Karen’s Musings & Endurance Ride Stuff

Hoof with stress rings. Photo courtesy of Natalie Herman: Life With Firestorm

There are so many things to cover when it comes to managing our horses hooves optimally. I have previously covered diet.  Yet, there are lots of other reasons why a horse might come up footsore.  It’ll take me awhile to get through the barefoot transition topic because there is so much to cover!

One such reason for hoof sensitivity could be due to vaccination reactions.  I”m not telling anybody that they shouldn’t vaccinate or what to vaccinate for.  Just that if you do vaccinate your horses you need to pay attention to how you do it and be aware that a vaccine reaction can include creating a sensitive hoof (or, laminitis).

Have you ever noticed stress rings (sometimes called fever rings) on your horses hooves?  These can be caused by a lot of things – changes in  feed, wrong types of feed, change of season/weather, stress or illness.

I’m willing to bet that in a few more weeks I will be able to see a stress ring on Chief’s hooves as a result of the stress (plus tetanus vaccine, bute and antibiotics) he incurred from his eyelid injury.  I just have a feeling based upon how Chief had a few days of not feeling well while he was on the antibiotics.

Once you start paying close attention to your horses hooves you will be able to tell when something occurred that caused the rings.  For example, a friends horse colicked about 7 months ago and now you can see the stress rings that are about 2/3 of the way grown out.  Do your horses have any stress rings?  Or have they ever?  If so, what do you think might have caused them?

I’d like to share this, written by a DVM about vaccinations.  Click here to read the entire thing:

There have been lots of examples over the past few seasons of laminitis in horses given the West Nile Vaccine. Though any vaccine can potentially cause disturbance and reaction enough in horses to lead to laminitis, the West Nile vaccine seems to have caused more than its share of problems in this regard–this may just be a statistically predictable situation due to increasing numbers of people vaccinating their horses with this vaccine. Some trimmers have reported orange-colored soles and separation of the entire white line…even the white line along the edges of the bars. This is indicative of metabolic and toxic insult rather than mechanical disruption of laminae leading to laminitis. Horses vaccinated in the neck muscle have been more severely affected than ones vaccinated in the rear leg.

I have talked with a few different hoof care providers and horse owners who have seen many horses become footsore or laminitic right after being vaccinated.  One of the problems with any vaccine reaction, even the ones that only cause a little bit of laminitis is that once it occurs the damage is there until the hoof grows out.  Even low grade laminitis will result in some level of soundness degradation.  This can affect our horses for some time so we really need to pay attention to every area of their management and health care.

A study published in 2003, by Texas A&M, performed intradermal skin allergy testing using 70 different allergens on seven horses with chronic laminitis and seven normal horses.  They found significantly more reactivity in the chronically laminitic horses. Whether reactions to allergens (which can include vaccine components) triggers the laminitis, or the chronic inflammation from laminitis makes them more susceptible to exaggerated reactions, isn’t clear. It may well be a combination of both.

Hoof with stress rings. Photo courtesy of Natalie Herman: Life With Firestorm

Tips for Avoiding Vaccine Reactions

• Stick with vaccine brands that the horse has tolerated well in the past.
• If introducing a new vaccine, especially if from a different manufacturer, schedule these injections separately from other vaccines.
• It’s a good idea anyway to spread individual vaccines apart so that if your horse does have a reaction you will know what vaccine caused it.
• Never vaccinate an ill or malnourished horse.
• Do not perform vaccinations within five to seven days, before or after, a significant stress such as long distance shipping, moving to a new location, or heavy exercise including an endurance ride.
• Spread vaccines apart from other health care items – such as teeth floating and worming.

Horses that have had vaccine reactions in the past are at a higher risk of having them again. For these horses:

• Never revaccinate with the same brand of vaccine if there are other brands available.
• Ask your vet to find out the type of adjuvant used so that you can avoid that in other brands as well.
• Ask your vet to run a titre on your horse to see if they still have antibodies protecting them.

Limit vaccinations to those that are necessary for protection against life-threatening diseases.

• Avoid vaccinating against more than one disease at a time; spread out vaccinations.
• Ask your vet about using flunixin (Banamine) or flunixin and antihistamine to help prevent vaccine reactions.

If your horse does have a vaccine reaction – call your vet! If your horse is footsore, check for heat (you may or may not be able to feel a slight increase) and work to cool the feet.  I would use ice boots and cold hosing.  Keep the horse cool (in the shade, for example if it’s summer and hot) and comfortable.  Remember that it may take a day or two for the problem to be noticeable.  Some horses may have mild enough reactions that you really won’t notice anything — until later when the stress rings appear.

If your horse currently has stress rings and is hoof sensitive then be sure to keep up with regular hoof care.  Again, keep the horse comfortable – this may mean that you’ll need to use boots and pads or move the horse to an area with more comfortable footing.  Watch the overall diet and grazing too – no use making something that might be relatively minor into something more serious.

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