With a large under served Amish population in the Sonora area dependent on horses as part of their livelihood the Hardin County Cooperative Extension Service teamed up with University of KY Equine Specialist, Dr. Fernanda Camargo to offer the second “Horse Wellness Clinic”.   Previously fecal samples were collected from over 50 horses with a follow up deworming protocol, botulism vaccinations and preventative equine health maintenance.  Botulism is a big concern among this Amish community for they continue to feed silage and often time horses have access to it or somehow are exposed to the botulism organism. During the initial visit not all agreed to vaccinate their horses accordingly and unfortunately a couple of families lost one of their lead work horses as a result.

            A big part of working with a group of people who may or may not be familiar with who you are, your intentions or how you are trying to help, is the ability to gain their “trust”.  During the second visit this past April, it was evident that the Amish community had all the confidence and trust in the preventative health practices that Dr. Camargo had been encouraging them to use. They were extremely receptive to once again vaccinate for botulism and we had several new families to take part in protecting their horses. Advice was also given on a young yearling who had punctured his chest with a t-post the night before she was to come down. While initial prognosis was not good, she continued to keep in contact with them thru our extension office and the horse is now totally healed and back to normal. 

            In the absence of a large animal vet in the county, there is a need to continue the education process with the Amish community and to hopefully offer this service on an annual basis at a nominal fee.