosed with insulin resistance. Just prior to being confined to stall rest for a connective tissue injury, his insulin was 67 microIU/mL. The vet did a dexamethasone suppression test to rule out PPID,
Read MoreComparing Humans and Horses
Comparisons of humans to horses logically can start with the anatomy. We stand upright; horses stand prone on their four limbs. What we call our knees are the stifles of horses, and our heels or ankles are horses’ hocks. Our foot is their cannon
Read MoreResearch… Missing Dollars
Leaders in veterinary research and the equine industry should develop policy initiatives that recognize needed changes in the research landscape. Equine medicine remains grossly underfunded. As companion animals, horses receive few government
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