At the barn I board my two horses, there was another outbreak of Strangles. Three horses had come down with Strangles last year when we vaccinated and several came down with it a month ago. Since we always have horses coming and going, it is very important to keep our horses up to date on everything. A carrier horse had come to the barn and infected the other horses before we figured it out. Thankfully, none of mine got it. Two of the sick horses had been vaccinated. One of them happened to be a champion AQHA called Rich N Shiny, known as Tater. After he had recovered, he was still kept in isolation but brought down to the barn so a better eye could be kept on him. One day while feeding, the owner of the barn found him down in his stall. She quickly called the owner and gave him a shot of banamine. Soon, Tater had been loaded up and sent down to Marion Dupot Scott Equine Medical Center. Just a personal note. I had taken my thoroughbred mare down there two years ago for a choke. Other then the setback of her getting pneumonia, she recovered just fine. My bank account, not so much. After several tests, it was concluded that Tater had an impaction. When an ultrasound was done they found a football, relatively, sized mass of worms in his small intestine. When the owner was asked about deworming, she said that she had not dewormed him since he had come to our barn, about ten months ago. Tater was insured for colic but would only have paid a third of the cost. After a hard decision, Tater was humanely euthinized. Since we recently dewormed, and several were power wormed (including mine), this poor horse must have had a bad infestation. Deworming is so cheep. At the barn, we do a every other month three rotation. I can not imagine not deworming and I can't see why some people don't rotate. Country Supply, Horse.Com, has a Premium deworming pack (six deworming tubes of three rotation) for only thirty some dollars. I think that is a lot better then a several thousand dollar surgery. Tater was only 4 or 5 five years old. This is a terrible tragedy. This was a gorgous horse that was a treasure to ride.
JR
