Our Sport and Leisure vets provide a high quality and personalised service to the whole equine community from high end competition horses to your much-loved horses, ponies or donkeys.
We also provide on-site veterinary cover for a wide range of equestrian competitions and events. We routinely cover a wide area and travel throughout the UK and abroad on request. Please give us a call to discuss your individual veterinary requirements whether it is for an individual, group or yard of horses or ponies.
General Health and Wellbeing
Prevention is better than cure for all aspects of veterinary medicine. Routine dentistry, health checks and vaccination will allow issues to be identified early before a more serious problem develops.
Vaccinations
There are a number of diseases against which horses can be vaccinated. The most common being tetanus, influenza and herpes virus.
Tetanus
Tetanus is a painful and life-threatening condition and its prevention via vaccination is extremely important. Following an initial 2-dose course, given 6 weeks apart, further vaccinations are given every other year. All horses and ponies should be vaccinated against tetanus, whether or not they compete or mix frequently with other horses.
Influenza
As seen in 2019 during the outbreak of equine influenza in the UK, routine vaccination prevented significant illness in a lot of horses and also helped to reduce the spread of the virus. The influenza vaccination requirements for each discipline or organization varies and it is best to check what those requirements are with the relevant organizing bodies. Vaccination for flu and tetanus are often given as a combined vaccine.
Equine Herpes Virus (EHV)
EHV can manifest in a variety of ways from respiratory disease, abortion or neurological signs. We would strongly recommend that pregnant mares are vaccinated in months 5, 7 and 9 of gestation against EHV. Vaccination of non-pregnant horses may have some benefit against respiratory and neurological disease although the vaccination is not 100% effective and it is sometimes not recommended if there has been recent exposure to the virus. Please contact us to discuss your horse’s EHV vaccination requirements.
Dentistry
Prevention is always better than cure and routine examination of your horse’s teeth can prevent more serious problems from developing at a later stage.
Our experienced clinicians use a combination of hand rasps and motorised equipment to achieve the best possible results. Sedation often facilitates a more relaxed dentistry experience for you and your horse and allows a more thorough examination to be made.
Lameness Investigations
Lameness is the biggest cause of lost training days in competition horses. Our vets have a wealth of experience in diagnosing and treating lameness problems in racehorses, competition and leisure horses. Portable high-quality radiography and ultrasound equipment allows efficient on site diagnosis.
Poor Performance
Whether you have noticed a subtle change in the way your horse is going or you are brining your horse back into work after a break, picking up the early warning signs of an injury can be vital to avoid long-term issues in the future.
With any change in exercise level and training, bringing horses back into work is a tricky time for injuries as enthusiasm and exuberance can rapidly surpass fitness and conditioning. Its also a time when changes in body weight and muscle tone mean that issues with saddle fit and back soreness can be highlighted. If you have noticed changes in your horse’s attitude to work, have worries about soundness or just want some advice on how best to develop a fitness program, getting your horse checked over sooner rather than later can often help avoid major problems in the future. Getting fit is always much harder than losing that fitness and a degree of stiffness can be normal, especially after a long break.
We have a wealth of experience in diagnosing and treating lameness along with other problems that can limit the horse’s performance (e.g. back soreness and core strength, problems with saddle fit, gastric ulcers).
Pre-Purchase Exams
The pre-purchase examination provides purchasers with a veterinary opinion of the horse’s suitability for its intended use. The certificate issued can also be used to obtain insurance cover. All pre-purchase examinations comply with the standards issued by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and the British Equine Veterinary Association.
A full 5-stage vetting examination is recommended, involving a preliminary examination, trot up, strenuous exercise, period of rest and a further trot and foot examination. However, a limited 2-stage alternative (comprising a preliminary examination and trot up only) is also offered.
Additional procedures such as radiographs, ultrasound scans, endoscopy or blood testing may be performed at the request of the purchaser. We recommend that a blood sample is taken at the time of the vetting to detect any drugs that the horse may have in its system.
We are able to perform a pre-purchase examination on a horse or pony that is an existing patient of ours if there is no conflict of interest and if the vendor agrees to allow the horse’s details to be made available to the purchaser.