Januari 06, 2017
sarah: hi, everyone. welcome back to year two ofour ask the vet video series. i'm here with smartpak staffveterinarian and medical director, dr. lydiagray, back to answer some more of your questions. after taking a month offfor rest and relaxation-- dr lydia gray: holidays. sarah: and all ofthe crazy holiday gifting that happensaround here at smartpak,
we are back to answersome more questions, and we have a surprise. as promised, becausewe took a month off, we have bonus questionsfor you this month. both dr. gray and myselfselected our favorite questions that were not answeredover the past year. they were submitted, butnever voted to the top. so we used ourexecutive authority, we're voting them up, andwe're going to answer them.
dr lydia gray: we're goingto talk about them today. sarah: but because the bestgifts come in small packages, those will be ina separate video. dr lydia gray: ah, yougot to wait for it. sarah: because otherwise,as you guys know, we kind of get intothe topics on these. dr lydia gray: weget a little chatty. sarah: these canget a little long. so those will be comingsoon, you have to stay tuned.
i would recommend subscribingto our youtube channel so you never miss out. for now, we're going to goback to our normal format. we're going to answer thetop five questions that were submitted and thenvoted up by fans and viewers and smartpak shoppers like you. so thank you for your questions. as a reminder, youcan ask questions on twitter, instagram,facebook, youtube.
you can email them tocustomercare@smartpak.com. you can comment inthe blog, you can comment on posts on youtube. dr lydia gray: canthey send us a drone? sarah: probably, but itmight spook the horses, so please be thoughtful. and always use hashtag#askthevetvideo. even if you're sending ahandwritten note attached to a drone, sothat we can always
catalog all the questions, makesure we don't miss anything. if your question getsvoted into the top five, that you will not only getan answer in the video, you will also get asmartpak gift card. dr lydia gray: yes. sarah: which is pretty great. so believe it or not,there are some people who have not claimed thatoutstanding smartpak gift card. so if you have one, ifyou've had a question that's
been answered previously,email customercare@smartpak.com and we'll get it alltaken care of for you. dr lydia gray: get going. sarah: all right. all that said, are you ready? first question of year two. dr lydia gray: i'm restedand-- yeah, let's go. sarah: ok, the firstquestion of year two is, "do you likemy new c4 belt?"
dr lydia gray: i do. i noticed it when you werewalking down the hall, yeah, i do, yeah. sarah: thank you,i appreciate that. smartpak sells these,you can switch out the buckles and the belt color. and it's one size fits most,so you just trim it down to fit your own size,which is pretty awesome. i'm pretty excited about it.
that's what i would haveused a smartpak gift card on if i'd won it. so submit your question, youget a discount on a c4 belt. dr lydia gray: that's right. sarah: now thefirst real question. dr lydia gray: thefirst real question, ok. sarah: ok, this was submittedby rochelle on youtube. and rochelle asked,"what is the difference between founder and laminitis?"
dr lydia gray: i thinkthat's an excellent question and i get that a lot. and i know peoplethink it a lot, but they think it's astupid question maybe, and don't want to ask it. but this person did,so brave on her part. so laminitis isgenerally accepted as the acute situation. and founder ischronic laminitis,
especially once somemechanical changes have occurred in the foot. like the rotation or thesinking that you hear about. so-- and it's noteven that simple. because laminitis--there's three stages. there's the developmental,so some insult or injury happens to thelaminae in the foot. and you don't even knowabout it, but it's cooking, it's stewing, it's building.
so that's the developmentalphase and that can be a few hours or days. and then you enterinto the acute phase. and that can befrom the first time that signs appear to about 72hours, which is three days-ish. after that, you enterinto the chronic phase. and so that's from 72hours on, or it begins when physical changes occur. so maybe your veterinariantakes radiographs
and you see thebone in the foot, the coffin bone pullingaway from the hoof wall, so the sinking. or even worse, the whole coffinbone just sinks to the bottom. so this is a rotationand this is sinking. and we tend to think ofthose physical changes in the foot as founderand then the development in the acute stage as laminitis. although they are usedinterchangeably and that's
not wrong, but if you want toget down to the nitty-gritty, that's how it's described. sarah: is it fair to say allfounder started as laminitis-- sarah: but not alllaminitis becomes founder. dr lydia gray: yes, ilike that, i'm going to steal that for next time. sarah: that's awesome. dr lydia gray: it's good, yeah. sarah: do you ever have anythinglike founder and laminitis
that you had a hardtime telling apart? because for me, i hadtwo when i was a kid. and they're bothkind of weird, one was sweaters and sweatshirts. i was not confident. dr lydia gray: i'mgood with that one. sarah: well, i am now, too. thanks-- dr lydia gray: oh, ok.
sarah: for making it seemlike that might not be true. and the other one, ironically,for working at smartpak, was magazines and catalogs. and i just was--like, i was always nervous i was goingto use the wrong term. dr lydia gray: i'm still notsure i understand that so i'm going to go with that one. sarah: ok. dr lydia gray: i'm like, there'sa difference between magazines
and catalogs? sarah: well, catalogssell you things and you know it's happening. magazines are selling youthings and you're not supposed to know it's happening. but i think some magazinesare not as subtle as others. dr lydia gray: oh, well, see? sarah: there you have it. dr lydia gray: education.
more fun facts about me. our next question issubmitted by lolli on youtube. and lolli's wondering,"during the winter, it is hard to find hayfor sale in my area." hay for sale that youcan afford, probably. dr lydia gray: right, yeah. sarah: it gets tough everywhere. "so i feed my 12-year-oldmare beet pulp. i have read that beet pulplacks in nutrition and vitamins.
is there a betteralternative for beet pulp or some sort of supplementi could be feeding her in addition to beet pulp?" dr lydia gray: ok, sowe get to see these. we get to watch them getvoted up and down and that. so i gathered some beetpulp, just in case. all right, so thisis the dry stuff. and if you couldgrab one of the pans, i think it'll be easier to see.
mine at home thati get is more-- it's bigger. this is smaller but it'sthe shredded version. it also comes inpelleted version. and so it's dry. and so what most people do is-- sarah: it's gettinga little dusty. dr lydia gray: isthey add water to it. so let's show themthe other one.
what i did was, i went onlineand i found some recipes for cooking beet pulp. sarah: i'm glad that vetsalso use google sometimes. dr lydia gray: oh, yeah. and most of them saidone part of beet pulp and two parts ofwater, or submerge it. so that's what i did. and i used my kitchenpolder, my scale, which goes to fourpounds, to weigh out.
this amount in here wasone pound of dry beet pulp. so it's very, very light. so the scoop methodof weighing or feeding is really not appropriatefor beet pulp. you have to weigh it. all right, herewe go, you ready? so, all right-- so this is whatit looks like wet. and--
sarah: oh, it smells good. dr lydia gray: it does,it smells wonderful. we decided that this is not verywet, this is just, just wet-- moistened, almost. and different horses likeit different-- like some like it just moistened and ifit gets any wetter than this, it's sloppy. they turn their nose upand they don't like it, so you've got to kind of figureout what your horse likes.
ok, so that's whatit looks like. sarah: is there any like, riskto feeding it completely dry? like there's the old wives'tale that if you throw rice at a wedding apigeon will eat it and the stomach will expand--and exploding pigeons. dr lydia gray: yeah. sarah: is there any risk likethat with beet pulp, or is it like oatmeal where if youcan stomach eating it dry, go for it.
but add as much water as youwant to make it palatable. is it kind of-- dr lydia gray: theshort answer is no. the long answer is, there'scertainly out there the myth that if you feed dry beet pulpit will expand in the stomach and explode. and that's just amyth, that is not true. there's another beliefthat horses will choke-- they're more likely to chokeif they're fed dry beet pulp.
that also has not ever beenproven, but if it concerns you, and you can't sleep at night,by all means feed it wet. i mean, there's nothingwrong-- the only thing wrong with feeding it wetis, say, in the summer, if it gets reallywarm where you are. you don't have verylong from soaking it-- and this was about a half hourof soaking which is what most recipes recommend-- if you leave itwet somewhere warm,
it will mold and sourand do all those things. and that's-- you don't wantto feed your horse that. that is the only reasonthat you wouldn't wet it. in the winter,then of course, you have to worry about freezing. but-- if, you know, by allmeans, if dry concerns you, feed it wet. so her question also dealtwith the nutrition of it. sarah: yes.
dr lydia gray: and as youknow, i feed a lot of it. i mean, i walkthrough with this. and we're going to givethis to somebody at the end, we're not justgoing throw it away. so nutritionally it issomewhere between hay and grain. it's high-caloriebecause it's a form of highly digestible fiber. some fiber is mostly bulk andit goes in, and it goes out, and it's not digested.
this is digestedinto volatile fatty acids, which the horses usesas it's main source of energy. so we like it forthe hard keepers. it puts weight on thoseskinny thoroughbreds, and nothing puts weighton for the old horses. it's great for oldhorses that can't chew because theirteeth have grown out. it's good for heave-y horses. here's my newman fact.
i can't put hay, even wet orsoaked in the trailer any more with him. so i make up a batch,a pan, of beet pulp. well, now he knowsthe beet pulp is waiting for him in the trailer. so i can barely get the doorsopen before he's in there and he's like, closeit, close, let's go! and he's got hishead buried in there, so there's lots ofreasons to feed beet pulp.
easy keepers feed it. sarah: you mentionedit breaks down into volatile fatty acids-- dr lydia gray: yep. sarah: which people tendto think of fat as a cooler source of energy for horses. sarah: so like those hardkeepers thoroughbreds, instead of upping the grain,which can make horses excited, would you think that beetpulp would be a good option?
dr lydia gray: yeah, becausethis is low-sugar starch. so it's great for those horseswho get a little-- you know, like kids on candy. but because it'slow-sugar starch, the easy keepers dowell with it, too. because that's atrigger for them. they're maybe-- they'reinsulin resistant, they have equine metabolicsyndrome or ppid, cushings or something.
so lots of horses canbenefit from this. the rule of thumbis, no more than 25% of your hay, your forage,can be substituted. dr lydia gray: so youcannot feed just beet pulp. 25%, i did all themath before i came, so if you've got athousand pound horse and you're feeding 2%of the body weight. so 20 pounds of hay a day,about five pounds of beet pulp is your maximum, becauseof the nutrition.
so it's high in calories,it's high in digestible fiber. it's kind of low-ish on protein,and it has very little vitamins and minerals. that's the problem, it createsa nutritional imbalance. it's not complete and balancedif you feed it by itself. sarah: but isn'tit true that hay doesn't have a whole lot ofthose vitamins and minerals. dr lydia gray: hay has-- depending on where it's grownand what kind of hay it is,
it can have minerals. like, this is alittle bit unbalanced when it comes tocalcium-phosphorus. so the ratio in beetpulp is 10 to one. and hays can be oneto one, two to one. you know, alfalfa can be higher. but-- so that'sa problem, as far as the amount ofother nutrients. so she should look, thisperson, for some hay replacement
beyond beet pulp. use the beet pulp, whichyou can, and then look for the hay stretcher pellets,chopped hay is good, hay cubes. the horses needthat scratch factor in their diet to behealthy in the hindgut. so no more than 25%of the beet pulp. it does have calories,but it's not quite balanced in thecalcium-phosphorus, and doesn't quite haveenough vitamins and minerals.
dr lydia gray: so, ithink we covered it all. sarah: and we got to cook. dr lydia gray: i know. sarah: "cooking." our third question was submittedby brenda theresa on instagram, and they are wondering "tipsor favorite supplements for when mares are crankyand on their cycle?" dr lydia gray: right. i joke that i have themoodiest gelding ever.
so clearly, not a mare, but-- so the first thingi would say is, work with your veterinarian,work with your trainer. and make sure thatthe mare is actually-- that the problemsthat you're seeing, whether it's performance-- you know, poor performance,girthiness, back soreness, other soreness, andjust general irritation. make sure they'rerelated to her heat cycle
and not some other medicalproblem or training problem. so that's the first thing. and you know what that involves? keeping a journal. you've got to keeptrack of when she does these negative behaviorsand when she's in heat. and when she's not in heat andtry to establish a pattern. that's very, very important. so if that happens,your veterinarian
does have someprescription medications that he or she can suggest. there are some supplements,and most of them carry things likeraspberry leaves, chaste berry,cramp bark, yarrow. all things that areintended to create a balanced hormonal system. many of them affectthe smooth muscle. they resolve spasm and pain.
some supplements formares include magnesium, for that very reason. they are helping to resolveany muscle tightness that there might be. so there are some medications,there are some supplements, there are some otherthings you can do. but i would start withmaking sure that this really is a mare heat issue. rule out otherphysical things first.
you know, it could be ulcers,it could be back soreness, kissing spines, who knows? don't just jump to the mare. sarah: yeah, it's not nice to-- dr lydia gray: it's not fair. sarah: no, stereotypeyour mares that way. dr lydia gray: that'sright, that's right. sarah: so kate the great isasking our fourth question on youtube.
"how can sand colic beavoided in the months with less rain for fresh grass?" dr lydia gray: hmm, sand colic. this is kind of atwo-part question, too. you want to prevent it. and then you also-- ifyou can't prevent it, you've done everythingyou can and you're still worried about it, or you knowyour horse is still getting it, then how do you helpmanage it, or resolve it?
sarah: so preventthe sand-eating, but if you can'tdo that, you also need to manage the sandthat has been eaten. dr lydia gray: and mostpeople i know do both, it just helps themsleep better at night. so preventing it is obviously,not feeding your horse on the ground. so i know people that use rubbermats, they use hay feeders, they use hay nets.
they just don't allow theirhorse to eat off the ground and consume-- while they're trying to get thatlast little shnivel of grain or hay or whatever, they don'tpick up some dirt or sand at the same time. the second is do what you canto maintain healthy pastures. so avoid overgrazing toomany horses in one area. rotate when thegrass gets low enough that they're rippingit out by the roots
and then gettingsome dirt in it. you know, maintain your pastureswith watering and fertilizing and all those things. and i know it's different indifferent parts of the country. so some people are like, "what? my pastures are this tall!" and some are like, "mineis eaten down, dead." so a little bit of that. but there are alsothings you can
do if you keep your horse fullwhen they go out to pasture, they might not just attack it. so feed them beforethey go out and they'll be like, well, i'mgoing to nibble and graze and walk around,but i'm going to, you know, go for it and gorge myself. that that could help. and then the secondpart is, what do you do also at the same time?
you feed them psyllium. there's lots of researchon psyllium alone, and psyllium with some otherthings like pre and probiotics. and the thing is-- sarah: what is psyllium? dr lydia gray: yeah,so with the beet pulp, we talked about soluble fiber. so it's another kindof soluble fiber. you can also call it a mucilage.
the thing about psylliumis, and i tried to get some, but it really made a mess. so i was thinking of you today. sarah: ha ha, thank you. dr lydia gray: when you wet-- when you wet psyllium,and by wetting psyllium, i mean once the horse eatsit, because you feed it dry. it turns into agooey, slimy mess, which is great, becausethen it gathers up the sand.
collects it as it passes onthrough and takes some out, that's how it works. but only if you feed it ina relatively large amount once a day for about aweek or seven days a month. if you feed psylliumdaily, so you'll see it in some hindgutsupport supplements. if you feed asmall amount daily, it acts more likea prebiotic, which is the food for the microbeorganisms that live in the gut.
so don't feed psyllium daily ifyour intention is to gather up sand and move it out. because the bacteria and theother organisms in the gut will then take it anduse it, and then it's not available for the sand. so you want to justuse it sporadically in larger amounts togather, collect up the sand and move it on out. sarah: if you're feedingit daily in like,
a hindgut supportsupplement and the bacteria are used to eating it, and thenyou do want to do one of those purges because you'reintroducing it in larger quantities, would that be ok? sarah: ok, so you can usethe two in conjunction, ok. dr lydia gray: absolutelyand there's one more test that i didn't do todaythat we could have. you can gather up aboutfive or six fecal balls, gather from themiddle of the pile
and let the ones thatare touching the ground, because those are contaminated. sarah: already sandy. dr lydia gray: yeah,more contaminated. and then put them in some sortof container, add a quart or so of water, stir, let it sit. and then if there'ssand, because it's heavier than the manure,it'll sink to the bottom and then you'll know ifyour horse has sand or not.
it's kind of a crudetest, but it's fun to do, except nothere with our-- sarah: probably not in thestudio and probably not at the office, when you haveto go in to a meeting right after this. sarah: that's less great. and use a different spoon thanyou use for your beet pulp. your horse will thank you. our last question for ourfirst video of the new year--
dr lydia gray: ok. sarah: is questionfive, submitted by armored wings on youtube. "my dad is going to retirefrom the military, probably in march next year. and for us that means we haveto haul my horse from north carolina to texas wherewe plan to keep him at my grandparents' house. are there any vaccinations andtests i need to have for him
before we go, and what do ineed to look out for health-wise once we get there? we've always donecross-country moves before but never with a horse." how exciting. dr lydia gray: whata super question and very exciting for you,and your dad, and your horse. sarah: and thank your dadfor his service, please. so north carolina to texasis about half the country.
i have no idea how long thistakes, but more than 12 hours. because-- and 12is key because 12 is what the expertssay a horse should not travel any longer than. and if they're in thetrailer for 12 hours going, then they need a breakof at least eight hours. so keep that in mind. but even before then,there's lots of things that you'll need to do.
you'll need towork with your vet where you are in north carolina,and get health papers, a health certificate. we call thisofficially, certificate of veterinary inspection. you'll have to havea coggins, and there may be some otherpaperwork, some states require entry permit. but your veterinarianwill know all this,
and he or she will bein contact with the vets in the state you're going to. there's a system, we all worktogether, it's really nice. you just need towork with your vet. know your horse's normal. if there's any medicationor supplements, bring those. bring as much of your own hay,grain, and water as you can. practice beforehand, somake sure your horse loads. if you're going to ship inboots or bandages or blankets
make sure your horse wearsall those comfortably and confidently. i have a list here of things. this list comesfrom a blog article. so i think we shouldinclude the link to this article atthe end of this, because i'm for sure goingto forget some things. sarah: or perhaps right here. dr lydia gray: right, right.
in addition to duringthe trip, you know, you want to make sure that yourhorse can clear his airways. so, in short trips--and short trips are considered lessthan three hours. short trips, it mightbe ok to tie a head up. but a long trip, you don'twant to tie the head up. but it depends alittle bit on how you horse rides in thetrailer and the configuration of your trailer.
so, you know, thetwo-horse straight load versus a three-horse slant,versus an open trailer, they're all a littlebit different. so you have to take all thesethings into consideration. because when you get there,and you ask, you know, how do i make sure he's healthy? like, what do i look forwhen i get there, afterwards? you want to take theirtemperature each day. and it's going to take atleast three days for him
of just turn out,and not riding, and just leave him alone. just observe him, but don'task him to do anything. and each of those days,and perhaps longer, you should take his temperature. and that's going to beyour best indicator of, did he make this trip ok? but he-- i will tell you, heis going to lose some weight. he is going to be dehydrated.
so anything you can do tohelp those ahead of time. make sure he has plenty of hay,forage, roughage - the scratch factor - throughthe trip and after. we tend to cutdown on the grain. beet pulp might bea super feedstuff, because you want to providecalories to reduce the weight loss, but you don't want thesugars and starches of grain. so i would say beet pulp andget your horse started early, so about 7 to 10 days beforethe trip start introducing
small amounts of beet pulp. because it's likeany other feed, you don't just throwit in in large amounts. and then encouragedrinking, both on the trip-- so stop and offer waterabout every four hours. and also encourage drinking byadding electrolytes or salt. and because they don't buildup in the body or stay, you want to just start likethe day before, and the day of. each day you're traveling,and the couple of days after.
so maybe a week tokeep them drinking. because hydration and notlosing too much weight and then not havingan infection and being able to clear the airways. those are the healththings i think of. your vet can help youwith everything else. and then you just haveto make a packing list and gather everythingthat you need. but--
sarah: i want to jumpback to one of the things that you called out, wasbringing your own hay and grain. sarah: and i think that thisis something that people often don't really think about. they think all hay ishay, all grain is grain. people even going toweekend horse shows. the trailer space is so limited,the truck space is so limited, and you're temptedto just say, "we'll
buy hay when we get there. we'll buy grainwhen we get there." can you talk about why it'sso important to bring your own and make that slow transition? dr lydia gray: i thinkpeople have in their heads that changing grainis a bad thing. and so they'll bring grain, butthe research says that changing grain quickly,suddenly, leads to-- it causes a five--
it increases your horsesrisk of colic by five times. sarah: and is thatnot just the type of grain, but also the amount? dr lydia gray: it'severything, it's everything. just changing grain. the interesting thing, though,is when you change hay-- amount, type, cutting,any of those-- it increases your horse'srisk of colic by 10 times. and the reasonfor that is, grain
is digested by yourhorse in his stomach and small intestines,the foregut. hay is digested by thebacteria and the microorganisms in the hindgut,and they tend to be shocked when yougive them something completely new as a foodstuff. now we might like it,different things at every meal, bacteria don't. they like the same thingevery day, every meal.
so they get shocked andthat's when chaos ensues and colic and laminitis. so you've got to be especiallycareful with the hay, that really ups your risk. sarah: excellent,really good advice. and it sounds like she hasplenty of time to prepare for that move in march, so-- dr lydia gray: yeah, yeah. sarah: good time to askthe question and good luck
on the move. sarah: so that's allwe have for this month. thank you, guys, somuch for joining us for our first videoof the new year, and our second yearof ask the vet videos. we are loving your questions. i am loving learningthe answers. i hope you guys are too. dr lydia gray: i'mloving getting to cook.
sarah: yeah, i know. i hope there's more of this. ask feed-related questions. so that's all youhave, please submit your questions for next time. you can submit them on youtube,facebook, instagram, twitter, email customer care. you can comment on our blog orthis video post, use hashtag #askthevetvideo so we cankeep track of those questions.
and we will be accepting thosequestions until february 2nd, so you have plenty oftime to get those in. and then keep an eyeout on youtube, twitter, and our blog for voting. and you can vote asmany times as you want and you can campaign to haveas many other people vote as many times as they want. so we want to see thosemost popular questions get answered next time.
if your question was answeredin this, or a previous video, don't hesitate to reach outfor your gift certificate, because we want you to beable to buy something awesome. dr lydia gray: like belts. sarah: maybe a new belt, imean, you know, just saying. and that's all we have for you. so subscribe so you never missour next question, or our bonus video which is coming up soon. thank you so much for watching.
happy new year andhave a great ride.
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