At a recent equine health seminar a veteranarian speaker recommended getting in the habit of taking your horses temperature regularly. We live in area prone to Potomac Horse Fever and early detection is key for the most effective treatment. Fever is one of the earliest presented symptoms but is, of course, difficult to detect unless you’re checking for it.
I’m wondering how frequently you all check your horses temperature and if any of you have an equine thermometer that you’d recommend? Thoughts on the topic, in general?
Only if they appear out of sorts somehow. Having a gelding that reacts to vaccinations (he has Cushing’s) has taught me to notice very quickly if they don’t feel well. I can usually tell if either horse has a temperature just by feeling their ears, but then I confirm with the thermometer. When mine have a fever, they get kind of a glassy-eyed look about them.
This might be bad, but I just use a regular digital thermometer from the drug store. Both of my horses are very good about it, and I keep a very firm grip 
I think it’s important to have a good baseline for your horse-- knowing their regular resting temperature and how it responds to activity. Some horses run low, some horses run high, some horses are sensitive and have huge temperature fluctuations during simple events, etc.
But otherwise, I echo everything newhorsemommy said. I only take their temps if they seem off. And I also use a regular digital human thermometer, like the kind you’d get at any drug store.
Same as everyone else, I just have one from the drug store. (Or really, several, I keep one in the barn, one in the trailer first aid kit, and an extra.) I try to have a baseline resting and after work. Otherwise I only do it when they look icky. My first horse had Potomac once, and actually she presented with anorexia first. She was starting a fever by the time the vet got there.
I have not done regular temp checks unless we are training a horse to be accepting of thermometers or in a conditioning programing for competitions. The horses get temps checked at Vet box for safety, have to drop between sections to continue.
We also use an inexpensive digital thermometer in most instances. I do have a couple of older glass mercury thermometers, but find the digital to be faster in results, not breakable is also a big plus when they get dropped.
Our horse that got Potomac happened to be pooping when we went by her standing stall. When we came back by one hour later, she was pooping clear liquid so we called the Vet. Evidently we caught her VERY early, started treatment right away. She lost weight but ate continually so didn’t lose any muscle. We were lucky to spot her at the right moment to notice an abnormal sign by her.
We have a lot of Potomac around us, with vaccinated horses. Some are lost every year despite vaccinations and treatments. The virus mutates constantly.
Having a set of “normal numbers” for your horses is a good idea to have on hand. I just can’t take the time to do daily temp checks on healthy horses in addition to my other daily jobs, as a “just in case” watch overy them. This is one of “those great ideas” but not practical in real life. It makes one feel guilty as Overwhelmed did in her thread in trying to insure her horses were cared for well. Her Vet saying owner should check poop daily for moisture content on a couple horses, along with hard work of daily chores, working, gets into kind of ridiculous care level expectations.
