veterinarians versus first timers at the following
year’s site visit.The difference in community interest in castration
was interesting and may reflect groundwork done on
the first Costa Rica visit the preceding year. At
that time, horse owners expressed a reluctance to
castrate their animals unless the moon was new.
The 2012 project dates in Costa Rica were specifi-
cally chosen with that belief in mind. Encourage-
ment from the local veterinarian over the course of
the intervening year was probably helpful as well.
Multiple castrations in one day necessitated having
a means of cleaning and disinfecting instruments at
the work site. An autoclave donated to the local
veterinarian by one of the participating veterinari-
ans enabled instrument sterilization at the end of
each day. The Costa Rican horses have more op-
portunity to rest postoperatively than the cart-
horses, which seldom have more than a day off of
work. In the future, horse owner education on the
benefits of castration should precede the start of the
project work days. All of the Costa Rican castra-
tions were uneventful, although one recovery was
prolonged due to high doses of sedatives that were
needed to get near enough to the horse to place a
catheter. Tetanus prophylaxis is critical for castration cases
as well as horses with penetrating wounds. Teta-
nus toxoid is not available in either country, so pro-
vision of both tetanus toxoid and antitoxin from the
United States is advisable and may require addi-
tional permission for importation. Similarly,
horses were not vaccinated against arboviral en-
cephalitis or rabies, although these diseases are
present, a point that should be retained by veteri-
narians planning work in Central America. Discussion is an important component of learning
opportunities. Time for discussing cases and as-
pects of project design and execution was more for-
mally addressed in the Honduras project. The
offering of evening presentations helped entice the
regional veterinarians into the project and made
them more comfortable with providing hands-on as-
sistance during the work day. The discussions also
gave the visiting veterinarians insights into locally
available solutions and practices for common prob-
lems as well as the knowledge level of the veterinar-
ians. More informal discussion time in the Costa
Rica project yielded many constructive ideas and
empowered the second Costa Rican veterinarian to
investigate starting an Equitarian project as well.
Engagement of the area veterinarians increases the
impact of the work and is an important step towards
sustainability of the project. The veterinary students in Honduras had an ex-
cellent opportunity to develop their basic equine
skills as well as to participate in the diagnosis and
treatment planning for a number of conditions.
Although some were fatigued by the end of the work
day, all of them maintained positive attitudes.
The Mexican veterinary student who participated in the Costa Rican project very much enjoyed the op-
portunity to do procedures, particularly those she
had not done before, such as a urethral catheteriza-
tion. In both countries, the veterinary students
built relationships with veterinarians that can serve
as mentors as well as provide opportunities for fu-
ture learning experiences.
Other than the equid health coloring books,
no educational handouts were available for distri-
bution to the horse owners to reinforce verbal rec-
ommendations. These could be developed as a
collaborative effort between the North American
veterinarians and the in-country veterinarians and
veterinary colleges. Community meetings for the
animals’ owners and caregivers may be another op-
tion to both introduce the visiting veterinary team
and tackle education on common problems in collab-
oration with the local veterinarians. This should
be considered when scheduling Equitarian projects
and a great addition for returning projects that have
established a relationship with the area veterinari-
ans and veterinary college. Both Equitarian projects faced significant chal-
lenges. In Honduras, widespread malnutrition was
only superficially addressed by discussion with the
owners and a single treatment of vitamins. Afford-
able protein sources must be identified and made
available. Literacy levels were low in this group, so
educational handouts for future educational efforts
should include predominately pictorial material.
In Costa Rica, grazing was much more available, so
few animals were too thin. However, for those that
are used for tourist rides, poor body condition is a
major concern and deterrent to horse selection. Both projects saw more animals than planned and
ran out of some medications and ivermectin. This
highlights the need to accurately estimate the likely
project caseload in advance, and wherever possible,
have local sources that can be called upon when
transported supplies and medications fall short.
In Honduras, one of the regional veterinarians rem-
edied the ivermectin shortage by donating a bottle of
ivermectin the following day. In Costa Rica, fen-
bendazole liquid was used as a substitute, but the
larger volume of liquid frequently dribbled out of the
horse’s mouth. In both instances, the compounded
“banana-flavored” products were more accepted
than the alternatives. The severe tick infestations
were not fully anticipated, and the locally available
products raised fears of narrow safety margins.
These challenges have led to changes in planning of
supplies and targeting U.S. pharmaceutical dona-
tions for future projects in tropical regions. Limited diagnostics frustrated interest in pursu-
ing the upper respiratory syndrome in Costa Rica
and the role of piroplasmosis in weak or pale horses
in both countries. Ideally, all such horses would
be screened for both EIA and piroplasmosis so that
more precise control recommendations could be
made for local horses. This would require commu-
nity cooperation, more funding, and foreplanning of
AAEP PROCEEDINGS
Vol. 58
2012 307
WELFARE AND WELLNESS: IMPROVING THE LIVES OF HORSES AND VETERINARIANS
Orig. Op. OPERATOR: Session PROOF: PE’s: AA’s: 4/Color Figure(s) ARTNO:
1st disk, 2nd beb spencers 11 1-53375