Alnorthumbria Equine Vets

👀 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞? 🤔⁣ ⁣ Here is a gastroscope showing ulcers in both the 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 (𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫) and 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 (𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫) parts of the stomach.⁣ ⁣ 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐮𝐥𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐬 affect the top part of the stomach and are often caused by ‘acid splash’ where acid from the bottom half of the stomach splashes up (𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦) and irritates the lining of the upper stomach where the stomach lining is less protected from the harsh environments of the lower stomach. Ulcers in this region can develop relatively quickly and are often caused by limited access to forage and may lead to poor performance. These are the most common type of ulcers and why they can be seen in up to 80% of performance horses 🐎 💨⁣ ⁣ 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 affects the lower part of the stomach. Disease in this region usually happens gradually over time and is often caused by the mucus lining being affected and although the causes are less known, they are thought to have links to stress.⁣ ⁣ 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐥𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞:⁣ 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ⁣ 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲⁣ 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 ⁣ 𝗪𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬⁣ ⁣ ❗️𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐆𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 on Wednesday 23rd October, We

Congratulations to everyone involved in Burgham International Horse Trials. Fantastic organisation with nearly 1000 horses over 5days. We are honoured to be involved. Below Ollie Townend on his way to winning the CCI4*.

CCI3* under way at Burgham. Harry Mutch Eventing having no problems at the Alnorthumbria Vet Group fence.

𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠! 🤕⁣ ⁣ 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 is a painful condition affecting horses and ponies, where the trigeminal nerve (which provides sensation to much of the face) reacts to normally innocuous stimuli 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. This condition is often overlooked, as it is easy to assume these head movements are caused by flies, or are ’𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵’. ⁣ ⁣ 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞. This results in (vertical) head shaking and nose rubbing, like the head movements seen in this video. There has been no physical cause found, unlike in humans, and therefore it is assumed to be an abnormal function of the nerve. Many of these horses resolve spontaneously over the winter but then the disease recurs each spring 🍃 ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐱-𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐲𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐂𝐓 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝.⁣

Happy Pancake Day! 🥞 Today at Fairmoor Equine Clinic, nurses Megan and Libby kindly made the team pancakes to celebrate. There was no one quite as excited as Patch the dog though! Patch belongs to Nerea the vet, and some of you may have met him before on their visits.

Lesley spent last week at Burghley Horse trails working as part of the treating vet team. Some of you might have see her interview focusing on treatment of horses at the end of the cross country phase and in particular cooling horses

We’re trying to be better with safety around horses and we know that vets are notoriously bad at prioritising their safety compared to other professions! Check out the video and let us know what you think 👇

Taking your horse’s temperature! Video 3 in our Equine Management How-To Series 🐴🩺 When trying this for the first time on your horse, make sure you have a handler at the front holding them still. Let your horse know you’re approaching their back end by gently patting or stroking as you go. Stand to the side of your horse facing the rear, and move their tail to one side. Make sure your thermometer is turned on and with lots of warning, gently insert it into the rectum. Hold it there until you hear a beep and then remove and check the reading! A normal temperature for a horse should be between 36.9 - 38.4 degrees Celsius although expect it to be higher if you ever take it immediately after exercise or travelling. Comment below with any other skills or techniques you’d like to see us feature, and thanks again to Dawn!

Mucous Membranes! The second video in our Equine Management How-To Series 🐴🩺 You can tell a lot from mucous membranes (gums) and it is a vital component of a thorough clinical exam. If you are worried that your horse is sick or has colic, being able to check your horse’s mucous membranes at home will help you give some vital information to the vet before they arrive. The gums should be pink and moist. Some horses are paler or pinker than others so getting to know what’s normal for your horse is helpful. Abnormal mucous membranes can be: bright red, very pale, yellow, purple or dry. Pressing down on the gums with a finger, releasing and counting how long it takes for normal colour to reappear is called the capillary refill time (normally under 2 seconds!) and helps the vet assess systemic circulation. Hope you find this helpful and don’t hesitate to ask the vet next time they see your horse for a vaccine or dental if you have any questions about this!

The first video of our Equine Management How-To Series! 🐴🩺 Here’s Dawn, one of our hugely experienced animal care assistants showing you the technique for feeling a digital pulse. This can be really useful when trying to diagnose laminitis or a foot abscess. Remember, feeling a small pulse is normal but a bounding pulse is abnormal and a reliable indicator of foot pain. Hope you find this helpful! If you’d like more information on laminitis, check out our recent Facebook post or the advice page on our website 😊 If there are any specific skills you’d like us to feature in our series, please comment below!