SARAH: Hey, SmartPak fans.
Welcome back to another episode of Ask the Vet.
I'm a SmartPaker Sarah and she, of course,
is Dr. Lydia Gray here to answer all
or at least your most popular horse health questions.
DR LYDIA GRAY: The top five.
SARAH: That's right.
And so if you've seen our voting video,
we're looking-- or our questions video--
we're looking for questions for next month.
And that video looked a little bit different,
because in your place was my good friend, Dan--
DR LYDIA GRAY: My good friend, too.
SARAH: --from SmartPak Customer Care team.
Our good friend, Dan.
And so Dan will be in my seat for next month's video,
because I will most likely be out on maternity leave, which
is very exciting.
So you guys are going to have a blast without me.
And I will look forward to watching it and hopefully
making it and using it to make the baby fall asleep.
And I will, of course, be back after that.
And I look forward to seeing you guys and hearing
all the awesome questions you ask in the meantime.
Without further ado, I'd love to jump into the questions,
because we have five first-time winners this time around.
So I always love when we get more people involved
in the fun.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
SARAH: More people get to get a little SmartPak gift card
action.
And our first question was asked by Riley,
who asked it on SmartPak.com/AsktheVetQuestions,
which is our handy dandy form that makes it very easy
to submit.
And Riley is wondering about "tips
to build your horse's topline and how long does it
take for a horse to build a good topline?
Are there specific exercises that would help?
Can supplements or different types of feed help, too?"
So a multi-part question for you.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And all the multi-questions
in that question were great.
SARAH: Yeah.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So you'll help me remember them.
So the topline--
I like to start everyone on the same page--
so the topline is the top of the horse's
body from the neck to the tail.
So it really is a good word to describe it
as the topline of the horse.
And we're talking about muscle.
So he, he, she?
SARAH: Riley?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Riley.
SARAH: Could be either.
We don't know.
DR LYDIA GRAY: They are most likely
are worried about the horse's muscle has gone away.
And they don't say if it's a senior horse or not.
Because it tends to be very common in senior horses.
As you age, the muscle just goes away.
So the approach sounds right.
They're thinking already diet and exercise.
It turns out that the research says diet might
be the more important factor.
Because even if you're feeding the horse
a complete and balanced diet, if you're exercising almost too
much the topline can go away.
So what's really important is to get
those key amino acids in there.
And by key I mean lysine, which was
the first limiting amino acid, and methionine and threonine.
In fact, one of my favorite studies--
I have so many.
SARAH: So many.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I call them each favorite.
One of my favorites is--
SARAH: It's because they don't know about each other.
DR LYDIA GRAY: That's right.
That's right.
Don't tell them-- --is by Graham-Thiers.
And they set out to show that if you
feed older horses lysine and threonine,
their topline improves.
What they found was-- because they used as a control group
young horses.
And when they fed them, though, the amino
acids, all of the horses--
every age group-- their topline improved.
So what it says is by feeding key amino acids we can
improve the topline in horses.
So the way you do this is-- especially
if you have grass hay.
Grass hay's not really known for being high protein.
Alfalfa has more.
But if you're feeding grass hay, you probably
need to supplement.
Now, you'll need to be giving a multi-vitamin or a ration
balancer that has protein.
Could be fortified grain, could be a protein supplement
itself on its own.
And those tend to have-- and I think we have some here.
Like here's one that's very popular.
It's Tri-Amino because it has the three
amino acids I mentioned, lysine, methionine, and threonine.
So you can feed that right with whatever
hay and grain or ration balancer you're
giving to supplement the protein that is already in their diet.
I think one of the questions was how long it takes.
We know that it takes at least two weeks to see a weight
gain in a horse.
But that's more fat.
And here we're talking specifically muscle.
SARAH: I wish it took me two weeks--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh god, me too.
SARAH: --to see a weight gain.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I would say at least a month.
Now, the study I was referring to was 14 week study.
So even over three months.
So give it time.
And as far as exercises, I mentioned earlier
that diet is more important than exercise,
but exercise is still important.
So the recommendations that are good for building
a horse's topline is--
we have an article coming out soon--
on kissing spines.
And so the recommendations for those horses,
which is long and low--
exercises that lift the back, lower the neck.
So bring up the horse's topline like a suspension bridge.
Am I using that right?
SARAH: Yep.
DR LYDIA GRAY: OK.
SARAH: Absolutely.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So there's a Pessoa system or any kind
of system like that that encourages them
to use their body correctly.
Cavaletti, we always recommend heel work, transitions.
Now we're getting into discipline specific,
so whether you're Western or English or jumping or dressage.
It can be sets like intervals.
I just did a driving thing where we
did five minutes of walk and five minutes of trot.
Transitions are good.
Lateral work-- but in your discipline.
So in your sport, find those things
that are going to ask your horse to use and develop his muscles.
Have the supplement or the good feed in place,
and I think you'll be good to go.
And then just give it time.
SARAH: Yeah.
Fantastic.
Great question.
DR LYDIA GRAY: It was.
SARAH: Our second question was submitted by Jody
on the SmartPak blog.
So we're getting a little tour of where
you can submit your questions.
And Jody's wondering, "My 22-year-old gelding
has recently been diagnosed with cataracts.
He's still able to see seemingly fine.
No issues with riding him or getting him around
in his field.
Are cataracts common with senior horses?
And what things do I need to take into consideration as he
gets older, e.g., safety while riding, turnout."
Awe, and then she says, "Thank you
for the fun and educational videos."
DR LYDIA GRAY: Thank you.
We always appreciate those.
SARAH: Thank you, Jody.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So 22-year-old?
OK.
So he would be a senior.
There is a trend in the old horse to develop cataracts.
And it is simply everything wears and tears.
Our bodies just wear out.
And the lens in the eye, which is where the cataract exists,
after a lifetime of inflammatory bouts for whatever reason,
it just develops some opacity or cloudiness.
Now, this isn't the cloudiness that you
see on the outside of the eye or the cornea.
That's completely different.
This is cloudiness on the inside of the eye.
And you'll notice it is as light can't get through.
You can't see their retinas don't reflect anymore.
You know how you can shine a light in the dark
and all your cats will light up the--
SARAH: How many cats do you have?
DR LYDIA GRAY: So it's definitely
a structure inside the eye.
There's a syndrome of--
foals can get cataracts.
So when the vet comes out to do the foal check.
SARAH: That's really cute, though.
They just have small eyes.
They're so cute.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, no.
But you have to do surgery.
SARAH: Well, it's very sad, of course.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh sad.
Sad but cute.
SARAH: Yes.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I'm with you.
I'm with you.
SARAH: Everything about foals is cute.
DR LYDIA GRAY: But in older horses too.
So we have the age.
There are some inherited causes for cataracts.
And she doesn't mention what breed her horse is right?
SARAH: She does not.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So we know Appaloosas
tend to get the moon blindness or the equine recurrent
uveitis.
But there's some inherited risk factors for cataracts
in thoroughbreds, in Belgians.
Rocky Mountain horses in particular have a syndrome.
So trauma also can lead to--
but it's the repeated bouts of inflammation
that are the cause.
And so how do you notice--
you see it.
But also you notice that your horse bumps into things.
That's probably what she noticed.
Doesn't walk as confidently.
May even start shying or spooking or jumping at things
that they didn't used to.
So for her, safety probably was the first thing
that everyone thought of, is sometimes
they tell you when they're not confident enough
to be ridden anymore.
And then you just have to listen to them.
But many organizations allow a horse with blindness in one
and sometimes both eyes to continue to compete.
So it really depends on the horse.
Some of them, because it is gradual,
tend to go into this stage of their life quite nicely.
Because they get used to it.
If it comes on more acutely or suddenly, it's more shocking.
And they didn't have time to get used to it.
Advice for her is try not to change the environment.
Because they've learned the environment with their sight.
And so when their sight goes away,
if the environment stays the same, they can manage it.
Sometimes having a buddy horse that they can rely on
is really helpful.
Because they follow them around and they
know what to do based on what their buddy's doing.
SARAH: And it feels like now that he still
has his vision is a good time to introduce that buddy--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Exactly.
SARAH: --if he doesn't have one.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Exactly.
SARAH: So that once he does eventually,
if he loses his vision, he has a friend he can rely on.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And this may seem odd.
But the other thing I would do for these guys,
because they kind of don't know where they are,
maybe keep them in a fly mask for protection.
He's going to bump himself on stuff.
So put some protection on him so he at least
protects his face from stuff.
But yes, surgery is really the only option.
There's no medicine.
There's no supplement.
SARAH: No therapy, nothing like that.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And this was the very first surgery
I did in vet school.
SARAH: Wow.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, my first day of senior year.
And it's a really cool surgery.
It's the same one they do in humans where they make a slit.
It's awesome.
But only Google this if you can tolerate--
SARAH: So I like that--
DR LYDIA GRAY: --pictures.
SARAH: --you called this awesome.
But then it was weird when I said foals were cute.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Right.
SARAH: OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Surgery awesome, foals eh.
But they just make a slit in the cornea.
They stick a little tiny ultrasound probe in there.
Make some them tiny, tiny.
Makes some high frequency vibrations break up the lens.
The lens is like glass.
And then suck it out sew up the hole and you're good to go.
SARAH: Wow.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah and it's called--
I should say what it's called-- phacoemulsicfication.
SARAH: Ooh.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I know I was dying to say that.
SARAH: That was a good one.
DR LYDIA GRAY: But I think she'll be fine, totally fine.
SARAH: Terrific.
Well good luck, Jody.
And thank you for the wonderful compliment.
Question number three submitted by Harley
on the Ask the Vet form.
I like how Harley starts.
"Let's talk grazing muzzles.
Why would you need a grazing muzzle on your horse?
Also my horse routinely gets sores and rubs from her muzzle.
Is it well-fitted-- oh, it is well-fitted,
but I find in wet conditions it still rubs.
Any tips or tricks to prevent this?
Thank you so much."
DR LYDIA GRAY: All right.
SARAH: You came to the right place.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh my goodness, I've
been dealing with muzzles for years.
So now I definitely--
SARAH: I feel like Newman's been dealing with muzzles.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well it's--
no, both of us.
Because fitting a muzzle can be exasperating.
SARAH: Taking a muzzle off can be very fun for Newman.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Fulfilling.
Yeah, he excels at that.
I mean, my job is to fit it.
And then his job is to unfit it.
So first of all, we'll go through why
you put a muzzle on.
SARAH: Yep.
DR LYDIA GRAY: You have those horses that are easy keepers.
And so you might use a muzzle just
to restrict their intake, their caloric intake.
Some horses specifically can't have sugar.
And there I'm thinking the Cushing's horses,
the equine metabolic syndrome, PSSM, laminitis--
there you might only have to muzzle
in the spring and the fall when the grass is particularly
risky.
And for some horses that don't have an underlying health
condition, maybe just that transition
period in the spring--
muzzle while the grass is growing fast.
And you really haven't had a chance
to adjust-- get them adjusted, transitioned into the grazing.
So you could just for a month or so use it.
But mine wears a muzzle from April
to October, pretty much all day, maybe 10 hours.
So it's got to fit well.
And I feel your pain on the fitting.
What I do, I get a new one.
And you have some choices.
There are what I call onesies.
SARAH: This is feeling very relatable for me.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yep.
They're the muzzle and the strap that holds it
on all together in one piece.
And then there's the muzzle separate.
And then you buy a quick release halter that fits on it.
And then there's a variety of options of muzzles.
There's the Easy Breathe, there's the soft ones,
there's harder ones, there's all sorts of ones.
And I probably own--
I've gone through probably 20 muzzles.
SARAH: Wow.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, because it's
all about the fit, the comfort, what they'll tolerate.
Some they tolerate more than others.
And you have to experiment.
And then you can have a muzzle swap with your friends.
I tried this--
SARAH: Do you belong to any weird Facebook groups?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Maybe.
But if one doesn't work for you, you
bring it to your muzzle swap and then
it's perfect for somebody else.
So it's nice, because it's a lot of money.
So you put it on.
And the instructions say exactly how to fit it.
And typically you want the bottom of the muzzle
to be an inch from their mouth, so they have a little room.
And then I leave it on for about a week
and then I can see where it's rubbing.
Then I take a variety of fleeces.
Now this one is the Miracle Collar Fleece Cover.
And you ask yourself, why did she take this one?
That's not for that.
SARAH: Seems quite specific.
DR LYDIA GRAY: It's got this really big--
I'm not pointing well--
really big chunk here.
I don't actually know where it goes on the bottom here.
But I use this on the bottom of the muzzle here.
SARAH: On the chin groove.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
And that keeps it-- because their jaw is moving
all the time as they eat.
And so that's a common rub spot.
For the rub spots along the cheek pieces
then you have this piece.
You can also just buy a halter--
a fleece set, which is what this is.
And so the nice thing is they're all Velcro.
And so you can easily pull the Velcro--
SARAH: She says with confidence.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I know.
I can hear it.
It's just not coming.
But you can put the little cheek pieces -
where else do they rub?
Sometimes on the top.
The other thing I've found--
I've a lot of experience with this--
you came to the right person.
Is moleskin.
You know what moleskin is?
SARAH: Of course.
My sisters are ballerinas.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh,
SARAH: I'm very familiar.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Perfect.
OK.
So I just go to the pharmacy and get their heavy duty moleskin.
And then when I see where he's got rubs,
then I moleskin that area.
And I like moleskin better because it's thinner.
And if you put this on the crown, sometimes they go,
foink.
It makes it really easy to get off.
Its fine on the cheek piece, but I moleskin the crown.
Yeah.
So all kinds of fleece, mole skin.
But you got to--
he's got to wear it for about a week
to figure out where it rubs.
SARAH: Yeah.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
SARAH: I told you you came to the right place.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh my gosh, I could go on forever but.
SARAH: Question number four is submitted
by Cat Jenk on YouTube.
And they are wondering, "Can you do
a video on suspensory ligament injuries please?"
DR LYDIA GRAY: OK so I think-- did
we do bowed tendons last time?
SARAH: I don't know if it was last time,
but we've definitely talked about them.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So they're related,
because they're both soft tissue, connective tissue.
The tendons are the structures that connect muscles to bones.
And the ligaments connect bones to bones.
So they're related.
When we're talking about the suspensory ligament--
easy for me to say--
in particular, we'll talk about the location first.
So it's on the leg between the knee and the ankle
or the hock and the ankles--
so lower limbs of all four legs.
And it's the tissue that butts right up against the cannon
bone.
So if the horse is facing this way.
So it's from the outside you have
your skin, your superficial digital flexor
tendon, your deep digital flexor tendon, and then
the suspensory.
What that means is it's not as easy, especially
on the hindlimb, to image.
So our imaging choices are X-rays,
ultrasound is pretty good.
But not as good as with tendons.
They're looking now at maybe MRI is the best way
to categorize the original injury
and then follow the progression.
And you can now do standing MRIs with just sedation
and not need general anesthesia.
So that's why they're thinking maybe
this imaging tool is now becoming appropriate for this.
I was going to say, I've got good news and bad news.
Well, the good news is that if you catch this early
and get right on it with some modern medical management
treatment, the forelimb suspensories,
they take longer than tendons.
Because last time remember we did the--
SARAH: --the number of letters in the word.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So bone was four, tendon was six,
and ligaments, what, eight?
SARAH: Yep.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So they can take nine months to a year to heal.
But if it's an acute front limb suspensory you've got a chance.
I want to read something.
Acute hindlimb proximal suspensory desmitis
is much worse.
13% were sound and in full work at six months.
And the prognosis for their chronic hindlimb cases
approaches 0%.
Now, don't give up all hope.
But do involve your vet right away.
They're challenging-- the cardinal signs of inflammation
or the signs of this kind of lameness
are heat swelling and pain, except that with the suspensory
being so deep you always don't get that swelling.
So you can't depend on the limb being
big and swollen as like, oh, got to call the vet.
Sometimes the only clinical sign is the horse isn't performing
as well as he used to.
One of the risk factors for a pulled suspensory
is advanced dressage training.
So if you have a horse that does a lengthen
or medium or extended trot, and then they can't or they
don't want to, that should make you think that maybe I
should have the vet out.
So it can be as subtle as that.
And you have to get on it to give your horse the best
chance of recovering from it.
I will say Newman had a pulled suspensory back
when he was five.
SARAH: Wow.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
And that was what I saw.
SARAH: That was so long ago.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
And he's 17 now.
And he has not only returned to full work the same level,
but went up.
So I got right on it and managed it appropriately
and did everything my vet said.
And he's back to working.
So there is hope.
And it was his front limb so I had a better chance.
The hindlimbs are-- boy, they're tough.
They're really tough.
I hope this person does not have one on their horse.
SARAH: Yeah.
I mean it was just a request for a video.
So we don't know.
DR LYDIA GRAY: True, true.
We don't know.
SARAH: So hopefully we addressed all the questions
that you have.
Last but not least, we have question number five.
But before we jump into this question,
it is another senior horse question,
which I felt like we had a couple of senior related
things.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, the cataract horse was 22.
SARAH: Cataracts.
And then also the topline being harder when you're older.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Could have been.
Could have been.
SARAH: And so we have a senior horse question.
But, of course, you being SmartPak's very famous Staff
Veterinarian and Medical Director,
you get Ask the Vet questions in person--
DR LYDIA GRAY: I do.
SARAH: --every now and then.
And one such question came up recently
as I understand it from a good friend of yours
and apparently a big fan of mine.
So I just want to give a shout out
to Mike and his horse, Sugar, and say thanks for watching.
And, of course, thanks for asking the vet.
And without further ado, we'll get to Sutton M.'s question
from YouTube.
"I have an elderly horse who I love so much,
and I was wondering how I can make life for him a bit
more comfortable as he ages.
He is a 28--" with a question mark--
"year-old Appendix Quarter Horse.
He is retired.
He gets turned out into an indoor arena
every night with other horses.
And he's in his stall from maybe 9:00 until 3:00.
We often have young lesson kids work with him.
No riding of course, but he gets hand-walked
pretty much everyday-- just a few laps around the property.
And we groom and bathe him often with the kids.
He is quite skinny and is a sad sight.
We feed him twice as much hay as the other horses.
And he gets grain once a day and an assortment of supplements,
still can't seem to put weight on.
Any tips on fattening him up and making his life a little better
would help so much."
DR LYDIA GRAY: Life already sounds pretty good,
but we'll try it.
SARAH: It's very wonderful, just very sweet.
DR LYDIA GRAY: "Assortment of supplements"
was an interesting way of phrasing it.
SARAH: It's how I would describe my SmartPak.
It's an assortment.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So when I look at a situation like this,
the first thing I want to make sure they're doing
is working with their vet.
So get the complete physical exam.
Make sure there's no underlying health condition.
A horse this age-- what?
20s?
SARAH: 28 she thinks.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Could have Cushing's, could
have a variety of things that they're unhealthy enough
to make them a little bit run down
or make them into that hard keeper.
And so if you bring their health status up a notch,
maybe they'll put on weight better
or they'll extract the nutrition out of their food
that they should be.
SARAH: Even things you might not expect like teeth problems.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Could be teeth, could be parasites.
Could be simple things, could be hard things.
But get the vet out.
SARAH: Yes.
DR LYDIA GRAY: When the vet is out have them show you,
if you don't already know how, to do a body condition score
and to assess the weight--
in some way measure the weight of your horse-- can be a tape.
And then record those in a journal.
So that now you have an objective measurement
of your horse's health.
SARAH: Is this getting better?
Is this getting worse, rather than just,
"ooh, I wish he'd gain weight."
DR LYDIA GRAY: Right.
Because we're going to give you some things to do.
And if you're not following them--
I did A, and is he better or worse,
then you don't know if you should continue that or try
something else.
And the thing I always tell people
is try one thing at a time.
Because if you--
SARAH: It's hard to resist.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I know it is because you want
them to get better right now.
But if you throw the kitchen sink at them
and then the horse gets better, you're like, uh-oh.
What was it?
Now I have to do everything.
Now you're taking out one thing at a time.
So they said the horse gets hay in front of him all the time.
SARAH: It does.
Yeah.
Twice as much as-- well, they said twice as much
as the other horses.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh.
SARAH: So that is a good point.
DR LYDIA GRAY: OK.
So when I have a thin horse, I like to keep food
in front of them all the time.
I don't know if they have a situation where
they can do that.
But that would be ideal.
And I would keep grass hay in front of this horse
all the time if he has the teeth for it.
And then I would begin to add some alfalfa hay in--
if he can tolerate it-- because it has more protein and it
has more calories.
SARAH: While we're on the subject of the hay in front
of them all the time, I just want to throw in some things
here.
Because my horse, Cody, is 29.
And he is not underweight, but he's close.
He's probably-- he's a four.
He's not a four and a half where I'd
like him to be on the body condition scale.
And so with him, he's a hay waster.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh.
SARAH: So if we throw five flakes into his stall,
he'll eat one, and then just pee on the rest.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yep.
SARAH: And so what we do instead is we give him
one flake at a time in a Small Hole Hay Net
so that he's eating it, has access to it,
and doesn't have the ability to just trash it
all over the floor of the stall.
And you get more out of what you give him.
DR LYDIA GRAY: The interesting thing
with putting the hay in the hay net
is you think it would slow them down.
It does, but that phenomenon makes
the thin horses gain weight and thick horses lose weight.
SARAH: Interesting
DR LYDIA GRAY: It brings everybody back to normal.
SARAH: I like that.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So that was a really good suggestion.
If his teeth aren't that great there's always
the option of chopped hay, hay cubes, which probably you
want to soak, hay pellets.
So still getting that long-stem forage in there.
He might be a horse that needs to transition
to a complete feed, which is the hay and grain in the bag.
And read the label on these, because you
don't feed small amounts like three to five pounds
of a regular fortified grain.
You might need to feed 15, 18, 20 pounds of it,
of course, spread out over the day.
Then you can add in other, I guess
I would call them supplements, or other things
to help hard keepers or senior horses add weight.
My favorite, of course, is beet pulp.
You knew I was going to say that.
I like this because it is between the nutrition of hay
and grain.
And it's a fermentable fiber, which
the horse's hindgut excels at.
And they get energy from that and then calories.
So a lot of horses that are underweight
gain weight with the addition of beet pulp.
There's rice bran if you want to add fat, so
moving to a new section.
There's one way to add fat.
You can just add straight fat too.
And now it comes in a solid, so it's not as frustrating as oil.
Because oil gets thick in the winter and hard to pour.
And then it can go bad in the summer.
It gets hot and it goes rancid.
And it doesn't taste good.
And it's not great.
SARAH: And depending what type of oil you pick,
it can also have downsides.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well, it can be very high in omega--
like corn oil is very high.
The ratio of omega 3s to omega 6s, it's inverted.
So that that's-- you're just adding inflammation
to your horse and probably doesn't need that.
SARAH: Not something a senior needs for sure.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Definitely not.
So I like the powdered fat.
I think that's-- older horses become less efficient as they
age.
Digestive system is one of the organs
that becomes less efficient.
And so some digestive support like probiotics, prebiotics,
yeast-- very good--
enzymes can help them, as I said earlier,
extract the nutrition that you're already giving them,
but they're just not getting.
And then I like that he gets turnout.
You probably don't have grass which
is why they don't put him on it, but, boy, pasture just
adds bloom to horses.
And if there's any way you can get him
outside for turnout, that would be ideal.
I can't tell from hearing this if he gets outside
for some fresh air.
SARAH: He gets hand walked around the property they said.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, OK.
That's good.
SARAH: So that's a good opportunity for some grazing.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, yeah.
But everything-- reduce the stress in his life.
Look at all aspects of the environment.
The vet's great to walk around with you.
Look at the food quality and quantity.
Look at the grass.
Look at the property.
Look for stress.
So is he having to fight off other horses
for his fair share.
Sometimes that gets overlooked.
Does he have a buddy that he's friends with?
Because as a horse, being isolated makes you nervous.
So I think there's some--
SARAH: And people too.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, everybody.
I think there are some things that need looked
at that's not in this question.
And then there's some opportunities
to add some nutrition to this horse that can make
him enjoy his golden years.
SARAH: That's right.
All right.
Well, I hope that some of those solutions work out for you.
And that you guys have many more years ahead of you.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
SARAH: He sounds like a wonderful horse.
So thank you guys as always for submitting
all your great questions.
You can submit questions now for the October episode with Dan,
who'll be sitting right here where I am.
And you can submit those on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, blog.SmartPak.com or SmartPak.com/AsktheVetQuestions.
And wherever you're submitting your questions,
don't forget to use #AsktheVetVideo
so that we can make sure we can keep
track of all those questions, pull them
all together for voting.
Anything received before Friday, August 31
will be eligible for the next episode.
So keep that date in mind.
And then, of course, you can vote on Twitter, our blog,
and on YouTube.
And you should always subscribe so
that you know when the next video's coming out,
you know when the voting is happening.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Don't want to miss it.
SARAH: That's the best way to stay up on all the alerts.
And of course, if your question was answered in this or one
of our previous videos, you can email CustomerCare@SmartPak.com
and we will get you your gift card so that you can spend it
on things like fleece halters--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, yes.
SARAH: --or muscle supplements or all sorts
of other things we have for you.
Thanks for asking.
Thanks for watching.
And have a great ride.
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