Avonvale Equine Practice

Avonvale Equine Practice 100% Equine Veterinary Practice offering clinic and ambulatory services with a team of experienced, dedicated and compassionate vets 24 hours per day.

Welcome to Avonvale Equine Practice. We are committed to providing high quality veterinary care for horses, ponies and donkeys. Our veterinary and nursing teams have a broad range of equine expertise and enthusiasm and are always available for advice. Based in Ratley, nr Banbury we cover a vast area including Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Leicestershire and the West Midlands. Conven

iently located near the M40 junction 12 we have a fully equipped surgical facility as well as up to date mobile diagnostic equipment. We offer free zone visits for routine appointments.

🐴🐴 Could you be the next Avonvale Brand Ambassador? 🐴🐴We are looking for our next Avonvale Brand Ambassadors - could one...
17/01/2025

🐴🐴 Could you be the next Avonvale Brand Ambassador? 🐴🐴

We are looking for our next Avonvale Brand Ambassadors - could one be you? Would you like to fly the flag for Avonvale and in return benefit from some sponsorship?

Here at Avonvale, we are always keen to support local equestrians and help fulfil their dreams. If you compete regularly in any equine discipline and are 16 or over, get in contact with us as we may be able to help. In return we ask you to promote Avonvale on your social media and we will cover entry fees up to £500 and provide some branded clothing and goodies. We also ask for regular (quarterly) updates on your progress so we can share with our clients via social media or newsletters.

We are also keen to welcome Junior Brand Ambassadors for anyone under 16. Sadly we can't offer the money element of the sponsorship, but we will provide all the branded goodies and promote on social media.

Please note - you must live in our catchment area.

If you would like to apply to be an Avonvale Brand Ambassador, please send in a short biography and photos to: [email protected] (Practice Manager) and we will announce who’s been successful on our Social media pages in February.

Deadline: Wednesday 22nd January

Good luck to the England team!! Good luck in particular to Grant Collett of Offchurch Bury Polo Club, hoping for a great...
17/01/2025

Good luck to the England team!! Good luck in particular to Grant Collett of Offchurch Bury Polo Club, hoping for a great match and an England win.

📣 TEAMS FOR THE BRYAN MORRISON 📣

England will play Argentina on 18 January for the Bryan Morrison Trophy at The All England Polo Club, Hickstead. Get your tickets now for just £8!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ENGLAND 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Captain: Jack HYDE (8)
Matias AMAYA (7)
Grant COLLETT (5)

🇦🇷 ARGENTINA 🇦🇷
Captain: Alfredo BIGATTI (8)
Adolfo CASABAL (6)
Nico ROBERTS (5)

More info & tickets: https://hpa-polo.co.uk/2025/01/08/arena-polo-international-england-argentina-teams/

17/01/2025

🐴🐴 Discounted Gastroscope Clinic Week 🐴🐴

We will be holding a Discounted Gastroscope Clinic week from 10th to 14th February 2025, kindly sponsored by BOVA. This clinic offers excellent value for money - for a small deposit of £50 you can get booked in. Our offer now also includes a trot up.

If you think your horse may be suffering from gastric ulcers, book now - particularly if your horse is showing these signs:

👉 Irritability when grooming
👉 Girthy when tacking up
👉 Reluctance to go forwards under saddle
👉 Poor performance
👉 Loss of condition
👉 Loss of appetite

Take advantage of this excellent offer by calling our Reception team on 01295 670501 or email [email protected]. If you'd like to speak to one of our experienced vets then please give us a ring.

For more information on gastroscoping and gastric ulcers - take a look at our blog: https://www.avonvaleequine.co.uk/blog/equine-gastroscope/

Terms and conditions apply - deposit payment at time of booking.

🐴🐴  Brand Ambassador Chloe Woodley - Final catch up!  🐴🐴Chloe has had a quiet summer and autumn.  She and Dan did compet...
16/01/2025

🐴🐴 Brand Ambassador Chloe Woodley - Final catch up! 🐴🐴

Chloe has had a quiet summer and autumn. She and Dan did compete at the BSPS Summer Championships and placed in each class they entered.

They also competed in our first ever one day event, going clear around the 90cm. Dan is only 5yo and this was his first ever one day event so Chloe was very proud of him.

During winter they have started doing some British show jumping, with and Dan proving himself each time they go out.

Demis has a quiet end of summer due to an injury. We hope Chloe has a great start to 2025 and we wish her lots of luck for the year ahead.

🐴🐴  Brand Ambassador Update - Eloise Starr  🐴🐴Eloise and Cruise have had a busy few months and here's a lovely update up...
15/01/2025

🐴🐴 Brand Ambassador Update - Eloise Starr 🐴🐴

Eloise and Cruise have had a busy few months and here's a lovely update up to the end of 2024, along with some fabulous photos:

Cruise and I went to Solihull riding club where we went clear in the 90cm arena eventing qualifier and came 6th/22 and have qualified for the champs this year.

We have also done a few festive competitions - at Allen’s Hills Christmas ODE he did a nice test for 68% followed by a lovely round in the 1m arena eventing to just tap a pole.

We also did the Dallas festive pairs where we did a speedy clear - sadly it was 30 seconds too speedy so we were knocked out of the placings but it was a lot of fun!

Lastly Cruise and I did the festive show jumping last weekend where he went clear in both the 90cm where we came 6th/31 and team 2nd and the 1m where he came 1st.

Looking forward to the 2025 season where we’ll hopefully step up to BE100.

🧐🧐  Latest Central Horse News Article  🧐🧐In the latest 'Winter Special 2024' edition of Central Horse News, our vet and ...
15/01/2025

🧐🧐 Latest Central Horse News Article 🧐🧐

In the latest 'Winter Special 2024' edition of Central Horse News, our vet and Director Claire Maher as written an excellent and informative article on 'The Equine Hock' (pages 18 and 19).

In this feature, Claire explains the anatomy of the equine hock and how this make-up relates to function. She covers joints, tendons, ligaments and diagnosing hock pathology.

⭐⭐ Monthly Theme continued - Worming  ⭐⭐Testing for wormsDid you know that 80% of the herd’s worm burden are carried by ...
13/01/2025

⭐⭐ Monthly Theme continued - Worming ⭐⭐

Testing for worms

Did you know that 80% of the herd’s worm burden are carried by only 20-30% of the horses?

Resistance to wormers, fuelled by historic overuse, is now a real problem in the UK and worldwide, for this reason we need to be careful to protect the drugs we have and only treat horses when necessary.

Faecal Worm Egg Counting (FWEC) should be done throughout the grazing season to identify horses requiring treatment.

Antibody saliva tests should be used twice a year to detect tapeworm infestations and treat accordingly.

Take a look at next Monday's post on "Worming plans".

Always feel free to call us on 01295 670501 if you have any questions.

🐴🐴  Brand Ambassador Grace Hubble - end of year round up!  🐴🐴Since their last update in September, Grace and Tommy haven...
10/01/2025

🐴🐴 Brand Ambassador Grace Hubble - end of year round up! 🐴🐴

Since their last update in September, Grace and Tommy haven't been out much. With the various storms and life throwing curve balls, most things were cancelled sadly.

They did, however, managed to get out twice! They went showjumping at Weston Lawns where we came 5th in the 70cm. We've also had our last grass xc clinic of the year, he was amazing and jumped everything Grace asked.

More recently Grace and Tommy went to Dallas Burston for the annual Christmas pairs arena eventing. Tommy was absolutely flying round, until he had enough and dropped Grace at fence 11🙈. For a horse that won hurdle races, he doesn't seem to like brush steeple chase jumps! This did mean Grace didn't get to take Buttons round but luckily my friend was there to take over the ride.

Tommy has an amazing attitude and Grace has been teaching her friend how to ride. They will be back out in February and will try arena eventing once more then starting their proper eventing season in April.

🐴🐴  Congratulations to Team Richardson for an amazing end to 2024  🐴🐴They took Working Hunter Pony Champion with Marsh W...
09/01/2025

🐴🐴 Congratulations to Team Richardson for an amazing end to 2024 🐴🐴

They took Working Hunter Pony Champion with Marsh Walk On By ridden by Lilly, along with several placings in other classes at The London International Horse Show just before Christmas.

This tops off a fantastic year with wins at The Royal International, HOYS and a British Showing award.

Well done all! We look forward to following their progress for 2025.

⭐⭐  Of a pain in the belly…  ⭐⭐Did you know that the Ancient Romans would do re**al examinations to determine the nature...
08/01/2025

⭐⭐ Of a pain in the belly… ⭐⭐

Did you know that the Ancient Romans would do re**al examinations to determine the nature of a colic?

The first veterinary textbook ever published, was “Artis veterinariae, sive mulomedicinae libri quatuor”, which translates as “The veterinary art; that is to say animal medication in four books”. It was written by Publius Vegetius Renatus in around 450-500 AD, although was not published until 1528, under the name “Vegetius Renatus, of the distempers of horses and of the art of curing them; as also of the diseases of oxen, and of the remedies proper for them; and of the best method to preserve them in health, and restore them when sick, and to prevent the spreading and communication of infectious distempers, according to the practice of the ancient Romans”.

In 1748, an English translation was produced, and can be read in the RCVS Knowledge Collection.

These pages describe various findings of a re**al examination, allowing the examiner to differentiate between types of colic, and initiate an appropriate course of treatment. This practice remains invaluable in the 21st century, even if the treatments have come on somewhat since then! Veterinary surgeons use re**al exams to assess the type and severity of colic, ie spasmodic, gas, impaction, displacement, or torsion. This information is important in deciding what treatment is needed, and whether the colic can be managed at home, or whether referral to a hospital is needed.

Our recommendation is that all horses presenting with colic should have a re**al examination performed, unless there is a good reason not to. Such reasons may include spontaneous resolution of colic signs, the patient being too small, or the patient being too stressed or fractious for the exam to be safely performed. Most horses tolerate re**al exams well, although some may require sedation, and this should be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

⭐⭐  New Monthly continued - Worming  ⭐⭐Managing the Worm BurdenThis is probably the most important part of worm control;...
06/01/2025

⭐⭐ New Monthly continued - Worming ⭐⭐

Managing the Worm Burden

This is probably the most important part of worm control; eggs pass in droppings where they then hatch into the larval stages and migrate onto the forage and the surface of the soil to be eaten by horses. This doesn’t happen in the stable as the conditions aren’t right for it.

Removing droppings is the best way of decontaminating the pasture, reducing the number of infective larvae and therefore adult worms in the horses and number of eggs shed. Daily removal is ideal, but not always possible, twice a week can dramatically reduce the larval level on the pasture.

Rotating pastures, co-grazing with sheep/ cattle and resting pasture can all help, but are not a substitute for physically removing droppings from the pasture. Harrowing is also not a substitute for poo picking as it just spreads the burden across the pasture!

See next Monday's post on "Testing for worms".

Always feel free to call us on 01295 670501 if you have any questions.

⭐⭐  New Monthly Theme - Worming  ⭐⭐This month’s theme is worming. We’ll be bringing you some posts on updated worming re...
02/01/2025

⭐⭐ New Monthly Theme - Worming ⭐⭐

This month’s theme is worming. We’ll be bringing you some posts on updated worming recommendations, resistance to wormers and why it is so important to manage worm burdens properly.

The aim of managing a worm burden is NOT to eradicate worms – this is an outdated way of thinking. All healthy horses will carry a small worm burden, the aim of management is to prevent worm related disease.

See Monday's post on "Managing the worm burden".

Always feel free to call us on 01295 670501 if you have any questions.

🎉🎉 Happy New Year 🎉🎉We'd like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all our amazing clients, supporters, s...
01/01/2025

🎉🎉 Happy New Year 🎉🎉

We'd like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all our amazing clients, supporters, suppliers, social media friends and last but not least, our wonderful Avonvale Equine team.

We are looking forward to a wonderful 2025 and would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year.

⭐⭐  Dust Mite Allergy - Before and After...  ⭐⭐This 10 year-old Cob gelding was having flare-ups of itchy skin. His alle...
30/12/2024

⭐⭐ Dust Mite Allergy - Before and After... ⭐⭐

This 10 year-old Cob gelding was having flare-ups of itchy skin. His allergy test results showed that he was allergic to dust mites.

As he is a little needle-shy, immunotherapy was not considered to be a suitable long term option for him. Along with sterling management from his owner, he was treated with topical steroid cream, oral anti-histimines, and Duraglow supplement.

The first three pictures were taken in July 2024, the second three after treatment in October 2024.

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Ratley Lodge, Ratley
Banbury
OX156DT

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