Balanced Veterinary Services

31/10/2024

Insulin monitoring for Laminitis PREVENTION

This week we adopted this little girl. She has previously had laminitis and is one we helped rehabilitate back onto pasture access. As she now has different pastures I wanted to check her risk level with us. Bloods were taken in the afternoon on full pasture access. Success she has a currently a low risk 😎
This will change if she gains any weight through the summer so I will continue to monitor body weight and insulin levels.

My aim is to help educate clients that with monitoring insulin levels we can identify at risk horses before the onset of any lameness and prevent this disease. So Please get in contact with us if you would like any help determining your horses risk and preventing laminitis for this spring/summer period 🙂

10/10/2024

Trying these new 3-D sole protection pads today for this barefoot guy needing a little more protection as he comes back into work.
Easy to prep and place, excited to see how they go over the coming weeks 🙂
3D Hoofcare Australia

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10/10/2024

What an great afternoon to be at the races 😎

03/10/2024

A great video showing the very clever design of the Lamjnae connection. While the Laminae are strong enough to suspend the weight of the horse they are also a soft tissue structure allowing movement and shock absorption. Have to be one of the coolest designs in nature 🥰

03/10/2024

What an exchange for dropping off meds today!!! I am lucky to have some great clients that look after me. Many thanks Ange ###x

13/09/2024

Different kind of hooves yesterday 🐮🤠
Helping this handsome fellow out with some overgrown toes. Big thanks to Eva and Jim, our visiting American farriers for your help on this one!!!! with the right knowledge and equipment on hand this went extremely well 🙂

08/09/2024

Hello clients next Stomach scope day is this month. Get in touch to book your spot :)

23/08/2024

I find this post extremely sad to read. Just because you tell other people they are wrong and you do it confidently doesn’t mean you are right. I do not agree with this view point and it makes me worry about the welfare of so many horses with people believing this. Let this be a reminder to all people caring for horses that you can’t trust everything you read, and especially not on social media where there is no filter for who qualifies to have an opinion.

⚠️Strong words coming… suck it up Equine World.

Vets, farriers, barefoot trimmers, and even research scientists have been misled for too long - and are therefore misleading others.

Rotation of P3 (coffin bone) is ALWAYS human error - every single time.

There's no such thing as P3 "rotating" or "sinking" within the hoof capsule. NO SUCH THING.

Typical vet statement 👉“You must box rest your horse or P3 will come through the sole.”

RUBBISH. If you (vet) had been taught correct hoof care you’d see how ridiculous that statement was.

More utter poppy c**k 👉 “A heart bar shoe can support the frog and P3 to prevent it from sinking” - this is a myth.

It ‘supports’ nothing. Absolutely NOTHING.

Stop nailing (or glueing) them onto already compromised hoof capsules (that you or your colleague screwed up in the first instance).

Equine world irony 👉 Hang on, how about a clog or two, rockering it would be even better - how about resecting the hoof wall, yeah, great that’ll fix it - set the shoe back - increase break over - stop lever forces (everyone ignore the heels).

Sigh. 😔

Every single time you see P3 in the wrong positon in the hoof capsule - it’s INCORRECT TRIMMING that caused it.

You see the red lines on this x-ray?

That’s where the hoof capsule should be.

All that material left at the heel and removed at the toe? Your equine ‘pros’ did that.

Millions of dollars spent on laminitis research and they haven’t even spotted the most simplest of causes.

Vets, farriers, barefoot trimmers - they’re all doing it.

It’s not laminitis - it never was - p3 rotation is human error.

You, the horse owners, are being duped to believe that X-rays like this are a dreadful act of cruel nature.

That the laminae got inflamed, fell apart and left P3 dangling about in the hoof capsule, rotating and sinking at will.

That’s not true.

P3 got like this because humans caused it. The HUMAN HAND with their rasps and nippers, and mythical ideas.

Chopping off toes endlessly, thinning soles, disorienting hoof capsules - this is all improper unnatural hoof care.

HM have a saying 👉 “Do unnatural things, and expect unnatural things to happen”.

Poor P3 - poor, poor P3. The most humungous great big RED HERRING. Forget P3. Look at the HOOF CAPSULE.

P3 is busy doing nothing inside that hoof capsule, minding its own business just waiting for someone who knows how to read a hoof capsule to keep it in balance.

Vet schools, you should hang your heads in shame for failing to teach your students even the most basic principles of hoof care. You know you don’t - we know you don’t - and this is a worldwide problem.

Typical vet statement (with no prior knowledge of hoof care): “remove more toe”

LOOK AT THE X-RAY - that’s where your “remove more toe” got this poor pony.

You should have said “get those heels down, leave that poor toe alone, stop thinning the sole!”

Farrier and barefoot schools, stop listening to bogus science and stop teaching your students to chop off toes.

Every time you do that, you lose the balance point, take off too much sole, cause growth rates to go into chaos, leave too much heel, and rotate P3.

Then you X-ray and shout - L-A-M-I-N-I-T-I-S

STOP IT NOW.

This isn’t just misguided - it’s maiming, laming, and killing horses.

It’s embarrassing, it’s wrong, and it has to end. We are SO DAMN tired of seeing this happen, and having to correct it.

And sometimes we’re just too bloody late.

Equine world you should be saying ‘My Bad’ 😑



HM.

p.s. if your horse is being diagnosed with rotation, get into our rehab group now and learn how to fix it before it’s too late: The Phoenix Way: Path 2 Hoof Health

p.p.s. these videos on this YouTube channel are TOTALLY FREE - educate yourself: Lindsay Setchell Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/

06/08/2024

Love these update videos of little souls we have helped. This little guy is a week old now and full of energy 🥰

03/08/2024

Some of this weeks cases to show what an average week looks like for a vet.

Big thanks to Christopher Beggs Cpf , farrier and final year vet student, for all of your help, both myself and the clients appreciated it. AND for taking so many photos!!!! Something I certainly don’t do enough of and appreciate.

28/07/2024

A work life balance afternoon helping this cute little calf this. Born this morning and hasn’t been able to get to his feet and nurse normally. IV fluids, glucose, limb supports and some warm Fresh colostrum in his tummy.
Fingers crossed this helps him he finds some strength and learns how to nurse now.
Thanks to vet student and Farrier Christopher Beggs Cpf for his much needed wrangling help!!

15/07/2024

What is the value of an xray??

I get so many people asking me to have a look at some x-rays for them and how would i recommend they shoe this horse???

BUT I cannot stress enough how much EXTRA information is needed to Interpret X-rays effectively.

A History along with a complete physical exam looking at both the horses soundness, movement and hoof capsule are always required IMO if you want to get the value out of your X-rays. (And that is not even going into what are diagnostic x-rays which is another discussion)

The images below are a recent case showing the levels of information obtained on a case in order for me to advise a client effectively.

27/05/2024

Very honoured (and a little nervous) to be Presenting a talk on ‘The Podiatry Aspects of Laminitis’ at this years Annual Veterinary Association conference. There is a great line up of speakers to talk along side so it will be a very educational week 🥰

I’m sorry I’ll be away for the remainder of the week so won’t be able to attend to anyone’s horses. Please if you have an emergency then call one of the other equine vets in the area.
For routine bookings please feel free to reach me by messages 🙂

19/05/2024

Honoured to have been asked to give a presentation at the upcoming Hawkesbury Dressage festival! I’m looking forward to it and hope to see you all there :)

19/02/2024

😎🐴Foot abscess question time❓❓

Q- what is the most useful tool to help find and treat an abscess??? Trimming gear OR hoof testers????

A- for me it is trimming gear!!!!
most frequently abscesses will be found in feet that have cracks present. These cracks serve as an entry point for moisture and bacteria. Once a foot is trimmed and cleaned up these cracks will become visually obvious and can be explored further. If there are no obvious cracks to explore then I will use hoof testers - lighlty at first to avoid any unnecessary pain for the horse.

The other benefits of trimming are, we clean up the whole hoof which is then much cleaner to apply a bandage to, and the newly rounded hoof wall doesn’t wear through the banadge quite as quickly.

It might look over the too to some but this is my standard hoof abscess kit:
- trimming gear
- hoof knife
-farriers nail
-betadine
-hydrogen peroxide
- stay put cream
- poultice
- soffban
- elastoplast
- hooftesters when needed

18/01/2024

What a ‘sole’full way to start the day!!!
Reviewing this laminitis case one month after his initial consult AND we have a new record!!!! 🥰🎉 with almost 2 mm sole growth per week (and a fabulously normal looking proximal laminae zone)!!!!!! 😳😎🎉🍾

24/12/2023

🎄Today’s bandage keeping the Christmas spirit 🎄

Wishing all of our clients and colleagues and very Merry Christmas and happy and healthy wishes for the new year. Thank you all for a great year of support and also friendship.

We are having a small break between Christmas and new year from routine calls but are still around for emergency calls for our clients. 🤞 the horses don’t realise there are public holidays