Stringer Equine Veterinary Surgeons

23/04/2025

Congratulations to the stunning Arnie (Bahian Terminator), a 3 yo Cleveland Bay owned by Emily Fisher. Arnie recently won the SEIB Search for a Star Amateur In-Hand Rare Breeds, Native and Traditional class at Hartpury, and has qualified for the series championships at Your Horse Live 2025! 🌟🌟🌟 A fantastic achievement for them both, and lovely to see rare breeds being showcased in this competition, good luck at the championships!

17/04/2025

16/04/2025

As we are in the midst of foaling season, vet Flo has put together a checklist of all things foaling. A handy guide for those new to breeding, or perhaps a reminder for more seasoned clients. Pictured (with many thanks to his owner for sharing) is the absolutely adorable Burly, one of this years newest patients 🥰🐴

08/04/2025

🪱🪱🪱 If you haven't had a faecal egg count done on your horse's 💩 sample yet this year, this is your call to action!

Check out https://www.whatsyourwormrisk.com/ for an assessment of your horse's risk of infection, as understanding this is the first step to sustainable worm control (or ask us for our in-house version if you prefer).

Once you have this, we can guide you on an appropriate worm testing schedule for your horse(s). Guidelines on our recommended schedule and worm egg count sample collection instructions will be posted in the comments ⬇️

Keeping your horse safe from worms means assessing their risk of infection to guide the next steps in your management plan

31/03/2025

After caring for all of our lovely equine clients, sustainability is an important priority for us at Stringer Equine.

For more information on work within the equine veterinary industry to improve sustainability, please see https://vetsustain.org/work/supporting-sustainability-in-equine-veterinary-practice-introducing-vet-sustains-equine-subgroup

29/03/2025

*UPDATE* Thank you all for your shares. We are no longer looking for a foster mare.

26/03/2025

It's just 18 days until Stringer Equine Vet Max takes on the challenge of the Paris marathon 🏃‍♂️ !

Max is taking this on to fundraise and raise awareness for the charity DuchenneUK. We wish Max and Cat the very best of luck, and know they welcome any support in their mission, whether by donating, sharing their JustGiving page, or spreading the word about Duchenne UK’s incredible work.

Help Max Dartnall raise money to support Duchenne UK

17/03/2025

As the breeding season begins, we at Stringer Equine have one goal and that is to have a healthy foal from every mare under our reproductive care. If any of the below points apply to your mare, or if you are considering breeding for the first time, please contact us to discuss what would be best for your mare.

IF YOUR MARE DIDN'T GET IN FOAL LAST YEAR:

As the breeding season begins, if your mare didn't have a successful pregnancy last year it is worth considering several factors before trying again.

There are many many reasons why a mare would fail to conceive / hold a pregnancy and we advise taking a pro-active - and early! - approach to addressing some of these:

- Pre-breeding examination: What condition was your mare in last year – mares in poor body condition, or too fat, can have significantly lower conception rates (in our experience the latter is far more common). A thorough examination by an experienced stud vet prior to making any decisions re: breeding can be invaluable. An assessment of perineal conformation, an internal examination of va**na and cervix, and ultrasound examination of uterus and ovaries as well as a look at the overall health and condition of the mare is a good place to start. In older mares blood testing for PPID (Cushings) is advisable before starting on a breeding programme.
- Cytology & culture: Swabs and smears from the uterus to check that the mare is clear from infections prior to starting breeding can save wasted time and money. This is usually performed at the start of any assisted breeding cycle and would be especially useful if the mare had failed to conceive the prior season.
- Biopsy: A uterine biopsy may be done as part of an infertility work-up and can reveal infections, damage, and/or age related changes.
- Does your mare need more intervention? Those mares sent for natural cover who fail to conceive may have an increased chance of a successful pregnancy with supplemental progesterone, antibiotics during pregnancy, caslicks procedure or uterine lavage post-cover / AI.
- Laser ablation of uterine cysts: This procedure has been proven to increase fertility in mares and is definitely worth considering if your vet mentioned finding cysts last year, or if they are discovered at a pre-breeding exam. Don’t panic! Cysts do not equate to infertility and many mares with cysts carry successful pregnancies but, if your mare is having problems AND has cysts then studies have shown that addressing these can improve fertility.
- Method of breeding: Mares who don't hold to a natural cover may benefit from the increased supervision of an AI package. Chilled semen has a higher conception rate per cycle than frozen.
- Stallion factors: Semen quality is always checked at the time of insemination. Sometimes there is a mare/stallion incompatibility.
- Embryo transfer: We offer embryo transfer which can be useful for those mares who repeatedly become pregnant but fail to reach a confirmed heartbeat stage. In these instances a pregnancy can be removed early and (hopefully) implanted into a recipient mare to carry it to full term.

We are a BEVA approved practice for AI, and with our experienced stud vets we would be delighted to work with you this breeding season.

07/03/2025

Equine influenza is a highly contagious respiratory disease that can spread quickly and make horses seriously ill. Of course, disease prevention is key, and the governing bodies for equestrian sports have strict rules on vaccinations and biosecurity for this purpose.

If your equine has not had a flu vaccine, or their cover has lapsed requiring a re-start of their primary vaccination course now is the time to act! During the months of March and April 2025 all horses, ponies and donkeys starting their equine influenza vaccination course will receive the 3rd vaccination (August-December)**FREE OF CHARGE!**.

To book an appointment or for further information, please call our reception team on: 01647231246.

**Vaccine cost only, visit fees still apply. The offer is only open to horses that are over 9 months of age and have not yet been vaccinated against equine influenza or are overdue an annual booster. First vaccination to take place in March or April 2025.The free vaccination is only for the third vaccination of the course.

21/02/2025

Need to book in your horses routine vaccinations? Please have your passport handy when calling the office.
Your horses passport is the definitive record of their vaccination history, therefore past vaccine dates should always be checked in the passport when booking to ensure routine boosters, or 2nd/3rd boosters in a primary course, are booked for a suitable date in line with the current guidance relevant to your sports governing body.

04/02/2025

📋🏇 *NEW FEI VACCINE RECORDING CHANGES*
From 3rd February 2025, ALL FEI registered horses need to have their vaccinations recorded on the FEI HorseApp at the time of the vaccination being given by your vet.

To make this process as easy as possible, please could you ensure that:
1) You notify us at the time of appointment booking that your horse is FEI registered.
2) The Passport is present with the horse at the time of vaccination.
3) If you are the Athlete, Groom, Owner or Trainer (or all of the above!), please could you enter the previous vaccinations onto the HorseApp prior to your vaccination date. This will save considerable time for when the first vaccination is given and recorded after 3/2/25.

https://howto.fei.org/content/5/311/en/how-to-add-a-new-vaccination-and-use-the-fei-horseapp-during-the-vaccination-process.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawINq7ZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHb7mZ-p8w95Mc16ySIQjH7D0sotJknKegaTeV0rEnWHufYwqoR3JhIKJSw_aem_a7debtjmC9Thl8V-ccxwtQ

4) Be aware it may be necessary to photograph both sides of the horse to confirm identification. Horses should be clean (enough) for markings to be seen, and rugs may need to be removed.

For more info: https://inside.fei.org/hub/it-services/mobile-apps/%20fei_horseapp

03/02/2025

We are in the process of planning Equine Educational Events for 2025, and we want to hear from you!

What topics would you like us to cover? Whether it's breeding, nutrition, equine emergencies (at home and away), or the latest in veterinary technology, your input is invaluable! Share your suggestions in the comments below and let us know 📝

30/01/2025

Give us a call to get booked in for our Foot Balance Friday's throughout February! Whether a performance horse or a happy hacker, shod or barefoot, correct foot balance and good farriery will help keep a spring in your horses step 🐴

09/01/2025

Is your horse or pony looking forward to spring, or dreading Sweet Itch season? Insol Dermatophyton is a preventative vaccination offered by our vets. It was originally developed for ringworm but has been found very effective in the fight against Sweet Itch too 💉

The vaccination is split over two doses 14 days apart, and vaccinating before seasonal triggers for Sweet Itch are present will offer optimal protection for your horse or pony. We will be placing orders for 2025 stock in early February so if you are interested please get in touch to ensure we allocate you two doses and have appointments booked well in advance of springs arrival. 🌱🌞

08/01/2025

Extended for all of January 2025 👍

Missed out on Black Friday deals? Stringer Equine Veterinary Surgeons bring you (and your Farrier) 'Foot Balance Friday' throughout December! Speak to your farrier, and give our office a call on 01647 231246 if you want to book in.

We've all heard 'no foot no horse', but the equine hoof is a complex thing, and the external appearance does not always reflect the condition of the internal structures. This is where foot balance radiographs can be really useful, allowing your horses farrier to compare what they can see on the outside to X-ray images and adapt their trimming accordingly, if indicated, to support a healthy hoof and comfortable horse 🐴

If your farrier or trimmer has ever suggested foot balance x-rays would be of benefit to your horse now is the time to get them taken. Images will be sent to your farrier and a conversation between vet and farrier to discuss the images taken is always possible.

23/12/2024

So many amazing festive ponies, thank you everyone for your entries! We have scrabbled together a few extra buckets because we couldn't pick just one winner! Congratulations to: Shouna Sibcy, Melanie Perkins, Tina Sharp, Lucy Thompson and Jason Lewis - There's a bucket for each of you if you can call in to collect it 🎅

20/12/2024

Last few days to get your entries in for our little Christmas competition. It is going to be a very hard job picking a winner!

Anyone for a little Christmas competition? 🎅🎁

Under our festive office tree 🎄 (normally known as Trevor) we have a bucket of goodies to give away. All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is comment on this post with a picture of your horse dressed in their best festive fancy dress! Our team's favourite image will win the bucket!

Winner to be announced from all entries received by noon on Monday December 23rd, so you've plenty of time to dig out the tinsel!

(Local entries only please - the winner will need to collect from our Whiddon Down office. Thank you)

17/12/2024

We still have some spaces left this Friday, and Friday 27th December, so give us a call to get booked in

Missed out on Black Friday deals? Stringer Equine Veterinary Surgeons bring you (and your Farrier) 'Foot Balance Friday' throughout December! Speak to your farrier, and give our office a call on 01647 231246 if you want to book in.

We've all heard 'no foot no horse', but the equine hoof is a complex thing, and the external appearance does not always reflect the condition of the internal structures. This is where foot balance radiographs can be really useful, allowing your horses farrier to compare what they can see on the outside to X-ray images and adapt their trimming accordingly, if indicated, to support a healthy hoof and comfortable horse 🐴

If your farrier or trimmer has ever suggested foot balance x-rays would be of benefit to your horse now is the time to get them taken. Images will be sent to your farrier and a conversation between vet and farrier to discuss the images taken is always possible.