Sunday, June 22, 2008 - Lessons and Bots

Well, Wings Like Eagles is done for the year.  And would you believe I didn't get a single picture.  I could just stomp on my own toe for that!  It was an exhausting two weeks, but I loved every minute of it.  I also may have picked up a new riding student because of it. She has a beautiful warm blood that used to be a three day eventer, but she wants to use it as a jumper.  She grew up on horses and has a good natural seat, but no form, and in jumper that can literally mean the difference in life or death.  She seems to be a fast learner though!  I'm excited to start working with her.

We discovered that one of our horses has bots .  The bot fly lays its eggs on the horses legs and the horse ingests the eggs when nipping at flies on his legs.  The eggs hatch in the stomach or intestines and the larvae burrows its way out through the stomach or intestines all the way to the skin (usually in the saddle region) and then boars a hole through the skin and crawls out and the life cycle continues.  Bots are dangerous to animals and people (not just horses get them) because of the disease they carry, and the infections they cause as they burrow out.  We checked our deworming schedule and found that we are four weeks behind!  Just enough to cause trouble like this.  One remedy, I heard this second hand, is to take on old fashioned, glass milk bottle and put the opening over the bot (which you can feel under the skin).  Holding the bottle firm with one hand, take the other hand and whack the end with you palm.  If done correctly, it created such a suction that it pops the bot out through the skin and right into the bottle!  Bleah!!!  Here is a bot larvae.

Once bots are discovered among your animals, a thorough check must be made through all your animals.  The bot eggs looks like little yellow flecks of paint.  They must be removed with a bot knife or strait edge razor onto something that can be disposed of.  You don't want to scrape the eggs onto the ground or they can easly be picked up by another animal.  Well,

Happy Trails!