Regal Baasha and a worming question for you

I cannot get over how awesome he looks and feels with his clip. The worst part is just that he has to wear a blanket so I cannot gaze upon his body for lengths of time - too cold out.

It's been 55F and rainy - a real Seattle Winter, but still too cold for a clipped horse to be naked more than a few seconds as I inspect him and hug him.

You can see I did a terrible job with those clippers, but I'll learn.

He's hiding from the camera.

He just looks so refined, I had no idea. I do admit to this bit of vanity but my reasoning is justified I believe...I will let you know how shedding season goes for us. I actually dressed him up in my favorite scarf and no hair got on it. He looked adorable in my scarf. I sure wish I had a show halter for some really nice photos!

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Funder made a monster in November. I started feeding store-bought treats and now he's always nosing my pockets. Nosing my pockets does not ever get him anything, but he can smell them there. He doesn't nudge me but he does put his nose there and plead. He has to do tricks to get them and he's been doing his tricks (shake hands, etc) better than ever. But it's so sad for him when my pockets are empty. Carrots never got this behavior from him.


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Can you tell me if his hood is adjusted properly? I have it a bit loose I think but I don't want there to be pressure when he eats. How high up on the neck should hoods lie? I know all about blanket fitting but hoods are new for me.

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This morning Baasha had blood on his pastern and I am glad he's clipped because it was so much easier to wash and treat the sore. I am so curious how he hurt himself - it was definitely last night because I did his feet last night and didn't see the blood. The stall is so utterly smooth and safe I have no idea---wait, maybe he kicked himself trying to get up? It's possible I think. He does lay down every night.

Then my man said that he might not have cut himself at all if he still had thick Winter hair on his legs. Hm. (You might have noticed there is a cut on the other pastern too - I wonder what happened last night?)


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I also love my camera. It lets me get "close" to Baasha from far away, so he loses that annoyed camera face. I understand why he hates cameras if you think about it - we always face the horse, hold still (hold our breath) and aim something at him. It is a predatory thing. I'm amazed that some horses seem to like cameras. But with this one I can get far away so he relaxes.

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I have a question for you horse bloggers. Normally I'd worm with Praziquantal in December but then I realized I see no sign of tapeworms. I see them clearly in my cat (disgusting), from all the mice she eats, so she gets wormed often. Do horses with tapeworms also show those signs? You know the ones I mean, the ones you can capture in a jar and watch them move around? (Not that I've done that...)

I have backed down on my worming due to the fact he lives alone, but I still give Ivermectin in Winter. What about the Praziquantal?

UPDATE: After doing some reading I found that tapeworms do not show themselves like in the cat's case, and they usually do not show in fecal exams, only blood tests and autopsies. Also I was reminded that they come from mites (the mite is the first host). Interesting, because I'd never experienced mites back in Seattle but here they make sores on Baasha's legs in Summer. The sores look like scratches except they appear all over the fetlock, not just where water collects.

Source 1: Using the FEC to detect tapeworms is not reliable.  Tapeworms infrequently shed segments which may contain eggs (needed for detection).  In comparison, other intestinal worms shed eggs almost continuously.

Source 2: Checking dung samples a day after dosing horses for tapeworms provides a reliable way of detecting tapeworm infestation, Japanese researchers have found. A pre-worming faecal egg count is not considered a reliable way of detecting infestation <...>because the eggs are released intermittently.

And now for another answer to one of my questions: Why didn't I ever worm Baasha for tapeworms until recently? Hmmmm..

Source 3: While we’ve always known that horses can be infested with tapeworms, traditionally, we haven’t done much about it. First of all, they are very difficult to diagnose. Fecal flotation tests that are commonly used to diagnose other horse internal parasites, such as roundworms and bloodworms, are not effective in diagnosing tapeworms. Secondly, although tapeworms were commonly seen during abdominal surgery, they were thought to be innocent bystanders that caused no real problems for the horse. Only recently have researchers determined that as high as 22 percent of spasmodic (gas) colic and nearly 80 percent of ileocecal (the junction between the end of the small intestine and the opening to the cecum) impactions are associated with tapeworms. Thirdly, no FDA-approved treatment has been commercially available to rid horses of tapeworms. (until 2004 when the drug was developed--so that's why!)

I think I have a theory about why they show up in the cat and not the horse. Could they be a whole 'nother species???

Yah.