205 East O'Connor Drive
Elkhorn, WI 53121
(262) 723-2644
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October 2007

Before the Snow Flies - Winterize

With the leaves beginning to change and the afternoon breeze having the slightest hint of a chill, preparations for the winter season are easier and more completely executed prior to any snowfall or frost. All too often necessary winter precautions for your horse and/or your farm are either tardy in their implementation or overlooked entirely, which in some cases can result in headaches for the owner and hardship for the horses.

As we are swiftly approaching the first snowfall, the ambient air temperature will continue to drop, resulting in cold (and sometimes frozen) water troughs and buckets. The difficulty is not so much water availability, but rather the idea that most horses do not enjoy drinking extremely cold water and will opt to just not consume any water at all. Dehydration and impaction are the most common conditions resulting from the change in weather. Water heaters for buckets and troughs are inexpensive, easy to install and invaluable to maintaining a horse’s water consumption through the winter months.

With the volume of snow that southern Wisconsin historically accumulates, everyone knows that snow removal quickly becomes a problem as does maintaining a suitable walking surface for you and your horse. It is recommended that if your horses are accustomed to being barefoot, then leaving the feet unshod for the winter is acceptable because the hooves themselves have enough natural traction to walk on ice and packed snow. If your horses are typically shod during the summer months, they most likely should retain their shoes throughout the winter with a small addition. A typical aluminum or steel shoe is actually less stable on a slippery surface than an unshod hoof and is also prone to the packing of snow inside of the shoe. Two minor adjustments that your farrier can make to your horses’ shoes are either the addition of a snow pad, which is a rubber insert placed within the shoes to discourage snow packing and/or borium studs which are welded on the walking surface of the shoe to act more or less like football cleats.

As far as winter maintenance of your farm—if you have the resources to install heated sidewalks and indoor arenas, by all means it is the safest method for the prevention of injuries to you and your horse, but certainly not the least expensive. The average farm should judiciously remove the snow accumulation following each snowfall—especially in high traffic areas such as the paths from one paddock to another and immediately in front of and behind the gate entrances to those paddocks. Each of these preventative tactics is much easier to accomplish if considered well before the onset of winter and will incur fewer complications if done so. In the meantime—enjoy your fall riding and have a safe winter!

Dr. Scott Leibsle

Equine Center

The Elkhorn Veterinary Clinic Ltd is pleased to announce that it has acquired the use of a wonderful horse facility just 6 1/2 miles northeast of Elkhorn.
The Equine Center will be the principle location for our reproductive services. The facility boasts seventeen 12 x 12 box stalls, large pastures, individual turn-out paddocks, stallion collection phantom, breeding stocks, and a fully equipped breeding laboratory.
Additionally, we will be using the equine center for outpatient services including lameness exams, dentals, and endoscopies as well as some day surgeries. We will also be housing some of our lower intensity hospital cases, such as simple lacerations requiring daily bandage changes, there as well. Clients will enjoy the ease of access for horse trailers to the equine center. Trailers will have plenty of space to pull in and turn around.
The aisle in the barn is long and wide which allows ample room to trot horses for lameness exams. And especially nice for winter - the entire facility is heated! There is also an outdoor round pen that will be useful when clients need to lunge or ride their horse for the lameness exam.
The Elkhorn Veterinary Clinic is also planning to host several vaccination and deworming days at the equine center. Clients will be able to bring their horses to the facility on scheduled days and receive a discount for services if payment is made that day. Look for the dates in subsequent mailings or check our website for updates.
The new facility is located on County Road ES, just 2.2 miles east of Hwy 12/67. When traveling on Hwy 12/67, clients would turn east at Abells Corner, travel 2.2 miles, and find the Equine Center on the south side of the road.

Dr. Terri Schreiner Joins our Staff

On August 1st, the Elkhorn Veterinary Clinic Ltd welcomed a new associate. Dr. Theresa (Terri) Schreiner joined our equine/ farm animal staff. Dr. Schreiner may be familiar to some of you as she is originally from Lake Geneva and worked at the Elkhorn Veterinary Clinic as a teenager. Dr. Schreiner completed her degree in veterinary medicine at the University of Wisconsin - Madison School of Veterinary Medicine in 2005. Her areas of interest are ophthalmology, internal medicine, neonatology, and reproduction. After completing internships in California and Colorado, Dr. Schreiner has returned to the Elkhorn area where she makes her home with her fiancé, Dan. have the eye examined.

Mane Points to Ponder

Don’t forget to rotate dewormers, especially for foals. All foals should be started on a deworming program at six weeks of age and be dewormed once a month until one year of age. Using Ivermectin every other month in rotatation with Panacur, Anthelcide, and Strongid gives the best result for ridding a broad spectrum of parasites.

As winter nears, the pasture wanes. Horses need additional energy in the form of hay to keep warm in the cold.

Check your horse’s eyes daily. If he is holding an eye closed or experiencing excessive tearing, make an appointment to have the eye examined.

Support SMILES through Horse Donation

SMILES (Special Method in Learning Equine Skills) is a tremendously successful therapeutic riding facility for persons with physical, cognitive and emotional disabilities. SMILES uses a variety of approaches, offering equine-oriented activities to help its clientele.

The movement of the horse is unique since it moves lateral, forward, up and down all at the same time simulating the human walking gait. This encourages ambulation, and works the diaphragm to encourage speech. Games used in the classes work towards goals set by Physical and Occupational therapists, physicians, and guardians.

The Elkhorn Veterinary Clinic Ltd has been a SMILES supporter since its inception in 1985. We provide veterinary care to its service horses and Dr. Rick Tully is on the Board of Directors.

Now our clients have an opportunity to help support this wonderful organization. SMILES is currently in need of three service horses to use in its program.

Service horses must be well-broke, calm, trust-worthy, and sound. If you have a horse that you are willing to donate or lease, please give Laurie a call at 262-882-3470 or email her at classes@smiles.nu.
View June 2007 Newsletter


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