April  2000

Down on the Farm
by Leigh Ann Howard

At last! The deluge of rain in Southern California has stopped. Rain in our area is difficult to deal with because there is virtually no rain for 10 months out of the year. Then we have seemingly non-stop rain for four weeks.

Most of our farms are not set up to deal with this much rain. None of us have enough stalls to accommodate all the horses on the farm in inclement weather. Consequently some horses have to stay outside. We treat our population somewhat like hospitals treat emergency room cases. This sorting process is called "triage", meaning that the most needy are treated first.

So when our weather is not 'Southern California perfect' the limited stall space is first allotted to the mares with very young or weak foals and the sick or injured horses. That line in an old 1960's song "it never rains in southern California" is fairly close to the truth.

Now that we have had our annual rain we will soon be dealing with the flies. Like most farms, we use several different methods of handling the fly problem.

Our basic program works around the "Fly Predators", very tiny wasps that eat the fly larvae. This results in fewer flies being hatched. We receive a monthly order of wasp pupae from Spalding Laboratories beginning in April each year.
Inside the barns we have the overhead nozzles that spray out a pyrethrin solution every few hours that actually kills the flies that are in the barn.

In the "out buildings" we have individual, battery operated, timed sprayers that put out a pyrethrin based spray every 15 minutes. This works well in a small, fairly contained area.

Last year we also tried a non-toxic product advertised on the Internet that repels flies. It is basically a baggie filled with water and special crystals that seems to blind flies that pass within about 20 feet. They don't like this blinding effect so they stay away. This product works best when it is placed in the direct sunlight. Named "SHU-FLY", information about this product can be obtained by calling 1-800 474-8359. Or contacting the company via e-mail at: comments@shufly.com.

There is a product that blocks or screens off barn entrances to all sorts of pests now being advertised. This certainly might be worth trying. I remember years ago, Fletcher Jones (Westerly Stud) put giant screen doors on his main hospital barn, creating a very pleasant work area for both the people and the equines. The company is "Fly Away AgriProducts, Inc at 888-285-7454. Their web site is www.flyawayagri.com.

We also have encouraged bats to become residents because they are very effective at eliminating the gnat population. All you need is a bat house on top of a very tall post in the proper surroundings. If it is pleasant for them they will set up house keeping and help cut down those irritating little "no see 'ems".

Eliminating pests and varmints is more than just an aesthetics issue. Gopher and squirrel holes in pastures are a true menace. The network of holes their activity produces can seriously and permanently damage young horses' legs. It has always amazed me how we are so careful about the racetrack surfaces on which our horses race and yet the safety of the pasture surface is rarely discussed. Our free running foals depend on us to provide them with danger free surfaces on which to hone their running skills.

Another varmint that we have to deal with is the opossum. There is now very strong evidence that our horses contract EPM through exposure to this marsupial.

Are we really at the mercy of nature when dealing with this devastating disease? Is there anything we can do to protect our horses? Is there anything we can do to at least reduce the risk of exposure to our horses?

Yes, there are things we can do. Keeping our feed troughs, feed storage areas and pastures as opossum free as possible is a good start. There are several ways to do this:

1) Keep grain stored in a room or building that does not offer access to opossums. Keep the door closed. Keep grain in metal containers.

2) Keep shrubs and brush cut back around feed storage areas and feeding areas. Opossums love the protection of underbrush.

3) Opossums don't like to climb wire fences. If you use v-mesh fencing put the wire clear to the ground.

4) Large dogs are a big deterrent to opossums.

5) Try to keep creep feed areas free of underbrush and an excessive amount of uneaten feed.

Although opossums are omnivorous they certainly prefer eating meat. Take a good look at the teeth on the next opossum you meet if you doubt this observation. That is why they are attracted to the feed areas. They are looking for smaller prey like the birds, mice and rats that eat the grain.

Hay is usually grown in rather dry areas in California. The opossum contamination in the hay is thought to be a bit higher with oat hay than alfalfa, probably because of the attraction of the grain with its following of mice and rats. Stored hay is more likely to have been contaminated than hay right out of the field.

There is not much we can do to protect ourselves from contaminated feed that comes in from feed stores and hay dealers. But we can manage our own facilities to keep exposure to a minimum.

Once upon a time I kept a riding horse in a neighborhood stable. This stable was very old and the stalls were rarely refurbished. The stall floors were all dirt with fairly large depressions in the center of each stall. This was because most of the riding horses were geldings. Males urinate in the center of the stall. Cleaning the stalls meant pulling out wet bedding from the center and over the years that created a much lower area there. The negative side of this situation was that the horses did not stand on a level surface. The positive side was that these horses NEVER got 'cast' in their stalls.

Kristin Lanier, an intern from Otterbein College, lays down a new bed of hay banked on all four sides. Lanier is from Columbus, Ohio and is currently completing her internship at Valley Creek Farm.

So, the lesson here is to create a situation (see photo above) where the horse is forced to lay down in the center of the stall. Most trainers insist that their stalls are 'banked', meaning the straw is pressed up against all four walls around the side of the stall, creating an inviting lower area in the center.

A bolted or nailed 2" x 12" board (see photo to right) on an angle (at the base of each wall) will also create a bank. The stall is then bedded with shavings, as well as the banked boards giving the horse a place to lay down.

Other trainers, especially trainers who use shavings and have permanent stalls, nail or bolt a 2" x 12" board on an angle, around the sides of each stall. After the stall is bedded with the shavings, and the shavings are covering the slanted board, there is a lower area in the center where the horse will lay down. These trainers report rarely having a horse cast.
Horses love to lie down in fresh piles of sand. They roll around and do a great self-grooming job on their coat.

Encouraging horses to lie down away from walls and fences is aided by putting sand piles in the center of pens.

In the area of horse care I have noticed long pointed toes on the hind feet of some of my foals. This is probably the result of very soft ground. The rain has not allowed the ground to harden enough to aid the foals in wearing down their toes. These long toes can have an affect on future development. The long toes force the 'break-over' area to be on the inside or outside of the hoof. This causes the hind legs to turn in or turn out. Get out there with a good rasp and snub off those long toes. If allowed to continue these foals could become cow-hocked or bowlegged behind. Neither conformation helps them get out of the starting gate quickly.

The breeding season is now at the peak of activity. No one is getting much sleep but spirits are up as the new foals are healthy and the early mares are getting pregnant.

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