Westhills Equine Veterinary Services

01/10/2025

Dr. Sarah and RVT Amy will both be attending this weekend and presenting lectures to prospective equine veterinary professionals! We are excited to talk to those who have an interest in equine medicine and be apart of such an important event for the industry🐴

Looking forward to the opportunity this weekend to inspire vet students and vet tech students to consider a career in equine veterinary medicine. Did you know that there is considered to be a critical shortage of veterinarians in Canada, and that horse vets represent only 4.9% of vets in practice? Hosting this student conference is one way we are helping to change that narrative.

01/09/2025

THANK YOU!! Without the support from these incredible businesses this series would not be what it is! If you see them please thank them for being a huge part of the 2025 Slide In To Spring Reining Series! Three Step Quarter Horses

01/07/2025

Is your horse’s nighttime vision better than your daytime vision?

When comparing equine vision to human vision, the horse has a smaller visible spectrum (see image) which means they see a smaller range of colors than we do. However, horses have a structure in the back of their eye—called the tapetum lucidum—that humans do not have. This enhances vision in low light conditions and allows a horse to see better in the dark than a human does. However, reflections from the tapetum lucidum can also blur images and lead to poor depth perception at night.

Dilation of the pupil allows all species to see better in the dark. This process takes longer in a horse (45 minutes) than it does in humans (25 minutes). So, when a horse is asked to do something in a dark environment, it’s important to allow their vision proper time to fully accommodate.

Overall, the nighttime vision of a horse is better than the nighttime vision of a human. However, the horse’s nighttime vision is NOT better than the daytime vision of a human. Anytime you are asking your horse to function in a dim light situation, give them time to adjust. And if they are fearful, be patient and try to understand how things look from their perspective!
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Brought to you by the AAEP Horse Owner Education Committee

01/07/2025

We are so excited to have Northern Metallic travel up and spend some time with us this spring for collection, shipping and onsite AI!

2015 Sorrel AQHA reined cow horse stallion, 6-panel NN son of Metallic Cat out of Little Cow Hound.

LTE: $100,000+ in cow horse including high score (shared) at 2022 NSHA Even Richer Roping, and still showing.

Foals are eligible for incentives that include:
NRCHA Stallion Incentive Program; NCHA Super Stakes, Breeders Invitational, Royal Crown Roping Futurity (US), and various provincial incentives. More to be added.

Our reproduction department would be happy to chat more about this impressive stallion ⬇️

✉️ [email protected] | 📞780-898-9267

NORTHERN METALLIC: 2015 sorrel AQHA Stallion standing at stud in Alberta, Canada, sired by METALLIC CAT out of LITTLE COW HOUND by Peppy Uh Huh

01/03/2025

Nothing But Blu loves his Canadian fans! 🇨🇦

So much so that he is offering an extension on his early booking discount to Canadian residents only! Available until January 31/2025. Westhills EVS is proud to be the only facility in Canada storing and distributing Nothing But Blu.

2019 Nothing But Blu (Once in a Blu Boon X CC Cat)
NRCHA/NCHA LTE: $150 000
2022 Snaffle Bit Futurity Open 3rd Place, Reserve Champion Intermediate Open.
He is a very cool seal brown color with the heterozygous black (Ee/Aa) genetics. That means he can throw black babies!
8 Panel Negative, 15 hands, Great minded stallion. 😍

Please contact us for more information on this athletic stallion or this limited-time offer to bring exceptional genetics to your program at a remarkable value.

📞780-898-9267 | ✉️ [email protected]

12/31/2024

Another sometimes hard but important year working with Hopeful Hooves Equine Rescue Society ❤️

🌟It’s been a heck of a year!🌟

Bare with us…. This is a long gratitude post!

Every year on new years, we spend time reflecting on the last year. All that we’ve accomplished, the things we feel we did great, and the things that need more work. This year is a bit different from the rest though, because it’s by far been our biggest year so far. As you guys know, we are a small rescue, this year, our family expanded. We grew a little fundraising team to help, and they worked tirelessly coming up with ideas, sending emails and keeping things like our silent auction, running smoothly. We also managed to fundraise, and build a whole barn for the horses!! 😱

With our community’s help, we rescue a grand total of 🌟38!!!🌟 horses! This is astronomical for us, because we are a small rescue, and we do try our best to take the high medical needs horses, who often require a lot more maintenance and vetting. Let that sink in. This year, our HHERS community saved 38 horses!! 😱 (41 if Dakota and Iris are bred). Sadly, 11 of those we had to give Peaceful Passings to. We had a lot of loss this year. Just when we were healing from one, we were hit with another. It’s part of rescue, especially when you rescue a lot of seniors, but it never gets easier. We take comfort In knowing our Peaceful Passing Program is put to good use, and they all passed, surrounded by the love of our team at HHERS & the team at Westhills Equine Veterinary Services

We’ve had a great relationship at Westhills Equine Veterinary Services for a few years now, but this year, it felt like that relationship grew. We have probably seen them at least biweekly. And while we don’t love always having to call them for emergencies, they have been nothing short of amazing, going above and beyond for the HHERS horses. Not just their vets, but their staff also, take the time to get to know our horses. We truly are grateful for all the work, time, and even heart ache, that they go through on a regular basis with us.

As you guys know, Hidalgo Horseshoeing is also one of our board members. We cannot thank Mckenna enough, for all that she puts up with. As you can expect, many rescue horses don’t have experience with farriers at all, and often, have bad experiences. Mckenna has always gone above and beyond to ensure our horses always have good experiences. Mckenna has been with HHERS from the beginning, and we’re so lucky to have her…. And her mama now too! 😉

To our fundraising and fostering teams…. THANK YOU!! Often times, whether we can save another horse, is solely dependent on you. Sometimes it depends on fosters taking a horse from head quarters so we can squeeze another one in, and other times, it relies on a foster opening a spot at their home (which is no small commitment!!). And where would we be without a fundraising team who’s committed to ensuring we’re running smoothly and can afford to feed/vet/farrier all horses!? A very special thank you, to Myrna. She fosters many of our very senior and high maintenance guys. But behind the scenes, she does so much more. She is my right hand woman. She laughs, cries, and gets angry with me. She helps me make all decisions, and is the logic to my emotions. I’m so grateful that you joined us, and you are a huge reason we’ve been able to help so many! And to my amazing teenage daughter - I know somedays you want to just do nothing, but still you show up for the horses everyday, whether it’s helping with feeding, meds, doing blankets or any maintenance on the property. Your hard work and commitment to helping heal horses mentally, is so extremely valued and appreciated.

But lastly, and certainly not least…. Is YOU!!!

HHERS couldn’t evolve the way it is, without this incredible community of support!! We have been blessed to get to know so many of you, whether it be through messages, emails or in person. We sincerely are so so grateful to have all of you guys along in this incredible journey. HHERS is still a young rescue, only 3 years in, but look how much can be done, when a whole group of horse lovers comes together!

Thank you guys, for an incredible 2024…. And here’s to an even bigger 2025, with more horses and more goals achieved!!

Happy New Year!! 🥳

12/30/2024

What better way to close out 2024 than with an amazing success story! 🎊

This patient presented to Westhills EVS in late June with a large, basketball sized mass on his lower left abdomen. He was very painful in the area, and the mass was soft and felt fluid filled. On closer examination, Dr. Kirstin discovered that the mass was in-fact a large abscess – possibly due to a previous trauma while turned out to pasture that resulted in a hematoma, which then became infected (this can occur if the skin is broken). The abscess had grown so large and swollen that the overlying skin was dead/necrosed due to the immense pressure. The abscess was lanced and drained, but because 95% of the skin overlying the abscess was dead, after all the compromised tissue was trimmed away, a large defect was present in the skin on his abdomen. The abscess had become so big that it was eating through his abdominal muscles towards his abdominal cavity – in the early days, we were concerned about the risk of peritonitis (inflammation of the lining of the abdomen) or even worse, evisceration (protrusion of internal organs). For this reason, the patient was kept in hospital for stall rest, close monitoring and wound management. He did fantastic and within days, the wound stopped producing pus/discharge and began to produce healthy granulation tissue and slowly fill in. After the patient had stabilized, he was sent home for continued care from his devoted family.

Picture 1️⃣: June 20th

Picture 2️⃣: June 27th

Picture 3️⃣: July 18th - The patient returned to WEVS for a recheck almost 1 month following the initial appointment. His wound was doing fantastic, however the skin was beginning to fold inwards, hindering the healing process. The skin edges were debrided to create a flat surface for continued epithelialization (skin growth).

Picture 4️⃣: August 17th - The patient was rechecked again – the skin edges looked fantastic and the wound continued to slowly contract. However, the skin regrows (epithelializes) at quite slow rates – this very large wound would take extremely long to fill in, as it has to heal from the skin edges moving slowly inwards. Based on the size and location, with a healthy granulation tissue bed, it was decided that this patient was a prime candidate for skin grafting to speed the healing. When the skin heals, the epithelium must grow from the edge of the skin. For a wound like this one, there is a huge surface area compared to the circumference of the wound. Skin grafting places small islands of skin within the wound, so the skin can epithelialize and regrow from several areas instead of just from the edges of the wound.

Picture 5️⃣, 6️⃣ & 7️⃣: August 19th - We completed the punch grafting procedure. 75 grafts harvested from the patient’s neck were placed in the prepared wound bed, and an abdominal wrap was gently placed to hold the new skin grafts in place. It is important that movement of the grafts is prevented, so they can attach to the underlying tissue and absorb the nutrients needed to survive.

Picture 8️⃣: August 27th - The patient stayed in hospital for close monitoring and extensive wound care with very careful bandage changes until the grafts were secure. By September 6th we were beginning to see early epithelialization occurring and were comfortable with the patient returning home to continue his care. The patient was kept bandaged for another 1-2 weeks at home until eventually the wound was safe to leave unbandaged with barrier creams.

Picture 9️⃣: October 11th – on recheck the wound was found to be healing fantastic – approximately 70% of it was epithelialized, with several small areas of healthy granulation tissue. Wound care continued at home with barrier creams to keep the wound moisturized.

Picture 1️⃣0️⃣: November 18th - the wound was over 95% epithelialized and small amounts of hair were growing. It will take a bit longer for the area to continue to regrow hair and look fully normal, but his owner reports it continues to progress well at home!

Great job to Dr. Kirstin and team, as well as this guys diligent owners, on a job well done! 😍

12/30/2024

Thank you to all who submitted a photo for our 2024 Christmas photo contest and for another year in a row, made it so hard to choose!

Congratulations to the following who's photos were chosen!
Please contact us in the New Year regarding your prize selection!

Abbie Maclean
Allison Burnett
Ashton Pawlick
Cassidy Clark
Chantal Hanson
Cindy Weber
Emily Wild
Jacey Lynn
Jackie Sargent
Jody Schulze-McMann
Kristen Haines
Petra Lohr

12/27/2024

🦷❤️

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas to all from our entire team here at Westhills EVS. We are so grateful for many wonderful clients and patients who constantly remind us why we love what we do.

See you in 2025! 🎆

And special thank you to client Brenda Hagen for the perfect Christmas photo! 😍

12/20/2024

Happy Holidays from Westhills EVS!

A reminder about our holiday closures over the next couple weeks! Please contact us if you would like to stop in for any prescription or feed pick ups today or another day our office is open. Calling ahead ensures we have it in stock and ready for you.

Please know we remain available for emergencies 24/7, 365 days a year, should you need us.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing everyone in the new year!

12/19/2024

Great info as foaling season quickly approaches!

Foaling season is right around the corner! Is your foaling kit stocked and ready to go?

If this is your first foaling or you don’t know where to start, the graphic lists a few essentials for you to include. Having these items ready several weeks before your mare’s due date will mean less stress and scrambling at the last minute trying to acquire what you need.

As always, your veterinarian is your best source of information. Consult your horse doctor for additional recommendations and for training on how to properly use these tools to assist your mare during and after delivery!

12/19/2024

Westhills EVS is proud to be the only center in 🇨🇦 storing and distributing Nothing But Blu (Once in a Blu Boon x CC Cat)😍

NRCHA LTE: $150,000+, Heterozygous black (Ee/Aa), 8 Panel Negative, 15 hands and great minded.

Contact us for more information about this guy! ⬇️

📞 780-898-9267 | ✉️ [email protected]

More information on other stallions as well as our 2025 stallion catalogue to com

12/16/2024

Happy Holidays from Westhills EVS! 🎅

Please be advised - this is the last full week of regular clinic hours to stock up on any feed or prescriptions your horse might need over the holidays!

Please give us a call if you're stopping by and we'll be sure to have your items ready for you! 🎄

12/13/2024

Stallion Contract Reminder! ⏰

If you are joining us for the 2025 breeding season, this is your reminder to begin getting your contracts in order and ideally sent to us by February 1st! This is especially important if you are shipping semen in from the United States, as we will have to ensure the stallions location is included on our import permit. This process can take up to 4 weeks depending on the time of year, so is something you wont be able to do last minute. Without this step, your semen cannot be shipped across the border!

With any questions at all about breeding or stallion selections and semen shipping, please dont hesitate to reach out!

📞 780-898-9267 | ✉️ [email protected]

12/06/2024

**CLOSED**

Last chance to enter! Closes today at 5!

Winners announced next Friday! ⬇️

**CLOSED - WINNERS ANNOUNCED DEC 20TH**

The annual Christmas photo contest is back! 🎄

Submit your equine photo in the comments below by next Friday, December 6th for a chance to be featured as a 2025 client of the month and have your choice of one of our awesome prizes!

Entries can also be emailed to [email protected].

*By submitting a photo below, you are indicating that you own all rights to the photo and authorize Westhills Equine Veterinary Services to display the photo across their social media platforms.

*If an image contains a photographers watermark, it cannot be accepted without proof of permission from the original photographer.

REMINDER: WE WILL NEVER CONTACT YOU FROM ANYTHING OTHER THAN THIS FACEBOOK PAGE AND WE WILL NEVER ASK YOU FOR CREDIT CARD INFO FOR THIS CONTEST. BEWARE OF FACEBOOK SCAMS. PAGES NAMED "Selection Winner" OR ANYTHING SIMILAR ARE NOT WESTHILLS EQUINE VETERINARY SERVICES.