The DeWorming Coach: Pfizer's Email Reminders Help Owners Stay on Track

Make sure your horse doesn't read your email...

Worm medications are way down the list of things that most horseowners want to think about. You'd rather be daydreaming about what color blanket you'd buy if you could afford it, or which of the new browbands would look best on your horse.

Before you know it, a couple of months have gone by and you can't remember which wormer you used on which horse the last time. Or maybe you don't even remember when the last time was!

We all make jokes about how forgetful we are (just ask me where my keys and glasses are) and often speculate how nice it would be to have a Jeeves who would follow us around, picking up the things we put down, and reminding us about that saddle-fitting clinic this weekend or that the farrier is coming this afternoon.

I have it all on my cell phone, of course, but I left it at home this morning. Or at least I think I did.

Now you can cross worming off your list of Things Not To Forget. Pfizer Animal Health has just launched a clever email service that will send you reminders not only of WHEN to worm but WHAT to use.

The site is configured into two parts: one for people who prefer "regular" paste wormers and another for those who prefer "continuous" (daily feed-through) treatments.

The new website www.rotationiskey.com is a funny name for a valuable service. You just fill in the form and Pfizer will automatically send you the reminders. And then it's up to you.

The word "rotation" refers to the different types of wormers you need to use to cover all the different parasites that threaten your horse. Different types of wormers are appropriate at different times of years or in different frequencies or for different ages or uses of horses, so you can have help figuring out which one to use, and when.

I liked the fact that the web site had an option for a single horse or multiple horses.

Pfizer also launched a new informational web site, www.equimaxhorse.com, which is a go-to resource for information about parasite prevention in horses, and the risks of tapeworms in particular. Pfizer's Equimax paste wormer is a broad spectrum Ivermectin-type wormer that covers a broad spectrum of parasite risks, including tapeworms and bots. It can be used safely on breeding farms, and the web site has specific details about the de-worming needs of foals, mares, and stallions.

Now, if they could just send me a reminder every morning to put my cell phone in the car...

Still Riding with Barbaro...And You?

It was exactly two years ago this week that surgeon Dean Richardson of the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center announced that Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was suffering from laminitis as a complication of his surgery to repair multiple fractures in his right hind leg.

As they say, the rest is history. Five months later, Barbaro was dead; the decision to euthanize him was made when he developed laminitis in his front feet.

I can't tell you that our understanding and treatment options for laminitis have improved radically in two years. But I can tell you that progress has been made on the funding front. Pfizer Animal Health joined forces with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) to create The Barbaro Fund, which helps fund research into laminitis.

The University of Pennsylvania has created the world's first Laminitis Institute at the New Bolton Center campus, under the direction of Dr. James Orsini.

Information from the Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot, held in November 2007, is being disseminated to veterinarians, farriers, and horse owners in the field. Hopefully, horses are receiving better preventative and early-intervention care because of the conference; watch for news of the Fifth conference, to be held in November 2009, to be announced soon. Check www.laminitisconference.com for updates.

However you give and whatever you give, please do give. Pfizer has created blue memory bands for Barbaro, which can be purchased at tack shops and feed stores where counter displays of Pfizer wormers are used. For just a few dollars, you can join the Barbaro memory collective.

If you can give more and do more, please do. Watch this blog for lots more news about laminitis research that will help your horse, and every horse, avoid the most painful disease imaginable.

Secretariat, Affirmed, Sunday Silence, and Barbaro are just a few of the famous Kentucky Derby winners who died because of this terrible condition.

Your horse, my horse, and any horse could be next.