All around the country people are feeling the pain of the recession, and the horse industry is far from immune to these economic pressures.  As a horse owner, competitor, and  veterinarian, I know and understand the monetary issues confronting the horse community.  There have been numerous articles and lectures of late,  in various horse publications and seminars,  giving advice about how to cut your horse related expenses, while still being able to enjoy your horse activities. But as of this writing, I have yet to see one of these helpful articles addressing, specifically,  the veterinary costs involved in our every day horse husbandry. With that in mind, I would like to address some veterinary expense areas where one might be able to scale back, and a few areas where cutting back, might cost you more in the future.

Preventive medicine, as every horse owner knows, is the best way to avoid costly veterinary bills in the future. Oral paste wormers are relatively inexpensive and effective, and when used in a proper rotational deworming program, may help feed efficiency (saving on feed costs), and decrease the chance of a costly colic emergency call in the future. So in this case,  the cost to benefit ratio of regularly deworming your horse is in your favor.  Dental services are a preventive procedure that many people avoid or delay, believing that it’s one “of those things I can pass on.” Probably because the cost can be a bit pricey, and the horse seems to be coping fine. But the longer one waits to have their horse’s mouth addressed, and properly maintained, the more extensive the dental work will be in the future. The benefits of proper dental care are at least two fold: First you are improving your horse’s ability to digest his food, and hence are improving feed efficiency, potentially, saving a few dollars on the feed bill. Second, you can improve rideability. With a good mouth, your horse will be more comfortable with his bit, so your training and show expenses may not be wasted.  Foot care is another place that a lot of people try to trim back. “Well, I think they can go a few more weeks.” But as the foot grows, the way your horse moves and breaks over his toe is altered, which could lead to various issues such as lameness, or body soreness.  Using a farrier now,  that is keeping up with all the  latest podiatry news, will go a long way towards avoiding lameness expenses in the future... so stay on schedule. If you think you can stretch it to 10, 11, or 14 weeks, you might be doing more harm to your horse, than benefitting your bank account. Talk to your farrier about if he or she thinks your horse can go barefooted, or perhaps only shoe the front, this can help decrease the cost some, while still maintaining your horse in a suitable manner. You might also ask your farrier, and your veterinarian for that matter, for some discounts (multiple horse discounts, arranging a farrier/veterinary work day at your farm with friends and neighbors hauling their horses in), after all, we’re all dealing with the same economy, involved in  the same horse community, and we ought to be able to help each out where we can during these down times.

The last place horse owners think about cutting back is on their immunization program. If you go to my website: www.atfarmveterinaryservices.com, and click on “keeping your horse healthy,” you’ll find recommendations for your horse’s immunization schedule. Many horse owners want to administer their own immunizations, and this is a good way to save some money on a vet call. There are , however, a couple of cautionary words needed here. First, what diseases, exactly, are you are immunizing your horse against, and with which manufacturers product? Some of the vaccines available at feed stores, or through catalogs, may be ones that your veterinarian knows has a propensity towards adverse reactions when it is administered. Your veterinarian may recommend a different product that he or she believes offers better protection for your horse, along with a decreased adverse reaction rate. As for what diseases you are protecting your horse against, you may be over, or under vaccinating. Some combination vaccines contain protection against diseases that you may not need to worry about, such as, Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis, or Potomac Horse Fever. Why waste money on something you don’t need? And third, please make sure you are administering and/or injecting the biological liquid in the correct way, and in a correct location. Most people will inject in the horse’s neck, or in the rear end.  There are specific landmarks, and guidelines to follow which will reduce the risk of a site reaction, and possibly an unnecessary veterinary bill. In addition, some vaccines tend to cause more of a problem when injected in the neck, and when put in the rear end, are tolerated better by the horse. (There is also a certain immunization for Strangles, that is an intra nasal administration, and if it were to be injected into the muscle would very likely create a local infection.) You can get help from a veterinarian to show you the proper  injection sites on your horse. Consider asking your veterinarian if he or she can meet or beat the price you would be buying your vaccines for. I know that I get my vaccines direct from the manufacturer. I know they have been handled correctly at all times, not left out in the sun, or put into the refrigerator after sitting in a shipping box too long. So, if the cost is the same, or at least close, I would choose the safer product from a veterinarian.  
 
One thing that I do as an equine veterinarian is always give my clients all the options available, along with the different levels of expense. After all, money doesn’t grow on trees, and not everyone will be able to afford “the best” possible diagnostic techniques, or treatment protocols. For example, some causes of lameness can be treated several ways. Of course, the more expensive, and involved procedures and treatment protocols usually produce the best results, and are more advantageous to the horse’s health.  But we are not always in the financial position to do the most expensive thing. So I always tell you, the horse owner, all the options, with the various costs, along with what sort of success rate to expect. Here’s a real world example: If a horse has osteoarthritis in the lower joints of his hocks, I can inject his joints (and there  are different medications that we can inject), put him on a protocol of Intravenous Hyaluronic Acid, and Intramuscular Acetyl-D-Glucosamine, along with certain feed supplements and other short term medications. This would be considered the gold standard in treatment protocols, and would be the best thing to do for the horse. Or we could go to the other end of the scale use the good old pain relieving medication “Bute,” as needed, which might be better for your pocketbook, and even for the way you use your horse (occasional weekend trail rides)

If you want more information on any veterinary concerns you may have, please feel free to call the office, or email me. Remember, the economy may be depressed, but we don’t have to be! And neither do our horses!