Finding a vet you can trust is critically important as a horse owner. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
It’s a little hard for me to believe that I’ve been a horse owner for over a decade now. During that time, just one of the many important decisions that I’ve made as a horse owner is choosing a veterinarian. Through the good times and even more so during the bad times, my vet is someone who I’ve come to depend on for advice on my horse’s health.
When dealing with a health crisis, it is really important to have a vet that you can trust with your horse’s life. Just last year, my vet of six years relocated to the other end of the country — and I was really upset. My vet had seen my horses through some difficult times, and I trusted her opinions and recommendations always, completely and entirely.
Thankfully for me, I use a large, well-respected equine veterinary practice, so I was able to transition my horse’s records to another doctor at the practice who was mentored by my favorite vet. Finding the right vet can be a challenging process. Head over to The Horse.com to check out their article that gives horse owners tips on how to choose the right veterinarian.
And then take a look at these other headlines from this week in Horse Health News Presented by Absorbine:
FREE Ask the Vet Event on Rehabilitating Rescue Horses: Rescue horses can require some extra special care after being pulled out of a bad situation. Check out this FREE online Ask the Vet Live Event hosted tonight at 8 p.m. EST on The Horse. You can enter your email address for a reminder before the event begins. [The Horse]
Does Your Horse Really Need a Blanket? Assistant Professor Mark Russell of the Equine Extension of the University of Arkansas has offered the opinion that only horses with short hair may need to be blanketed in winter weather conditions. When deciding on the best blanketing strategy for your horse, the most important factors to consider are their living situation and daily activities. [EquiMed]
Key Growth Factory Linked to Equine Obesity: British researchers have determined that levels of myostatin, a molecular messenger that helps to regulate levels of energy, have a link to equine obesity. On average, equines considered to be obese have significantly higher levels of myostatin. [HorseTalk]
AHC Opposes Expansion of Clean Water Act: The American Horse Council has put forth comments to oppose the EPA’s proposal to change the definition of “waters of the U.S.” under the Clean Water Act. If successful, the EPA’s proposal would expand the current definition of waters to include things like seasonal streams, ponds and wetlands that never fell within their oversight before, which would impact horse farm owners. [The Horse]
Groundbreaking Double Leg Fusion Surgery: Spirit is a therapy horse who had been beaten by his previous owner with a baseball bat — and now he has undergone a surgery in which fusion was performed on both his knee and fetlock joint on the same leg. Even though no literature existed on performing such a procedure, it was undertaken in an effort to help Spirit return to working with abused children. Head over to Horsetalk to read about the interesting procedure. [HorseTalk]
