This is Doranna Durgin’s WordPlay Blog. I’m glad you’re here–whether it’s to learn more about my books, or chat about dogs, horses, and reading. On Fridays, The Write Horse usually stops by for life with horse training, written by Patty Wilber.
If you’d like to reach my Webstead, you can clicky on that link you just passed. Right there. Behind you! The one that said Webstead.
By Patty Wilber with my assistant, Lupo
Lupo says: my work is not complete unless i knock at least one pencil on the floor!
Part II of the Canyon de Chelly Adventure!
There has been a dearth of moisture in the Land of Enchantment, making New Mexico the state with the USDA’s most dire drought rating.
So, on Day 2 of our trip, in Arizona, just barely across the border, we awoke to rain. Ok, that is overstating it. We awoke to a slight drizzle. Haven’t seen that in months. But no matter, We, being Back Country Horsemen (four of us) or Experienced Distance Riders (one of us) were Prepared to Ride, even if the drizzle progressed to actual rain. We did not drive all this way, get health certificates and Coggin’s tests for the horses (which no one actually checked) to get washed out!
But first, JD’s tossed shoe (from his attempts to out-compete Peter’s mare, Squirt for possession of my mare, Toots) needed tacked back on. Our guide, Justin Tso, got his cousin to come do it first thing.
JD holds his feet still, but likes to nibble on his handler while being shod. Marcia loves that.
I waited it out in the “comfort” of the trailer.
Then we got going. We loaded the horses in the trailers and drove to our trail head because the day’s trip was to be a one way ride down into the canyon back to our lodgings. We would then shuttle up to get our vehicles.
Fortunately, there were many amenities at the parking spot (or not).
Dust drifts and doorless, but better than the “comfort” of the trailer!
If you look to the far lower right of the map, you can see a horse icon. That is where we parked. We rode down Bat Canyon (farther right on the map) into Canyon de Chelly and back to the Thunderbird Lodge (left of the map) along the Canyon floor .
Mary Ann in her slicker! It was chilly to start with. I lent my emergency ear warmer to Justin and a pair of rain pants to Marcia. We were all comfortable and it did not rain much at all.
The aroma of the sage in the damp was invigorating. It made me sneeze! We rode towards Bat Canyon. We did not see any bats. We reached the edge.
The trail didn’t drop right off, but pretty close.
On Saturday before we left, I took Marcia for a test ride on JD (he’d been here a couple months). We went into a nearby “canyon”–very small compared to Canyon de Chelly–but with a rocky and technical descent. She called me ” The Crazy Rock Lady” (or something similar).
Take our Saturday “practice” descent of 50 feet and expand into two miles.
The Bat Canyon trail dropped down along a spine with a lovely CLIFF on the left but a comfortable trail bed–except for the that one rock slide spot where the horses could slip, lose their footing and plunge over the edge! The scenery would be lovely on the way by…
Made that. No horse issues. Human breathing issues.
Then the trail hair-pinned left, and veered very steeply, clinging to the canyon side. The track was ancient. Justin said perhaps dating to the times of Anasazi (they were the makers of the cliff-side ruins.)
The good point about the rest of the Bat out of Hell Canyon trail was that it had a berm, so I never felt like I was going to pitch off the edge. However, it was highly eroded, so the foot-bed was anything was smooth. There were huge rocks, small rocks, rocking rocks, tilted rocks, slippy rocks and mini gorges. At no time were all four horse hooves at the same angle. Every step required planning by both the rider and the horse.
Any equine with a poor sense of body awareness or one that was too tightly wound would have ended up sprawled on its knees or with a twisted ankle. Many people might have had the same experience if they were to walk this trail. And, as I mentioned, it was STEEP!
There was nowhere for six animals to comfortably stop, so there was nothing to do but try to maintain an even, measured pace that all the animals could accommodate, and forge ahead. Near the end, several of our trusty steeds were showing signs of muscle fatigue–their legs were quivering. Some us might of been hyperventilating.
Toots, the squat tank, is so muscular and low to the ground, she’s a like a little ATV! She handled it really well–and brag brag–then went to a show on May 11th and won Ranch Pleasure, took a second in Ranch Trail, and a third in Reining!)
JD was also magnificent. So, may be I’m not so crazy? In fact, four of our five horses have covered my “crazy rock lady trails”, three of them extensively. I use those trails for training because it is interesting for the horses while helping them learn to use their bodies and watch where they are going. It is good for the minds of the show horses and boy did it help on this trail!
There are no pictures of the descent. We had to steer!
Toots says: there is no way i am going back up that, so don’t even ask. (the part shown is not even a hard part but at least it shows there are lots of rocks!.)
We shed some layers and took a sigh of relief that we had survived. This is not the best picture, but the bush behind Marcia is a Fendler Bush in bloom–we saw other flowers, too–unlike NM where it is so dry we barely even have weeds.
Along the floor of Bat Canyon towards Spider Rock.
The rest of the ride was easy and spectacular!
Spider Rock.
According to Justin, there was a woman that used to live near this spire and she wove rugs with the spider pattern. I know very little about Navajo rugs, and did not find anything listed as the “Spider Pattern” in a quick search. Apparently, there is no one left who knows how to do this pattern. The rock is named after her.
Peter took all the Day 2 pictures after the descent. Tons of gorgeous scenery!
We crossed a lot of water! Toots got to where she went right in and did not take the first opportunity to get out–she’d wade along until I made her to get out. She also drank frequently. This is great because not all horses will drink strange water and thus may be prone to dehydration on long rides.
Window rock!
Trotting across water! Not enough splash to be pictorially dramatic, but fun anyway!
On the right is a fenced area–keeps out the feral horses. On the left, the horses have access. As part of the management of the Canyon, invasive trees (Russian Olive and Salt Cedar) are being removed. The horses are also non-native. They need to go. I think the picture makes the point.
The scenery was like this all day long. Amazing!
On Day 2 we covered nearly 21 miles!
On Day 3, we rode to Little White House Canyon–see map. We rode along the paved rode with cars whizzing up behind us. I found that a little unnerving and was happy that Tulip was bringing up the rear when the motorcycle cavalcade roared by. All the horses handled the traffic well. We cut South and got out on some flat rock and wide open spaces.
I really liked the sky in this picture.
Then we hit sand dunes. Think those are marked on the map.
In some places there was no vegetation and just big sand drifts. We galloped over them!
Little White House Canyon was smaller and more intimate than Canyon de Chelly. It also gets far less tourist use, so it was just us. There were, of course, lovely rock formations.
And the Little White House Ruin.
Little White House Ruin.
This is a stand of Russian Olive that has invaded,choking out the native vegetation, but it did make a nice fore-ground for the photo!
Removal of the Russian Olive has brought the water table up quite a bit in Canyon de Chelly!
On the way back, Justin pointed out an ancient trail from Little White House Canyon to White House Ruin in Canyon de Chelly. Not enough time to ride that, but it sounded intriguing!
Or exploring Canyon de Muerte (the northern branch), or riding to the end (37 miles) on a two day trip…or…for something completely different, maybe Nevada?
There are so many places to explore! I sure enjoyed this trip with a great group of friends and a bunch of horses I also know personally (especially Toots! Thanks Wendy!).
By Patty Wilber
A few months ago, Mary Ann and I went riding. I was riding Marcia’s horse, JD. Mary Ann and I decided we should go to Canyon de Chelly.
Canyon de Chelly is a National Monument about 250 miles from Albuquerque, near Chinle AZ. Drive to Gallup, turn right. It is federally administered, but it is in the Navajo Reservation. Access to most of the canyon is restricted unless you hire a guide that is certified by the Navajo Nation.
So, for our partners, we recruited David, (who unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute), Peter (with Squirt), Marcia (with JD), and Chuck (with Dash). Mary Ann brought Tulip (aka Petunia) and I brought Toots.
Chuck knew of a guide so I called him. He wanted $800/day, and as I talked to him I felt as though my words were bouncing around at random. Apparently, I do not speak the Navajo version of English. It was sort of surreal. Maybe that is how my students feel when I talk to them!
I looked on my favorite tool, the Internet, and found a couple of guiding services–ended up calling Justin Tso’s Horse Rentals. He was willing to guide up for $15/ hour + $7/ horse. With the five of us that went, it worked out to $50/hr + a good tip. For 14 hours of riding over three days, we spend $850. A lot better than 800/day!
Had to figure out where to keep our horses. Justin set us up with Pauline Martin, and her horse accommodations were right across the street from the people accommodations: The Thunderbird Lodge–the only Inn In The Canyon. It was kind of pricey, but it was fun and funky and within sight of the horses.
Day 1: Arrived around noon, unloaded and let the horses out into a big arena to drink, relax and have a snack before our afternoon ride. JD had trailered with Toots and had decided Toots was his. Squirt rode with Tulip and Dash, but decided that no, Toots was HERS.
Toots ended up in the middle. (She’d be happiest if they all just left her alone, but she’s too polite to say so!–or else she is a complete whuss in the world of horse-y hierarchies). There was a lot of drama.
So much drama that JD threw a shoe.
JD also got put in a pen by himself, so Squirt won.
toots is mine. where ever she goez, i will be 6 inches away. at all times.
Justin said JD did not need a shoe for the evening’s ride, but we were unsure, so put an easy boot on and “secured” it (as it was a somewhat too large), with my handy dandy roll of Duct tape that I keep in the trailer.
It fell off anyway.
But Justin was right. The ride was in the canyon bottom in sand. JD did just fine without his shoe.
Justin had asked if our horses were good trail horses, and I gave them all the highest ratings. So, the first thing we came to was a water crossing and NO ONE wanted to cross.
How embarrassing! Meanwhile, JD and Squirt were making evil eyes at each other. (JD stands for Just the Devil! Not really! It is Just Dun). Still, all that posturing did make the whole group a little antsy–then add on the Not Going in That Water dance! Geez.
Fortunately, our intrepid guide was chatting with the park ranger guarding the canyon entrance, so we had a few minutes to get our act into the water and on our way.
Mary Ann on Tulip, Chuck on Dash, Justin (our guide) on Freckles. Laredo tags along.
Peter on Squirt ( I think we last saw Squirt when she and I completed the ACTHA ride last Dec.)
Marcia and JD–water became a piece of cake for everyone.
The entrance to the Canyon has beautiful rock, and the deeper you go the higher the walls! We rode along the stream, in and out of the water, looking up at the sandstone. Wow!
Our first guide stop was at some petroglyphs.
Nothing could have been more appropriate!
I gave my camera to Peter real quick so Toots and I could be in at least one picture for the day.
What is Squirt trying to do? Toots is not impressed!
Up the Canyon!
We continued on to a really cool ruin–Junction Ruin?
We had a very fine ride and we were well prepared:
Toots: Like a Girl Scout–always prepared. (or is that the Boy Scout motto?!)
Freckles is not a Girl Scout. 1-He’s a boy…2-Not so prepared.
All of our horses were carrying extra: water, rain gear, jackets, food, first aid kit, gloves, etc. etc. We were ready. You never know. It could have turned out like Gilligan’s Island.
They set out for a three hour tour and ended up stranded on that sitcom!
Chuck and Marcia show their teeth? I do not recall why!
Justin Tso!
And one last closing shot: There were lots of feral horses (busy decimating the environment) but here was a cute Appy foal.
Next Week: Tso Anyway: Our harrowing descent down Bat Canyon! (you can see it on the map link!) It was so harrowing, I did not have a free moment to snap any pictures. But there are lots of other nice shots. And Day 3 we did Little White House canyon, which was quiet and had a nice ruin!
Until Next Week!
By Patty Wilber
I traded some training for this horse last year.
“Why?”, you may ask. Well, because, sucker that I am, I wanted to keep her dad (A Paradox/Buckshot) in training with me. Buckshot was a whole lot of fun to ride and show and we were just starting to really get somewhere (got Reserve Jr National Champ in Working Cow at Appy Nationals! ) So, I took the filly.
Her registered name is Paranormal Activity.
(It fits.)
But I could not figure out a good barn name based on that. PN? Para? Norma (huh–didn’t thing of that at the time…) But whatever, nothing seemed quite right.
Then I came up with Like Totally (Awesome), which is 1) true(!) and 2) based on a joke with a friend who maintains that the word “awesome” is awesomely over used.
And LT is nicely alliterative with Lacey and Longshot, the other kids at the barn at the time.
LT wasn’t quite two and she was small (um I seem to specialize in small–see the picture–they are all the same small size) when I got her in early 2012, so she went out on pasture for the summer with her buddies Lacey and Longshot. (The Three Amigos!)
I started LT in late 2012,
Didn’t really ride her regularly until early 2013. She is coming along really well– in some ways.
She did not take to being the lead horse when I tried to pony off her, even though I had Lacey, her best friend (after Longshot). But since Longshot went to his real home after that summer fling in the valley, Lacey (Boss mare in training) moved up to Best Friend..Longshot is coming back next week to start his training. We will see what transpires in the horsey hierarchy!
Thus, since LT didn’t handle ponying duties,Toots gets to take Lacey on all the Back Country trips!
You can barely make out Toots or Lacey from our project last weekend, but it does look backwoodsy!
LT is also super sensitive (no spurs needed), which leads to being a bit on the over-reactive side when there is too much physical pressure (in her opinion) with the bit or bosal.
She throws her head and ducks her head and stomps her feet (just like a little kid throwing a fit!). Working on that–my actual kids were never fit throwers– but you’d think I could out smart a horse! Getting there by making her move with purpose whenever she starts in. She “gets” to keep her feet in motion until she softens up “in the face”–Light and flexible feel in the mouth and neck. Both soft and flexible are easy for her.
She does not buck or rear, and although she looks at everything, she is not spooky.
When she moves (as opposed to hoof stomping), she is so athletic it hardly feels like she touches the ground.
She is a busy body, which is a good trait for a horse being aimed at reiner/ cow horse–especially cow horse. (But can be a pain when FOCUS is needed!)
Two weeks ago she hit both lead changes in a reining competition (and got a third in a decent sized class!). Today she hit none after I went and bragged on her. Typical.
Today, though, she did work a cow mostly off my legs and her own innate feel for it. She tracked the cow and stopped hard when it did. She was brave when the cow tired to sneak by her on the fence. She floated her roll backs when the cow would stop and turn.
It was one of those rides when you get off and think , THIS is Like Totally Awesome!
by Doranna
Here’s a glimpse at the first half of Backlist eBooks newsletter this month…
If you’d like to see the real thing, complete with all those nice click-throughs, then here’s a link!
by Doranna
That’s right. It’s a post that includes both the Demon Blade series and the small new Beagle girl! I’m not even going to try to be clever enough to tie those together…
TAMING THE DEMON is juuuust about on the shelves–any day now!–and I’m getting ready for the Supernatural Smackdown that will ensue. Not that I had any clue what this was until recently, but I was delighted to receive the invitation to join in the fun and I suspect I’ll figure it out as I go along.
Mind you, I don’t expect to emerge with any sort of victorious flavor, because I totally don’t have the time or inclination to batter people to vote for my guy. But we’ll have fun nonetheless, and the people who derive glee from harvesting votes will find me a usefully easy stepping stone.
Here’s what Dark Faerie Tales has to say about the event so far!:
It’s that time again…Supernatural Smackdown. We wanted to create a fun and interactive event that would highlight all the new paranormal titles releasing over the next few months. We thought a battle theme would be perfect since everyone loves action!
So the second annual Supernatural Smackdown has arrived! Characters from all over the world unite for the premiere entertainment event. Held in a super secret location, supernatural characters will pit their talents to win the World Champion title and everything that comes along with it. [ed note: have no idea what this means, but it's gotta be good, right? Right?!]
Readers will vote to move characters into the next round. Final end on May 31st and the supernatural bad ass will be officially announced a week later.
Are you ready, supernatural fans? Let’s get ready to rumble!
So there you are. Devin James from Demon Blade will be in the middle of it. He’s not much for a random brawl, but that demon blade…well, let’s just say it’s sharpening itself as I type.
In part two of the fun parade, BEAGLES!
ConneryBeagle is still working his rehab and will be seeing a new vet on Thursday (a second opinion sort of thing on a particular therapy, about which I’m wavering), Dart Beagle is gearing up for another stab at that novice obedience title, and both boys are completely enthralled with newly arrived Rena Beagle.
Except for a few introductory moments, she’s never had to do anything other than vibe at them to get them to behave. She owns all the best beds and doesn’t think twice about it, and she says this is how it should be.
Rena herself is slowly settling in. She has a big adjustment to make–the environment didn’t have her permission to change so radically around her, she says–and of course she misses her old pack terribly. However, she visibly settles in a little more each day, and her personality is starting to peek through. Although she’s got a lot of training on her, I’m making it easy right now–all of what we’re doing falls into the category of “play” and “party.”
And here we are with a little of that from the weekend, when she came along to Dart’s VST (urban tracking) practice.
Rena shows off her snappy side gait and a little bit of her fun attitude.
And then she shows off her little strut!
by Doranna
“Hold on there!” the astute among you will say. “Rena Beagle is a girl name. And you have two boy Beagles.”
Yes. And now they have a girl Beagle.
(Or she has them. As I suspect the case will be.)
Rena upon arrival. (This isn’t a sneer. This is “My lips are stuck to my teeth, pretend not to notice.”)
About six weeks ago, the universe slammed me upside the head. It said, in short, “You are about to lose your Princess Belle Dog.”
(Off I go to tear up quietly for a few moments, because of course it’s still like that…)
Okay, I’m back. And the universe was talking. It then said, “As it happens, I know of a girl dog who needs a home. She is much loved, but things have changed in her home and she can no longer do the working Beagle things she craves.”
The universe then explained, “She is five years old, and she is a wee thing who once came from a shelter. She loves obedience and agility. She is a very good girl. And her dogmom will make arrangements to send her most of the way across the country to you.”
And oh. Her full name is Bellerena, because she’s named in honor of another girl dog named Belle.
AKA, the universe slam.
Obviously, this is not about replacing Belle, because…that’s not possible. Ever. It’s about a gaping hole in the pack, the boys in need of a girl, Connery’s very uncertain future (we carry on, we just don’t know where it’s going), and a girl in need of the chance to work…and a dogmom who loves her girl so much she’ll do what’s necessary to give her that chance.
I haven’t said anything before now, because I have a jinx superstition. Yes, I do–and it’s deep. Comes from years of sitting on contract news until the ink is dry, and an additional stunning series of lessons in not assuming on events until they’re here, or ELSE. But now Rena Beagle has arrived. She came via shuttle, which did a wonderful job, and she arrived in the dusk of last night with just enough time for her first raw food snack and some outdoor time before bed. And I would say that was her big adventure, but I think our big adventure is just starting!
Welcome home, Bellerena CDX OA OAJ!
Frog dog in the office. Already taking over!
PS: Also, the the universe further explained, “And don’t worry about when you’ll have time to get this blog written. Because Dart Beagle is still Dart Beagle, and he will be so excited to have his new girl dog that the vibrational sound of it will come wailing out of his throat during the wee hours no matter how hard he tries to be good, and therefore you will have some unplanned extra midnight oil of which you can take advantage.”
So I am.
Rena inspects her first desert yucca… She does not entirely approve.
But Connery approves. Oh yes he does.
By Patty Wilber
So, basically this is an advertisement.
A friend, Susan, graciously invited me to an evening at Popejoy Hall on the University of New Mexico Campus where the featured guest was the star of War Horse.
Yep! The Horse.
Of course I took pictures and then took a gander on YouTube, where I found a clip of the very presentation we saw!
The movements and sounds created by the three puppeteers made the puppet disappear and a (slightly unusual looking) horse come alive on the stage.
I spend a lot of time with horses.
That transformation was remarkable.
I am GOING to War Horse when it comes to NM next year!
I already know the story is good (having seen the movie) but I really just want to watch the horse!
Have a great week everyone!
by ConnneryBeagle
This is ConneryBeagle and I am WRITING THIS BLOG.
I have been QUIET. I have been BUSY with a thing called GETTING BETTER. Sometimes I do ACUPUNCTURE, and sometimes I do HERBAL THINGS, and then I do TREADMILL THINGS and BIKING THINGS.
But DART BEAGLE has been doing all the PLAY things. The play with agility and the play with obedience and the play with rally.
That is not fair.
It is not RIGHT.
But this past weekend mymom took DART BEAGLE to a thing called a FUN MATCH, which is even better than normal play. And I came out of the van crate for walkies and I said to her, “I SHOULD DO THIS TOO.”
I said it like this:
“BAWH!!! BAWOUL!!”
She said, “ConneryBeagle, you have not done rally for almost six years.”
And I said, “BAWH!!!”
And she said, “Well, you can play with rally novice and I will go SIGN YOU UP.”
And I said, “BAWH!”
Then I waited for my turn. It did not take TOO long. Mymom reminded me about what we were doing for only a little bit and then she TOOK ME TO THE RING.
This is me waiting my turn and I am READY TO GO.
And I am doing a SPIRAL RIGHT around the cones and we are MOVING SMARTLY
Mymom is laughing with the JUDGE because she made a MISTAKE, but I am not making a MISTAKE. I am GOOD.
We are at the END and I am still being VERY GOOD. I am a GOOD BOY.
Maybe Mymom will see that it is TIME for me to be DOING THINGS again. I think she SHOULD.
BAWH!
by Doranna
Last week I wrote a lamentful blog about my April 20 deadline for finishing first draft of LYNX REVEALED. You know…some chatter about deadlines, some chatter about unexpected CEs, some whining from the muse…
It was a stiff deadline and I needed to prove to myself that I could make it after several years of life transitions that turned my writing routines all murky, if ever ongoing. But hitting homestretch in the story with the addition of several hours of work per day on the CEs, and…
Well. I was sad.
Also, there’s always someone here at the office standing station with his insistent little Beagle feet against my leg, clamoring for attention. He’s always done this, but he also misses Belle.
“Training time! Train the Beagle!”
“Train the Beagle NOW.”
Well, here I am to tell you that HA HA HA! Friday morning, I wrapped up that first draft ANYWAY! And yes! I’m using lots of ALL CAPS!
Because I DID IT!
Take THAT, Chaos!
Done! Done done donedone!
Not only done, but darn close to target! (80-85K words for the Nocturne line. And I know I’ll be adding about 500 in a missing scenelett, and will tighten down a bit in second draft, when I won’t generally do much but refine the words on paper and slide through the story with defining tweaks to the various threads of it.)
The close-up. Strike a pose!
Of course, here I am two days later and the Muse is missing her first draft time rather badly, in spite of a full weekend of doggy and family events. But she’ll have to suck it up; there’s a week or more before I go back to the story with second draft. On Monday, I start right in on the proofs for CLAIMED BY THE DEMON, while simultaneously working CEs on the new edition of SCENT OF DANGER. Plus, the cover–!
And also this coming week, Big Things in the Offing for the Dogs. But that’s another blog. This one is all about BEING DONE.
Do the dance, Numfar!
By Patty Wilber
I have been looking for data on vaccine efficacy and longevity of immunity for tetanus, West Nile virus, rabies, eastern and western equine encephalitis and equine herpes virus (rhino), so that I could make better informed vaccination decisions for my horses. Turns out there is not very much in the way data detailing the length of immunity produced by the vaccines.
Tetanus. This is caused by toxins produced by the bacterium Clostridium tetani, an organism is found in the soil, horse intestines, fecal matter. It is every where! It can cause the disease when it enters a wound (even a really tiny insignificant wound). Uninoculated horses infected with this organism have a 75-80% death rate, and should they survive, recovery can be long.
The toxin that causes the problem is called tetanospasmin and it is one of the most potent toxins known. In humans only 2.5 ng (that is a billionth of a gram)/ Kg body mass can cause death, although only about 20-30% of people that are infected die.
CDC graph of tetanus cases in the U.S.
Human cases have steadily declined since the 1900′s due to better wound care followed by a vaccine that was introduced in the 1940′s. Almost all cases seen now are in the uninoculated or those who have gone more than 10 years since a booster. (When was my last booster?! Ahh!)
The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) page on tetanus cites a study showing that protection against the tetanus toxin in horses remained high for six months after vaccination, but says longer term studies do not exist!
What? Really? Then how do we know how often to vaccinate if there is no data? Cuz the vaccine maker said so? Seems like the fox might be guarding our chicken house full of $ we need to spend on vaccines.
A 1979 study I found from Europe indicated immunity to the tetanus toxin could persist for 128 months and with a booster, for an additional three and half years. BUT that was not using the vaccines commercially available in the U.S.
Zoetis (formerly known as Pfizer) markets a vaccine in New Zealand and Australia called Equivac-t that has the following recommended schedule: 1st shot, second shot in four weeks, third shot in one year, and then vaccinate every five years. I suppose this vaccine has not been approved for use in the U.S. by the USDA?
In the U.S. the AAEP recommends yearly boosters for tetanus. There are tests (or at least one I found) you can purchase to measure tetanus titer levels in horses, so that could be one way to see if you really need to boost your horse yearly. You might have to order from Germany…
It’d be kind of nice if there was titer data somewhere easily accessible!
West Nile Virus. In New Mexico in 2012 there were 46 human cases of WNV, 10 veterinary cases (most likely horses as 96% of non- human mammal cases are horses), and 20 mosquito samples tested positive.
Veterinary Cases of WNV, New Mexico, 2012
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Rabies. I kind of lied about Rabies. Although not common in horses (because most dogs are vaccinated and many horses are too–thus protecting the unimmunized–herd immunity!!), if contracted, rabies is 100% fatal. The vaccine works, and the recommended vaccination rate is once every three years according to Albuquerque Equine. The balance between cost, protection and possible side effects seems skewed to “JUST DO IT”, so I did not look for any additional information.
Eastern and Western Equine Encephalitis
Eastern Equine Encephalitis does not, and apparently has never, occurred in NM, but there were numerous veterinary cases (pink on this 2012 USGS map), as well as human and mosquito cases (not shown) East. (Yellow show states where it has historically occurred and white shows areas where it does not occur)
I also looked at maps for Western Equine Encephalitis back to 2007 and there were were no human, veterinary or mosquito cases in 2011 or 2012, but there were positive mosquito samples in California and Nevada in each of the other years. According to the AAEP, WEE has not caused many problems in horses for nearly two decades, but mosquitoes are still testing positive (as evidenced by the USGS maps). In addition, the virus does mutate so new strains may develop, necessitating new vaccination. The recommended dosage is once per year (after the initial series).
Equine Influenza. According to the AAEP, 100% of naive horses exposed to the flu will get it, and it will spread rapidly. Horses aged one to five are most susceptible. The intranasal vaccine provides protection for up to one year although it is only rated by the manufacturer for six months.
The horse immune system (well human, mouse–all of them) is an amazing and complex system! In the case of flu, it turns out the intranasal vaccine may be the best because not only does it promote the production of antibodies that circulate in the blood, but also antibodies that line the mucosa–just the spot where this virus likes to find and enter the cells it infects.
According to Wikipedia, horses competing in FEI events in Europe must be vaccinated every six months and have a card to prove it.
Geez, now I think I should go intranasal on this one! Maybe I’ll throw in a tube worming at the same time for good measure because the vet would have to do the intranasal flu thing. Or maybe not…it does not look too hard! And maybe I could order it on line.
Rhino (or Equine Herpes Virus 1). This is a DNA virus and once the horse is infected, in 80% of cases, the virus will embed in the DNA of some cells and lay dormant. Thus, it can be a life long infection. Unfortunately, even when infected naturally and embedded, immunity in horses seems short-lived (3 months).
This virus is everywhere horses are though, and on the plus side, according the AAEP, mature horses have been repeatedly infected and this bolsters their immune response, so they do not usually develop serious disease.
Chicken pox in humans is also a herpes virus and it also embeds in our DNA, sometimes reappearing as shingles later in life. EHV does not reappear as shingles in horses, thank-goodness–after all EHV is a respiratory virus (Ok there are some brain-releated cases) whereas chicken pox likes to embed in neurons of the peripheral (not brain or spinal cord) nervous system.
Horses under two are most prone to EHV infection and according to most sources I read, vaccination doesn’t produce strong immunity and doesn’t do a very good job at controlling either the respiratory or the neurological disease. More than one source recommended eliminating this vaccine.
Here is an except from the Veterinary Extension Service in South Dakota, May 2011. “Not all vaccines have published data supporting efficacy, and studies on the same vaccine sometimes have produced inconsistent results.The ubiquitous nature of the virus and propensity for the virus to become latent makes it difficult to study groups of animals that are similar immunologically. A recent review of EHV vaccines was unable to draw any conclusions about vaccine efficacy.”
The article goes on to say that the vaccines do seem to work, right after saying they didn’t, though…
On the other hand, newer vaccines for EHV are being developed that may end up being really great! And of course (**disclaimer disclaimer**), I am not the source you should consult for vaccination decisions! Talk to your vet!
So, finding all this out was rather time consuming! But kind of interesting too. Now I can go buy my vaccines, and at least have reasons!
