Solway Equine Vets

25/10/2025

We will be at Carrs Billington in Annan this Thursday as part of their equine open night. We are very much looking forward to seeing some of you there!

🩺 Guest Speakers: Solway Equine Vets
Join us at the Equine Open Night for expert insights from the team at Solway Equine Vets!
🎤 Learn more about equine health and care
💬 Exclusive on-the-night offer: discounted gastroscope or initial lameness examination for attendees
📅 Thursday 30th October | 6.00pm–8.30pm
📍 Annan Country Store
Everyone is welcome – book now:
🔗 https://www.carrs-billington.com/annan-equine-event

17/10/2025

🍂🐎 It is getting much colder at night, the leaves are falling from the trees and people are starting to make changes to management routines for their horses.

This time of year often represents an increase in workload for horse owners, however, for your horses there is also a lot to get used to. Turnout is often restricted, and our horses begin spending more time stabled with access to stored food sources rather than fresh grass making up a larger portion of their diet.

Where possible try to stage any changes in feeding to allow your horses digestive tract to become accustomed to it. This will help to avoid stomach upsets which can cause symptoms such as diarrhoea and colic. This is also a good time to get your horses teeth checked to ensure they will be capable of making best use of their new diet over the next few months.

Hay is an excellent way to provide horses with forage throughout their time spent indoors. However, care should be taken to reduce any dust present in the hay before feeding. This will help to avoid respiratory issues such as equine asthma being exacerbated.

At this time of year it is also important to consider toxins present on pasture when our horses are grazing. Acorns and sycamore seeds are a particular concern for our horse population. Where possible removal of acorns and sycamore seeds from pasture being grazed by horses should be attempted. If this is not possible then fencing off areas where these are present can be a useful alternative.

📞 If you have any questions or wish to ask for some advice please give us a call on 016973 25010.

10/10/2025

🙌 We are excited to announce that we have moved premises.

🏠 Our office is now situated at;

Moorhouse Courtyard,
Warwick-on-Eden,
Carlisle,
CA4 8PA.

This is just off the M6 to the east of Carlisle.

Our hope is that this move will make the office slightly more accessible to our growing client base to the west of the practice while still being easily reachable for our existing clients to the east.

The office can be visited by prior arrangement for collection of drugs and to meet with the team.

📞 Whether you are an existing client or wish to register with the practice please contact us on 016973 25010 or email [email protected]

Thank you for your continued support!

04/09/2025

🐴🍂We are rapidly heading towards autumn and people may be considering planning for winter worming of their horses. At Solway Equine Vets we are happy to assist our clients in making targeted decisions when using wormers. There are a number of tests now available which help us to advise you on the most suitable wormer to use for your horse at the correct time of year.

Worm Egg Count 👀

We carry out worm egg counts in house and would recommend 3x regular interval worm egg counts being carried out during the grazing period (March-October). If your horse has a low worm egg count then worming may not be required. Testing helps us to reduce the amount of wormer being given to our equine population. Which in turn reduces the risk of resistance to wormer developing in your horse.

With a worm egg count we are looking for Strongyle and Ascarid eggs. Once the test has been carried out an egg count is determined and a veterinary surgeon can recommend what treatment if any is needed.

Equisal saliva tests 💧

This is a kit that we can provide to test for tapeworm antibodies as worm egg counting does not allow us to accurately evaluate tapeworm exposure. The best time of year to carry this out is from September to December. If done during this period then the result can be used to assist with the selection of a suitable winter wormer.

Redworm blood testing 💉

This is a blood sample taken by the vet and sent away to a lab to check for redworm burden of the horse. Again this would ideally be carried out between September and December to allow the information to be used to determine correct winter worming. This allows for targeted treatment of encysted redworm to be carried out if required.

In some cases if a Tapeworm Saliva test and Redworm blood come back low then worming may not be required at all during the winter period.

📞If you have any questions about worming your horse please do not hesitate to contact us on 016973 25010.

07/08/2025

📋 🐎

We have had a number of requests for pre-purchase examinations to be carried out recently.

To make processing of information prior to a vetting easier we have designed an online form to collect the relevant details required.

If you wish to have a horse examined prior to purchase please visit our website via the link below:

https://solwayequinevets.co.uk/vetting/

Following completion of this form we will contact you via telephone to finalise booking of the examination onto the diary and obtain any further details required.

05/08/2025

👀👁🐴 Any condition involving the eye is serious and should be dealt with promptly. If left untreated eye issues often rapidly deteriorate and can even result in horses having to have the affected eye removed in severe cases.

Megan recently presented with two weeping eyes, but was holding one eye shut. Stuart attended the same day to examine her. She was very painful and was reluctant to allow us to examine the eye properly. She was given some sedation to keep her relaxed and allow us to have a better look. Fluorescein stain was applied to the eye and we found that she had a small ulcer. This can be seen on the images below as an area of bright green stain uptake. It was also noted that her pupil was constricted, a sign that she was suffering from a condition called uveitis. This is often seen secondary to corneal ulcers.

A plan was made to apply two different types of drops to the affected eye. Atropine to open the pupil and make her eye feel more comfortable, as well as antibiotic ointment to prevent bacterial infection and allow the ulcer to heal. Oral pain relief was also given in the initial stages to improve her comfort levels. The atropine was required for a few days until the pupil remained open. During this time Megan was kept in a dark stable with a UV mask. After this she was kept in through the day but out through the night as full time stabling was proving tricky for her. Application of the antibiotic ointment was continued.

Stuart returned a week later to re-check her eye and found she was much more comfortable, and her eye was healing well. The eye wasn’t fully recovered so another week of treatment was opted for, but she was now allowed out during the day with her UV eye mask on.

We went back out to her last week, and the eye has fully recovered, and Megan is much happier. Especially now she can return to her normal routine without the pesky eye drops.

It is very easy to miss a corneal ulcer without staining the eye and some medications are contraindicated if an ulcer is present. This makes it very important that the eye is examined before any medication is applied.

📞 If you are concerned about your horses eyes or have any other queries please give us a call on 016973 25010

24/07/2025

🐎 Investigation, diagnosis and treatment of lameness makes up an increasing proportion of our current caseload. 🐎

Using a combination of thorough clinical examination, nerve blocks and diagnostic imaging we are able to locate and image the area of your horse's discomfort.

This is followed up with a realistic discussion of the treatment options available and formulation of a plan tailored to yourself, your horse and aspirations for future performance.

Most of the time this service is performed at the client's yard. However, should you not have the facilities for a lameness investigation to be carried out at home please still get in touch and we will be happy to try our best to facilitate provision of a suitable location.

📞Should your horse be experiencing any current lameness or perfomance-related problems please do get in touch on 016973 25010.

18/07/2025

🧰🐴🩹 There is nothing worse than going to check your horse and finding they've cut themselves or are under the weather.

We are always on the end of the phone to assist should you have an issue requiring veterinary attention but it is often useful if some initial first aid can be carried out while we are on our way to you.

We have compiled a bundle of items which we think would help you to deal with an emergency while waiting for your vet to attend. Helpfully this bundle would also make up the ideal travel kit for your equine adventures.

📞 Please give us a call or email via the details below if you would like to order a kit for your horse!

05/07/2025

We are currently taking on a number of new clients. It is great to see more and more people choosing to trust us with their horses and ponies!

We would ask that people who wish to join our practice please complete the online registration form via the link below. While we are happy to take new client registrations over the phone this makes the collection of relevant information a lot more efficient.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Link to our online new client registration form:
https://solwayequinevets.co.uk/register/

04/07/2025

At Solway we are happy to assist with keeping your horse up to date with routine vaccinations.

The current recommended primary course schedule which enables us to provide Equine Influenza and Tetanus cover is a follows:

First Vaccination
- 21-60 days
Second Vaccination
- 120-180 days
Third Vaccination

We are seeing a lot of these primary course vaccination intervals being missed and would recommend checking your horses passport to ensure that they are not currently due a vaccination.

This would also be a good opportunity for people to ensure that their horse is up to date with 6 monthly and annual vaccinations.

03/07/2025

We are pleased to introduce Hannah Rumney our new Registered Veterinary Nurse (RVN).

Hannah qualified in 2021 following an apprenticeship at a mixed practice in the area. Here Hannah gained a wide range of skills caring for animals of all shapes and sizes. However, horses have always been her main area of interest.

Outside of work Hannah enjoys spending time with her two horses Rory and Molly. Hannah spends most of her free time with Molly out competing, attending camps, going to lessons as well as fun rides in the local area. She also spends time in the Lake District walking her three dogs Storm, Shelby and Squeak.

You will see Hannah out on the road, mainly assisting Stuart with calls. She will also be an integral part of the daily running of the practice. Hannah will become a regular voice on the end of the phone when you call the office number and will be happy to assist with booking appointments onto the diary or helping with any of your general queries or questions.