Palmetto Equine Veterinary Services

01/01/2026

Happy New Year! We’ll be back, better than ever in 2026, ready to help your and your horse 🐴 🎆🎇✨💫

01/01/2026

A year of triumph, joy, and occasional loss bracketed with love and effort. Palmetto Equine has worked hard in 2025 to provide the best veterinary medicine for you and your horse. We’ll be back even stronger in 2026.

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas to all our patients and clients 🎄🎁🐴
Wishing you calm, peace, and health during the Holiday season!
Palmetto Equine is here for you, on Christmas and every other day, to help handle your equine emergencies. Our office is closed through Monday but our emergency line is open!
864🎄643🎄5738

12/04/2025

Update on Equine Herpes Virus outbreak from TX:
🐎Still no reported cases or suspect cases identified in SC, GA, and NC.
🐎18 EHM cases in Texas and a total of 33 EHM cases reported so far with neurologic symptoms and PCR positive testing.
🐎Reminder of what EHM looks like: "Classic clinical signs of EHM include fever, swelling/stocking up of the limbs, hindlimb weakness, and urine dribbling. Some horses are more severely affected and display behavior changes, signs of cranial nerve dysfunction, seizures, and inability to stand. While EHM is a serious disease, the majority of cases are not fatal. In most outbreaks of EHM, 60-70% of affected horses recover with treatment and supportive care. Veterinary evaluation and isolation of exposed or affected horses is crucial."

The Equine Disease Communication Center is monitoring an outbreak of EHM that originated at the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) World Finals and Elite Barrel Race event Nov 5-9. To date, officially confirmed cases have been reported in the following states:

12/04/2025

Cold Weather is here!

THE COLD WEATHER IS UPON US! ❄️

Are you familiar with the many adaptations that help your horse stay warm during the cold winter months?

🌾 Hindgut digestion of hay produces the most heat, acting as a small furnace inside of the horse. This is why free choice; good quality hay is so important in the winter.

💪 Horses have a huge muscle mass and muscle activity produces heat. This includes running and playing and even shivering if their body temperature starts to drop. It is important to remember that these activities also will result in a bigger caloric demand so free choice hay and in some cases, grain, is often needed.

🧥 To blanket or not to blanket is a constant debate but either way, as it starts to get cold your horse will grow a thicker coat. If you decide to leave your horse unblanketed you may notice that they look “fluffy”. This is due to a phenomenon called piloerection where the hair stands up to better trap air within. Two layers of the coat also help with warmth. The inner layer is softer and has air pockets to create an insulating layer. The outer layer is coarse and has oils that keep moisture from penetrating the insulating layer and keep the horse warm.

⚖️ Wild horses go into the winter heavier than ideal, and the fat serves as an extra layer of insulation. However, if a horse is going to be kept heavily blanketed and in a barn during the cold weather months this is unnecessary and can lead to obesity related issues.

🦵Their distal limbs (below the knees and hocks) are made of mostly bones and tendons, tissues that are resistant to the cold temperatures.

🦶The hooves have an alternative route of blood circulation through larger vessels that can be used in low temperatures. This is why horses can stand in snow without detrimental effects.

👃A horse’s nose has a robust blood supply and is rounded so that it is less susceptible to frostbite than a human’s nose.
•
Courtesy of the AAEP Horse Owner Education Committee

11/28/2025

Happy Thanksgiving to our wonderful clients 🦃
The Palmetto Equine family is grateful we get to work with such beautiful horses and loving owners every day. We are blessed 😇 🦃
We are also available to help with your equine emergencies on this and every other holiday weekend 🐴 🏥 ⛑️

11/25/2025

Updated numbers on the EHM outbreak. Still no reported cases in SC, NC, and GA. Other states have 23 cases with neurologic symptoms so far.

The Equine Disease Communication Center is monitoring an outbreak of EHM that originated at the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) World Finals and Elite Barrel Race event Nov 5-9. To date, officially confirmed cases have been reported in the following states:

11/22/2025

Important travel restrictions in SC due to EHM outbreak. 🐴

*** EQUINE DISEASE ALERT UPDATE ***

Clemson University Livestock-Poultry Health is suspending the use of Extended Equine Certificates of Veterinary Inspection (EECVIs) to transport horses into South Carolina for at least 30 days following an outbreak of Equine Herpesvirus Type 1 Neurologic (EHM- Equine Herpes Myeloencephalopathy) reported by Texas veterinarians during the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) World Finals in Waco, Texas, held November 5–9.

According to reports, the WPRA event involved approximately 650 horses representing 30 states and four Canadian provinces. The event was followed by the Barrel Futurities of America (BFA) World Championships, held November 15–22 in Guthrie, Oklahoma. The remainder of the BFA event was cancelled on November 18 after a case of EHV-1 was confirmed.

Equine events in South Carolina may continue as scheduled, based on their risk assessments, and that they review the Certificates of Veterinary Inspection to ensure accuracy.

11/22/2025

𝐄𝐇𝐕-𝟏 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐇𝐌: 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬

This outbreak of EHV-1/EHM (Equine Herpes Myeloencephalopathy) occurred after a Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) World Finals event in Waco, TX (Nov. 5-9). Many of the same horses attended other events in TX and OK before experiencing any clinical signs which contributed to the multi-state spread of this disease. Horses traveling home also contributed to the spread.

As of 12:00pm on 11/21/2025, there are 15 confirmed cases of EHM and 1 confirmed case of EHV-1 without neurologic signs in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado and New Mexico. There is one unrelated case (not associated with this event/outbreak) reported in Maryland. There are many other horses undergoing testing (not yet confirmed) so we expect these numbers to increase in the coming days.

𝐀𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐚 & 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐠.: Horses that have been at the following locations will not be allowed entry into either state for 21 days following potential exposure even if they are not symptomatic (subject to change):

- Extraco Events Center (Waco, TX)
- 377 Arena (Stephenville, TX)
- Lazy E Arena (Guthrie, OK)
- Jackson County (Edna, TX)

Health certificates for horses traveling into these states will require a statement from the veterinarian filling out the health certificate stating that the horse has not been on one of these premises (or any premises that has an EHV-1/EHM positive case or suspect) for the 21 days leading up to the date of the health certificate.

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝟑𝟎 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟓 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐇𝐕-𝟏/𝐄𝐇𝐌.

The National Finals Rodeo Committee released the following statement this morning in regards to the NFR event happening in December:
- “All horses must have a 7 day Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI) and unique entry permit number obtained from the NV Dept. of Ag.”
- All participants and competitors are responsible for daily temperature monitoring of their horses.
- There is a no-travel advisory for all horses participating and competing at the NFR prior to their trip to the NFR.
- Enhanced verification and check-in procedures will be in place at the Thomas & Mack Center.
- Biosecurity measures will be maintained throughout the event under the advisement and monitoring of the attending veterinarians.

As this is an evolving situation, guidelines will likely continue to change. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments below.

Up to date information on reported positive cases can be found here: https://equinediseasecc.org/news/article/Equine-Herpesvirus-Myeloencephalopathy-(EHM)-Outbreak

Thanks to Bend Equine and Dr Cooper for compiling most of this information.

11/22/2025

EHM Outbreak information 🐴🐎
This is a FREE webinar for horse owners looking for up to date and correct information on the EHM outbreak. Use the link below to register!

https://events.zoom.us/ev/AnIoJrASj0vuX7Q_K87mKEjg5bxeMAkqp7fpSoOgVtVm_Zgo1g5m~AiiV7ZQ3bbmlEW2iSkeRTSAfMCYf2QhFMoprr7WRbM_MsiJRcBGT1oLj0Q

11/20/2025

Here is a reliable source of information for confirmed EHV cases from the current outbreak. There are no confirmed cases in SC or GA or NC or TN at this time. We have not seen any suspected cases in this area as of today.
If you are worried about your horses, recommendations are stopping or limiting horse travel and monitoring re**al temperatures twice daily. Temperatures over 101.5F should be reported to your veterinarian immediately.
If you and your horses have not traveled and if none of the horses on your farm have traveled, your horses are not in danger from this outbreak.

https://equinediseasecc.org/news/article/Equine-Herpesvirus-Myeloencephalopathy-(EHM)-Outbreak?fbclid=IwdGRjcAOMNBJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeotDvn7cEDQWlXzShdW9rta3UB5FnxTVU9ZNV4gtmkKfCRa_IlGQsUyKtUPc_aem_P5zVCAjWMOArHaFx3RH9DA

The Equine Disease Communication Center is monitoring an outbreak of EHM that originated at the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) World Finals and Elite Barrel Race event Nov 5-9. To date, officially confirmed cases have been reported in the following states-