Equine Herpes, is it as Bad as “They” are Making it Out to Be?
What can you to do right now “naturally” to help your horse?
By Jessica Lynn
There is no need to panic, as there are natural ways to boost your horse’s immune systems, and there are also homeopathics and nosodes you can obtain from homeopathic vets including a Herpes nosode that may also be used to treat your horse. However, it is you, the horse care taker, that needs to be proactive about your horses health and their immune system in the moment.
So, the question begs to be asked, “How often did we hear in 2006 about the Bird Flu Pandemic that was coming in all the news and in all the cocktail hour discussions in the winter of 2005?” How about the Swine Flu, I got that in March 2009, wherein I used all my knowledge, homeopathy, and yes I was very sick but I survived!
And how about all of the scare tactics, rumors and emotions that went with those press releases that were intended to increase sales of Tama Flu and other anti viral’s and to keep the public stirred up! How about all the rumors that start flying that are not factual?
What about all the hoopla with West Nile in equines, how much are you hearing about that these days, now that the vaccine makers have made a fortune on their products as well as sicken and killed scores of horses?
Isn’t it interesting to note that most horses did not typically “die” of West Nile, they were “voluntarily” euthanized by their owners, who did not want to, or could not pay for treatment to cure their animals! But it was not reported that way in the media at all, if you ask they didn’t do the research to know that. I am going to guess that when all is said and done on this equine herpes scare e that the horses who died were voluntarily euthanized, and most could have overcome this illness with holistic care! Same could be true for this outbreak.
Is this EHV-1 mutant a serious problem? Could be, but we will not know for some time. Can your horse survive it if he comes down with it? Most likely if you get immediate and holistic treatments. Can you do anything in the mean time to be proactive? Absolutely! Nutrition, supplements, herbs and more!
So goes the Equine Herpes “scare”! Right now it is front page news, and our local vets are telling people to get the “Rhino” vaccine for their horses right now, but why would you want to compromise their immune systems with a vaccine that is not for this mutation of the virus? Giving a vaccine now will compromise your horse’s immune systems over the next 7-10 days or longer, is that really what you want to do? Give a vaccine for a different virus and compromise their immune health?
It is true, a few years back we had the same scare, there was a load of horses, who were imported that brought over the Herpes virus, and it is true some became sick, and were euthanized. But of the millions of horses who have been in this country, for hundreds of years that have been exposed naturally, and lived, don’t you think some of the horses you know have already been infected and lived? Don’t you think that some have also built their own immunity to this virus by now and even if exposed would not come down with it or would survive it just fine?
What happens is that horses who are stressed end up having a compromised immune system, and are more susceptible to viruses and other bacterial infections. Horses that are transported over long distances, via plane, train, and trailer are all stressed. Horses in competition are stressed, and their immune systems compromised.
“EHV-1 is not transmissible to people; it can be a serious disease of horses that can cause respiratory distress, neurologic disease, and death. The most common way for EHV-1 to spread is by direct horse-to-horse contact. The virus can also spread through the air, contaminated equipment, clothing, and hands.
Symptoms include fever, decreased coordination, nasal discharge, urine dribbling, loss of tail tone, hind limb weakness, leaning against a wall or fence to maintain balance, lethargy, and the inability to rise. While there is no cure, the symptoms of the disease may be treatable.” From the Colorado State Department of Ag.
So, what do we now have, we have a very active campaign of letting people know there has been an outbreak, state departments of ag are getting the word out, the cutting horse people are contacting all the horses that were at the cutting to let them know to look for symptoms. This is a mutated virus so giving a vaccine for a different virus would not be appropriate at this time, as there is no vaccine for this mutation, and it is neurological in nature, not the virus that causes abortions or rhino.
The key to all of this is nutritional health, keeping your horse’s natural immune system in good order, getting it there now if it isn’t, to help prevent infection in the first place. Not knowingly exposing your horses at shows or in transport.
So how does one do this? With natural ingredients including a wide spectrum pre/pro-biotic formula, ginseng, beta glucan and Colostrum, Vitamin C, garlic and have Echinacea on hand as well. Earth Song Ranch has a product called Equine Zyme Plus (+) (which has everything except the Echinacea & garlic) in its formula already and was formulated to boost and maintain equine immune health which is in the gut, while providing 43 billion CFU’s of 9 different horse friendly probiotics in each scoop!
Make sure our horses have good quality hay, are given extra Vitamin C (1 to 2 teaspoons) on a daily basis, and are also given probiotics and prebiotics to keep their immune system in good standing and working properly.
So what is a Homeopathic Nosode? Nosodes are really homeopathic “immunizations” as opposed to “vaccinations”. They are made the very same way as a homeopathic remedy, at a homeopathic compounding pharmacy by dilution, and succussion, except they are made from the “discharges” when an organism (animal or human) gets sick. For example, a canine distemper Nosode is made from the nasal discharge from an infected dog, a Parvo Nosode is made from the diarrhea of an infected animal, i.e. the EPM Nosode is made from the spinal cord of an EPM positive horse as is the Herpes Nosode.
Nosodes have been used for over a hundred years in homeopathy and have an excellent track record. In Horses the flu, Rhino, EWT (Eastern and Western Encephalitis, Tetanus) combo, West Nile, Strangles, EPM (Equine Protozoal Myelitis) and Herpes are available and have been quite effective. You need to contact your local homeopathic vet for the Herpes Nosode and ask about dosing either for prevention or in the event of your horse contracting this virus.
So What About Probiotics or Good Bacteria?
Although people often think in negative terms when they hear the word “bacteria”, in reality there are three kinds of bacterial micro-organisms — “good” (beneficial), “neutral” and “bad” (i.e. E. Coli, salmonella. et al).. Horses need a balance between these, thankfully only a few of the “bad” lactic acid-producing bacteria are needed to keep the good and neutral in check. As long as the balance of good, neutral and bad bacteria remains constant and the gastro-intestinal tract is stable, the horse stays healthy.
However, when the delicate balance is upset, the horse may not be able to properly digest or assimilate the nutrients he needs from his food. This can manifest itself as a dull coat, skin conditions, allergies, inability to maintain weight, slow hoof growth, sore feet, or other medical conditions including intermittent diarrhea, and in the spring laminitis, also leaving your horse susceptible to any virus going around.
Imbalance-tipping the scales
The population of beneficial live micro-organisms in the cecum remains relatively “stable” under normal conditions. As long as a horse is never stressed, never needs to be chemically wormed, is never vaccinated, never has a change in feed, and never needs antibiotics, then the balance should remain unaltered. However…. as we all know, our horses do experience stressful events, things our of our control such as the long and harsh winter we just went through, and they may need antibiotics or worming on occasion, and do have feed changes with the seasons and each load of hay.
Some of the most common causes of digestive disturbances in horses include:
- stress brought on by sudden changes in food, unseasonable weather conditions, moving, travel, competition, training and showing.
- Rich green spring grasses
- chemical worming
- parasitic infestations
- vaccines
- viruses
- fevers
- antibiotics
- breeding season, pregnancy, foaling, and weaning — both for mare and foal.
Another far too common source of digestive disturbance is starch and/or sugar overload. Some bag feeds, molasses, carrots, and sugar are causes of some of these problems. Grazing on rich spring grass or eating a diet too high in sugars can disrupt beneficial microbials, causing partial die-off. This raises the acidity in the gut, changing the natural pH balance, resulting in massive destruction of the normal micro-flora and reducing a horses ability to fight off infections. Recent laminitis studies have indicated the toxins caused by this die-off can lead to laminitis and overall general inflammation in the horse’s body which can show up as unspecific soreness.
Unfortunately, the micro flora/microbial balance in a horse can be upset much faster than it can be restored. The effect may not show up immediately, but a horse’s beneficial intestinal bacteria can be depleted or destroyed and the pH of this environment severely altered during digestive upsets.
Therefore, it’s wise to be pro-active by reducing stressors, when possible and supplementing with pro-biotics and digestive enzymes especially during at-risk times or after chemical worming, vaccinations, or changes in feed stuff.
Some people, including myself, feed pro-biotics daily as a preventative and for their immune boosting effects, some feed it only after chemical wormers or vaccines for up to a month’s time to replace the good bacteria killed off by the chemicals, others feed it for one week each month to make sure their horses always have added support.
Right now it all depends on the horse and the situation at hand, and in the areas right now that have horses testing positive for EHV-1 – if it were my horses I would be feeding Equine Zyme Plus every day, twice per day, along with a teaspoon of Vitamin C, some garlic, and extra colostrum, and looking at my feeding program to make sure most sugars or NSC’s are limited. I would be contacting a homeopathic vet and getting nosodes and any other remedies to have on hand just in case.
Be proactive in your horses health, not only for this outbreak but for all times as well!
To contact Jessica: http://holistic-herd.com/earthsong-ranch/
