Western Counties Equine Hospital

25/12/2024

Merry Christmas from everyone here at WCEH ❤️🎅🏼🎄

Please share any Christmassy photos you have of your horses, we would love to see them.

19/12/2024

Congratulations to Chris Honour Racing at Higher Whiddon Farm and connections 🥇

Mayhem Mya winning the Southwest Rail Solutions Handicap Hurdle 🏆

19/12/2024

🚨WARNING: Graphic content 🚨

Laparoscopic ovariectomy ⬇️

Some mares experience severe mood swings or exhibit lameness or recurrent colic associated with their ovaries. One treatment option is surgical removal via keyhole surgery. Our surgical team make small flank incisions and insert a tiny camera and instruments to locate, ligate and remove the ovaries. The small incisions heal quickly and the mare can be back in ridden work by 6 weeks.

If you think your mare would benefit from this surgery, please contact our team to discuss ☎️

14/12/2024

WCEH Christmas office opening hours ⬇️🎄🎅🏼

12/12/2024

Please place your orders before 3pm on Monday (16/12). After this date we cannot guarantee a pre-Christmas delivery.

12/12/2024

CONGRATULATIONS Charly Cottrell for passing her exams first time to become a Registered Equine Vet nurse 📚👏🏼

Charly has been studying for 2.5 years at the Open College of Equine Studies, alongside working full time here at WCEH. She carried out her study online one day a week, along with making several trips a year up to college to undergo exams and OSCE practice. She has now completed all of her written exams, her nursing progressive log and her final practical exam, and passed with flying colours 🥂

Things you may not know about our brilliant nurses:
🏡 The on duty nurse sleeps on site.
💤 The on duty nurse almost every night gets up at 3am to check the barn.
🔬 They are in charge of obtaining our MRI images, which can take a whole day.
🧪 They are in charge of our in house laboratory, often producing same day results.

09/12/2024

Equine Grass Sickness (EGS) breakthrough‼️

The recent discovery linking EGS to a neurotoxic enzyme, similar to toxins found in snake venoms, represents a significant breakthrough in understanding and potentially treating this devastating condition.

The Disease: 🦠
Equine grass sickness is a fatal condition affecting horses that graze on pasture, especially during cold and dry weather conditions. Horses suffering from EGS experience intestinal paralysis, colic, muscle weakness, tremors, and inability to swallow, often leading to death in about 1% of cases on high-risk premises.

Identification of the Neurotoxin: 📚
The research team, led by experts from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies’ Equine Hospital, discovered that phospholipase A2, a type of neurotoxic enzyme, is likely the cause of the disease. This enzyme damages the neuromuscular junctions—the vital sites where nerve signals communicate with muscles—leading to paralysis, particularly of the gastrointestinal tract. This damage is linked to the clinical signs of the disease, such as colic and muscle wasting.

Microbial Origin: 🧫
The enzyme is thought to be produced by a microbe (likely a bacterium or fungus) that grows on pasture during cold and dry periods, which precede outbreaks of EGS.

Similarities with Snake Venoms: 🐍
The neurotoxin responsible for equine grass sickness has been shown to have a similar action to toxins found in the venom of many poisonous snakes. While venomous snakes do not cause EGS, some therapeutic treatments currently being developed for human nerve regeneration after snake bites may offer promising treatments for horses suffering from the disease.

Therapeutic and Diagnostic Potential: 🔬
The breakthrough offers hope for novel diagnostic tests and treatments for EGS. Research into the microbial sources of the neurotoxin is ongoing, and the development of treatments based on snake venom therapies is an exciting possibility.

08/12/2024

Are you struggling for a gift this Christmas? 🎅🏼🎄❤️

The Horse Health Programme is a brilliant way to stay on top of your horses health. Please call the office if you would like to arrange this.

Prescriptions & medical requests: Please order any medication early to avoid any delay!

05/12/2024

Always an honour to support such a venue 💙

🐴 A Heartfelt Thank You to Western Counties Equine Hospital! 💙

We’re delighted to have the support of Western Counties Equine Hospital, a leading provider of equine veterinary care in the Southwest, as one of our valued sponsors. 🩺

With their state-of-the-art facilities and dedicated team of specialists, they’re passionate about keeping horses healthy, happy, and performing at their best. Their partnership plays a vital role in helping us deliver exceptional events here at Bicton Arena. 💙

04/12/2024

COMPETITION WINNER 🏆

Thank you all for entering our competition, it was lovely to see you all getting involved. Our winner has been chosen by a random number generator and has been contacted on private message.

P.s this competition was in no way endorsed by Instagram or Facebook, and please be aware that no payment or bank details will be asked of you. Therefore, if you receive a message of this description, it should be treated like a scam.

Thank you all again! 🫶🏼

02/12/2024

JUST 24 HRS LEFT TO ENTER!!

30/11/2024

Morning all!

Today your call will be answered by our emergency services team, so if you have any routine questions/calls please wait until Monday.

Thank you and have a lovely weekend ☀️

29/11/2024

COMPETITION TIME‼️‼️

Win a Thermatex Cooler Rug - perfect for this time of the year 🥶 ❄️

All you need to do to enter is:
🩵 Like Western Counties Equine Hospital page
🩵 Repost this post to your story
🩵 Tag friends in the comments (1 tag = 1 entry)



The cooler rug features advanced, high performance wicking fabric, that offers the ultimate climate control for your horse, by supporting natural thermoregulation.

25/11/2024

Thank you all for sending us your snow pictures, we loved seeing them all.

Here are just a few ❄️ 🩵

Keep your eyes peeled for our next post as it will be COMPETITION time!! 😆

22/11/2024

Who has a lovely picture of their horse in the snow? We would love to see them! ❄️

Dm us your picture and our favourites will get reposted 🤍

Did you know….horses in other countries that get much more snow than the UK often go barefoot to prevent snowballs developing in their feet. 👣

However…this isn’t possible for every horse and being barefoot doesn’t offer much traction on ice. 🧊

Therefore…many alternatives can be used, such as ice studs, bubble pads (covers the entire sole with a ball in the middle), rim pads (rubber tube between the shoe and foot) ⛸️

⛄️❄️🌨️

18/11/2024

Ouch! This X-ray shows advanced osteoarthritis of the left hip joint in a Shetland pony. 🩻

It is not often that we see images like this - obtaining hip x rays is only possible in miniature horses and young stock. We have to place the horse under anesthesia and roll them onto their back to get this view - luckily we have an excellent team at WECH that are up to the challenge 💪🏼

This is an unusual case, where severe osteoarthritis developed due to overload of this limb. There is nothing the owners could have done to prevent this.

This pony is currently happy and enjoying his veteran life 💚

13/11/2024

COLIC AWARENESS WEEK ‼️

Colic can happen anytime of the year in both grass-kept and stabled horses.

SIGNS:
😖 Restlessness
🥕 Eating less or reduced droppings
🤕 Signs of abdominal pain - flank watching/kicking out
🤒 Increased heart rate and sweating
🥴 Excessive lying down or rolling

PREVENT:
🍴 A diet composed of predominantly forage
🪱 Have an effective worming plan, based on worm egg counts
🦷 Regular dental checks
❄️ Gradual stabling for winter
🐎 Healthy exercise routine
🔃 Avoid sudden changes in routine if possible

ACTION:
❌🥕 Take away all food
🚶🏼‍♂️‍➡️ Walk them if safe to do so
☎️ Call the vet if signs are severe or don’t improve quickly

Colic is the most common equine emergency and causes death in horses worldwide, so don’t be afraid to give the office a call if you are worried.

10/11/2024

I was pulled from my field, from my work, from my play
Ne’re to see England in lands far away
Through death and destruction, through blood, sweat and tears
I carried my master, along with my peers
So I ask you to remember a while,
Along with the soldiers in smart rank and file,
Remember our beauty, the strength of our kind,
As we galloped through danger, without care to mind
For we were the horses thrust into war
And we gave up our lives for your peace evermore.

The War Horse 1914 - 1918