IN BETWEEN THE MANE AND TAIL
THE FOX HUNTING HORSE
By Todd Addis, VMD
There could be an entire library filled with horse books that dwell on breeds and all their applications to man’s desire to make them dance, jump, pull, carry, race, control (the crowd), charge (the enemy), be therapists (for the handicapped), and be pets (for the folk that wish their pastures not to be empty). Since I have little expertise in making a horse do any of these things, I chose to dwell on the horse that is asked to follow a pack of hounds.
One may ask to describe a fox hunting horse. Well, this is an impossible task. A hunter can be described in any way that you can give the beast including oversized ears like on a mule. So, a good hunter must be of size and strength to carry the rider without difficulty or criticism. The lucky equine hunters are those of a height of 16 to 17 hands and carry a lady of 108 pounds. The unlucky hunter is one carrying a 275 pound man that stands 15.1 hands and is deficient in bone size.
Until the automobile came on the scene, the hunting horse had a dual role. When hunting the fox was put on hold for the spring and summer months, the horse continued his work dressed in harness and hitched to the wagon. Yes, he often joined the work horses in readying the fields for planting and harvesting. In pictures of old it is most common to see hunters with their tails docked.
If you are riding an unruly animal, you are not only in danger to yourself, you place your fellow hunter in danger and your horse can unnecessarily be injured. If your animal is lacking guidance either mounted or unmounted, you may be in the lap of an automobile, pressing on an electric fence, marred in farm machinery or a bog, or just about to go over a cliff. Never the less, it is most distressing for the master of hounds to pay a visit to the land owner to explain why the ambulance with six fire police rescue vehicles appeared in his wheat field only to confirm that a helicopter was needed. The poor landowner can only think, “Will I be also named in a lawsuit.” Sensible horses and sensible riders do have accidents, but it’s fun. Manners of a horse are a must, and manners of its rider are also a must.
Several years ago, a magazine from November 1902 was discovered while a friend was cleaning out an old desk. The first article was Fox Hunting in Pennsylvania by Edwin Fairfax Naulty. At the time the article was written, it was estimated there were some 200 farmer packs numbering about 10,000 hounds in southeastern Pennsylvania. Quoting Naulty: “It is really the oldest sport we have, for in the good old Colony days …when football was unknown, tennis a mystery and base-ball not yet invented, fox hunting, and its scarlet coats, too, was the one great sport of the country side.”
George Washington was a fox hunter and according to Naulty “the officers of the Continental Army enlivened many a dreary winter day, while the troops lay encamped at Valley Forge, by taking to saddle and hunting the famous coverts of Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania.”
In Pennsylvania, dropping a bagged fox became a common practice during the Great Depression. Although frowned upon by most sporting foxhunters its attraction was entertainment for the locals either on horse back or on foot. Some local hound men would run a fox to ground, dig it out and place it in a bag. This is a bagged fox. The rural hotel proprietor would advertise a “drop hunt” for Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., but would delay the dropping of the fox until late afternoon thus selling as much liquor as he could. Some of the thirsty mounted hunters began the chase lacking judgement, balance and coordination. The fox, knowing his home territory, seldom was caught again.
“The great charm,” so says Naulty, “of fox hunting is the glorious, excited and exciting voice of a pack in full cry on a cool, crisp morning when the air is like a tonic of rejuvenation. To the hunting man it is a magnificent chorus of harmony that sways the chords of his heart and sends the blood rushing joyously through his veins in swift response to its keen melody.”
The horse that you are mounted on never says he or she likes the hound music, but they do let you know they love to be out there, galloping, jumping and interacting with their fellow beast.
Where Did I Go Wrong!
By David A. Meirs, VMD
In 1954, having graduated from veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania, I joined a mixed practice in Freehold, New Jersey. In addition to large numbers of cattle and small animals, we also cared for Standardbred horses at Freehold Raceway and some Thoroughbreds at Monmouth Park.
After World War I, the horse had declined both numerically and in relative importance to the veterinary profession. In fact a high percentage of what was then regarded as “state of the art” equine medicine had not changed in the past fifty years or more. (The first edition of Adams Classic “Lameness in Horses” was not published until 1962). Consequently as a recent graduate I had less confidence when dealing with horses as compared to other species.
Toward noon on a very hot and humid day in August, I was called to attend an emergency at Freehold Raceway. I have forgotten the animal’s registered name, but his stable name was Prince, no doubt because his sire was Cardinal Prince, a popular pacing stallion of that era. Prince had “gone a double header” i.e. two training miles consecutively with jogging for half a mile between trips. He had not cooled out properly and was beginning to show extreme pain in both front feet. When allowed to stop walking, he assumed the typical “sawhorse stance” of a horse with acute laminitis. Monitoring the horse was his owner/trainer, Michael Sullivan. Michael had been born in Ireland and still retained a thick brogue. A tiny, weather beaten man with a hair trigger temper, he looked like a maniacal leprechaun as he berated the groom for allowing Prince to drink too much cold water too quickly.
I tried to calm Michael and suggested that perhaps the groom should be sent for ice to be applied to Prince’s pounding feet. Phenylbutazone, that great equine NSAID, had not yet been invented so I probably treated Prince with aspirin orally while we got his front end in a tub of ice. Treatments we had heard about in school included blood letting and auto hemo therapy (the treating of an animal with repeated intramuscular injections of it own blood).
To me these approaches seemed archaic and smacked of witch craft, so I think I turned to injectable anti-histamines which were being touted as “state of the art.” Corticosteroids had just begun to be used in veterinary medicine. They were however regarded as too expensive to be employed in large animal practice for any but the most valuable livestock. I mentioned this to Michael and he urged me to spare no expense on Prince’s behalf. (It was not known until years later that corticosteroids, especially certain members of the group may be contraindicated in laminitis.)
Having obtained a few vials of corticosteroid, I proceeded to administer them to Prince over a two or three day period. Unfortunately the dramatic improvement I hoped for failed to occur. At one point an overzealous S.P.C.A. agent threatened to prosecute Michael for cruelty. I called the man and explained that everything possible was being done and the wonders of modern veterinary science were being employed. He agreed to let Michael alone.
The end of the month arrived and with it the need to bill all our clients for services rendered. As I perused Michael’s bill, I was appalled, the total was over $70, a huge amount for the time, especially considering that the results obtained had been much less than hoped for. I had not seen Michael or Prince for several days and it was with great trepidation that I approached the barn. Certainly Michael would protest the bill or perhaps refuse to pay at all! I rounded a corner and there was Prince, still sore but much better than the last time I had seen him. He was being loaded on a trailer since Michael had decided he was now sound enough to be turned out in a soft pasture. After the usual pleasantries, I timidly handed the bill to Michael. He glanced at it briefly and much to my surprise and relief fished out a battered brown billfold held together with large red rubber bands. As he started to count the money he fixed me with his gaze and began to speak. “Doctor, I want to thank ye for all ye tried to do for me horse, cause I know ye done the very best ye could, but there’s something I’ve got to tell ye. Remember that weekend when he was so bad, what with the S.P.C.A. being after us and all. Well, I went to see my sister who lives in the Bronx. She goes to a church where there’s a rock right in the church with holy water flowin’ out of it. I got me a bottle of holy water and the priest blessed it. When I got back to Freehold, Prince is layin’ in his stall stretched out like he’s dead. I crept into the stall with the holy water and I poured it in his ear. Doctor, he got right to his feet! From that day to this he done nothin’ but improve!”
As blood coursed through the dog’s heart valves, thoughts raced through the onlooker’s minds: This was the experience for visitors at the AMVM’s Veterinary Career and Family Fun Day held on Saturday, May 30, as they watched veterinarian Jason Tomes, V.M.D. slide the ultrasound probe over the chest of his white standard poodle named “Misty” lying on a table. “Do you need to sedate the animals before ultra sounding them?” asked a gentleman. “What’s that black line next to the heart?” asked a little girl in riding breeches, pointing at the overhead screen. After the procedure, David Samtmann, who drove from Bucks County to attend the museum’s debut event, said, “I was not even aware that they could do ultrasounds on animals. What’s amazing is not only the set-up - the platform and bedding designed to position the dog just right – but also the degree of sophistication involved in determining the thickness of the organ walls and how it relates to different disease states.” Just outside on the lush grounds of the 4-acre museum site at the 19th Century Ridgewood Farm in Gibraltar, pink peonies scented the air…. the sun shone off of a large, iridescent copper and gray rooster… strands of wool were being spun from the hair of a small Angora Rabbit in a wire enclosure….and the bleating of an Icelandic sheep competed with the excited chatter of children donning surgical gowns and face masks as they performed mock procedures on body-part replicas and stuffed animals. Erin Master, a Manor College Veterinary Technology student, manned a veterinary “M.A.S.H. unit.” “The kids sew up lacerations and fix boo-boos,” she explained as she handed out maimed stuffed cats and horses, along with bandages and threaded needles to a line of eager children. “They identify where the cut is and then they get to choose how to fix it. They especially love putting the scrubs on because it makes them look official,” she added. At the Pennsylvania Veterinary Technicians Association’s booth, Holly, a one-year-old soft-coated Wheaten terrier, stood quietly on a crate as children took turns listening to her heart. “The best thing is to watch the expression on their faces when they hear the heart beating. Their eyes go wide,” said Hank Hillard, of Mount Joy, who assisted the kids. “One little girl was even saying ‘Ba boom, ba boom’ as she listened with the stethoscope.” Ten-year-old Carli Bercek squinted as she aimed a needle toward the neck of a rubberized dog. Pulling back on the plunger, she grinned with satisfaction as she watched the syringe fill with fake blood. “The kids are really good at jugular blood draws,” observed Beverly Bisaccia, CVT, who teaches in Manor College’s vet tech program. Bisaccia was there to help the children give simulated intravenous and intramuscular injections, and to show them dental models, a horse leg skeleton, and a cat cadaver labeled with the names of all the muscles, and slides of different tissue types under the microscope. Bercek, a Birdsboro resident who hopes to someday become a veterinarian, was especially drawn to the pathology specimens inside the museum, which contains everything from a two-headed calf to peach pits and balls surgically retrieved from canine intestines to a dog heart erupting with heartworms. “Looking at everything, I learned how important it is to watch your pets closely, vaccinate them and give them pills to prevent worms.” Another aspiring vet, Tyler Kiwak, 12, of nearby Shillington, panned his gaze over a display of old dental equipment in the museum. “It’s neat to see how the tools have changed over the years,” he said. The museum, consisting of five rooms that include three library collections with veterinary and animal-oriented books dating back to the 1500s, contains hundreds of antiquated items, such as a World War I veterinary corps uniform, medicine boxes, beakers, suture material, fleams, obstetrical tools and diagnostic equipment. Dr. Richard Detwiler, treasurer of AMVM, was giving tours of the museum. He pointed out an old-fashioned hemoglobin counter used to determine an animal’s degree of anemia. The chart – a panel arranged in ascending shades of red, for comparison with blood samples - dates back to the 1940s. Detwiler contrasted it to today’s modern equipment: “Now we take a blood sample and they pick it up at noon. By the next morning, you have faxed results,” he told a roomful of visitors. As he watched guests stream through the museum and fan out amongst the displays under the tent outside, Detwiler voiced his expectations for the day. “We want this event to bring public exposure, and hopefully it will generate some grants to continue operating the museum.” Added AMVM President Max Herman: “This event is an opportunity to see the past of veterinary medicine, the present, and the future – with career aspirations of some of the people here today – come together.” Some 600 people attended the affair, a silent auction, children’s activities, and food and merchandise sales. Other career day sponsors included the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association (PVMA), Manor College Veterinary Technology Program, Harcum College Veterinary Technology Program and the First State Greyhound Rescue, Inc. As a group of 40-or-so attendees ate hot dogs and ice cream from the Stewart’s Root Beer concession truck, they watched an obedience demonstration by the Berks County Dog Training Club. Dozen-or-so dogs responded off-lead and lined up, to various commands. One of the hardest, surely, was to sit quietly next to their owner. “You know how much more exciting it would be for them to play with the other dogs than to sit beside their owner?!” explained the instructor to the audience. “But these obedience skills show that your dog is under control and will do things for you.” Also there to demonstrate the human-animal bond was Ede Phillips, a poultry breeder from Honey Brook who brought along a rooster, a hen and several gray-speckled chicks. As she showed visitors the rooster’s comb, wattle and ears, she told them about the birds’ hierarchical social order. “I tried to make them realize that chickens aren’t only farm animals. The have personalities and can make good pets,” she explained as she stroked the rooster’s neck. “Every animal has a value - a worth – not just for utility, but also as a companion.” As visitors petted greyhounds and splinted stuffed dogs’ “broken” legs using popsicle sticks, manipulated cat skulls and photographed rabbits, it was clear that this was the overwhelming sentiment of the day.
“Do you need to sedate the animals before ultra sounding them?” asked a gentleman.
“What’s that black line next to the heart?” asked a little girl in riding breeches, pointing at the overhead screen.
After the procedure, David Samtmann, who drove from Bucks County to attend the museum’s debut event, said, “I was not even aware that they could do ultrasounds on animals. What’s amazing is not only the set-up - the platform and bedding designed to position the dog just right – but also the degree of sophistication involved in determining the thickness of the organ walls and how it relates to different disease states.”
Just outside on the lush grounds of the 4-acre museum site at the 19th Century Ridgewood Farm in Gibraltar, pink peonies scented the air…. the sun shone off of a large, iridescent copper and gray rooster… strands of wool were being spun from the hair of a small Angora Rabbit in a wire enclosure….and the bleating of an Icelandic sheep competed with the excited chatter of children donning surgical gowns and face masks as they performed mock procedures on body-part replicas and stuffed animals.
Erin Master, a Manor College Veterinary Technology student, manned a veterinary “M.A.S.H. unit.” “The kids sew up lacerations and fix boo-boos,” she explained as she handed out maimed stuffed cats and horses, along with bandages and threaded needles to a line of eager children. “They identify where the cut is and then they get to choose how to fix it. They especially love putting the scrubs on because it makes them look official,” she added.
At the Pennsylvania Veterinary Technicians Association’s booth, Holly, a one-year-old soft-coated Wheaten terrier, stood quietly on a crate as children took turns listening to her heart. “The best thing is to watch the expression on their faces when they hear the heart beating. Their eyes go wide,” said Hank Hillard, of Mount Joy, who assisted the kids. “One little girl was even saying ‘Ba boom, ba boom’ as she listened with the stethoscope.”
Ten-year-old Carli Bercek squinted as she aimed a needle toward the neck of a rubberized dog. Pulling back on the plunger, she grinned with satisfaction as she watched the syringe fill with fake blood.
“The kids are really good at jugular blood draws,” observed Beverly Bisaccia, CVT, who teaches in Manor College’s vet tech program. Bisaccia was there to help the children give simulated intravenous and intramuscular injections, and to show them dental models, a horse leg skeleton, and a cat cadaver labeled with the names of all the muscles, and slides of different tissue types under the microscope.
Bercek, a Birdsboro resident who hopes to someday become a veterinarian, was especially drawn to the pathology specimens inside the museum, which contains everything from a two-headed calf to peach pits and balls surgically retrieved from canine intestines to a dog heart erupting with heartworms. “Looking at everything, I learned how important it is to watch your pets closely, vaccinate them and give them pills to prevent worms.”
Another aspiring vet, Tyler Kiwak, 12, of nearby Shillington, panned his gaze over a display of old dental equipment in the museum. “It’s neat to see how the tools have changed over the years,” he said.
The museum, consisting of five rooms that include three library collections with veterinary and animal-oriented books dating back to the 1500s, contains hundreds of antiquated items, such as a World War I veterinary corps uniform, medicine boxes, beakers, suture material, fleams, obstetrical tools and diagnostic equipment.
Dr. Richard Detwiler, treasurer of AMVM, was giving tours of the museum. He pointed out an old-fashioned hemoglobin counter used to determine an animal’s degree of anemia. The chart – a panel arranged in ascending shades of red, for comparison with blood samples - dates back to the 1940s. Detwiler contrasted it to today’s modern equipment:
“Now we take a blood sample and they pick it up at noon. By the next morning, you have faxed results,” he told a roomful of visitors.
As he watched guests stream through the museum and fan out amongst the displays under the tent outside, Detwiler voiced his expectations for the day. “We want this event to bring public exposure, and hopefully it will generate some grants to continue operating the museum.”
Added AMVM President Max Herman: “This event is an opportunity to see the past of veterinary medicine, the present, and the future – with career aspirations of some of the people here today – come together.”
Some 600 people attended the affair, a silent auction, children’s activities, and food and merchandise sales. Other career day sponsors included the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association (PVMA), Manor College Veterinary Technology Program, Harcum College Veterinary Technology Program and the First State Greyhound Rescue, Inc.
As a group of 40-or-so attendees ate hot dogs and ice cream from the Stewart’s Root Beer concession truck, they watched an obedience demonstration by the Berks County Dog Training Club. Dozen-or-so dogs responded off-lead and lined up, to various commands. One of the hardest, surely, was to sit quietly next to their owner.
“You know how much more exciting it would be for them to play with the other dogs than to sit beside their owner?!” explained the instructor to the audience. “But these obedience skills show that your dog is under control and will do things for you.”
Also there to demonstrate the human-animal bond was Ede Phillips, a poultry breeder from Honey Brook who brought along a rooster, a hen and several gray-speckled chicks. As she showed visitors the rooster’s comb, wattle and ears, she told them about the birds’ hierarchical social order.
“I tried to make them realize that chickens aren’t only farm animals. The have personalities and can make good pets,” she explained as she stroked the rooster’s neck. “Every animal has a value - a worth – not just for utility, but also as a companion.”
As visitors petted greyhounds and splinted stuffed dogs’ “broken” legs using popsicle sticks, manipulated cat skulls and photographed rabbits, it was clear that this was the overwhelming sentiment of the day.
You’re feeling a bit uptight. Nervous. You’ve had a harrowing day and you’re trying to unwind. Suddenly, your cat leaps onto your lap and begins to purr. She’s making a low, rumbling sound resembling an idling diesel. Soon, you’re almost as calm as the feline ball of fur lying across your legs.
What is it about the “purr” that is so soothing? How do cats do that? And why?
Since the days when Egyptians worshiped the cat, philosophers and cat-lovers have wondered why cats purr. Scientists have probed the purring of the species, wild and domestic, in search of an answer.
Researchers have found that kittens learn to purr within the first few days of birth, suggesting a bonding mechanism between the newborn and its mother. It might be a way of communicating to each other that all is well. A sign of contentment.
According to some scientific findings, however, there might be a bit more to it than that. A closer look indicates that cats also purr when they’re severely injured, frightened, and giving birth. They’re also known to emit such sounds during stressful situations like visits to the veterinarian’s office. That same scientific evidence suggests there’s a practical reason behind the purr.
Purring causes vibrations that are known to be therapeutic.
Purr frequencies have been measured between 20 Hz and 200 Hz, which correspond to vibrations that promote pain relief and healing as well as reduce inflammation. This leads researchers to believe that self-healing is the survival mechanism behind why cats purr.
Among human beings, vibrations stimulation has been shown to relieve suffering in 82% of people suffering from acute and chronic pain. It’s also been known to generate new tissue growth, inhibit bacterial growth, reduce swelling, and improve circulation and oxygenation. Purring, according to research, can keep a cat’s muscles and ligaments in prime condition and less prone to injury.
Such results might be the basis for such feline mythology as the legend that cats are able to reassemble their bones when placed in the same room with their parts. But in the real world, the American Veterinary Medical Association notes that out of 132 cats that fell an average of five-and-a-half stories, 90% survived, including one that fell 45 stories.
Though all this evidence seems to have most experts in agreement as to why the cat purrs, they’re far from one mind on how the sound is accomplished.
There are two prevailing theories of how your pet produces that purring sound. 1) The Turbulent Blood Theory, and 2) The False Vocal Cord Theory.
First, it’s believed that turbulence is created when blood flows through your cat’s main veins into its heart. According to this theory, the constricted blood causes the purring sound as it swirls through the animal’s chest.
The problem with this theory, however, is that the cat purrs when it’s relaxed, a state in which blood turbulence would likely subside rather than increase.
The second theory is based on the fact that your cat has two sets of vocal cords: the usual, or ordinary, vocal cords that allow her to communicate with other creatures by, for example, hissing, screeching, of meowing. Then there are the so-called “false” vocal cords, also known as vestibular folds. Some researchers believe the cat uses this part of he anatomy to produce what we call the purr. Scientists describe it as “little more that heavy breathing” and compare it to a sleeping person’s shoring.
Theory #2 is seen by some as the simplest and most obvious explanation. It explains, the researchers say, the presence of the second set of cords, which would seem to have no other reason to exist. It would also explain how a cat can produce the sound at will.
Purring, it appears, is unique among domestic cats along with certain species knows as “big cats.” Non-domestic cats that purr include the cheetah, the puma, the Eurasian lynx, and the wild cat.
The jungle cats that do not exhibit true purring include lions, leopards, jaguars, tigers, and snow leopards. The tiger, however, can voice a friendly noise described by some as a one-way purr” or “sort of a splutter.” The domestic cat, on the other hand, makes that comforting whirring noise with each inward breath as well as when she exhales. This rhythm of our domestic companion happens even with her mouth firmly shut and when nursing at her mother’s breast.
This seems to put our family cat one up on her jungle-dwelling cousin.
However, the big guys have a feature that would appear to make up for it – they can roar.
Or maybe it’s really like this:
What’s That Noise?
(Total Nonsense)
Science is making breakthroughs
In what we want to know
About the feline species.
And I’m here to tell you so.
Among the things we wonder
As we see those creatures stir
Is “what on earth is in there
That makes those creatures purr.”
One doctor has dissected
Many a pussy cat
In efforts to come up with
An answer to just that.
He says he’s now discovered,
Somewhere near the spleen,
A suspicious box-like organ
He’s dubbed the “purr machine.”
Copyright 2008 Jim Gordon
Jim Gordon, a freelance writer and broadcaster, has shared his home with six special cats over a period of several years. He writes about them in prose and verse. Jim is currently writing a collection of verse about feline idiosyncrasies. You can visit his world at www.jimsvoices.com.
Metamorphosis: (met-a-mor-fo-sis) n.
1. A transformation as by magic or sorcery.
2. A marked change in appearance, character, condition or function.
Providing care at a pet’s home can lead to humorous and challenging experiences not related to veterinary medicine. Herein lies such a story.
A visit was made on a beautiful, fall day to a client who was a successful breeder of Labrador retrievers. Vaccinations were to be given to the remaining puppy, one of eight. The owner welcomed me into her home and suggested I prepare the materials while she secured the pup. Returning later than expected, she informed me that the pup was missing. A common routine for housecall vets is to hunt for pets under beds, in closets, and cluttered basements as well as outside under bushes, in garages, etc. . These routines however proved unsuccessful. The puppy was nowhere to be found. Finally, the owner reached the conclusion that her school-aged daughter had let the dog outside minus a leash.
I had some time until my next call so I offered to help the search by driving around the residential neighborhood. We plotted individual courses and approximately 20 minutes later returned empty handed.
To our amazement, before us in the driveway stood a four-legged, yellow-coated, long-muzzled creature of about 1,000 lbs. A gigantic metamorphosis!
My initial reaction was: what dose of vaccine is required or should I first take a sample for DNA analysis. The pragmatic owner, on the other hand, called the police on her cell phone whereupon she was informed that an albino horse had escaped his pasture about four hours earlier from a distance of about 15 miles as the crow, or horse, flies.
The horse was taken home and the puppy was found, snuggled on a porch cushion at a neighbors home.
Moral of this story: Know your species prior to treatment. P.S. Many aspects of housecalls are not taught in veterinary school.
Dr. George L. Flickinger is a board member and development chairman for American Museum of Veternary Medicine.
