I have a 15-year-old TB that raced until 9 years old. He is boarded in upstate New York where there is not much sun. He receives a complete diet (designed by a nutritionist at Cornell) with 2 cups Empower. He goes out to a small paddock 4 hours per day. Is it enough to produce Vitamin D and generate a healthy circadian rhythm? Thanks GR

Dear GR,
First, let me praise you for your hard work in providing a complete and balanced diet for your horse! Next, let me encourage you to turn your horse out as much as possible. Unless there is a medical reason against it or your boarding situation prevents it, the more your horse can exercise at will in fresh air with other horses the better! I say this because in researching answers to your two questions, I was unable to provide you with evidence proving he needs more than the four hours of turnout daily he gets now.

The short answer to your first question is: yes, the amount of sunlight your horse is exposed to through fours hours of turnout per day is probably enough to meet his minimum Vitamin D requirement. While the sixth edition of Nutrient Requirements of Horses only said “There are no reports of Vitamin D deficiency to date in horses maintained in practical settings with some exposure to sunlight,” several other sources said “a few hours of sunlight a day” and even “as little as one hour of sunlight a day” would probably be sufficient. If you choose to supplement to ensure healthy calcium metabolism (the primary role of Vitamin D), 300IU/100lb BW is the recommended amount, or about 3000IU for a 1000lb horse.

Now to your second question! Circadian rhythm is the roughly 24-hour cycle in physiological processes of living beings, both plants and animals. Some of these physiological processes include: sleep/wake, body temperature, thirst, appetite, brain wave activity, hormone production and cell regeneration. Circadian rhythm is generated from within the animal itself, but it can be altered by external cues such as daylight, temperature, feeding/fasting periods, and other stimuli. As long as your horse receives some light each day, he should have a healthy Circadian rhythym.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate SmartPak Equine Veterinary Advisory Council member Dr. Jay Merriam, who has been inducted into the International Equine Veterinarian Hall of Fame. Four horseshoers were inducted into the International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame and two equine veterinarians—Dr. Merriam and Dr. Kent Carter--were inducted into the International Equine Veterinarian Hall of Fame.

Known as an “innovator and messenger of equine well-being,” Dr. Merriam owns Massachusetts Equine Clinic in Uxbridge, Mass., a state-of-the-art referral clinic specializing in sports medicine and equine podiatry. In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Merriam served as the first chairman of the American Association of Equine Practitioners Equine Welfare Committee, and co-founded an international non-profit organization Project Samana to assist equines in need.

Congratulations Dr. Merriam, from everyone here at SmartPak!

Hello. I am in 8th grade and I am doing a science fair project on what types of music affect a horse's heart rate.  My teacher told us we had to interview someone so I chose you. Could you tell me all about the horse's heart, brain, or anything to do with that topic please?  The other day I was trying to find my horse's heart rate but I couldn't find it. I felt under his cheek, his chest, and the side of his pastern but I didn't feel a thing! What did I do wrong? To answer my question, please email me ASAP because I need the interview done soon. LW, Illinois

Dear LW,

Well, I don’t know anything about how music affects a horse’s heart rate or brain waves, but I do know how to take the heart rate, as well as the respiratory rate and temperature, three vital signs all horse owners should know how to measure.  Let’s start with the heart rate, or pulse.

As you have found out first-hand, trying to find a horse’s pulse can be frustrating!  Fortunately, there are some tools that can help you.  For the serious competitor, a heart monitor is a must-have.  In addition to models that include a wristwatch receiver so you can see the rate while still in the saddle, some models even monitor and store the heart rate over an entire exercise session!  Then there’s your basic stethoscope.  No horse owner should be without one.  Place the buds in your ears so they point forward, slide the head forward underneath your horse’s elbow on the left side until you hear the heart beat, and count only one of the sounds (so lub-DUB is one beat).  The normal range for a horse is 28 – 42 heartbeats per minute.

Even if you have a heart rate monitor or stethoscope, you should still know where and how to feel your horse’s pulse, as sometimes changes in the pulse itself can be a useful diagnostic tool.  For example, if you’re concerned that your horse might be developing laminitis, you should check to see if the digital pulses at his ankles are “bounding” or throbbing.  Personally, I find the digital pulse the easiest to detect:

• Have someone hold your horse
• Squat next to his left front leg
• With your palm touching the back of his leg, thumb to the outside and fingers to the inside, start at the knee and run your hand down his leg until you reach the ankle, or fetlock
• Very lightly press your thumb and middle finger against his leg, at the level of the fetlock
• Now begin to slowly slide your entire hand backward, until your thumb and middle finger nearly come off the back of the leg
• Experiment with light, moderate and heavy pressure inward until you feel the pulse
• Tip:  Don’t use the tip of your thumb/finger, where the nail is.  Press on the leg just past the last joint in your thumb/finger

There are other places to check your horse’s pulse, such as the inside of the jaw, the inside of the front leg above the knee, the outside of the hind leg, and underneath the tail.  But in my opinion, these are all harder to find than the digital pulse.

While you’re measuring your horse’s heart rate, take the time to measure his respiratory rate (8 – 12 breaths per minute is normal) and his temperature (99.5 – 100.5 degrees F is normal).  Take these measurements over several days and at different times of day, and record them in your horse’s journal.  Then when he’s not acting right, you can compare his heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature to his normal values and help your veterinarian figure out what might be wrong!

I have two Friesian crosses. One is 1/2 Friesian, 1/4 Morgan, 1/4 Belgian. He has enormous, unsightly chestnuts. My other horse, 1/2 Friesian, 1/2 Morgan, had normal flat chestnuts. I sometimes remember to ask the farrier to trim Shadowfax's chestnuts, but even then, he only cuts off a little bit and leaves an inch or more. They are rough and cracked and ragged. Do chestnuts have nerve endings? How much of them can safely be trimmed off? I would be worried about using a sharp enough knife in case of accidentally cutting his leg, so are there some kind of clippers that can be used? I've never seen any advice about this problem, and no other horses in our barn (about 30 of them) have these overgrown chestnuts. He is going to be shown this spring and I'd like him to look nice :) Thank you! LF, North Carolina

Dear LF,

I love this question! Chestnuts are one of those things that no one ever talks about, and if you weren’t born into a horsey family, you may not know anything about them. I’ve always heard that chestnuts are the remnants of toes that horses lost during evolution. My anatomy book specifically says chestnuts are versions of footpads, the cushions on which animals walk. Foot pads are quite pronounced in some animals, such as bears, and less pronounced in other animals, such as dogs and cats. In horses, the foot pad is incorporated into the hoof as the frog. The chestnuts are described as “vestigial” knee and hock foot pads, meaning the structures have atrophied and become nonfunctional.

But that doesn’t solve your problem, because the darn things still exist and continue to grow. I have one horse whose chestnuts remain flush with his skin and hair. They don’t ever seem to grow. Then there’s my other horse. His chestnuts can become long and sharp, almost like the spurs on a rooster, if I don’t keep them under control! I used to peel them off after I gave him a bath, because they were softer then. But as he’s gotten older, the chestnuts seem to have grown more sensitive, and he doesn’t even like me to touch them. Luckily, I stumbled upon an excellent way of encouraging them to fall off with hardly any effort on my part: put a little petroleum jelly on them. After a day or two—if they didn’t come off on their own—they’ll easily fall off if I “accidentally” hit them with a brush during grooming.

Although I’ve never heard of using clippers on them as you suggest, I have had farriers trim them regularly (with a hoof knife, not nippers). And I did just read that some people prefer to sand or rasp them down. You’ll just have to experiment with what works best in your horse, because in some horses they’re quite hard and flaky while in others they’re soft and pliable (I will admit to having twisted them off, although my horse didn’t seem to appreciate this method). As long as you work within the chestnut’s layers, I don’t think you are going to hurt your horse or “quick” him, as you can with dogs when cutting toenails.

(Although I didn’t actually receive a question on this topic, the recent California fires inspired me to write about it because it’s an area most horse owners don’t think about until it’s too late.)

An emergency is an urgent situation. A disaster is an emergency that overwhelms the resources of the individual or even local community. While emergencies and disasters may be unavoidable, how well you and your horse cope with a potentially life-threatening situation depends on how well you prepared ahead of time. Because some disasters (like a barn fire) can happen in any area, but others (like a hurricane or tornado) usually only happen in certain areas, you need to know and prepare for situations that are likely to occur where you live. Also, being responsible for the wellbeing of a horse during a disaster is a bit more challenging than being responsible for a dog, cat or other small pet. Below are some resources I hope you take the time to check out and use!

http://www.aaep.org/emergency_prep.htm#own

The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) has disaster preparedness documents and links to other agencies on their website that are specifically for horse owners.

http://www.avma.org/disaster/saving_family.asp

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has guidelines for all species of animals, including horses.

http://www.fema.gov/individual/animals.shtm

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is officially part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Their mission is to reduce the loss of life and property and protect the nation from all hazards through a system of preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation.

http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/hsus_disaster_center/

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is an official first responder for disasters in the US. Take their interactive quiz to find out if you’re really ready for an emergency.