Conference noted::equitation

1348.0. "Drooling Horses" by BSMART::BARRETT (Drink your prune juice) Wed Aug 29 1990 09:09

    I ride at a barn where there are about 15 school horses.  In the
    last week or two, some of them have started drooling.  They don't
    seem to be off in any other way, and have no temperature, etc, but
    they sure do look pitiful. They are still working them, and they
    seem to work fine.

    They may drool for a couple days, stop, and maybe start again. 
    Not all the school horses do it, but a good percentage do.

    None of the boarders in the barn are having this problem, so one
    of the theories is that it is due to the corn they get (the
    boarders get grain).  I'm not sure or not if they got new corn in
    recently.

    The school horses also are pastured most of the time when they are
    not working, whereas the boarders are let out for a few hours a
    day in different pastures than the school horses.  However, they
    are in the same pasture they have been all spring and summer.

    Has anyone seen anything like this?  I ride a lot of these horses,
    they are like friends to me, so I would hate to see anything bad
    come to them.  Again, except for looking pitiful, they seem fine
    (in fact the barn managers have not called in the vet because they
    do seem ok).
    
    Thanks,

    Sue Barrett

    ps.  I looked for keywords and titles of drooling and corn, but
         didn't find anything.

    
    
    	When was the last time these horses had thier teeth floated?
    
    
    	Sherry
    

    We are having the same problem at our barn and have attributed it
    to some type of weed they are eating in the pasture.  Some are doing
    it more than others, while some aren't drooling at all.  Other than
    that they are fine so we haven't worried about it.

    According to this month's Equus, one cause of drooling is attributed to
    a soil fungus - Rhizoctonia leguminicola - that affects red clover and
    sometimes alfalfa, particularly in humid conditions.  The fungus
    produces a alkaloid toxin called slaframine which makes horses salivate
    excessively once they have ingested it.
    
    Stephanie

    Thanks for the replies...

    re: .1
	Their teeth have been checked and are ok.

    They haven't gotten a new batch of corn in (their vet suggested
    this might be the cause), so we are going on the possible "weeds"
    theory in .2.

    re: .3
    	I just got my copy of Equus - haven't had a chance to read it
    yet.  Thanks for the pointer - I'll check it out.

    -sjb