Santa's Elves Sneakin' Around

Gifts continue to arrive no matter what time of year it is!

Thank you, Tim, for the muck bucket full of goodies:  Five new breakaway halters, cotton leads, ivermectin, a complete grooming kit, Swat ointment, Vetwrap and a clock almost too nice to put up in a barn.  It may need to go on the porch or in the room used for small tour groups.Thank you, too, for your generous contribution directly to TREES' account at REVC.  We look forward to seeing you again soon as a volunteer.

And Trish!  Toothless Wonders, one and all, thank you for 50 lbs of alfalfa cubes as well as the grooming supplies.  The extra soft brush and curry are perfect for new arrivals like Sherman that may be carrying little flesh over their weary old bones. Since we've seen more bot eggs this year than we usually do, the bot knife is particularly welcome!

At the risk of sounding a little repetitive, we could not offer TREES' residents the level of care we strive to meet without community support.  Every gift, big, small, cash, goods, or time, adds to the sanctuary's ability to execute its stated mission and goals. 

Thank you, everyone.

Welcome, Heather!

Its official! Our favorite vet clinic recently welcomed a new associate, Dr Heather Trout. Dr. Trout has been to Traveller's Rest several times since joining Rappahannock Equine Veterinary Clinic. The Geezers love 'er and I'm sure plan to teach her a few new things about "old" horses.

All we can say is "Watch out, Dr. Heather. They may be old, but they have wicked wicked senses of humor!"

Read more about Dr Trout in the Culpeper Star-Exponent.

Equine Sanctuary/Vet team up to help unwanted horse

For Immediate Release

Traveller’s Rest Equine Elders Sanctuary
PO Box 2260
Spotsylvania, VA 22553
540-972-0936
info@equineelders.org
Contact: Christine Smith

Rappahannock Equine Veterinary Clinic Demonstrates Commitment to Unwanted Horses
Local veterinarian teams up with Traveller’s Rest Equine Elders Sanctuary to provide vaccines for horses in need

Spotsylvania, VA (June 22, 2009) — Rappahannock Equine Veterinary Clinic, Locust Grove, VA, has taken a stand in support of unwanted horses by participating in the Unwanted Horse Veterinary Relief Campaign (UHVRC). As part of the outreach program, equine veterinarians help rescue and retirement facilities provide healthcare for America’s unwanted horses.

Traveller’s Rest Equine Elders Sanctuary (TREES) in Spotsylvania has directly benefited from the program. The facility, which provides care for neglected, abandoned and unwanted senior horses, recently received core equine vaccines thanks to the support of American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP)-member Amanda Blanton, DVM. Dr. Blanton supported TREE’s UHVRC application to obtain vaccines to protect these horses against rabies, Potomac Horse Fever, Encephalomyelitis, Tetanus, and West Nile Virus.

“Tens of thousands of horses end their days unwanted or unneeded,” says Christine Smith. “The horses in our sanctuary rely on the generosity of our supporters. We want to thank the Rappahannock Equine Veterinary Clinic for making a difference in the lives of our residents. Having Dr. Blanton on board in conjunction with the UHVRC is fantastic news for equine welfare.”

About the UHVRC
Established in December 2008 by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and the AAEP, the UHVRC is committed to protecting the health of unwanted horses by donating equine vaccines to qualifying equine rescue and retirement facilities. Since January, the UHVRC has aided more than 1,400 horses across the country.

Equine rescue and retirement facilities are required to work with an AAEP-member veterinarian to complete and submit an application, the facilities checklist and the equine vaccine order form to receive complimentary Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health equine vaccines.

Three of Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health’s equine vaccines are available through the UHVRC program: PreveNile® West Nile virus vaccine; EquiRab™ rabies vaccine; and Prestige® V (KY93, KY02 and NM2/93 flu strains, EHV-1, EHV-4, EEE, WEE and tetanus).

Equine facilities that follow the AAEP Care Guidelines for Equine Rescue and Retirement Facilities and have a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status are qualified to receive support from the UHVRC. To download an application and the AAEP Care Guidelines or to learn more about the UHVRC visit: www.UHVRC.org.

Since Dec.1, 2008, a portion of all Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health equine vaccine sales has gone to support the UHVRC. To learn more about Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health’s full line of innovative, high-quality, equine-health products, visit www.intervetusa.com.


About Traveller’s Rest Equine Elders Sanctuary
Traveller’s Rest Equine Elders Sanctuary specializes in caring for elder horses that have been neglected or abandoned or whose owners have experienced catastrophic changes in their personal lives. Though the horses at TREES are available for adoption, many require specialized care and remain at the sanctuary for the remainder of their lives. In caring for its special residents, TREES often develops customized management techniques which are made available to the public via the sanctuary’s web site at http://www.equineelders.org and its Blog at http://www.equineelders.blogspot.com , and through information booths at community events.

About AAEP
The American Association of Equine Practitioners, headquartered in Lexington, Ky., was founded in 1954 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the health and welfare of the horse. Currently, the AAEP reaches more than 5 million horse owners through its nearly 10,000 members worldwide and is actively involved in ethics issues, practice management, research and continuing education in the equine veterinary profession and horse industry.

About Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health is a leader in research and dedicated to the development, production and marketing of innovative, high-quality animal-health products for all major farm and companion animal species. For more information about Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health visit: www.intervetusa.com.


PreveNile, Prestige and EquiRab are property of Intervet International B.V. or affiliated companies or licensors and are protected by copyrights, trademark and other intellectual property laws. Copyright © 2009 Intervet International B.V. All rights reserved.

Thank You’s and other Tidbits

We have a lot of short updates and want to thank a lot of people today, so we’ll try to do it all in one post and hope we don’t leave anyone out.

We’d like to remind local Reiki practitioners that the first Shelter Animal Reiki Association orientation for the TREES program will be this weekend, Saturday, June 20, 10AM – noon. To participate, or for more information, please contact Janet Dobbs

The next Reiki workshop will be Reiki I, for both humans and animals, July 11-12. Saturday will be in McLean, VA, Sunday at Traveller’s Rest in Spotsylvania. For more information.

Our first resident update concerns Jubal. He’s back out with his “herd” (Fitz, Emma and Josh) and seems to be doing just fine. The wound on his fetlock is almost completely healed and almost all of the puffiness gone. Whew!

Lizzie is still gaining weight and doing well. She has settled in to the group including Sonny, Rienzi, Val, Marye and Wade. We’ve discovered she prefers to be called just Liz (not to be confused with “Just Jack” for Will and Grace fans.) Call “LIZ!” and she comes at a trot, but call “LIZZIE,” and she barely acknowledges your presence.

Josh is moving up in the pecking order in his field. Yesterday we noted that Fitz, who towers over Josh and outweighs him by several hundred pounds, was waiting in line behind Josh for a turn at the water tank. (The two boys and Emma all go for a drink immediately after eating a meal.)

Marye is still doing well and has not needed another Aeromask treatment yet this spring. Fingers crossed!

Now, the thank you’s!

First, thank you to Rennie, Gene, Carol, Michaele and Jim for coming to the sanctuary last weekend to help dry the place out after our freakish rainfall. It’s rained a few more times since, but nothing like the approximately 9 inches we got in about 24 hours that week.)

Thank you, too, to Gene and Carol for dropping off a new Wet Vac in case the weird wet weather continues.

Thank you to our neighbor, Patty, for arriving with a smorgasbord of seeds and grains about ten minutes after learning of Elmer’s arrival.

Thank you to COTH’s “Oldenburg Mom” for the gift of ~ 900 pounds of luscious smelling hay and to Samantha for coming along to help unload. Thank you, COTH’s “Nootka” for posting TREES’ contact information, making this donation possible.

Thank you, “Janet’s Dad” for a roll of quilt batting to use as leg wraps.

Thank you to Janet Dobbs’ students all, both Reiki and Animal Communication, who participate in workshops at TREES. It’s always fun to watch people’s faces as they come to understand that all things in nature are connected.

Thank you to everyone who sent prayers and support when Forrest arrived then departed in too short a time. Special thanks to Dr. Amanda Blanton who spent a good portion of her holiday weekend here. Thank you, again, to Gene and Carol for taking over the farm chores so we could focus on Forrest. Thank you Sam for transporting this determined old gentleman. Thank you, Janet, for being with Forrest as he crossed, and to Nelson, for bringing your backhoe out on Memorial Day, then returning a few days later with a donation. It seems Forrest touched a lot of hearts in the few days he was here.

We are continually (and gratefully) overwhelmed by the people who want to help offer retirement/hospice care to special needs elder equine. The horses, though, always feel there should be more visitors (more admirers.) If you’d like to visit and meet our special residents, please email us at info@equineelders.org or call 540-972-0936 (but remember that we’re somewhat telephonically challenged until Verizon comes June 24.)

Fitz' Story

One of our resident Thoroughbreds has shown up in several recent photos, but we’ve never posted his story.


Fitzhugh Lee (left) is a big, hefty 26 year old Thoroughbred gelding. He arrived late last summer, but its only in the past few weeks that he’s really come into his glory.

Fitz’ road to TREES began when his owners could no longer pay to board him at a stable in Maryland. Early in his story, the sanctuary had no space for another horse, but arranged to pay for a dentist visit to check his teeth. The big gelding was a little thin and had trouble gaining weight. The initial idea was to give him a good float, make sure he didn't have any cracked, loose, or infected teeth and hope that might help him gain weight, making finding a new home easier.

The dentist called while she was with Fitz to ask just how much work we wanted to fund. His needs went way beyond a routine float. (In the end she donated most of her time...he made a big impression on her.) He had several infected teeth and she said his whole bottom jaw felt somehow unstable. The supervising veterinarian even theorized that Fitz’ jaw may have been recently fractured. At that visit, one tooth was removed and the dentist and vet returned several weeks later to extract a second. That helped and Fitz began to gain some weight.

As several months passed, space became available at TREES, and arrangements were made to accept Fitz into the sanctuary.

Soon after his arrival, based on the unstable jaw comments, we had Fitz’ jaw x-rayed. Some areas looked like they could have been healed cracks in the jawbone, but it wasn't clear what might have happened or when. More significant was that Fitz’ teeth, particularly his incisors, were not normal and he had serious periodontal disease.

During the first several months he was here, Fitz just seemed "not right" in general. He sweat a lot when it wasn't very hot. He had a serious systemic reaction to vaccinations (sweating, colic, fever, etc,) he got very winded after trotting only a few yards, and his gums became bright crimson with a tiny bit of exercise. And he had a significant heart murmur. When we spoke with the vet about these symptoms, she immediately scheduled a cardiac ultrasound. Nothing appeared to be wrong with the heart valves, so the vets kept looking for the cause of the murmur. Finally, they got to the "bottom" of his heart and there was a large bacterial infection in one of his ventricles.

Meanwhile, since he was sedated for the ultrasound, the vets took a closer look at Fitz’ teeth. His gums were receding so much that the roots of two teeth were almost entirely exposed. One had a huge tartar cap on it that was so hard it took a Dremel to drill through it and break it apart. (We've since heard this abnormal tartar buildup called a "cementoblast.") As the vet drilled into the cementoblast, the bit went right through what should have been tooth behind it and into dead bone. The infection in the tooth had moved into the bone and caused some decay. A second infected incisor was also removed, but there was no bone involvement in relation to that one. That left one more incisor with most of the root exposed, but it still seemed to be firmly in place and not infected, so it was left alone for the time being.

We treated Fitz’ heart infection for the first time the last half of December and all seemed well. Last month, however, during a routine exam at vaccination time, the vet was not happy with Fitz’ heart sounds, so we treated again, this time for four weeks. Somewhere during the third week, Fitz suddenly started to pack on weight. So much so that we've cut his food back by half and may need to cut back more. He’s confident, full of energy and showing a playful side we hadn’t seen before.

All of Fitz's problems ultimately related to his teeth. As happens in dogs, cats and humans, it appears that the infected teeth, gums, and bone led to a systemic infection that led to the bacterial colony in his heart.

All the information the dentist was able to find on similar cases points to this periodontal issue being chronic. Fitz will need to be monitored for that frequently, and may eventually lose more incisors. Theories say it’s likely related to an underlying endocrine abnormality, (Cushings would be one possibility, though we haven't seen any other symptoms of that) leading to a suppressed immune system in general.

For now, though, our big Thoroughbred is feeling better than he has in some time.

Once again, thank you to our incredible vets who don’t view age as the primary reason behind things like lethargy or weight loss. Older horses may be more prone to certain illnesses than younger horses, but old age itself is not a disease. If your elder horse seems “off” and someone tells you “he’s just old,” but you feel there is more to it than that, please don’t hesitate to get a second opinion. After all, nobody knows your horse as well as you know him.

Laminitis Seminar - Locust Grove, VA

Date: Saturday, February 7, 2009
Time: 10AM - 12PM
Location: Rappahannock Equine Veterinary Clinic, Locust Grove, VA
Contact: 540-854-7171
Fee: None!

Laminitis, or "founder," is a problem that can affect any horse or pony of any age or breed. Join the staff of the Rappahannock Equine Veterinary Clinic for an educational seminar, following a case renowned farrier Eddie Shelton has been working on in conjunction with REVC doctors. They will present the case, its work-up, findings, current progress, and treatment plan.

Achieve a better understanding of hoof anatomy and physiology, as well as the mechanics of laminitis. Learn how to minimize risk and reduce the likelihood of founder through herd management practices. Ask questions as farrier and veterinarian work side by side to make their patient more comfortable.

Space is limited and is expected to fill quickly. Reserve your seat today!

Free Equine Arthritis clinic

Topic: Osteoarthritis in Equines

Date/Time: Saturday, November 15, 2008 -- 12:00

Location: Rappahannock Equine Veterinary Clinic, Locust Grove, VA

Contact: 540-854-7171
Seating is limited, so reserve a space today! (REVC closes on Friday at noon)
Free Lunch provided!

Speaker:
Dr. Robert Keene

Dr. Keene received his undergraduate degree in Animal Science from Montana State University in 1980, and graduated from the veterinary school of Colorado State University in 1983. He went on to practice in California, focusing on equine health, reproduction and surgery. Since 1985, Dr, Keene has served as consultant to many veterinary and equine research companies, and on several committees of the American Association of Equine Practitioners.

Our Equine Vets are the Best!

Traveller's Rest uses the services of several equine veterinary clinics on a regular basis. Some vets serve as our remote "eyes," evaluating and beginning treatment on horses still in their original homes, but bound for the sanctuary as soon as arrangements are completed. Some come to the sanctuary once in a while as specialists or complimentary practitioners.

The bulk of TREES' vet care, though, falls in the more than capable hands of the veterinarians of Rappahannock Equine Veterinay Clinic in Locust Grove, VA. Drs Blanton, McColgan and Licciardello all seem to have the same soft spot for Elders that we have. Not only do they provide excellent care (sometimes requiring a little extra research for the uncommon health issues we seem to attract - see "Happy Summer Solstice") but they treat our seniors as though they are high dollar show ponies. (Or course, some of them are, its just been a few years since they pinned that last ribbon .)

REVC looks out for our elders in other ways too. Sadly, one of the clinic's other clients recently laid to rest his last elderly horse. Having several hundred pounds of senior feed and bagged forage in storage, the old veteran's owner and REVC discussed whether or not there was a way to put that feed to use. We are gratefully happy to say they decided to donate the forage and senior formula to TREES. Arrangements are being made to pick up the goodies by the end of the week. TREES has also benefitted in the supplements and blanket departments when REVC mentioned the sanctuary to clients with surplus supplies.

Its difficult to express our gratitude for the entire staff of REVC, the vets, the techs, and the "girls" who keep the office humming. So we'll offer a shameless plug.........if you're interviewing equine veterinarians in the Spotsylvania, Orange, Stafford areas........add these folks to your short list.

Rappahannock Equine Veterinary Clinic