Health Headlines & Barn First Aid

The Lawless Territory of the Checkout Counter When we are on a road trip, nutrition rules are suspended in our family. Cookies for breakfast? Sure! Chips as a main food group? Why not? It's one day in a life of healthy eating, and my kids always enjoyed the "no rules" rule of the road. This plan requires a lot of stops at mini marts along the way, and as a doc, I always notice the dangerous things that are sitting right next to the register at every checkout. Every parent k

This week our emotional support mini, Sally, ended up in the ICU at Bend Equine Medical Center after multiple wasp stings triggered a severe allergic reaction. Her face swelled shut within hours. Watching her fight through it as an emergency physician who couldn't fix it myself was humbling, and it reminded me how fast a sting can turn into an emergency, in animals and in people. Good news first. After a rocky few days, Sally is finally turning the corner. Her vitals have st

Our show got canceled this weekend because of poor air quality, and I know a lot of you were frustrated. I was too. I just want to camp out in my horse trailer, hang out with cool people, and ride horses. The show organizers did the hard thing, which is also the right thing. Keeping our animals and our humans healthy has to be our highest priority. I want to use this as a teaching moment, because "the air is bad today" is one of those warnings people tend to shrug off. It s

This weekend's forecast for Eugene is rough for anyone showing. Friday is hitting 9 degrees. Saturday backs off slightly to 89. Sunday finally breaks toward 85. That's three days of real heat, and none of us get to dress for it. Show attire means long sleeves, long pants, and often a hat or helmet, no matter what the thermometer says. I see the effects of that every show season. Riders push through headaches, nausea, and dizziness because they think stopping to cool off means

Cyclospora. It's a quick way to lose weight, but not what I'd recommend. I keep getting asked about the "explosive diarrhea" parasite that's been all over the news this week. Since I know a lot of you are living out of coolers and gas station food at shows right now, I wanted to break down what's actually going on. The parasite is called Cyclospora cayetanensis. It causes an illness called cyclosporiasis, and while we see a handful of cases every summer, 2026 is turning i

Lulu's T post incident. We updated her tetanus shot. You can ride a 1,200-pound animal at full speed through a sliding stop. You wrap your horse's legs before your own. You tape your fingers, ice your knees, and push through things that would send most people home. The last time you got a tetanus booster, though? You probably cannot remember. Neither can most of my patients. Tetanus cases are rising. The people getting sick are almost entirely those who were never vaccinat

Abby the cat embracing napping as her preferred wellness strategy I remember that saying from my days at the Air Force Academy. It's an homage to not working harder than you have to, and there are tons of wellness influencers out there on every social media platform telling you what you have to do to live longer. Here's a great study that actually answers the question, and it's a lot easier than you think. BLUF: An extra 5 minutes of sleep, 2 minutes of at least moderate