Linkswood Equine Vets

20/08/2024

EXCITING NEWS!! 🐴🐎

We are very excited to be able to announce that Linkswood Equine have made our first ever baby (foal that is!)

Vet Emma started offering our chilled semen AI package this spring and we are very pleased to share one of our successes.

This beautiful mare has been the dream patient from the start and we couldn’t be happier for her and her owner. We can’t wait to meet this little one next year and see all of the great things they have to come.

Huge thanks to Eyrin who has been a massive help to Emma with this year’s breeding work and has taken great care of our broodmares at the clinic.

We will be offering our chilled semen AI package again next Spring with limited availability so please don’t hesitate to enquire if you are thinking of breeding your mare.

13/08/2024

Check out our health plans! 🎉We are dedicated and committed to helping our clients care for their horses.
Our health plans help you to plan and pay for your horse’s routine care over 12 months.

🐴 £18 a month will get you all the routine and basic health care your horse should need. It allows clients to save £65 a year by paying this way rather than by having an annual bill

OR

🐴 £23 a month gives a saving of £72 a year with additional health care AND gives a 10% long term medication discount. This health plan is ideal for our older geriatric patients.

If you would like to sign up, please email us at [email protected]

We will be happy to advise and plan with you.

💥ZONE DAYS💥!!
Every Tuesday we offer zone days!
On these days, we will be offering HALF PRICE visit fees to clients within the zone for the week. Our zone days are divided into four different zones. Check out our map to see which zone you fall into!
The visits on the zone days are for routine appointments only, for example, vaccinations, dentals, routine bandage changes and blood samples.
If you would like to book in on a zone day please emails us at
[email protected] or give us a call on 01787 383171.

11/08/2024

Wishing our very own, absolutely amazing and brilliant veterinary surgeon Emma, a very happy birthday today! We hope you will join us in wishing her another very happy year around the sun! Lets celebrate with cake this week!

07/08/2024

Carolyn treated Biscuit on Friday and is so pleased he is making a speedy recovery. 🐴

On Friday the 2nd of August, retired Police horse Biscuit had a nasty fall in Earls Colne whilst out for a hack.

After telling his owner that he couldn’t giddy up, the vet was called out. He was given the all clear and the Rural Engagement Team bolted over to provide an es**rt back to his paddock.

RPH Biscuit has issued the following statement: “I wish to apologise for being the Centaur of attention and sorry to my neighbours for any delays caused. I’m now stable and recovering well!”

The Rural Engagement Team lead the force on animal and wildlife matters. They work with partners including the Animal and Plant Health Agency, RSPCA, South Essex Wildlife Hospital, Badger Trust and many more to keep animals safe in Essex.

31/07/2024

We have a really interesting case to share with you all!

Our patient Woody developed exercise intolerance (out of breath and unable to trot) and upper respiratory noise during ridden work which failed to improve with rest.

An endoscopy exam (video camera up the nose) on his yard by Carolyn and Eyrin revealed the cause of the issue: poor Woody had an "Entrapped Epiglottis" which is not a common condition!

What does this mean? The epiglottis is a triangular shaped cartilage in the airway/throat area which protects the airway when the horse swallows. When it gets entrapped, the epiglottis gets stuck under the loose tissue beneath it called the subepiglottic mucosa.

In this poor horse, there was significant thickening and ulceration of the mucosa because of the severity and chronicity of the entrapment. Not only does this give the horse a permanent sore throat, but it can subsequently lead to the horse being unable to breath and swallow properly, so Woody's owner made the difficult decision to have him operated on. The main complications of surgery can be severe haemorrhage and airway swelling so Woody stayed with us the night after surgery and was monitored extremely carefully.

We are pleased to report that Woody was operated on at Linkswood Equine clinic recently by the amazing surgeon Safia Barakzai from Equine Surgical Referrals. The procedure is done with the patient standing up and sedated, a camera up one nostril and a long handled Bistoury knife is used up the other nostril:

The video below shows the mucosal fold being cut to permanently free the epiglottis. This should bring long term relief to poor Woody and allow him to breathe normally again. We scoped him again yesterday at home and his throat is healing really well at only 7 days post op! He will have a month's holiday now before starting to hack again.

Thank you as always to our team, our amazing client and patient and Safia the surgeon for coming to operate on him.

30/07/2024

⚠️Hard Ground!!⚠️
With the high temperatures this week the ground is starting to harden up! Please be aware as tempting as it can be, cantering/galloping your horses on the hard ground can lead to lameness. The concussion horses experience from the hard ground puts a great strain on their tendons and ligaments. Injuries such as splints, bruised soles, fractured pedal bones, strains and ligament damage are often seen as a result of the hard ground.
We hope you enjoy the nicer weather and the freshly cut stubble/open fields but please do take into consideration the surfaces and conditions before allowing your horse to have a good blast! 🏇🏇🏇

29/07/2024

Wowzers! Absolutely amazing! Congratulations Team GB!

15/07/2024

🐴 EXCITING NEWS FOR LINKSWOOD EQUINE VETS 🐴

After months and months of hard work, we are so very proud to announce that we have just heard from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons…..

It is with immense pride that we would like to announce that our practice has just been awarded Tier 2 accreditation!

The RCVS practice standards scheme, is a voluntary accreditation scheme (bit like the red tractor scheme for farmers!) whereby practices can apply to have every single aspect of the practice scrutinised (and we do mean- every aspect!!)

And because we don’t do things by halves, we have actually been awarded accreditation in both “Core Practice” and “Equine General Practice” schemes…
(The next level up is “Hospital status” so achieving Tier 2 is such a big deal for us!!)

The aim of signing up to the practice standards scheme is to uphold excellency in our level of care to patients and clients, to demonstrate that we monitor outcomes of treatments, that we show ongoing commitment to education and staff training and that we recognise and plan for the future, (for example, mapping the environmental impact of our clinic) - these areas are but a few things we have had to prove to the RCVS. We actually had to prove we were compliant in over 300 areas/criteria!

What does this mean? It means that all of us at Linkswood Equine have committed ourselves to working to an excellent standard, with both our patients, our clients and within our own team.

….it has taken an immense amount of work, almost always in the evenings and weekends. Achieving this level of accreditation is something we are proud of, since we haven’t even been open 2 years yet!

This wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless efforts of Hailey, our veterinary nurse and director, who has spent months upon months working to ensure we were compliant. Between being a wife and mum, a director, a nurse and running a small wildlife charity, Hails is never satisfied until she feels as though she has done her very best, and she always does. Thanks for pushing us into being better.

To our wonderful amazing Team: you have all been so supportive, worked so hard and given us so much of your time to help us achieve this, we wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. We are truly grateful to you all. We are lucky to have such a stable, growing and hard working team of impressive people. Thank you.

To our dedicated and loyal clients: thank you, we promise to never waiver from our standards and we will always continue to care for your horses like they are our own. We promise to remain Independent vets, striving for individual, excellent and compassionate care for your horses, ponies and donkeys.

10/07/2024

💥💥💥Laminitis Warning💥💥💥

Due to the wet, warm weather we have been experiencing we are seeing a massive influx in cases of laminitis. We would like to remind you of the warning signs, especially during this time of the year, and encourage you to monitor your ponies closely.

Prevention💢
Things to look out for are visual signs that your horse is overweight such as fat pads (for example over the shoulders and rump) and a hard, 'cresty' neck. If you are concerned about your horses weight you should avoid turning out onto large amounts of grass, strip graze if possible to monitor your horses grass in take and a grazing muzzle can also be worn to reduce your horses grass intake whilst still allowing turnout.

Signs of laminitis are:💢
*An inability or reluctance to walk.
* An increased digital pulse in the foot
*Reluctance to get up after lying down.
*A hoof that is hot to the touch
*Visible lameness on a hard surface or when turning a circle.
*Leaning back onto the hind feet

If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to contact us!🐎🐎🐎

27/06/2024

What better day to introduce you to the newest member of team Linkswood Equine than on her birthday!

Eyrin has joined us as a member of our admin team but also doubling up as a nursing assistant to Hailey. A very varied and hopefully interesting job role. She has been a god send already with the last couple of weeks being ridiculously busy, and had Hailey been on her own, you would have found her rocking in a corner!

We will add Eyrin to the website shortly so you can find out more about this lovely lady (when time allows 🤪)

Happy birthday, Eyrin. We hope you will be very happy with us here. 🎈🍰🎉🎊💕

24/06/2024

Its going to be a hot week! 🌡☀️🔥
With the temperatures rising this week, we thought we would give you some handy tips!
It has been so long since we have been really warm and let's face it, none of us know whether we are coming or going in terms of the weather lately, so our poor horses must be very confused! It can take 2 to 3 weeks for horses to acclimatise to hotter weather🔥☀️
So here's some tips below to help keep your horses cool this summer.
☀️ Ride early in the morning or in the evening if possible and allow ample time for cooling off.☀️
🌡Offer a drink straight after work (it is a myth that this causes colic!)🌡
🔥Continuously apply cold water to cool a horse off. Evaporation is best, not scraping off! 🔥
☀️Change water daily to avoid it becoming warm. Encouraging horses to drink in hot weather is the key to avoiding problems. Soaking feeds and hay may also be a sneaky way of getting more fluids in.☀️
🌡Horses with very shady paddocks may be better outside. Others without shade may be better stabled during the day and out at night.🌡
🔥 Apply sunblock to prevent burning of horses with pink or white noses and if you have a fly mask that covers their pink noses this can also help protect them against the sun🔥

We hope you all enjoy the sunny weather this week!
Love from the
Linkswood Equine Team

10/06/2024

This was too interesting not to share with those of you with horses who suffer at this time of the year!

31/05/2024

We couldn't let Vet nursing awareness month go by without saying something about our amazing nurse Hailey. Here are some fun Hailey Facts for you:

1) Hailey has a song for everything and sometimes a dance to accompany the song. No, we are not talking about humming in the car to the radio, we are talking about fully made up, amazing songs......Do you need cheering up? Hailey will have a song. Do you need your colic to p**p? Hailey will do do the p**p dance! Many a night has gone by, with us watching Hailey on the CCTV dance and sing to her patients.....Best part? It ALWAYS WORKS.

2) Endoscoping: This woman is a professional. A real amazing pro and far superior to any vet driving that expensive camera.... Doesn't matter if it is your bog standard Gastroscope and getting to that pylorus is a bit tricky, or a Guttural pouch endoscopy removing chondroids. She can drive that scope anywhere! (favourite moments were retrieving a clicker training device from a penguin and a branch of a tree lodged in a dogs lungs!)

3) Shetland pony veins. The vet can never find one: Send in Hailey because she will.

4) Vet can't find an item, send in Hailey. It's called the vet look. Which is astonishing as everything is exactly where it should be and, in most cases, labelled!

5) X-rays. Can't take that view you really need? Give the generator to Hailey.

Nursing, scoping, xraying, blood draws, anaesthesia, chief steriliser, laboratory analyst, poo count counter, singer and dancer extraordinaire. Vets would be rubbish without nurses and we literally, quite genuinely, would not be able to do the job without her. Staying up late at night, hand feeding horses and donkeys, bandage changes on tricky horses or doing her best to keep us all on track and on time, Hailey, thank you for what you do and who you are. One in a million, never replaceable or imitable. You are the best.

29/05/2024

Carolyn was exceedingly happy to be asked to be one of the equine Show vets at the Suffolk show today- and is keeping a watchful eye over everyone’s horses up here in Suffolk! Don’t hesitate to come and say hi if you are here! Emma is working hard at the practice with Hailey to keep all the horses healthy!

It’s hard work but someone has to do it 😆🤩 wishing all our clients competing here today the best of luck!

09/05/2024

Happy national receptionist day and so it is time to give a big thank you to our wonderful Holly. She simply is the best, and we could not function or do any of this without her. Thank you, Hols, for everything, we love you 😍❤️🐴

22/03/2024

A little warning that Easter weekend and the bank holiday days are creeping up on us! Be sure to get your prescription requests in by Tuesday next week at the latest so that we can have them ready and signed off for collection on Thursday. Thank you

We hope you all have a lovely Easter break, and we will be back on Tuesday.

#

12/03/2024

******* WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS ******
🐴 showing a wound and blood loss 🐴

Recently, a distressing call came in for a young horse suffering a fairly catastrophic haemorrhage from a severe wound on a hind leg.

Our amazing vet Emma was dispatched to help, and found poor Pepe (who is only 3 years old) suffering from significant arterial bleeding from a deep wound to the hind pastern. With some initial first aid and some clamps placed- she immediately got him hospitalised for some standing surgery at Linkswood Equine.

We are incredibly fortunate that in these circumstances, we have a talented surgeon in vet Emma, our experienced equine vet nurse Hailey to assist and a beautiful treatment room to operate in.

As you will see by the photos, this horse lost significant amounts of blood, having transected the main artery and vein of his foot. He had also exposed vital structures inside the foot. Emma was able to repair this awful injury in stages, by clamping and ligating blood vessels carefully and then closing the wound in multiple layers. This was all done with the horse standing up, simply sedated, with nerve blocks placed so he could not feel the operation.

A large modified Robert jones bandage (similar to a cast ) was placed and changed every 3-4 days for a month and once the stitches were removed, the wound was managed with medical grade Manuka honey.

The photos show the wound healing process and thanks to Emma’s talent and the owner’s dedication, the wound did not break down and has healed absolutely beautifully.

Without a doubt, Emma and Hailey saved his life that day and we are so grateful to them and so pleased this young horse is still going to get to grow up and have a career with his lovely owner whom we thank for letting us share his story

08/03/2024

Happy International Women's Day from us ladies at Linkswood Equine Vets. We are so proud of what we have here and today we celebrate our achievements

23/02/2024

A month ago, this adorable cheeky pony was presented to us with a sore eye: tear stained face (epiphora), closed eyelids (blepharospasm), constricted pupil (myosis) and after his eye was stained with a special dye- two large corneal ulcers were found. (White arrows)

After treatment at home- the pesky eye ulcers were improved but not healed (red arrows). Closer examination under sedation revealed a Chalazion (a cyst!) in his lower eyelid (red circle)

Because we were unsure if the ulcers were caused by him rubbing his eye due to irritation from the chalazion- we decided to remove it.

Carolyn, assisted by Hailey and Emma- performed a meticulous little surgery under sedation at our clinic……an amazing amount of pus was removed and the cyst’s sac was removed as well. He then spent over a week at our clinic with a dedicated Hailey applying drops into the eye hourly….!!!

Due to slow healing of the ulcers, the corneal surface was then debrided (dead cells are scraped off ) the cornea with sterile Q tips and the surface of the eye was flushed. We also examined the cells under a microscope to make sure nothing more sinister was happening.

Thankfully this little ponies owner is very committed to him- so we placed an equine contact lens into his eye - yes this is a horse sized contact lens!!! This protects the cornea and allows healing to occur. The immediate comfort this gave him was amazing and it meant he could return home after his stay with us.

14 days later- we have removed the contact lens- and the ulcer is beautifully healed- the surgical incision into the lower eyelid has healed and we are thrilled! A successful surgery- successful story and a very cute and happy pony.

We are so thankful we were able to treat him at our clinic- and lucky to have such a committed owner and team to provide this! Thank for letting us share his story!

17/02/2024

Does anybody recognise this chap? Yes, that's right, it's Gizmo! Happy Gotcha Day to our little dude pictured here with his lovely rider, Willow.

He lives here with us at Linkswood Stud and is very loved, and he is super happy! Can you believe it has been 9 years now since we rescued that dying foal and put him back together again.

14/02/2024

Feeling the love today and sharing it with all of you

08/02/2024

Following on from our post this week on strangles carriers, here is an awesome video taken last year.

Do you know that 1 in 10 horses who get strangles can become carriers? A carrier is a horse who appears perfectly well on the outside but can shed strangles bacteria to entire yards with no signs whatsoever. These horses have chondroids lurking in their guttural pouches…

Do you know what chondroids are? Simply put: they are balls of dried out old pus! They look like stones and hide from the world whilst spreading their bacteria about!

Carolyn and Hailey removed Chondroids from the guttural pouches of a horse who was showing no signs of being a carrier but tested positive for strangles surprising us all! This horse had Chondroids in both guttural pouches!

The video endoscope was used to visualise the chondroids and a basket grasper was then used to extract the chondroid out of the pouch and down the nasal passage.

After removal, copious amounts of flushing with saline and an antibiotic was instilled into each pouch.

A week later we resampled from the pouches to determine that the horse was no longer a Strangles carrier. Very cool and much like a computer game. Serious skills involved and a very satisfying job well done.

06/02/2024

We are proud to share that we have joined the Stamp out Strangles campaign.

Contact us to be sent a very handy electronic information pack.

Watch this video to learn how horses become carriers. https://youtu.be/P5SAxB9jzBw

This short animation is a simple look at the process that can lead horses to become silent strangles carriers, and what we can do about it. Carriers can cont...

31/01/2024

***WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES***

Melanoma Surgery Success! 🐴😁

Those of you that joined us for our client evening back in October will know all about equine skin lumps and the laser surgery we can offer to treat them.

This lovely client kindly joined us that evening and as a result checked her own grey pony for melanomas. Unfortunately, this special boy had a number of quite large melanomas under his tail and in the perineal region. Fortunately we were able to visit the same week and arranged for laser surgery to be performed on our next surgery day.

Due to the size of these masses a significant wound was left following laser debulking of the largest mass, as seen in the picture below. However, following aftercare at home from his owner and our vets this patient has made a fantastic recovery! We think it’s pretty amazing how well this has healed in such a short space of time, and plenty of healthy granulation tissue can be seen in the most recent image.

If you are worried about any of your horses lumps and bumps or would like to discuss laser surgery please contact the clinic by email or on 01787383171.

25/01/2024

Colleagues from a veterinary clinic in Sudbury are warning against probable toxicity issues with local dog walking sites in Sudbury.

It is important to recognise the signs of toxicity as early intervention is often necessary.

Please share and read the post if you own and walk a dog locally and remain vigilant!

Please share and be vigilant when walking your dog around the Sudbury area, specifically in the areas shaded in red on the map. We have had 3 patients with suspected Ma*****na toxicity in the last 2 weeks after walking in these areas. We also had 1 patient in November that was walked on Friars meadow.

Symptoms Of Ma*****na Poisoning In Pets -

In dogs, clinical signs of ma*****na poisoning begin within 30 to 90 minutes after exposure and can last up to 72 hours. The most common signs of pet ma*****na poisoning include:

Inactivity
Incoordination
Dilated pupils
Increased sensitivity to touch, motion, and sound
Hypersalivation
Urinary incontinence
Other potential symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea, seizures, and coma. Death is extremely rare, but it's still possible. Therefore, you should take your pet to the vet immediately if you believe they've ingested or inhaled ma*****na or products containing THC.

17/01/2024

*🐎💩Client notice. With a new year comes the time for renewing your worm egg count programmes.💩🐎*

We hope everyone has used their winter wormer now or is planning to shortly OR used the alternative Saliva Tapeworm test and/or Equest/blood test for encysted redworm combo. We are awaiting new guidelines regarding using winter wormers, so this year may mean a shake-up on what has been previously done. With this in mind, worm egg counts will be central to the decision process, and you need to submit a sample 3 months after using your winter wormer. Why not join our worm egg count scheme?

🐴 You will get 3 worm egg counts across the year with reminders sent for each one so that you won't forget.

🐴 Worming advice on tap should you need it, with results reported with clear next step instructions.

🐴 With the worrying data around resistance to our antiparasitics, we are offering free worm egg count reduction tests if you do require a wormer, after a worm egg count. This will show if your horse has a resistance to the product used giving us more data and an insight into which chemicals work.

To sign up, please email us [email protected]
we will then put out your kit for collection (or we can post for an additional fee) and set up your email reminders so you are good to go.

🐎 Kits are £30 for 3 standard worm egg counts with an additional 3 worm egg counts free of charge should you need them! 🐎

15/01/2024

🪰🐴 SWEET ITCH ALERT 🪰 🐴

It's coming to that time of year again where we need to be jumping on preventative treatment for sweet itch before the midges start feasting on our friends.

We offer the Insol vaccine (ringworm vaccine with a very helpful side effect of modulating/ calming down sweet itch very effectively ) and are getting ready to place our order and book in the visits. We have been really pleased with the results over the last few years. We have a limited availability of the vaccine once ordered so book in early to avoid disappointment.

The course consists of 2 injections (14 days apart) followed by a booster in the summer, and the injections need to be given before the midge season begins.

If you would like to be added to the list or have any questions please email us [email protected] with your name and the horses name.
Lovely Holly will then be in touch to organise. 🪰🐴

01/01/2024

Thank you for all of your support over 2023, we are very grateful to have such an awesome client base.

25/12/2023

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