Wind Rider Equine Rehab

11/19/2025

Heads up North Texas. Keep your horses home the next 14 days. Please let me know if there are any sick horses on property before any bodywork or farrier work. Help us stop the spread.

Edited to add:
BVEH NAVASOTA HAS NO CASES ONSITE IN NAVASOTA. It is safe to bring your horse for their normal appointments, we will have additional biosecurity protocols before and in between appointments. We are working to set up an offsite location to triage potential sick horses. We will have updates tomorrow for you. Dr. Buchanan will go live here on Facebook at 8:15am tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

BVEH Advisory:

EHV-1 Cases in Horses Returning From a Recent Event

Brazos Valley Equine Hospitals wants to notify horse owners that we are aware of multiple confirmed cases of EHV-1 in surrounding hospitals, and several suspected cases including several horses with neurologic signs (EHM) currently being diagnosed in the barrel horse community. BVEH has not admitted and is not treating and EHV or EHM cases.

The State of Texas Animal Health Commission is aware of the outbreak.

At this time, 5–10 horses are known to us to be sick, but the true number is likely higher as many cases go unreported.

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What Horse Owners Should Do Right Now:

1. Keep all horses at home!
Please avoid hauling, clinics, lessons, shows, or mingling horses for the next several weeks until more information is available.

Movement is the #1 factor that spreads EHV-1.
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2. Check temperatures twice daily!
Fever is usually the first sign (often before nasal discharge or neurologic symptoms).
• Temp at or above 101.5°F = call your veterinarian.
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3. Notify your veterinarian immediately if your horse exhibits:
• Fever
• Weakness or incoordination
• Standing with hindlimbs wide
• Tail tone changes
• Difficulty urinating
• Lethargy or decreased appetite

Early intervention improves outcomes.
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4. Discuss treatment options with your veterinarian.

For febrile or exposed horses, your vet may recommend:
• Valacyclovir
• Aspirin or other anti-thrombotics
• Anti-inflammatories
• Supportive care

(These should only be used under veterinary direction.)
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5. Biosecurity matters.
• Do not share water buckets, hoses, tack, grooming tools, or stalls.
• Disinfect trailers, thermometers, and crossties.
• Isolate any horse with fever immediately.
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About Vaccination.

Current evidence shows vaccines do not prevent EHM, but they can reduce viral shedding and shorten viremia, which lowers barn-wide spread and is important to the community.

Boosters are helpful when:
• A horse was vaccinated > 90 days ago, or
• You are preparing for high-risk environments (events, hauling, mixing populations).

What the research shows:
• Booster vaccination increases IgG1 and IgG4/7, the antibody classes linked with limiting viremia.
• Reduced viremia = reduced likelihood of severe disease and decreased transmission.
• Boosters are most effective in younger horses, previously vaccinated horses, and non-pregnant horses.

Vaccines do NOT stop a horse already incubating EHV-1 from developing signs, and they do not eliminate the risk of neurologic disease. For horses already exposed or febrile, do not vaccinate until cleared by your veterinarian.
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We Will Continue to Update You!

BVEH is actively monitoring cases and communicating with veterinarians across Texas and neighboring states. We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available. If your horse is showing fever or any neurologic signs, please contact your veterinarian or call BVEH immediately.

Please ask any questions in this post and we will work to answer them quickly. Stay tuned for additional updates, including a Live Q and A with Dr. Ben Buchanan tomorrow (Wednesday).

We have documents on our website www.bveh.com specific to EHV and biosecurity. Additional resources included below.

Stay safe, monitor closely, and thank you for helping limit the spread.

— Brazos Valley Equine Hospitals

Link to BVEH documents regarding EHV-1:
http://www.bveh.com

Link to ACVIM consensus statement: https://www.acvim.org/research/consensus-statements

Link to AAEP EHV documents:https://aaep.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/EHV1-4-guidelines-2021.pdf

Link to Equine Disease Center:https://aaep.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/EHV1-4-guidelines-2021.pdf

11/17/2025

I did a recycled rubber application with super glue to make a sole pad for a donkey with a thin sole who just healed up an abcess.

11/04/2025

Your horses physiotherapy appointment is only as effective as how your horse lives in between treatments.

If your horse has reoccurring poll tension, feeding from haynets, having a disharmonious contact, riding a horse overbent etc in between treatments will still mean your horse has tension in their poll when it comes around to their next appointment.

If your physiotherapist provides stretches to do and you don’t do them, the problem will continue to bubble.

If your horse is uncomfortable, and your physiotherapist recommends that they see a vet to investigate further, don’t continue to ride your horse.

If you only ride straight lines, rarely hack, and your horse is constantly sharp and spooky so they’re lunged more often than not in a training aid, your horse is going to have reoccurring rib, neck and back pain.

If your horse is stabled for most of the day, or equally spends most of the day in fetlock deep mud, they’re going to be braced and they’re not always going to feel the full benefits of a treatment as treatments will focus on alleviating the “brace” and not on improving performance.

If you’re riding in a saddle that doesn’t fit, hooves that are unbalanced, or an arena with too deep a footing… changes need to happen so that your horse is able to thrive and develop and not just survive in between treatments.

The quality of a veterinary physiotherapy treatment is arguably just as important as the life your horse leads in between treatments.

As horse riders and guardians, we should be seeing the body under the skin; the nerves, the fascia, the muscles and really envisioning caring for this in everything we do 🤍

11/04/2025

Equine Enterolithiasis
Brian S. Burks DVM
Diplomate, ABVP
Board-Certified Equine Specialist

Enteroliths are magnesium ammonium phosphate (struvite) stones that form in the colon of the horse. Magnesium vivianite has also been identified, along with varying amounts of Na, S, K, and Ca. Elevated dietary intake of magnesium and protein may play a role. Feeding alfalfa hay and decreased grass hay and pasture have been consistently identified as risk factors in horses with enterolithiasis. The high protein concentration in alfalfa hay may contribute to calculus formation by increasing ammonia nitrogen in the colon.

Enteroliths often form around a nucleus of silicon dioxide, but may form around a nidus- some small foreign object taken in by the horse, such as a wire, stone, or nail. They can range in size, shape, color, and weight depending on the unique circumstances in which they are created. Large, round enteroliths that weigh several pounds and are the consistency of a bowling ball are not uncommon. Multiple, smaller enteroliths may be found together in the intestine, and are often irregularly shaped with flat sides due to abrasion against one another.

Enteroliths are very common on the West Coast of the United States and to a lesser extent, the Southeastern United States. The prevalence of enteroliths in certain regions is thought to relate to magnesium content of water and hay in that region. Feeding alfalfa hay is considered a risk factor. Sand may be another. Horses kept mostly indoors, Morgan Horses, Arabian, Saddlebreds, Donkeys and Miniature horses all appear to be at increased risk.

The presence of enteroliths in the colon often results in abdominal pain. Stones are found when colic diagnostics are run, or at surgery. Only occasionally are the stones palpated on a re**al exam because they are usually out of reach. Abdominal radiography is the most useful diagnostic to locate them but is not always available. Ultrasonography is less sensitive but can identify some stones within the GI lumen.

Enteroliths are a common cause of recurrent large colon obstruction. The stone can be pushed downstream to a point at which it blocks gas and feed flow. The horse then becomes painful and distended with gas. Then the stone rolls back, allowing gas and fluid to pass, and the pain to resolve. Colic signs range from slight to severe, depending on location of the stones. These stones are often in a non-problematic position in the ventral colon or the right dorsal colon, but intermittently roll into an obstructing position at the pelvic flexure or the entrance to the smaller transverse colon. Smaller stones may move into the small colon.

Affected horses may have chronic, intermittent colic and weight loss. There may be concurrent gastric ulceration. Sometimes there may be gas distention with no history of colic.

The prognosis is generally good following surgical removal. In some cases, however, there may be necrosis of the bowel wall, necessitating intestinal resection, which decreases the percentage of survival.

Until more specific causes are identified, prevention is difficult. Removal of minerals from the water or providing an alternative source can be useful. Other recommendations are to remove horses from sand or gravel, adding psyllium to the diet (intermittently) and adding cider vinegar, 1 cup twice daily to the food. Foodstuffs high in phosphorus should not be fed, including sweet feeds and wheat bran. It should be noted that many horses in the same barns, fed the same foods do not develop enterolithiasis.

Fox Run Equine Center

www.foxrunequine.com

(724) 727-3481

10/26/2025

10/26/2025

10/25/2025

❄️ Frosted Grass & Laminitis Risk ❄️

When temperatures drop, grass physiology changes in ways that can affect horses with metabolic issues.

The science we do know:

Research from Longland and colleagues (2003) and Watts & Chatterton (2004) found that when grass experiences cold stress, around or below 5°C, it slows growth but keeps photosynthesizing. The plant continues making sugars (non-structural carbohydrates, or NSCs) faster than it can use them, which means those sugars start to build up in the leaves.

For horses with insulin dysregulation, metabolic syndrome, or a laminitis history, that spike in sugar intake can create real risk. Studies by Treiber et al. (2006) and Longland & Pollitt (2010) confirm that higher NSC intake is linked to laminitis through changes in insulin response.

🐴 What research supports in management:

• Offer low-NSC hay before turnout to reduce grazing drive

• Turn out once temps are above freezing and grass is actively growing again

Or use a dry lot of grass-free track system to allow safe movement and social contact without the sugar risk of pasture.

• Use a grazing muzzle, such as a GG Equine to reduce total intake Longland’s 2011 work found muzzles can cut grass consumption by roughly 80 percent

• Keep a close eye on body condition and hoof sensitivity through frost-prone months

A note:
The science on how much sugar frost actually adds isn’t consistent, different grasses, soils, and sunlight hours all play a role. But across multiple studies, the pattern stays the same: cold stress increases NSCs in grass, and that means extra caution for laminitis-prone horses.

Frosty fields might look peaceful, but they can carry hidden risks for the horses who need our management most.