New Forest Equine Vets

Murphy is one of those perfect gentleman horses who is incredibly well mannered and polite, but his owner has been concerned by his aversion to being mounted despite being beautifully behaved under saddle. I found him to be very sensitive to palpation of his spine (dorsal spinous processes) and epaxial muscles that run either side and support the saddle. Many back problems originate from an underlying subtle lameness and therefore a full orthopaedic assessment was performed. As you can see in the video when viewed trotting on a straight line he is not obviously lame. When we put him on the lunge to the left there was an obvious forelimb lameness (near fore limb shows lameness with the head coming up as this leg hits the ground in the video). To work out where the lameness was originating I performed ‘diagnostic analgesia’. This involved placing local anaesthetic into the sheath of the nerves supplying the foot. As this is invasive and not surprisingly most horses do not appreciate having needles in their sensitive skin of their limbs, I first put local anaesthetic cream on the skin to numb it, wrapping it under clingfilm for 20 minutes before placing the needles. A tiny needle is then placed into the nerve sheath either side of the foot and local anaesthetic is injected. After 5 or 10 minutes I watched him trot and lunge again. We repeated this process, blocking various nerves in both front feet until he was moving much more comfortably. I used the equinosis lameness detector to obtain quantitative measures of improvement in lameness with each nerve blocked. Having made him more comfortable we then knew that the source of pain was in his feet and therefore went ahead and x-rayed his feet. The X-rays showed some remodelling of the bones that form the coffin joint of the foot which is a sign of osteoarthritis. I also x-rayed his back and found kissing spines (impingement and remodelling). Cases like this where there are multiple sites of pathology need careful pla

✨𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬✨ This little girl Nova had her first vaccine and passport done this week. When she was first born, her owner, a small animal vet, noticed she wasn’t sucking/swallowing milk and I went out to help administer colostrum via stomach tube to give her the best chance of having adequate immunity from antibodies, and energy, from the colostrum. Foals have an instinct from birth to seek a dark area and search upwards for the dam’s teats. It can take a few attempts to successfully suck. When the milk comes, this is the first real ‘learning’ experience for the foal. Through trial and error the foal has found the reward of milk and will repeat this searching behaviour with greater speed, accuracy and ease. During the trial phase, you can see the foal looking in the wrong places for instance up under the tail or under a trough in a stable. This type of learning is called positive reinforcement - the reward - milk - reinforces (makes more likely to happen again) the correct behaviour. We can use this type of learning to train horses throughout their lives. Positive reinforcement training is routinely used to train zoo animals, guide dogs, even fish can learn this way. There is huge scope for it to become commonplace in training horses, and it can be more motivating and better for the horse-human bond than traditional horse training techniques. I have learned so much from my sister Nicola, equine behaviourist, about how horses learn and how we can incorporate kind training methods into veterinary practice and so much more. #newforestequinevets #newforestequine #vet #vets #veterinarian #veterinary #equine #equestrian #horse #horses #foal #foaling #filly #2024foal #mare #broodmare #nova #vaccinated #passported #love #positivereinforcement #learningtheory

In 2017 I founded New Forest Equine Vets having always dreamt of creating a practice devoted to delivering veterinary care in the most gentle, kind, compassionate way possible. Always with consideration for the animal’s mental and emotional experience while undergoing veterinary procedures quietly and effectively. This dream has become a reality and my sister Dr Nicola Jolly PhD, BA, MSc (Clinical Animal Behaviour) and I are excited and proud to develop the practice and we will forever hold true to these values.

Lily had a six month dental check yesterday. She had fillings 6 months ago at EDC. The fillings look perfect. But the check was very worthwhile as I found her teeth had become extremely sharp in six months-she had an ulcer in her cheek and will be much more comfortable now that the enamel points have been removed. She also had ulceration and scratches on her palate, I expect she’d been eating something spikey.

ERNIE A couple of weeks ago, I introduced Ernie, who is now one of my loveliest patients.The first consultation began with lots of questions to gather a picture about Ernie’s behaviour problems…which went much like this…from the moment Kate collected him to bring him to a more experienced home:· Loaded well but travelled really badly, kicking throughout travel, sweated up.· Very reactive· Double-barrels at people/horses walking behind him on yard· Kicks· Bites· Bolshy· Difficult to lunge· Avoids bridling – evades bit· Bucks· Rears. Fortunately he was actually very co-operative throughout my examination. The first red flag for pain for me was the mention of his difficulty travelling. Often horses that have musculoskeletal pain find it difficult and uncomfortable travelling. A horse that has loaded and travelled well all of it’s life may suddenly present with loading/travelling problems due to pain. It can be a first subtle indicator, and to protect their welfare, it is really worthwhile checking for pain before embarking on training for travelling.Having taken a history, I assessed his conformation and then assessed him dynamically. There were quite a number of findings that I took note of in walk. Take a look at the video and look carefully at the left hind limb especially: Abnormal twisting of left hind fetlock through pastern, hoof then twists outward during the stance phase and the fetlock leans excessively outwards over the outside of the hoof. I will continue Ernie’s story soon…Verena

Beth’s interesting case of the week. *Warning, slightly graphic content*

Beth’s interesting case of the week! ⚠️ slightly graphic content ⚠️ Alice James Veterinary Physiotherapy’s horse, Ella presented with a sudden onset, large swelling on her hindquarter. Ella’s clinical exam was otherwise normal and she wasn’t giving away any clues as to the possible cause! There was no evidence of trauma (e.g. a kick) and only a subtle skin abrasion. Anti-inflammatories and hot/cold compresses didn’t reduce the swelling, so Beth opted to surgically drain. The video details the procedure: - Sterile skin scrub to prepare the surgical site.- Injection of local anaesthetic to desensitise the area.- Needle placement to collect a sample of the fluid.- Scalpel incision to allow drainage.- Surgical debridement, with a curette, to remove abnormal tissue.- Flushing of the site, which was left open, to allow continued drainage. The tissue has been sent to the laboratory, to be examined under the microscope. This will hopefully identify the cause and whether any further treatment is necessary. Ella was an absolute super star to treat, I will post another update next week!