University of Queensland's Equine Hospital Keeps Its Head Up Above the Flood

The photos of the devastation on the campus of the University of Queensland are pretty discouraging. As you've probably heard by now, the Brisbane River rose far above its banks and spread through and, in some cases, over the beautiful city of Brisbane in Queensland province in the northeastern corner of Australia.

A core group of veterinarians has created a virtual Noah's Ark for the animals that have been able to reach them...but the tragedy of a true flood is that so many animals are stranded where they are.

A dedicated veterinary team fed, washed, provided medical treatment and comfort to the animals that had been able to make it to their new equine hospital in Gatton. Gatton is the site of the University's new vet school, which only opened on August 6th.

University officials described "horses that had worn down their hooves swimming for up to 30 hours to stay afloat. "

Laminitis researcher and equine specialist Andrew Van Eps BVSc, PhD, MACVSc, DACVIM said that seven horses were brought in for medical treatment for injuries sustained in the floods and his staff members were heading out to farms to treat more horses.

“We have horses in various states of health. Quite a few horses have contracted pneumonia after breathing in flood water while swimming to stay alive,” Dr Van Eps said.

“There is a horse here that was housed in a stable when the flood arrived and had to tread water for about a day to survive.

“We are also are caring for a miniature horse foal that is only a few days old and was orphaned by the floods.”

Besides Van Eps, the equine hospital team includes Dr Susan Keane, Dr Philippe Manchon, Dr Steve Zedler, Dr Claire Underwood, Rebecca Johnson, Kylie Semple, Kate Hertrick,Trent Dawson, David Manchon and Natasha Curlew.

Photos and flood details courtesy of the University of Queensland.

 © Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

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Is This What They Mean by "Loads Well"?

Is this what it means in the horses-for-sale listings when an ad says that a horse "loads well"? These two photos are from an amazing series taken in Poland this spring when the floods were so bad there. An amphibious military craft became a makeshift horse van. This draft horse is certainly being a good sport about climbing into the vessel. How many horses would even try? It obviously took a few attempts to get him on board. I guess the water was too deep to lower the ramp. This photo reminds me of all the natural horsemanship lessons of getting your horse to walk willingly onto a trailer. It's doubtful whether the fellow in the boat is a genius horse whisperer or this horse has been through a NH seminar but they eventually got him into the boat. The fellow in blue is doing a great job of staying out of the way. Photos from fOTOGLIF

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com © Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

IVAN Floods Threaten Horses in Texas: What Would YOU Do?

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, by David Templeton:

Floodwaters at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Chartiers inundated stables along the fairgrounds' racetrack, and horse owners who rent the stables had to release their Standardbred horses when fast-rising water rose stomach-high on the horses in the stalls.

"It was the heroic efforts by a couple of people to get them released," Wayne Hite, a horse owner and trainer, said, referring to Janis McGhee and Joe Behanna. "Those are real heroes there. They were up to their chins in water releasing these animals."

Water flowing swiftly into each end of the stables and exiting through the middle door created the effect of a raging river. Two released horses got caught atop concrete barriers and will be lost for the rest of the racing season, if not permanently, with significant leg injuries.

The four stables -- Hite Racing Stables, Bruce McGhee Stables, Sharon Donella Stables and Joe Behanna Stables -- lost tack, 12 jogging carts, six racing bikes or sulkies, helmets, racing colors, a Ford Explorer, a Ford Excursion, a track-maintenance truck, medications, a $54,000 horse spa, farrier equipment and grain and hay. The flood also damaged horse trailers. The loss will exceed $100,000 and could reach $200,000, said Trudy Hite of Somerset Township.

"Everything is gone, and it will take years to rebuild," she said.

Because the fairgrounds' track was destroyed, the county will have to rebuild it.