July/August 2025 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN July/August 2025 Page 23 Go ahead... Ask da Mare Dear Mal, A woman I met at a luncheon asked me about my horse. She said she had driven past a large horse farm recently on a day it was raining pretty hard. She said she couldn’t believe there were horses in the pasture and asked me if I let my horse stay out in the pasture in the rain. The question struck me as pretty funny, and I laughed—thinking she was joking. She wasn’t joking. In fact, she gave me a lecture (in a loud voice) about animal cruelty and neglect and heartless owners who just assume their animals will be fine. She said she had seen a lot of stories on the internet about horses getting hor- ribly injured and killed because of owners who neglected them. I was too shocked and confused by her overreaction to say anything. What would you have done or said? Shocked Dear Shocked, Your experience was clearly unfortunate; I hope the food at the luncheon was better than the com- pany at your table! Let’s look at this situation from two perspectives: perhaps this lady was dealing with an overwhelming load of anxiety and sadness and you happened to be next to her when it all erupted; or, alternatively this lady might be suffering from “internet poison,” a condition in which she gets victim- ized by the algorithms—whatever site she’s logging onto just keeps ratcheting up the horror stories. Regardless of her emotional state or her internet habits, facts matter. And the fact is that horses are out- side animals. They have roamed the planet for at least a million years, during which time they have en- countered rain, snow, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. Another fact is that there really are people who neglect and abuse their horses. But leaving horses out in the rain is neither negligent nor cruel. Clearly, you were in a difficult situation. Maybe the simplest—the kind- est—response to this lady’s out- burst was silence. But that leaves a ton of misinformation hanging in the air. A very polite response would require both gentleness and empathy. Acknowledge the reality that animals suffer when humans are cruel and negligent. Point out the additional reality that you love your horse and ensure his health and safety with your attention, with routine veterinary and farrier care, with routine dental care, with extensive experience in horse care. It’s hard to overcome the tide of misinformation flooding the inter- net. And that is a sad fact. Dear Mal, Do a lot of cities still have mounted police? How do they teach horses to be bold and not spook at loud noises? Are there special breeds of horses that they use? I love horses, and see pictures of mounted police but have never actually seen one in person. My parents are talking about taking a couple of long weekends driving to places around the area this summer, and I’m hoping we can go to a place where they have mounted police. Horse Lover Dear Horse Lover, It sounds like a great way for you to see some of the interesting cities in the region—and making one goal to see mounted police is wonderful! There are mounted police units in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and many, many other cities across the country. In fact, you can actually visit the stable for the unit inWash- ington, D.C. There is not a specific breed of horse for these units, but generally they would look for larger horses, such as Percherons, Dutch Warmbloods, Clydesdales (like the horses in the beer commercials!), Thoroughbreds and others. The horses need a lot of training and conditioning, as you can imagine. They need to be calm—even when there are noisy crowds, car horns, loud trucks, etc. So part of their training involves exposing them to loud noises and showing them they can rely on the rider to keep them safe. So, the rider needs to be well- trained, too! Mounted police have to be calm and to earn the trust of the horses in their care. There are a lot of books about mounted po- lice, and you might enjoy reading about them before your trip. What Does a Police Horse Do? by Ellen Feld, is a picture book about a day in the life of Liam, a police horse. Ten Foot Cops by Nigel Allsop describes the history of mounted police throughout the world. Have a wonderful Summer! 44 Edgefield Rd. • Quarryville, PA 17566 AAEP Releases Practical Guidelines for Diagnosing Infectious Neurologic Diseases in the Field By Giulia Garcia, American As- sociation of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) has published new Field Diagnostic Guidelines for Infectious Neuro- logic Disease to support equine veterinarians in evaluating and diagnosing suspected acute neuro- logic cases in adult horses. These practical guidelines, now available on the AAEP website, include a diagnostic flowchart designed to help practitioners navigate differential diagnoses, guide sample collection, and select appropriate diagnostic tests. The tool emphasizes careful consider- ation of contagious diseases such as Equine Herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) and those with public health signif- icance, including Rabies,West Nile Virus (WNV), and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE). Until proven otherwise, all horses presenting with sudden-on- set neurologic symptoms should be treated with caution. In addition to clinical diagnos- tics, the guidelines offer detailed instructions for handling, packag- ing, and shipping diagnostic sam- ples, as well as best practices for post-mortem specimen collection when necessary. “Our goal was to provide field practitioners with readily accessi- ble, targeted guidance for diagnos- ing equine acute infectious neuro- logic disease in North America,” said Dr. Toby L. Pinn-Woodcock, DVM, DACVIM, chair of the AAEP Field Guidelines Sub- committee and assistant clinical professor in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnos- tic Sciences at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Pinn-Woodcock collabo- rated with members of the AAEP Field Guidelines Subcommittee and co-author Dr. Sally DeNotta, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, clinical as- sociate professor at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and chair of the AAEP’s Infectious Disease Committee. The guidelines were reviewed and approved by both theAAEP Infec- tious Disease Committee and the AAEP Board of Directors. Resources for Diagnostic Guidelines, Infectious Neurologic Disease Veterinarians can access or download the Field Diagnostic Guidelines for Infectious Neurologic Disease directly on the AAEP website: https://aaep.org/guidelines-resources/field-diagnostic-guidelines AAEP members can also find the guidelines via the AAEP On-the-Go mobile app, available on both Apple and Android platforms. Just search “ AAEP On-the-Go ” in your app store. In addition to this new resource, AAEP offers a comprehensive library of guidelines for over 30 equine infectious and foreign animal diseases, all accessible through the app or online at: https://aaep.org/guidelines-resources/resource-library/guidelines-library Subscribe today!