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Preparing for Winter At Stonybrook Meadows we are preparing the farm for the months ahead. We have found that winter paddocks which are prepared with a few inches of quarter inch crushed stone or screenings through which the grass has been able to grow over, serves as a good foundation in the winter, limiting the mud that large horses can easily churn up in a couple of days when the grass has been eaten to the roots. A few select stumps from trees have been scavenged to leave in the paddocks and serve as an outlet for boredom during winter days. As the leaves in the trees fall, so does the temperature. Pastures which have red maple leaves falling and turning brown are a sure source of concern. The wilted red maple leaves can cause a horse to die with signs beginning 4-5 days after ingestion. Symptoms may include lethargy, refusal to eat, dark red-brown urine; pale yellowish gums, and increased repiratory rate, rapid heart rate, and dehydration. Treatments are aggressive. As the autumn progresses, most barns provide horses with a booster for equine influenza, a common disease causing acute repiration. Like the human flu virus, equine influenza changes its surface proteins so that the immune system does not recognize a new strain. A good rule of thumb is that for every day the horse has a high fever, he should be out of work for about one week. There are two types of vaccines typically utilized: inactivated through muscular injections and intranasal cold-adapted modified live given in the nasal passage. When using the latter, we highly recommend that all the horses in the barn receive this at the same time. A few years ago, we had a boarder use the intranasal vaccine selectively on her horse and another horse came down with influenza and very high temperature for many days. Consistency is key. Enjoy your horses this month!
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