09/01/2024
We Warmly Invite you to our Client Evening. To book on please call or email the clinic š“
Gil Riley Equine Vets
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- Gil Riley Equine Vets
We are a friendly & experienced equine ambulatory and clinic based practice in Dale Abbey, DE7 4PL.
(5)
08/01/2024
New Team Member!
We are really excited to welcome our new addition to the GREV team - Ella has joined us to support the boots on the yard in a new clinical care team role.
Ella has always owned horses and worked in the industry since leaving college. She brings a wealth of experience in the care of horses and is keen to expand her knowledge on the veterinary side too.
21/12/2023
01/12/2023
What a fabulous afternoon at GREV! Gil gave the 3rd in his āSound Adviceā talks to our fantastic instructors. It was a great opportunity to discuss poor performance presentations and how instructors and vets can work together. Thank you to all who came - we hope you enjoyed it! Once again, thank you to our hard working GREV team for making the afternoon such a success.
The final talk in our Sound Advice Series is for all horse owners (you donāt have to be a client)!
Save the date - Friday 26th January 2024,
7pm-9pm at Horsley Lodge Golf Club, Horsley DE21 5BL.
Itās a free of charge event when Gil will speak on lameness, and Renske will present on gastric ulcers. We are excited to have Auvard horse supplements support our evening with a short talk and a lucky dip of horsey goodies!
Tickets will be available in the New Year- letās get Christmas out of the way first!
03/11/2023
Today we hosted the second talk in our āSound adviceā series. We had the pleasure of meeting our lovely physios, mctimoney, chiropractor, massage and student practitioners.
Gil presented on āWorking together to improve the less then perfect horseā, focusing on back and sacroiliac problems and Renske on āSigns, symptoms and treatments for gastric ulcersā. These common ailments sparked lots of interesting conversations and Gil got in lots of his stories and bad jokes! Emma also managed to show some around the clinic and our facilities.
Thank you to all the practitioners who joined us.
Thank you also to Renske for giving a great talk; Sharon and Beth for meeting, greeting and parking; and Sarah and Hannah for waitressing and mingling!
Our third āSound adviceā presentation will be for riding coaches/instructors on Friday 1st December, arrive 130pm, for a 2pm start, finish at 5pm. Please call the office on 0115 7786997 to book a place.
This event is free of charge and we will have drinks on nibbles on offer too!
Look forward to hearing from you!
Gil and team GREV
29/10/2023
Job vacancy;
We are looking for a friendly, experienced & hard working person to be part of our cheerful clinical care team.
The job is based on the yard working to a high standard of care with our own horses and the in-patients too. The role involves all general yard day-to-day duties with hours and responsibilities increasing for the right candidate.
Must drive and have your own car & be a team player.
7am-4pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday plus holiday cover and ad-hoc days.
Rate of pay depending on experience, employed or self-employed.
Please send your CV and covering letter to [email protected]
Applications close 13th November.
15/10/2023
A couple of weeks ago, the lovely Imogen from Lunar Photography spent the morning with us snapping some new pictures of us all.
14/10/2023
Today we have completed our āFirst Aid at Workā course! We are now qualified to look after you as well as your horse!!
Thank you to Dan from East Midlands Medical Services Ltd for keeping us entertained!
06/10/2023
What a busy week for us allā¦. The lovely kind and talented Imogen from lunar photography came and took some new pictures of us all last Friday. It was hilarious organizing vets, clinic care team, horses and dogs! Imogen was very patient and hopefully got some flattering pictures!
Today we hosted the first in our āSound Adviceā series of talks with an afternoon for our hard working farriers.
The talk was throughly enjoyed by 18 local farriers with talks given by Gil, Mark Humphries and Grant Moon.
Renske and Sarah were busy out on calls but made it back in time to meet the farriers and have a bite to eat!
There was lots of chat and the everyone left well fed too! We hope the farriers enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed hosting them!
Next monthās free CPD will be the turn of the paraprofessionals - physio, chiropractors, sports massage therapists and saddle fitters. Gil will give a talk on āWorking together to maintain soundness with the less than perfect horseā.
We can accommodate around 18 so please let your paraprofessional know about our free talk. The date is Friday 3rd November 2-5pm at the practice.
Gil and the GREV team š¤©
01/10/2023
We are excited to announce Sarah Benson will he joining us as vet number 3 to our Gil Riley Team! Sarah is Midlands born and bred and graduated from Nottingham vet college. Her chief interests are poor performance and wound management, but is just as happy doing general equine practice, having completed a research project in equine cardiology. Sarah has had over 20 years experience with horses, mostly happy hacking over recent years, but in the past explored backing/breaking, carriage driving, showing and le trek!
Her spare time is mostly occupied by her own 4-legged creatures, Loki, her beautiful 3 year old corgi with whom she loves exploring the countryside on foot, and Athena, a Brabant yearling who is already enormous! Sarah is really looking forward to starting with us and we are sure she will enjoy meeting the wonderful horses under our care as much as we do.
23/09/2023
September updates....
We have had a very busy few weeks at the practice and out on the road. It has been lovely helping current clients and meeting new clients too.
ā¢ On Sunday 10th we supported the famous Rotary Ride where they raised lots of money for local charities. Hannah and Magic, along with lots of our clients, had a brilliant day!
ā¢ Earlier this month, Sharon joined our reception team part-time and has taken to the office like a duck to water!
ā¢ We have a photoshoot at the end of the month with Imogen from Lunar Photographing. We will be updating the website and getting some lovely pictures of our super team with their favourite four-legged friends!
ā¢ In October we will be launching our Winter Talks series called 'Sound Advice', There will be 4 informal, informative presentation evenings hosted by Gil and Renske (with some help!) on āPoor Performanceā. There will be one for farriers, then one for physios, chiropractors and therapists, then itās the turn of the riding coaches before finally one for our wonderful clients! Keep an eye on our FB page for more info!!
ā¢ A little teaser for you...we will shorty pop a post on about vet number 3 who will be joining us very soon!
That's all for now,
Gil, Renske, Emma and our fabulous team!
28/08/2023
There are many rewarding moments helping our lovely clients back to full fitness. After days/weeks of recuperating, itās fantastic to see your horses back doing what they do!
Here are a few pictures of Bill I Am, back in actionā¦.. Justine ( his owner) adds,
I have sent a few pictures of my Bill- Gil has dealt with anything from serious infection to his MRI. I love this horse with all my heart I enjoy everything I do with him from hacking, showjumping, working hunter, showing, hunting to just chilling out and spending time with him. I would like to thank Gil and his team from the bottom of my heart for keeping Bill as healthy, happy and as well as possible so we can enjoy everything we do.
10/08/2023
We are supporting the Charity Ride again this year on Sunday 10th September. The ride runs from Dale Abbey around miles of farmland not normally open to riders. This is a fabulously well organized event and also raises hundreds of pounds for worthwhile causes.
We will be on hand for any mishaps and a chit chat too!!
10/08/2023
Countdown onā¦.only 4 1/2 weeks for the Church Wilne Charity Horseride.
The ride is in aid of our local charities of Derby Mountain Rescue, Air Ambulance and Treetops Hospice.
Sign up now to enjoy an enjoyable, well marshalled, safe ride through farmlands of the countryside of Dale Abbey, Ockbrook and Stanton
More details and entry forms on our website
https://www.churchwilnerotary.org.uk/horseride.html
://www.parksidestables.co.uk
10/07/2023
And we are in!!! After months of hard work we are delighted to be in our new home! Itās great to have lovely facilities for horses and humans! Gil and Renske are up and running, scoping and x-raying in their clinic areas. We had our first staff meeting today (with lunch from Greggās!).
Some of you may have already met Hannah who is doing a brilliant job learning the ropes in the office. Beth, Sharon, Chloe and Georgia are enjoying meeting and taking care of all our in-patients.
We have had a real variety of cases to look after over the last few weeks - sarcoid treatments, castrations, gastric scopes and poor performance/lameness investigations, along with routine work and emergencies on yard visits too!
Itās all go!! š¤©š“š
03/06/2023
The clinic is nearly finished!!! We canāt wait to move inā¦.. the steps leading up to the offices, client meeting rooms and staff rooms will be very welcome!! Clinic area matting all in, tile floor going in today.
Hopefully just a couple of weeks to go š¤š¤š¤
01/05/2023
Gil and Renske have had a busy few weeks so the Bank Holiday weekend has given us time to catch up on some paperworkā¦. Although we did have one persistent client this morning who wouldnāt take āneighā for an answer šš
04/04/2023
Georgia and libby enjoyed their ice creams after a busy day spring cleaning in the sunshine. Fabulous job!
30/03/2023
Some of you will have met the very lovely Dennis. He is retired now from his dressage job for our daughter, but he is very useful keeping our in-patients company.
Today he enjoyed the crows plucking his winter coat! Saves us a job!!
19/03/2023
Beth has worked at Woodpecker Stables for a few years and stepped across to help with the practice when we opened last year. Last month Beth started a new course with The Open College of Equine Studies along side her practice role on the Clinical Care Team. Bethās course is all about Equine Nursing and she is already bringing her new found skills to helping Gil and Renske. This week Beth went in person for a few days study getting more hands on experience and really enjoyed meeting the other students.
15/03/2023
Yesterday evening, Gil and Renske supported the Derby High School Careers Fair promoting all the fabulous aspects of life as a busy equine vet! They hope they inspired the students to be the next generation of vetsā¦. Although, Gil is determined to still be doing the odd vaccination at 100 years old!!
Once our clinic is built, we will look forward to welcoming students aged 17 years for work experience. Please contact the office on 0115 778 6997 for more information or ask a question below!
Gil, Renske and Emma š
03/03/2023
Eli is rocking his uniform!!!
Address
Woodpecker Stables The Moor
Ilkeston
DE74PL
Opening Hours
| Monday | 8:30am - 5:30pm |
| Tuesday | 8:30am - 5:30pm |
| Wednesday | 8:30am - 5:30pm |
| Thursday | 8:30am - 5:30pm |
| Friday | 8:30am - 5:30pm |
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Georgia and libby enjoyed their ice creams after a busy day spring cleaning in the sunshine. Fabulous job!
Some of you will have met the very lovely Dennis. He is retired now from his dressage job for our daughter, but he is very useful keeping our in-patients company. Today he enjoyed the crows plucking his winter coat! Saves us a job!!
Our lovely joiners have been working really hard today fixing all the trusses in place. They sent me this birdās eye view video!
ļæ¼The builders are back working full throttle now itās warmed up! The first truss went in this morning for the clinic roof!! We are hoping to be in our shiny new offices with client meeting room, reception (with plenty of tea, coffee,biscuits!) and a cosy staff room sometime early April! Yayyyyyyš¤š¤š¤ššš
Nerve blocking ā why do we do it? In order to maximise the success of treating lameness in a horse, it is important we know exactly the site or structure that the pain is originating from. In human hospitals, many of you will have experienced x-rays and ultrasound scans performed by a doctor, and of course these procedures are very common in horse practice too. However, if weāre going to image, it should be as targeted as possible. Also, without confirming where the pain is coming from, even if we find something on imaging, we wonāt know for sure whether itās to blame for the lameness! Thatās why in almost all lameness investigations, the use of nerve blocking is vital, making the work-up as efficient as possible. This minimises the inconvenience the horse is put through and avoids the owner paying for unnecessary procedures by taking the guesswork out of the whole process. What is a nerve block? A nerve block is performed by injecting small quantities of local anaesthetic around selected nerves, so we can numb a defined region of the lame limb e.g. heel, foot, pastern, fetlock etc. We then compare the level of lameness after the block with that before. A significant improvement in the lameness after blocking confirms that the numbed region contains the structure which is giving rise to the lameness. Nerve blocks are not confined to the limbs, but are commonly performed in the back, pelvis and even the head. Performing a nerve block 1) Firstly, we find the action at which the lameness is most obvious e.g. lunge on a hard surface on the left rein, or ridden at trot on the right rein. 2) We then video this so we have a record of the movement of the horse prior to blocking. 3) Perform the nerve block (usually starting with the heel region unless the initial examination suggests the problem is more likely elsewhere). Obviously, nerve blocking means injecting (albeit with small needles). We aim to make this as tolerable for the horse as possible -
Poor performance Poor performance is when something is stopping your horse from achieving its full athletic potential. A poor performance investigation is the work-up to identify why there has been a drop off in performance. Once we have found the reason for the poor performance, this then puts us in the strongest position to introduce the changes or treatments that best ensure your horse is returned to its normal athletic ability. The possible causes of poor performance in a horse are many and varied such as: - Weight gain/loss - Hormone changes/disease (e.g. mareās cycle, Cushings disease, Equine Metabolic Syndrome) - Management changes causing psychological stress (turnout, stabling, choice of companions, etc.) - Breathing issues (air quality, dust in forage) - Training issues These are just a few factors that could possibly affect performance. The most common reason for poor performance, however, is pain. Sources of pain 1) Lameness ā the single most important reason why a horse will not perform to its level is the development of musculoskeletal pain. Experiencing discomfort when ridden means the horse will try and find a different way of moving to minimise the pain. This way of moving will be much less efficient that the normal way resulting in an aversion to work, working in a different way, reactive temperament when asked to work, and decreased stamina. 2) Back/neck pain ā particularly apparent when horse is ridden, usually not obvious when worked from the floor. 3) Dental pain - regular dental care is now an important feature of most ownersā care for their horse. This means it is a less common reason for poor performance. 4) Stomach ulcers ā usually secondary to stress caused by musculoskeletal pain, especially back pain, (i.e. treating only the ulcers may not be sufficient to resolve the poor performance) but can be primary because of psychological stress or infection.
A to Z of sending lameness assessment videos 1) Video of your horse on straight line - Wear hat and gloves - No rugs please! - Stand on the left side holding the lead rope in your right hand - Hard,flat enclosed surface (safe!), 20 - 30 metres in length - Some horses may need a bridle for extra control. Walk away and back once then Trot away and back once. The camera operator should: - Include name of horse and owner in the message - Best if camera is in portrait orientation - Include all of the horse in the view (not just the legs!) - If possible, zone in on the horse at trotting away, and zone out again on trotting back. 2) Video of your horse at lunge - An arena if possible. - 20 metre circle - 2 circles on left rein then 2 circles on right rein. - Again, all of the horse in the view. - Best if camera is in landscape orientation. 3) Video of your horse at ridden exercise One large lap on each rein at appropriate paces. All of horse and rider in view Best if camera is in landscape orientation. Please call the office for our Whatsapp number (if you donāt already have it!).
As we all prepare for the first cold spell of the winter, here is Gil ( and friends!) with a few top tips! Top 10 tips for cold weather 1. Rug appropriately ā make sure your horse is warm and the coat isnāt standing up (indicating cold) but at the same time, you want to avoid excessive rugging. Horses are good at keeping themselves warm if theyāre not clipped ā once clipped, the horse has an instrument removed that it had used to keep itself warm, so you must rug to compensate for this. 2. Hold off clipping ā following on from number 1, an unclipped horse is easier to keep warm so perhaps best, if you can, to hold off on clipping until the cold spell has passed. 3. Feed plenty of forage. Up to 70% of the heat a horse generates is produced in the hind gut with the fermentation of roughage. Therefore, a diet high in fibre (hay/haylage) will keep the internal combustion engine firing! 4. Consider feeding hay/haylage in field. The grass is much more likely to be poor at this time of year (lower levels of nutrients) and there may simply not be sufficient quantity to meet your horseās needs. 5. Beware of ice! Hard flat surfaces ā concrete, tarmac etc. ā can be very slippy at this time so be careful as this is when injuries can occur. Also, arena surfaces may be hard and rutted with no give in the surface, increasing the likelihood of injury ā if so, stick to walk when in the school! 6. Water access must be 24/7 ā failure to drink can increase the risk of colic, especially impactions. Freezing weather means your horse may not be able to access water ā either a layer of thick ice forming on the water bucket, or the automatic drinkers rendered out of action. Check the buckets regularly and break any ice cover present. You could try a (edible proof!) ball in the bucket to prevent ice fully covering the water. 7. Cold water can cause pain in those horses with sensitive teeth, making them reluctant to drink ā this is most common in olde
Autumn worming made simple(!) In the late autumn/winter, every horse and pony (without exception!) should be given a treatment for the larval stage of the small red worm which emerges from where it has been hibernating in the gut wall at this time of year. Additionally, treatment for tapeworm should be given after the first frost of the season ā this is because one of the stages of the life cycle of the tapeworm lives in the oribatid mite that is found on the pasture but is killed by the frost. Since we have now had our first frost of the winter (finally!), you can go ahead and treat at the same time for both small redworm and tapeworm, the most common disease-causing worms in the UK. Only two products are licensed for the larval small red worm, Equest and Panacur Guard, but Equest Pramox also contains a drug to treat tapeworm. We would therefore advise that you now give each of your horses and ponies an Equest Pramox for a convenient single treatment to best protect them against disease caused by these two worms.
Ever heard of Atypical Myopathyā¦ more commonly known as Sycamore Poisoning? Here is Gil with all you need to know. Atypical myopathy (āSycamore poisoningā) is a potentially fatal disease of horses caused by eating Sycamore seeds (āhelicoptersā), sycamore leaves, or the young saplings in the spring. A toxin found in these causes muscle damage, particularly to those muscles used to stand, to breathe, and the muscle of the heart. Affected horses can display a range of signs but typically become very dull, weak, tremble, show signs of pain, and may be unable to lift their heads or even remain standing. Emergency intensive veterinary treatment is required, but is not always successful. However, prompt treatment means some cases can recover very quickly so if you suspect your horse may be showing signs, contact your vet ASAP. Signs of Atypical Myopathy to look out for ā Muscle soreness ā Muscle stiffness ā Muscle tremors ā Weakness ā Lethargy ā Fast or laboured breathing ā Reluctance to work ā Red or brown urine ā Choke ā Whinnying ā Head tossing or low head carriage ā Fast or irregular heart beat ā Sudden death Treatment Large quantities of intravenous fluids must be given to flush the toxin from the system and to support organ function since horses with atypical myopathy tend to become very dehydrated. This is called āfluid therapyā and requires 24/7 care, so referral to an equine hospital is necessary. Supplementary vitamins and minerals have also been shown to be helpful. Initially recovery is slow, but should the horse survive, it should return to work with no long-term effects of the disease. Preventing Atypical Myopathy As ever, prevention is hugely preferable to cure. With Sycamore seeds, leaves, and the saplings (in spring) the only known source of the toxin, check the fields your hors
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