To whom it may concern,
I examined 13 miniature horses presented to the clinic on October 12, 2007. Seven of the horses were severely underweight with a body condition of 2/9. ( see attached reference for BSC). Two had obvious difficulty with the prehension and chewing of hay. Three other adults had BCS of 4-5/9. The juveniles had BCS 5/9. All had poor haircoats and overgrown hooves. One weanling had severe dermatitis on all four limbs, another one a mild case. Ivermectin dewormer was sent with the group to begin treating parasites.
On October 19, 2007 I went to the White-Lewis farm to perform thorough examinations, castrations, dental work and vaccinations as needed. On examination under sedation, 4 of 9 adults had severe dental abnormalities that would prevent them from being capable of eating. All had prominent hooks on their first premolars of the upper arcades that were touching the mucosa of the lower arcades. One adult had such severe incisor malalignment/occlusion that the central incisors required removal. All of the adult horses had overgrown hooves, two were pre-laminitic.
Other issues facing 6 of the 13 horses eamined are the eye deformities. Examination reveals them to be blind in at least one eye with other congenital defects or chronic untreated ulcerations.
It is my opinion it would be very difficult for the low body weight horses to survive winter, especially with the poor dentition.
