Lisa Anderson, a Copper Spring Ranch barrel horse trainer based in Moore, Texas, qualified a 2006 sorrel mare called Shez Easy Onthe Eyes in Junior Barrel Racing. The entry was sired by Frenchmans Guy and out of Shake Me Easy.

Trainer Shadd Parkinson of Scottsdale, Arizona qualified Deal Me A Winner, a 2006 bay mare, in Junior Working Cow Horse. The mare is by Dealin Dirty and out of Just Plain N Taffi.

The AQHA World Show is the largest single breed championship horse show and is the pinnacle event for competitors from around the world who qualify by earning predetermined points to secure a spot in the 94 classes. More than 3,320 entries from the United States and 12 other countries are competing for $2.6 million in prizes and awards in classes representing English, western and halter categories.

Owned by Karen and Klein Gilhousen, and managed by Karen, Copper Spring Ranch breeds, raises and trains speed-bred registered Quarter Horses with a select brood mare band and a breeding program that showcases the stallion, Prime Talent.

Prime Talent is a 2000 bay stallion with a stakes-winning record and speed index of 107. While highlighting the future genetics at Copper Spring Ranch, this talented stallion has already been siring stakes winners at key racetracks across the country. By Corona Cartel and out of Oh How You Shine, his genetics are destined to influence the barrel racing world in the future.

Cooled semen is available through private treaties. The CSR incentive program features $100,000 to the first foal by Prime Talent to win a timed event at the National Finals Rodeo and $100,000 to the first foal by the stallion that wins the Barrel Futurities of America World Championship, according to the manager. Montana incentives are available as well. See the copperspringranch.com website for more details about the incentive program.

The ranch is proud to be hosting the first Back Country Horseman seminar, starting December 3. The four part series will be lead by members of the Back Country Horseman of Gallatin Valley and teach members of the public the fundamentals of back country and wilderness camping with livestock. Other dates for the seminar are March 24, April 28 and May 12, 2012. Participants must attend all for parts of the seminar, which will culminate in a back country pack trip in the spring.

The CSR Equine Sports Medicine Center will be hosting their Winter Lecture Series for the public the third Thursday of each month, December through March. Topics include cough, reproduction, nutrition and new treatments for lameness.

Educational clinics will also return to Copper Spring Ranch in the spring of 2012. Ken Smith Pole Bending will be held March 2-4. Lynn Smith Goat Tying and Break Away Roping will be March 9-11. Rod Lyman Steer Wrestling will be March 13-17. Lisa Anderson Barrel Racing is March 30-April 1.

More details for these events and registration forms will be posted to our calendar of events as soon as they are available.

By Debbie Moors, Western Horseman
Posted with permission of Western Horseman

Ringbone isn’t an unusual malady. It’s common in senior horses that have led active, athletic lives. But the plight of those older horses has been of personal interest to Ellis Farstvedt, DVM, and the CSR Equine Sports Medicine Center in Bozeman, Montana.

To read the entire article, click here.

Dr. Patrick M. McCue, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACT

The presentation covers a comprehensive horse owner’s guide to foaling and foal care.  It covers a wide range of pertinent topics to prepare horse owners for the upcoming foaling season including what to do in emergency situations, foaling predictions, on-farm obstetrics and post foaling topics and the keys to a successful foaling season.

Dr. McCue is a world recognized authority on equine reproduction. He serves as the director of the Equine Reproduction Laboratory and coordinates the Clinical Broodmare, Foaling and Embryo Transfer Services. In addition, he attends to dystopias, high risk pregnancies and other equine reproduction cases at the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Colorado State University. In addition to writing scientific articles and textbook chapters, Dr. McCue contributes a monthly column called “The Breeding Shed” to the American Quarter Horse Journal.

Dr. McCue graduated from veterinary school at the University of California, Davis, in 1986. He subsequently completed an internship in Large Animal Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and a residency in Equine Reproduction at the University of California, Davis. He received a PhD in Comparative Pathology, with an emphasis on reproductive endocrinology and ovarian pathology in the mare, from UC-Davis in 1992, and joined the faculty at Colorado State University in 1994.

March Program

On March 24, Dr. Stuart Shoemaker DVM, a partner at the Idaho Equine Hospital of DACVS, Nampa, Idaho is the featured speaker. An expert of imaging technology, his topic is lameness imaging and advances in therapy.

Prior to joining the Idaho Equine Hospital, Dr. Shoemaker was on the faculty at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine.

The CSR Equine Medical Center serves the Rocky Mountain West with the most advanced digital equipment and medical technology available today to keep performance horses in optimum condition for the arena, ranch and breeding operations.

CSR Equine offers 360 degrees of equine excellence with sports medicine programs, comprehensive reproduction services, a state-of-the-art surgical suite with diagnostic and therapeutic equipment and certified acupuncture for the public while also serving as a referral facility in the Northern Rockies.

For additional information, contact the Copper Spring Ranch Equine Sports Medicine Center at 406.522.4044.

Dr. Lisa Baller, DVM, CVA

Dr. Lisa Baller, DVM, CVA, a staff veterinarian at the CSR Center, is going to be one of the featured speakers, with a lecture that covers colic from the perspective of horse owners.  Baller’s presentation is going to address the diagnostic signs for colic, what horse owners can do at home and what to expect when a horse owner calls a veterinarian to their barn versus what to expect when a horse is taken to a veterinary clinic.

Dr. Baller also plans to cover good preventative measures, and will cover several cases studies to help horse owners obtain an idea of what veterinarians encounter when treating colic cases at equine hospitals.

In addition, a second presentation is being given by Justin Smith, an equine representative for Merial. Smith is going to provide information to help horse owners diagnose the signs of ulcers, talk about prevention programs and outline treatment procedures.

Baller has a special interest in lameness, sports medicine, acupuncture and alternative therapies that comes from her lifelong interest in horses. She grew up on a Park County, Montana ranch and graduated from the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2003 and has been practicing in Montana since her graduation. She is a registered United States Equestrian Federation veterinarian for rated hunter and jumper shows.

Along with her professional career as a veterinarian practice, Baller competes in hunter and jumper events with her Thoroughbreds and Warmbloods.

The lecture is free to clients of the CSR Equine Sports Medicine Center who have been customers during the past year. The series is also free for MSU and University of Montana Western students. Other horsemen are welcome to attend for a fee of $15 to cover printed materials that are provided.

The third lecture on foal care is scheduled for February 24 with Dr. Patrick M. McCue, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACT. Dr. McCue’s topic is “Saving Foals – What horse owners should know about foaling and foal care.”

Dr. McCue graduated from veterinary school at the University of California, Davis, in 1986. He subsequently completed an internship in Large Animal Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and a residency in Equine Reproduction at the University of California, Davis. He received a PhD in Comparative Pathology, with an emphasis on reproductive endocrinology and ovarian pathology in the mare, from UC-Davis in 1992, and joined the faculty at Colorado State University in 1994.

McCue is the director of the Equine Reproduction Laboratory and coordinates the Clinical Broodmare, Foaling and Embryo Transfer Services. He also attends to dystocias, high risk pregnancies and other equine reproduction cases at the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Colorado State University. In addition to writing scientific articles and textbook chapters, Dr. McCue contributes a monthly column called “The Breeding Shed” to the American Quarter Horse Journal.

On March 24, Dr. Stuart Shoemaker, DVM, Idaho Equine Hospital, is going to present a detailed program about the latest lameness imaging technology and advances in therapy. He is one of this nation’s leading experts on imaging technology.

Copper Spring Ranch is offering the lecture series to give Montana horseman the opportunity to be better informed, and to give students the chance to interact with many of the top professionals in the equine medical industry.

The aim of CSR is not only to help regional horsemen but to also elevate the Montana horse industry throughout the state.

The CSR Equine Medical Center serves the Rocky Mountain West as a referral hospital for the Northern Rockies as well as for local area horsemen. The clinic features the most advanced digital equipment and medical technology available today to keep performance horses in optimum condition for the arena, ranch and breeding operations.

For additional information or to make reservations, contact the Copper Spring Ranch Equine Sports Medicine Center at 406.522.4044.

The Copper Spring Ranch Sports Medicine Center team is pictured with Bugs Bunny following the successful colic surgery. From left, they are Teri High, Joni Smith, Dr. Alan Goldhahn, DVM, and Dr. Lisa Baller, DVM. Copper Spring Ranch Photo

Article by Bill Brewster

Bugs Bunny, one of professional rodeo’s rough stock super stars, is back on the J Bar J Ranch near Circle after being saved from life-threatening colic with emergency surgery by a team of veterinarians and technicians at the Copper Spring Ranch Equine Sports Medicine Center near Bozeman, Mont.

The famous 10-year old stallion was among nine bareback horses and four saddle broncs scheduled to buck at the December 2010 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas and Mack Stadium in Las Vegas from Sparky and Marlene Dreesen’s J Bar J.

Bugs Bunny, however, didn’t make it to the finals.

The day before the stock was going to be loaded for the trip, Bugs was diagnosed with severe colic by Circle veterinarian Dr. Marilyn Howell, DVM. Instead of heading to Vegas with the rest of the horses, Bugs Bunny was unloaded at the Copper Spring Ranch clinic and underwent an operation for colic by surgeon Dr. Thomas Jakob, DVM, of Bozeman, along with assistance from CSR’s Dr. Alan Goldhahn, DVM, and Dr. Lisa Baller, DVM at 2:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. The support team that worked for hours also included vet tech Joni Smith and ranch trainer Teri High.

“Dr. Howell did a great job of treating Bugs Bunny prior to the referral for surgery,” attending veterinarian Goldhahn said. “Bugs Bunny had a small colon obstruction with tremendous large colon distention.  Surgery entailed removing the gas, emptying the large colon of ingesta, and eliminating the obstruction.  The horse came through the surgery like a champ, and never looked back.”

When the Dreesens returned from the Finals they loaded Bugs Bunny back on the semi-trailer with the rest of the NFR stock for the trip back to Circle.

By then Bugs Bunny was full of energy and back to feeling his literal oats.

“When we unloaded at home, Bugs Bunny acted like he wanted to go to a rodeo,” Dreesen said. “We are planning on retiring him after the NFR this year and just keeping him as a stud, but I feel he got gypped. This was supposed to be his second trip to the national finals and they had put him in the rank pen.  Maybe he needs to go to the finals again.”

Sparky and his wife not only returned with their highly regarded bucking horses.

Dreesen received the prestigious NFR Remuda Award from PRCA commissioner Karl Stressman on the eve of the rodeo as the stock contractor who provided the best, most consistent pen of bucking horses.  The award came with a bronze sculpture that showed three of Dreesen’s top horses: Bug Bunny, Special Times and Faded Charm.

Bugs Bunny has also been to the Dodge National Circuit Finals in both bareback and saddle bronc events and was in the Match of Champions at Sentinel Butte, N.D., where he was the Horse of the Match.

“It is typical for him to mark 22 to 24 out of a possible 25 on him,” Dressen said. “He gets up off the ground and high in the air, kicks hard and makes a lot of jumps in eight seconds. He is fast.”

Dreesen said the real beauty of Bugs, along with being a great athlete, is that he is passing on his superior genetics to his off spring.

One of his colts, Rodeoing Beyond, was the second high horse in the ninth round of the NFR.

Sparky Dreesen

Bugs Bunny carries three generations of line breeding that is being used by Dreesen to produce top bucking horses. On the top side, he is by a stud called Bugsy that is owned by Shane Viara of Richey. On the bottom side, he is out of line bred Crow Woman and Red Lizard.

“Although we have been running a lot of brood mares we are now getting really selective on what we are breeding and now are focusing on about 40 of the best mares that will continue to build our bucking horse program,” he noted.

Dr. Kenton Morgan, DVM. Bill Brewster photo

By Bill Brewster

For Tri-State Livestock News

Over 50 horse owners received the latest information on preventive medicine and parasite control recently from Dr. Kenton Morgan, DVM, DACT, during the first of the winter lecture series provided by Copper Spring Ranch’s Equine Sports Medicine Center.

Morgan, an equine veterinary specialist for Pfizer Animal Health, started with a look at the broad picture of equine health categories at the lecture. He said the important areas included vaccinations, parasite control dental care, routine physical exams, biosecurity, barn management and nutrition.

“In preventive medicine, nutrition is the base,” Morgan said.

Morgan started with an overview of vaccination principles.

“Not all vaccines are 100 percent effective,” Morgan noted, “and a standard vaccination program for all horses does not exist.”

To be effective, he said vaccination recommendations should be based on five factors: Risk of disease for pathogens; consequences of disease – morbidity versus mortality; anticipated effectiveness of selected vaccines, and potential for adverse reactions.

Clients should understand, he said, that vaccinations in the absence of good management will not prevent disease. Vaccinations serve to minimize risk of infection but do not prevent it in all circumstances.  The primary series of vaccines and boosters should be appropriately administered prior to exposure and accomplished in conjunction with the broad management picture.

In addition, Morgan said clients should understand that horses in a population are not protected to an equal degree and protection is not immediate because it takes time for the immunization to take effect.

With very young foals, the best approach, according to Morgan is to immunize the mother during gestation.

Core Vaccines

CSR Equine lecture participants, from left to right, Dr. Kenton Morgan, DVM, Pfizer equine specialist; Dr. Ellis Farstvedt, DVM, director of the CSR Equine Sports Medicine Center; and Morey R. Ray, senior Equine T erritory manager for Pfizer Animal Health. Bill Brewster photo

Morgan explained that core vaccines are those considered to be necessary for all horses no matter what their use because they are life threatening and mortality is high.

They include ones for West Nile Virus, Eastern and Western Encephalitis, Tetanus and Rabies. The details about how and when to give these vaccines is best determined by a horse owner’s veterinarian.

The equine encephalomyelitis diseases of Eastern and Western Encephalitis and West Nile Virus are all viral diseases that are transmitted by mosquitoes to horse from infected birds, he noted.  They cause inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.

Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) is found nationwide but primarily in the Eastern United States from New England t o Florida. The disease kills 75-90 percent of affected horses. There were 288 cases of EEE in the country in 2009, he said.

Western Encephalitis is generally fond west of the Mississippi.

Morgan said preventative measures include elimination stagnant water, aerial and topical spraying and placing horses in stalls at night with fans placed in stalls and turning off standard lights.

Tetanus

All horses are at risk for Tetanus (Clostridium tetani), Morgan said. The infection is caused by puncture wounds, lacerations and sole abscesses and affects the central nervous system.

Rabies

Equine Rabies is a virus transmitted via saliva of infected animals such a skunks, raccoons, coyotes or foxes. Morgan said horses generally just exhibit the dumb stage clinical signs rather than the viscous stage. The signs include depression, salivating and repeated swallowing movements.

Risk-Based Vaccinations

In addition to the core vaccines, Morgan told horse owners at the clinic that there are a number of risk-based diseases that are a particular risk in certain equine populations or area populations.

Those diseases include Equine Herpes virus (Rhinopneumonitis), equine influenza, Strangles (Streptococcus equi), Equine Viral Arteritis, Botulism, Anthrax, Potomac Horse Fever (Equine Monocytic Enhrlichiosis) and Rotoviral Diarrhea.

● Equine Herpes Virus commonly affect younger horses from weaning age to two or three years. It becomes latent in lymph nodes of the respiratory tract. Latent infections may be lifelong, he added.

● Equine Herpes virus type 1 (EHV-1) causes abortions and neurologic disease. Equine Herpes virus type 4 (EHV-4) is an upper respiratory disease and rarely causes abortions. Morgan said many horse are latently infected for life.

● EHV Upper Respiratory Infection is one of the major causes of ‘colds.”  It is caused primarily by EHV-4 and occasionally by EHV-1. The virus is transmitted from infected horses when stressed.

For EHV 1 and 4 (respiratory) inoculations, Morgan said foals should receive a series of three shots at four to six months of age, then after that, every six months.

New recommendations call for adult horses to receive the vaccine every six months, he suggested.

● EHV – 1 (Abortion) is highly contagious and causes abortion in late pregnancy and occasionally causes the delivery of weak, severely compromised foals.

● Equine Influenza is a highly contagious, major cause of “colds.”  It is transmitted from infected horses and the signs include fever, nasal discharge, cough, anorexis and depression. It can cause damage to the lining of the upper respiratory tract and can be extreme. Moderate cases require six three months of rest and severe cases can require six months to fully recover. Dr. Morgan recommended one week of rest per day of an elevated temperature over 102.5 degrees followed by very gradual return to work.

The equine influenza vaccination schedule calls for the foal series of three shots beginning at six months of age. Pregnant mares should be inoculated four to six weeks prior to foaling. Adult horse should be vaccinated twice a year.

Parasite Control

An approach to parasite control that has been used for decades called for dewormers to be used every 60 to 90 days, Morgan said. This strategy, however, is being changed to provide more specific applications for different types of worms.”We are seeing resist ant populations because of frequent deworming administration, continue use of a single class of anthelmentics and under dosage that is caused by poor weight estimation and improper administration,” he said.

There is a growing concern, he said, because there are only three classes of equine anthelmentics on the market and no new ones on the horizon.

Through an extended period of time, through repeated exposure to the dewormer products, the susceptible population is replaced by a resistant population which becomes the dominant population.

For this reason, strategic parasite control is the new approach recommended by Pfizer and many veterinarians.

The traditional approach focused on large stronglyes and ignored tapeworms and small stronglyes and treated horses in 60 to 90 day intervals.

The new approach focuses on small stronglyes in adults and ascarids in foals.

It takes into consideration the frequency and type of wormers being used and analyzes the efficacy of currently used worming products, he noted.

The strategic plan also looks for the correct drug for the correct parasite at the appropriate time of the year.

He recommended fecal exams to identify high, moderate and low shedders. The qualitative analysis should categorize low shedders with less than 150-200 eggs per gram, Moderate shedders with 200-500 eggs per gram and high shedders with greater than 400 eggs per gram.

Morgan also recommended an assessment of the horse and property to determine if it is low, medium or a high risk.

It should take into consideration, the age of the horse, local climate cycles, type of pasture and whether is lush or over grazed and the horse density.

Management issues to look at include the use of individual stalls or paddocks, and whether individual pastures or large or small group pastures are used. It is also important, he said, to determine how horses are fed, whether manure is removed, and if pastures are rotated.

The collective result s from the survey gives tools, he said, for a veterinarian to use to develop a parasite control program based on all of the factors.

For effective parasite control, Morgan said veterinarians need to drive the parasite control program which should be based on science and clinical evidence. It’s important, he added, to evaluate current products to make sure they are effective.

Here are some of his recommendations:

● Small Strongyles cause concerns because of the encysted larval form which can cause weight loss, colic, diarrhea, fever and even death. The cyst wall forms a protective barrier and conventional dewormers are not effective.

● Roundworms (Ascarids) are the principal parasitic pathogen in the foal and young horses. The large (6-9-inch) worms live in the small intestines and affect animals under six months of age. Adults are immune.

They migrate through the live and lungs. Morgan said the eggs are very resilient and abundant. They live for one or more years on pastures and are not affected by climate.

● Tapeworms can cause significant pathology and can lead to colic when present in large numbers. He said the severity of pathology is proportional to the magnitude of the infection.

He said horse become infected by swallowing pasture mites after the mites ingest worm eggs.

Fall, he said, is a good time to treat for tapeworms.

The lecture was the first of a winter series at Copper Spring Ranch. Other lectures for horse industry participants are scheduled for January 27, February 24 and March 24. Go to copperspringranch.com for additional information.