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Monday 8:30am - 6pm Tuesday 8:30am - 6pm Wednesday 8:30am - 6pm Thursday 8:30am - 6pm Friday 8:30am - 6pm Saturday 9am - 1pm

MBG Equine Vets, MBG Veterinary Surgeons, Dodderhill Court, Droitwich (2025)

05/07/2025

The first horse classes are starting! Good Luck to everyone competing at Hanbury Show today, come visit us at our stand by the main ring for tea and cake!

03/07/2025

Older horses can have specific issues that can make keeping them healthy and in good condition more difficult. There are a few things that you can do to make sure your older horse keeps comfortable for as long as possible over the next month we’ll go over some of the common issues we see with older horses and ponies, what you can do to keep them at the top of their game and what signs to keep a look out for to let you know if your horse needs extra help.
The main issues we get called about in older horses are condition loss, lameness, dental issues and symptoms related to Cushing’s Disease.
20% of horses over the age of 15 develop Cushing’s Disease. The easiest symptom to recognise is poor hair coat shedding leading to the development of a curly coat; however, this doesn’t happen in every case, we often find Cushing’s is one of the underlying causes in horses and ponies with repeat infections, bouts of laminitis and issues maintaining condition.
If you are worried that your horse or pony could have Cushing’s give the office a call on 01905773262 to book an appointment. We can test for Cushing’s with a blood test and use oral medication to control the development of the condition, keeping your horse happier for longer.

26/06/2025

Mark the 5th of July in your diary to see the MBG team in our marquee ready to look after all the animals, eat cake and most importantly chat with all of you at Hanbury Show!

23/06/2025

Many of the conditions involved in Equine Asthma have an allergic component. Dust mites in hay and bedding, tree pollens and Rapeseed pollens are some of the most common allergens.

We have a new blood test available to check which allergens your horse is reactive to which can help you to manage their symptoms.

Reducing exposure to allergens is the best way of avoiding flare ups but this can be tricky.

· For dust allergies horses are best kept outside:

o Feeding from a hay box or from the floor

o soaking or steaming hay

o improving ventilation in the stable by keeping windows and upper doors open and removing slats along the back wall of the stable if possible.

o Using low dust bedding like shavings and removing any wet bedding regularly can also reduce the number of inhaled irritants.

· For Pollen allergies symptoms may be worse when the horse is kept outside:

o bringing them indoors and using fans to improve the ventilation within the stable may help during a flare up.

o Using nose nets and Vaseline around the nostrils can help to reduce the amount of pollen and dust particles your horse is breathing in.

Respiratory supplements that contain eucalyptus and mint can help to open the airways and improve breathing but horses who seem to be struggling despite management changes should be examined by a vet to see if we can improve their respiratory health.

If your horse is prone to respiratory disease, please feel free to contact the office on 01905 773 262 and talk to one of our vets about ways you can reduce their exposure to dust and pollens.

19/06/2025

Dusty warm weather with an increased pollen count is meaning we are seeing our fair share of issues with Equine Asthma.

Equine Asthma is a term used to describe a variety of different conditions that cause increased breathing rate and effort. Other names for Equine Asthma include Inflammatory Airway Disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Recurrent Airway Obstruction.

Symptoms of Asthma include:

😮‍💨 Coughing

🐎 Difficulty doing their normal exercise

🤧 Nasal Discharge

🫨 Increased breathing rate and effort, anything more than 12 breaths per minute is increased.

🐴 In more severe cases you may notice nostril flaring and an abdominal component or ‘heave line’ as the horse is trying hard to push out air.

☎️Please call 01905 773262 to talk to one of our vets or arrange a visit if you notice any of these symptoms.

Treatment usually consists of a combination of bronchodilators (to open the airways), anti-inflammatories and steroids to reduce inflammation within the airways. There are a variety of different oral, inhaled or injected medications which we may recommend depending on the severity of your horse’s symptoms and their current management.

17/06/2025

Horse Care in Warm Weather

It’s been lovely to be enjoying warm weather in the early part of summer this year, however, every type of weather has its own problems. Keeping horses cool and hydrated can be a challenge when the sun keeps shining! Here are some of our top tips:

🐎 Exercise early in the morning or in the evening when temperatures are lower.

🌞 Use Sunscreen! Particularly on horses with pink noses. Just like with people, using an SPF 30 + sunscreen can help prevent painful burns and reduce the risk of developing skin cancers.

🚰 Encourage drinking. Soak feed and hay and add enrichment to drinking: a water buffet with different herbs, salt or flavours added to the water alongside fresh clean water can increase uptake as can bobbing for fruit like apples!

⛲ Take your own water with you to events. Don’t risk having to share drinking water and picking up bugs whilst you’re out and about. It also means you can make sure your horse drinks before they travel home.

🌳 Provide plenty of shade: big trees, field shelters and hedgerows all give horses a chance to control their own temperature when out in the field, if these aren’t available in your turnout you may want to consider bringing your horse in during the middle of the day.

🐝 Wear Fly masks: As well as keeping flies away from your horse’s eyes fly masks also reduce intense light from the sun and can be a solid barrier reducing UV damage to a horse’s eyes and nose. Fly masks with nose nets can also reduce pollen uptake.

15/06/2025

Today is International Working Animal Day:

Most of the horses, ponies and donkeys we see live a very easy life but some equids in different parts of the world are still very important for day-to-day work. There are over 200 million working animals around the world. Hard work and lack of availability of education and veterinary care can mean that these animals have a very difficult life.

There are a few things you can do to help

· Donating Money and fundraising for working animal charities like Brooke, SPANA and the Gambia horse and Donkey trust.

· You can also donate by sending used stamps, recycled printer cartridges and even your old car!

· Responsible Tourism: The working animals you are most likely to encounter are those providing rides and pulling carriages for tourists, being clear about why we do or don’t want to use the services of a horse or donkeys owner can help to change the standards of care for those Equids. Aim to be responsible when riding abroad by paying a reasonable price for your ride, checking the animal’s condition before getting on and praising owners who have well cared for happy horses or donkeys.

· Visit the following websites to learn more:

https://www.thebrooke.org/get-involved/recycle-cars-cartridges-stamps http://www.gambiahorseanddonkey.org.uk/Howtohelp.htm

https://spana.org/get-involved

10/06/2025

Eye problems

Warm weather means flies and for horse owners flies mean itchy eyes. Horses have some of the largest eyes relative to size of any land mammal, over 8 times the size of a human eye. It’s not surprising that they are prone to damaging these delicate structures.

Injury to a horse’s eyes is an emergency. The cornea (surface of the eye) has a minimal blood supply so the body can take a long time to fight infections in this area by itself. Damage may initially be quite minor but continued irritation and infection can lead to larger ulcers that take a lot of intense management and time to heal.

The most common eye problems we see are:

👁️‍🗨️ Conjunctivitis: swelling and redness of the conjunctiva (insides of the eyelids), this can spread very quickly from horse to horse via flies or shared itching spots.

👁 Ulcers: Horses with ulcers tend to hold their eye closed and may have a blue tinge to the eye or visible damage to the surface of the eye. Ulcers are extremely painful and most occur due to trauma from rubbing faces or sticking noses into hedgerows.

👁️‍🗨️ Uveitis: Uveitis describes inflammation inside the eye which causes the eye to go a blue colour. The horse may have a very small pupil and be reluctant to open their eye in daylight. Some horses suffer from uveitis regularly during sunny weather and need to wear eye protection to avoid permanent damage to their vision

🏥First Aid For Eyes: For all eye issues bathe the eye with cool boiled water to remove any discharge, keep your horse indoors away from flies and potential itching areas and bright light. If this isn’t possible keep their eyes covered with an eye mask.

Always call the practice on 01905 773 262 if you are concerned about your horses’ eyes. Different eye treatments are given depending on the condition so eyes must always be examined by a vet before you start any treatment.

28/05/2025

Well done to Maggie, Phil and the fantastic team from who helped Gypsy out of a tricky spot yesterday!

We’re pleased to say she’s much more comfortable today and being well cared for on solid ground!

26/05/2025

For our last post on common toxic plants we want to talk about our top offenders. Ragwort and Bracken.
Both of these plants are very common and although many horses wont normally eat them some horses do! If you notice these plants in your horse's field try to remove them early to reduce spread.

o Bracken- A very common plant that can easily sneak into your pasture. Eating bracken can damage your horse’s liver especially if they have repeated access to the plant. Clinical signs often progress over time but can include poor coordination, blindness, muscle tremors and convulsions

o Ragwort- We’ve had a bumper crop of ragwort over the last couple of years.
These distinctive yellow flowers are very bitter tasting so horses will only usually eat them when the plants are small shoots, if the grazing is very poor or if they’ve been dried into hay. Ragwort attacks the liver symptoms often start out vague and may not be seen until a long time after the ragwort has been eaten. Some horses initially show symptoms like sensitivity to sunlight and skin damage, lethargy, changes in appetite, weight loss and sheath swelling or ventral oedema ( fluid build up along the bottom of the belly). Symptoms can worsen to neurological signs , difficulty breathing and death.

22/05/2025

In our last post we talked about poisonous plants found in the hedgerow, but big trees can also cause us problems.

Having one of these trees doesn't necessarily mean that the field cannot be used for horses but you may need to be careful about what time of year horses can graze in there or fence off the area around the base of the tree.

🌳 Oak/ acorn- A common tree around the outside of fields, ingestion of acorns if the main cause of toxicity from this plant, so either clean up the acorns under oak trees in your horse’s paddock or move them to a different paddock until the acorns have started to break down. Acorn poisoning causes diarrhoea and colic signs.
🌳 Sycamore- Sycamore trees (particularly seeds and seedlings) are involved in a specific type of poisoning known as atypical myopathy. Symptoms are similar to “tying up” with muscle stiffness and reluctance to move, some horses will refuse to get up and they may pass dark brown-red urine as they often develop severe dehydration Horses with this type of poisoning need to be seen by your vet quickly and should be moved as little as possible.

If you have any concerns about your horse we are always available on 001905773262

MBG Equine Vets

05/07/2025

03/07/2025

26/06/2025

23/06/2025

19/06/2025

17/06/2025

15/06/2025

10/06/2025

28/05/2025

26/05/2025

22/05/2025

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Monday	8:30am - 6pm
Tuesday	8:30am - 6pm
Wednesday	8:30am - 6pm
Thursday	8:30am - 6pm
Friday	8:30am - 6pm
Saturday	9am - 1pm