New Forest Equine Vets

Home
United Kingdom
Fordingbridge
New Forest Equine Vets

Gentle, quiet, compassionate veterinary care and behaviour service. Dr Verena and Dr Nicola Jolly. Call 01425 600080

www.nfev.co.ukWe bring our expertise and modern, portable equipment to you, delivering the high quality service you would expect of a clinic-based practice, without the associated costs. This also allows you the opportunity to be fully involved with the diagnosis, treatment and ongoing care of your horse, pony or donkey in the comfort of his/her own home.Both vets are highly experienced, post-grad

uate certificate holders. Verena is also recognised by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons as an Advanced Practitioner in Equine Practice.We provide our own 24/7 emergency service, 365 days a year, giving you the peace of mind that no matter what time of day or night, your horse will be attended by an Advanced Practitioner in Equine Practice.

01/11/2025

DO HORSES EVER MIND THE SIGHT OF BLOOD?… this was one of the best questions I’ve ever been asked, after I injected a horse this week! I’m happy to confirm that no, I have never seen a horse faint at the sight of blood!!!

It was a very thought provoking question though.. pondering why humans do but animals don’t seem to have an instinctive reaction to the sight of blood.

Interestingly, even a lot of vets and surgeons have that averse reaction, I’ve seen it discussed numerous times on vet forums etc when young vets/students find themselves feeling faint and nauseous in surgery and think they aren’t going to be able to do the job.

I think something must change in the brain when as a surgeon you are the one operating. I have never felt the slightest bit faint or averse to surgery when DOING, surgery, but as a student I would always feel faint on the first day in small animal clinics WATCHING surgery.

And as someone who is definitely not squeamish it is curious that seeing survival sites can still cause that reaction. But that animals don’t seem to react that way. Perhaps it isn’t entirely instinctive, maybe there is an intellectual component 🤔.

Interested to hear anyone’s thoughts before I go away and try to find out what actually causes this!

And thanks for the thought provoking question this week 😂

29/10/2025

🥂 Today was a wonderful celebratory day marking one year since I bought back sole ownership of New Forest Equine Vets. Without any question it has been the happiest year of my career (closely in competition with my time in Australia!) and a dream come true to be able to develop a practice completely in line with all of my values and beliefs. You, my clients make it such a lovely practice - I can’t imagine ever having a nicer clientele to support in the care of your horses. So I celebrated with a lovely day off (thanks to Endells who are an invaluable service providing referral services, and cover that along with the invaluable services from Equicall make it possible for me to work as a sole practitioner). And what did I do with my special day…dogs, horses, dogs, horses…
Started the day by taking my Parsnip and her delightful borrowed social/emotional support friend the tiny miniature show horse JB for a walk. Followed by a run and river dip with Dinky (previously known as Polar). Dropped off the D***s for a day out entertaining and playing football with her ‘dad’, our beloved Wayne in Oxford who gives me so much strength and enthusiasm for life every day running the practice. Incredible lunch at plant-based cafe Nutmeg and Thyme in Oxfordshire with the best and most inspirational mum and sister I could wish for, then on to the Unicorn Trust for an afternoon watching Emma Massingale train her spectacular horses. Now heading back to Oxfordshire for dinner and the D***s before arriving back for a full day of visits tomorrow. An enormous thank you also goes to Lindsey for her absolute dedication and loyalty to the practice. She is such a wonderful colleague, you could not wish for a more supportive and cheerful as well as skilled and altogether lovely person to work with. She keeps everything running smoothly allowing me to focus almost all of my time on caring for horses. Here’s to another year as New Forest Equine Vets heads into its 10th year. 🥂

17/10/2025

ACORN TOXICITY: Last week was a devastating one. Three gorgeous welsh mares that I had scanned in-foal a month or two earlier lost their lives following acorn ingestion. This post is intended to raise awareness of the risks as the condition is not well understood. These horses had been on the same field for 5 weeks, there was no obvious change in weather conditions but overnight, two mares succumbed and were found dead in the field in the morning. One mare was quiet in herself. I attended immediately and found her to be rapidly deteriorating. Eve (excellent final year vet student) administered activated charcoal via a stomach tube while I arranged her immediate referral to Endells for intensive care in hospital. In spite of aggressive and prompt treatment, and an encouraging initial response, this mare tragically had to be euthanised that night. The mares had diarrhoea, with haemorrhage evident on re**al, and acorn husks were present in the droppings. Acorn toxicity is diagnosed by exclusion of other causes of death as there is no way to specifically diagnose it. A post mortem examination did not find any other cause of death. Our thoughts are with the owners and grooms who cared for these horses. And we encourage taking any actions possible to limit ingestion of acorns, even if historically there have been no problems in the horses/on the land as this desperately sad case serves to remind us that it is unpredictable, and not a fully understood condition, but that the risk is real, and death occurs very rapidly after ingestion with treatment typically being unsuccessful.

16/10/2025

3 year old Bea was hit by a car last week and found non-weight bearing on the right front leg by a dog walker, a day or so after the accident. She has featured a lot in local news/social media. Her most serious injury is a fracture of the elbow, but she also sustained wounds and bruising from the trauma. She is on box rest, likely for 4 months, with a splint for the first month to keep her knee extended which helps her to weight bear on the leg. We also have to monitor her carefully for laminitis as she will be overloading the ininjured front leg. The fracture involves the joint and therefore sadly puts her at risk of early onset osteoarthritis. She has been an excellent patient to treat, so calm and compliant and these things help her prognosis as she is likely to tolerate box rest well. Her devoted family are ensuring an enriched life for her while she is so physically confined, bringing her hazel branches, toys and different things to forage on. We will be changing the bandage/splint each week until we repeat X-rays at 4 weeks to assess fracture healing. While I splinted her leg, or excellent final year vet student Eve cleaned, debrided and flushed the wound on her chest to assist their healing.

27/08/2025

My Parsnip needed some help with loading and travelling confidently. Nicola Jolly equine behaviourist guided us on a programme using positive reinforcement/target training. Here is the result.. after about perhaps ten training sessions, Parsnip is calm and confident enough that my 7yo niece from Manchester can load her! Delighted! Absolutely love what can be achieved without the use of aversives.

04/06/2025

Everything that went into my car this morning for an interesting day of visits 🥰

02/04/2025

Wow I just witnessed a beautiful event of nature driving home from my horses at dusk! I pulled over, concerned about a deer with only one antler that looked distressed/in pain/neurological - having spasms of going round in circles and bending his neck, trying but not able to jump a fence etc. I watched it for several minutes wondering if it needed help - and just called through to Moyles Court Wildlife rescue, when it shed it’s antler, and then jumped the fence and ran happily away! What a fascinating thing to witness!

30/03/2025

SWEET ITCH/INSECT HYPERSENSITIVITY ADVICE
Caused by allergic response to the proteins in the saliva of midges..27 different proteins have been shown to trigger responses.

ALLERGEN AVOIDANCE:
Fly rugs (Boett likely best).
Adapt times of stabling and exercise to avoid high midge activity times (dawn and dusk).
Mosquito nets over stable doors/windows.
(Fly repellant).
IMPROVE SKIN INTEGRITY:
High volumes flaxseed oil (omega 3 and 6) may benefit horses that can tolerate a high fat diet.
Creams/essential oils may help.
Regular (weekly) shampooing with products that improve skin integrity.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY TREATMENT
Steroids - oral or topical.
Anti-histamines before exposure.
IMMUNOTHERAPY
Ringworm vaccine (may modify the type of allergic response) - before exposure.
Immunosuppressants.

STRESS REDUCTION
Avoiding stressors (may affect tight junctions in the guts resulting in movement of gut bacteria which may increase systemic inflammatory responses which can affect skin.
MODIFY EXPECTATIONS FROM THE HORSE
Cytokines released in chronic inflammation can affect the brain leading to behaviour changes, depression and anxiety. Affected horses are likely to find training/learning harder during the itchy season.

28/03/2025

We have had some lovely chuckles these past couple of weeks of spring, doing castrations… using these ‘strangulators’ to remove colts’ ‘intesticles’ 🥰 …You do all keep me smiling 😊

16/02/2025

Even someone like me who’s not a huge fan of horse racing, can’t help but smile watching these little speed demons! Awesome little ponies - and the winner- bred by client DAMERHAM SHETLAND PONY STUD. Love that cheeky little kick he throws in to the pony trying to catch up with him 🙈

04/02/2025

A few pictures of the behaviours we had to overcome with Parsnip on her journey to becoming a riding horse... rearing, kicking, aggression to other horses and throwing herself on the floor to sleep if training got the tiniest bit too stressful (walking on a lunge!). Also a cute pic of her as a foal to explain her name!

Address

Fordingbridge

Telephone

+441425600080

Website

http://www.nfev.co.uk/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when New Forest Equine Vets posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to New Forest Equine Vets:

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service in Fordingbridge?