Day 9: Shame on You, Acorns!

This morning was a good day for sleeping in, as classes were cancelled at NCSU until 11:00 because of the freezing rain last night. I didn't mind the extra sleep at all!

This morning I experimented a little more with the fecal samples to see if I could draw any more conclusions, and I found something very interesting! I examined each of the samples from the wild ponies to look at the acorn content and relate it to the data I already had to see if I could make any comparisons. I created a ten-point scale for the acorn content--ten is high, and one is low. I picked through the samples and gave each of them a number on the scale and then looked to see if there were any trends regarding amount of acorns and the EPG. It turns out, that (for the large majority) the higher amount of acorns in the feces, the higher the EPG was, and the smaller amount of acorns, the lower the EPG was! I made some graphs to represent my data:

I think that a major reason for this is that in order to eat the acorns, the ponies have to eat very close to the ground (which is why they had a lot of sand in their feces, too), but the ponies that consume other things as their main diet, such as grass, do not have to eat right off of the ground. For example, a lot of the grass in the outer banks right now is very long, so the ponies can clip off the top couple inches of it without ever getting anywhere close to the ground, which would then lower their risk for getting parasites. It would be interesting to see if this would change in the summer months when most of the ponies eat well-maintained, short grass in people's lawns. Who knows!

Yesterday I was saying that I was able to look at some hatched Small Strongyle larvae, and here it is! The small and large are identified by how long the tail is.

My mom made it to NCSU in the afternoon, so I finished my time there by showing her where I've been working. Tomorrow will be for research, then we're going to head home on Friday.

Day 8: I need some inspiration for a good title...

Today was a veeeeery early morning! My alarm went off at 5:55, and we left the house by 6:45 because Paul had to get ready to teach a class at 8:30, which I attended. It was all about preparing a mare for foaling, the signs and symptoms, and so on. It would be really amazing to be able to see a birth in action, but I don't think it's going to happen on this trip.

After the class ended, I headed back to the lab to do some cleanup from yesterday. I washed out all the cups, strainers, and pipettes that we used. I then had the opportunity to look at some Strongyle larvae through a microscope that one of the grad students had hatched (pictures later!). It was very...wormy looking and had a long tail coming off the end of it. There's another research skill: being able to recognize a certain type of parasite larvae from another (there were lots of nematode larvae in there, too).

After that, I had the chance to put some graphs and data together to further compare and analyze wild versus domestic animals. As you can see, there is a huge amount of variability.

The left column is the domestic horse data, and the right is the Corolla herd.

We had a little time before the lab in the afternoon, so I got some of my research done for next week, and then we headed out for the lab, which was at the equine unit about 15 minutes from campus. This was the first lab of the semester, so it was pretty low key, and we worked on making rope halters...it's much harder than it looks! 

Unfortunately the mare did not foal when we were there, but it looks like she is going to tonight. I was able to do a milk test for the first time, and all four of the strips turned from green to purple right away! That's a pretty good sign that she's about to give birth. I kept the strip as a souvenir.

Here's the picture of the Strongyle eggs that I promised. You can see there are two right in the middle.

There's a small chance that there will be a "snow" day tomorrow due to freezing rain, but if not we'll still go to NCSU and get some more work done. My mom is driving part way tonight and will get here tomorrow so she can see what I've been doing, then we'll head home together!

Day 7: Parasite Eggs!

Today was my first attempt at navigating a college campus, and I didn't even get lost! The morning was spent getting everything ready in the lab so that we could start right away after lunch. We froze the fecal samples over the weekend, and those needed about two hours to thaw, so in the meantime I went to my very first college class, which was Introduction to Equine Science where we learned about the evolution of the horse. I found my way back to Paul's office, ate some lunch, and then started in the lab!

Interestingly, we only found Strongyle eggs in the fecal samples, but it is impossible to determine with a microscope whether they are small or large Strongyles. We started with the five samples that we got from the equine unit, in other words the domestic horses. We got extremely variable results--everything from zero EPG to 1,025 EPG, which is EXTREMELY high. One important thing to note is that some of this variability (especially if the horses are kept in the same conditions) is due to genetics and how strong the horse's immune system is, which is why it is better to test for parasites before treating them to see if the horse really has any. (We used different volumes and amounts than in the video that I watched, so to find the EPG, we had to multiply the number of eggs by 25.) Two out of the five horses that we examined had no eggs, and one of the horses only had one egg, making it an EPG of 25, which is really low. One of the horses had six eggs (EPG of 150), and one had 41 eggs (EPG of 1,025)! There are probably two reasons for this extremely high number: one is genetics, like I said before, and the other is that this horse had an injury and was being kept in a very small pen compared to the large pastures that the other horses had. The feces were not being picked up, and so this horse was eating on top of all of it, which is a perfect situation for a horse to get parasites.

And now for the wild ponies...we really weren't sure what to expect or if we would even find any; I never thought that I would actually get excited at the presence of parasites, but it really is fun when you can find a bunch of eggs. They're really easy to see, too, which makes it more enjoyable. We got 11 samples from the outer banks, which were from several different harems and locations, so it is interesting to compare parasites within different harems, too. Like the domestic horses, there is a LOT of variability in the number of eggs; we got everything from 25 EPG (one egg) to 1,000 EPG (40 eggs).

We got three samples from the first harem we saw, and they were all VERY high--one had 38 eggs, one had 39, and one had 40, which were the highest numbers that we saw in all of the wild pony samples! However, their BCS ranged from a 5-6, which is pretty much perfect. I asked Paul why they would have this many parasites yet still have a good BCS, and he said that one explanation is that the parasites are probably mostly small Strongyles, which don't migrate throughout the body like the large ones do, so they can cause inflammation and irritation in the gut but don't cause as much weight loss as large Strongyles do.

We got four samples from another harem, which were also really high except for one: one had 24 eggs, one had 32, one had 38, but the last one had seven. Because these horses stay together and eat the same things, this lower egg count could be due to genes and how strong the horse's immune system is, but it is hard to say for sure.

The last four samples that we got were all from different harems, and three of them were all pretty low: one had three eggs, one had four eggs, and one only had one egg. The fourth sample had 16 eggs, which is right about in the middle.

I made a lot of progress in terms of my goals today. (By the way, after talking with my on-campus advisor Mr. Boehm, I decided to keep only my first four goals and cut my last three.) In terms of my first goal, I learned the very important skill of how to identify parasite eggs! I had no clue what they looked like before, but now I can pick them out with certainty; I might be doing this in the vet clinic next week, too, but I'm not sure. I also hadn't previously had much experience with a microscope, but I used one for a solid three hours today, which is an extremely important skill to have in the scientific world. In addition, like I said in a previous post, I can use these skills (knowing the process of making the fecal solution, how to pipette it into a slide, how to effectively use a microscope, how to recognize an egg in the solution, and how to analyze the significance of the numbers) to benefit my own animals' health.

I definitely made a lot of progress with my third goal today. Like I said before, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to find in both the domestic and wild horses, but now I have numbers and data to show what the level of internal parasite infestation is.

I also learned a lot about my fourth goal today. I was expecting to find that the horses with a lot of parasites would have a BCS of a three or four, but I was wrong! It turns out that even the animals with very high amounts of parasites can maintain a healthy BCS (of a five or six) depending on the type of parasite and how much damage it does to the horse's system.

Part of my day tomorrow includes making graphs for this data and analyzing it a little further, and the rest of my day will be attending one of Paul's classes (Equine Breeding Farm Management) with a several-hour lab in the afternoon. One of the mares at the equine unit is about to have a foal, and there is a small chance it could happen tomorrow while I'm there. That's something I've never seen but would be really amazing to be able to experience! The chances are pretty low that I'll be there when it happens, though.

Here are a couple of pictures from today; I was also able to take a few pictures of the microscope slides with a special camera, but I don't have them downloaded yet, so be expecting some pictures of Strongyles eggs and graphs in the near future!

Filling a slide with the solution (that's the hardest part!) 

Looking for eggs with Paul looking over my shoulder (Don't worry, Mom...I was wearing gloves almost the whole time!) 

Day 6: Going to NCSU

Today was a light day; all we did was pick up some fecal samples from domestic horses (at the university's barn) and drop it all off at the lab on campus that I will be working in on Monday. Now we have samples from both wild and domestic horses, so I will be able to compare the two regarding parasites, which will hopefully help me accomplish one of my goals! It will be interesting to see if the domestic horses have any parasites; they shouldn't because they have been dewormed on a regular basis. I have no idea how many parasites the wild horses will have, though, because the cold weather might cause them to have very few. We will just have to see on Monday!

After we got back from NCSU, we all went to the park (including Bear, the black lab puppy) to go for a hike. Here are a couple pictures:

From left to right: Sam (11), Mark (4), and Mary (6)

Day 5: WILD PONIES!

Wow! Today was really busy but very fun, too. It was over a three-and-a-half hour drive to the outer banks, so we had an early morning and left at 7:00. My mentor, two college students from NCSU, and I went. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was as exciting as I imagined it to be!

As soon as we got to the Corolla Wild Horse Foundation (CWHF), we were assigned to Mike, our "tour guide", and we loaded up into a big SUV. The only way to get to the wild ponies is to drive across the beach, so as you can imagine, the sand can get pretty deep at times, which makes for a fun ride! After driving down the beach for a couple miles, Mike shouted out, "Hold on...We're gonna ramp over a sand dune!" And sure enough, he stepped on the gas, and we ramped off of a huge dune. No wonder he said the cars out there only last for two to three years!

One of the first things that I learned when we got there was that the wild ponies travel in little herds called harems, which usually consist of one stallion and two to three mares (females). Mike also said that the stallions are not the harem leaders; the lead mare decides where to go and what to do...not too far off from real life, eh? I also learned that this particular herd of wild ponies consists of about 100 horses, but the CWHF isn't sure of that because there are 75,000 acres that the ponies can roam, so it's a little like finding a needle in a haystack. That was a little different from what I was expecting.  However, we got lucky and saw around 25 ponies in total--about six different harems! The most common colors of the ponies are black, bay, and chestnut, but the majority of them are bays (brown body with black legs, mane, and tail).

The first harem we saw consisted of six horses--four mares and TWO stallions. I asked Mike why there were two, and he said that one was still young but would be kicked out of the harem soon by the lead stallion. One thing that I noticed is that these horses are so desensitized to people and cars that they didn't really care when we pulled up in a big SUV. We were about 20 feet away, and they were as calm as could be.

There is not much on the outer banks to eat right now (in the summer the ponies graze people's lawns), so the first harem we saw was eating acorns off the ground! I've never heard of horses eating acorns, but apparently they are high in calories. However, the ponies almost always eat off the ground and because of that, they consume a lot of sand (which we were able to see in their feces). For some reason, though, they don't get sand colic often, but it still can't be good for their system to be consuming that much sand. One thing that my mentor Paul noticed was that their BCS was astonishingly good: they weren't underweight, but they weren't very overweight either. It'll be interesting to see if parasites play a role in that.

Ok, now for pictures--lots of them!

Eating the acorns on the ground

You can see the sand in the middle!

From left to right: Paul, me, and the two college/grad students

I guess that fence didn't work too well...

How would you like to wake up to horses right outside your window?! 

Enjoying the sun :)

A harem of four 

This horse was enjoying the sun totally sprawled out on the sand!

You have to watch out when you're driving or else you could hit some horses walking across the road.  

A little yearling 

This mare had a significant limp when she walked.

Eating more acorns!

We are going into the lab tomorrow for a little, so no day off for me, but I'm not complaining! Well, I told Mary that I would be done in three minutes, and she's currently counting, so I better go!

Day 4: Welcome to North Carolina!

After a stressful morning of dealing with issues at the barn (it's just too cold in Ohio!), I finally made it! I woke up to find that some of the hardware on the fencing at the barn had shattered because it was so cold, and I found my horse a couple doors down in our neighbors' yard! I thought I was going to see wild horses in North Carolina, but apparently I have one of my own right by my house.

My flight was delayed for about two hours because of the cold, so I didn't leave Detroit until about 4:00, but I found Paul right away, and I made it to their house! They have an adorable black lab puppy (that I'm already best friends with), a yellow lab, two cats, and two minature horses. Their four kids remind me a lot of our family (they're homeschooled, too!). The two youngest (Mark and Mary) are four and six years old respectively, and they made a sign to put in my room as a welcome present. They are just too cute!

(The G stands for Grace.)

Mark was sitting in my room and saw a pack of gum sticking out of my backpack, and he goes, "I smell some gum...I think it's somewhere in the room..." and he kept glancing to the side looking at it, and then I said "Mark, would you like some gum?" And he gave a sheepish grin and nodded. It was so cute.

Tomorrow is the big day, so first I'm going to go play some trains with Mark and Mary, then I'm going to hit the hay. 

Day 3: Learning How to Count Parasite Eggs

Today was a little more laid back than the last two because I was preparing for my departure tomorrow. In addition to packing, I learned one of two ways to count eggs in a fecal sample, which is how we will be doing it in North Carolina.

The technique we will be using to count eggs is called the McMaster Egg Counting Technique. The purpose is to find the EPG, or eggs per gram of feces. First, you weigh out two grams of the fecal sample. Second, you pass the feces through a sieve into a dish containing 60 ml of ZnSO4 or saturated salt solution, which you then pour into a flask and mix well so that the eggs don't prematurely float to the top. After that, you use a pipette to transfer the solution into one of the chambers of the McMaster slide, then repeat the process to fill the second chamber. After 30 seconds, you examine the number of eggs under a microscope that floated to the top of the chambers, multiply that number by 100, and there you have your EPG!

Learning this skill will definitely help me achieve my first goal; it is undoubtably a science-based research skill that is involved in many different scientific professions. Believe it or not, it is also something that I can put into use at home if I get the equipment! I have a horse and goat that both graze and are at risk for picking up parasites, so attaining this skill could be very beneficial in maintaining my own animals' health. This summer we lost one of our baby goats (Elsa) due to Bloodworms, which I blogged about yesterday. Her death was due to a resistance in the worm, as it had learned how to mutate and ignore the effects of the dewormers that we had given her. Deworming medications are really cheap and as a result are often given on a frequent schedule (which is what we had started to do). However, deworming without having a knowledge of which parasites are an issue causes the problem of mutations and superbugs, which is exactly what happened with the bloodworms in Elsa's body. Therefore, having the ability to read fecal samples would be extremely helpful, as it would allow me to have an understanding of which parasites are an issue and need to be treated without having the expense of vet.

I'm so excited to travel to North Carolina tomorrow and finally meet my mentor Paul and his family with whom I will be staying! Time for the real fun to begin...