🏊 Let’s talk about swimming 🏊
Did you know that horses have a natural ability to swim?
Swimming can be beneficial for horses in several ways, including:
🔵 Building fitness and stamina
⚪️ Promoting weight loss
🔵 Low impact, non-concussive exercise to avoid additional stress on joints and soft tissue
⚪️ Rehabilitation following some injuries
🔵 Fun!
Swimming can be a really useful alternative fittening exercise for horses during periods of dry weather (like now!) where the ground is too hard for frequent galloping.
The majority of horses enjoy swimming - they swim similarly to dogs with a paddling action and their large lungs help to keep them afloat! When they swim, the only part of them you’ll be able to see is their head.
There are various yards across Warwickshire that offer an equine pool for client use, including CMC Equines at Town Crier shown here in the video footage. Thank you to them for sharing this footage with us 💙
If you’d like to know whether swimming may be a suitable activity for your horse, speak to your vet - we’re very happy to give our clients advice. For example, it may not be recommended for horses with some back problems due to the inverted shape horses make when in the water. The most important thing is to gradually expose your horse to swimming and build up the lengths each time, as it can be very tiring for the horse 😴
⛑️🩹 First Aid Kit 🩹⛑️
A first aid kit is a vital piece of equipment to have available at your yard, so it’s to always to hand in case of any minor injuries or
A complete first aid kit is a must-have for every yard. It should always be to hand in case of any minor injuries - which we all know happen too often with horses! - or to help provide initial treatment for more major injuries while waiting for your vet to arrive.
Keep your first aid kit somewhere safe, clean, dry and relatively free of dust. If you have your own transport, we recommend you keep a second kit in there too. Make sure you replace any items you use as soon as you’ve used them, so the kit is always complete!
Here are some of the essential items to keep in your kit:
🐴 A thermometer - a raised temperature can often be one of the first signs that your horse is unwell
🐴 Wound gel or cream - this acts as a barrier to help protect wounds against bacteria and encourages healing
🐴 Bandaging equipment - soft bandaging, conforming bandages and vet wrap if needed to bandage a wound (take advice from your vet)
🐴 Ready-to-use poultice and duct tape - in case of any suspected or diagnosed foot abscesses
🐴 Cleansers/washes - antiseptic and antimicrobial cleansers like hibiscrub to help prevent any infections by keeping the skin clean
🐴 Cotton wool - useful for applying any washes to the specific area
We also recommend having a good pair of scissors, disposable gloves and some clean bowls and towels alongside your first aid kit.
Most of the items listed here are readily available online or from tack shops, but if you need or would prefer to purchase one of our starter first aid kits, we’ll be happy to help!
❤️🩹 How to find your horse’s digital pulse ❤️🩹
Yesterday we shared a laminitis warning with you with some top tips for spotting it early!
One of our top tips was checking your horse for a digital pulse, which can be a useful way of checking for inflammation in your horse’s foot. We’re re-sharing this video with our vet Robyn, who shows you exactly how to check your horse’s digital pulse.
We’ve also been asked for any tips on finding the digital pulse of a heavier breed of horse with feathers and the truth is, it’s much harder to find it in those types of horses than in horses like our KWPN model Felix in this video.
If your horse has feathers, we recommend feeling for heat in the coronary band rather than the digital pulse in the fetlock. Early signs of laminitis to look for in these types of horses also include being more heavy footed, and a more heel-to-toe landing action than usual.
Any more questions, please let us know - we’re always here to help our clients care for their horses as best as possible 💙
🩻🤕 Diagnosing Back Pain 🤕🩻
Back pain in horses can be incredibly difficult to accurately diagnose and treat.
One of the most common causes of back pain in horses results from “Kissing spines”, a condition where the spinous processes of the horse are too close together - sometimes even touching. The lack of space between the vertebrae causes a restriction in back mobility and pain during movement, often exacerbated by the saddle and weight of the rider.
Clinical signs of kissing spines can range from subtle to severe, including poor performance, a reaction to back palpation, reluctance to be tacked up or mounted/ridden, bucking, rearing or other pain reactions while under saddle.
Kissing spines can be diagnosed in several ways including clinical signs, X-rays of the horse’s back or bone scans. X-rays are the most reliable way to assess the distance between the horse’s spinous processes. However, interestingly some horses have evidence of kissing spines on X-ray but no clinical signs of pain.
In this case, this lovely cob presented to us with a change in behaviour under saddle. As his clinical signs were symptomatic of back pain, we x-rayed his back to eliminate the possibility of kissing spines.
As you can see in the video, there is good space between his vetebrae but some whitening at the top of the bone, which may indicate a change in bone density resulting from inflammation in the area.
This particular cob had also had a recent accident in the field, which is more likely to have caused his back pain.
💉 Hock Injections 💉
Join us as we inject this patient’s hocks to help with his arthritis!
This horse was presenting with poor performance, which we had attributed to the hock area through initial diagnostics and suspected arthritis.
Our next step was to X-ray the hocks to see whether there was evidence of arthritis, and if steroid injections would be needed to support the horse.
We look for any areas of concern on the X-ray which may explain the horse’s poor performance. This horse has three areas we picked up on:
🔵 A small hook-like shape called a bone spur
🔵 An area higher up showing a slight change in bone density
🔵 Some evidence of potential damage to the suspensories
If needed we would sometimes follow up with nerve blocks to confirm the issue, but we were able to make a diagnosis for this horse from our initial examinations of movement and response to flexion, and what we subsequently saw on the X-rays. The horse was then injected with corticosteroids which provide an anti-inflammatory effect and relief.
We have various options for treatment of arthritis depending on severity and cost, including newer treatments such as Arthramid. Call us on 01564 783404 to discuss 📞
🤕 608 Equine Vets Top Tips: How to Bandage your Horse for an Injury 🤕
Today, Robyn is sharing some pointers on the principles of bandaging, and how you should go about bandaging your horse following an injury if you’ve been advised to by your vet!
The key principles are:
⚪️ Make sure your wound is nice and clean with a dressing over it
🔵 Wrap the leg from front to back - avoid putting pressure on the tendons
⚪️ Clockwise vs counterclockwise is less important as long as even pressure is applied
🔵 Use a cotton-type padding, a conforming layer and vet wrap to make up your bandage layers
⚪️ Place two fingers under your bandage to make sure it’s not too tight
🔵 Keep some padding sticking out of the top and bottom of the bandage so your vet wrap doesn’t touch the skin
📞 If your horse has sustained an injury, call us for advice on 01564 783404.
❤️ 608 Equine Vets Top Tips: How to Check your Horse’s Digital Pulse ❤️
In our next video, Robyn is showing you how to check your horse’s digital pulse. This can be a really useful way of checking for inflammation in your horse’s foot - you might find a strong digital pulse in conditions such as laminitis or an abscess.
To find the digital pulse, place your thumb and index finger around the lower edge of the fetlock. Apply pressure with your finger and feel for the neurovascular bundle. Hold your fingers there for 5 to 10 seconds until you feel a pulse.
It can be easier to find in finer breeds rather than heavier types, but practising when your horse is healthy means you’ll know what is normal for your horse and be able to tell when it’s abnormal.
🌡️ 608 Equine Vets Top Tips: Temperature Checking 🌡️
Welcome to our new Top Tips series - we’ll be bringing you a video every week sharing some useful information on basic horse care and management. Let us know below if there’s anything you’d like us to cover 👇🏻
First, our vet Robyn is showing you how to check your horse’s temperature!
Having a thermometer as part of your first aid kit is really useful, as often a raised temperature can be an early indicator that your horse’s health is not quite right.
🤒 As a guide, a normal temperature is typically between 37.5-38.5, but anywhere slightly above or below is also considered ok and be aware that temperature can be affected by environmental factors. It’s most important to establish what’s normal for your individual horse, so routinely checking their temperature to find their benchmark is advisable.
📞 If your horse is showing signs of being unwell and has a temperature, call your vet for advice. Being able to tell us that your horse has a raised temperature also helps us to triage cases if you call us.
Stomach Bots!
👻 Check out this spooky footage from a scope our vet Mat performed on one of our clients that shows the importance of targeted worm control for your horses, and what might be growing inside your horse by this point if you missed your autumn wormer…
The scope showed a small object attached to the stomach lining, which Mat initially suspected to be a gastric polyp (an abnormal growth on the inner lining of the stomach.)
However, when moving the scope closer to get a better look, it became apparent that this was something much more sinister-looking - a stomach bot 👀
This fascinating footage from the scope shows the stomach bot opening and closing its mouth when aggravated by the device.
🪰 Stomach bots are the larvae of the Gasterophilus species of fly. The adult fly lays eggs on the exterior hair of the horse, which are then ingested through grooming and make their way down to the stomach where they attach onto the lining. The larvae are then passed out with manure in spring, and then develop into adult flies.
Stomach bots don’t usually create problems in the host although, if in large numbers, they can cause discomfort and inflammation.
Oral deworming pastes that include Ivermectin or Moxidectin are effective against bots. The best time to deworm against bots is during the winter, at the same time as you would worm for encysted redworm. If your horse has signs of a bot infection at another time of year, further treatment may be recommended at that point.
🤕 Suspensory Ligament Injuries 🤕
Suspensory ligament injuries are one of the more common causes of lameness in horses.
The suspensory ligament runs down the back of the cannon bone, starting just below the knee (front) or hock (hind) and down to the fetlock area where it divides into two branches.
Injuries can occur in both forelimbs and hindlimbs, with hindlimb injuries perhaps slightly more common in dressage horses who work to carry more weight on their hind ends.
A ligament sprain causes heat, swelling and pain, and there’s usually (but not always) an obvious lameness. With injuries to the middle section of the ligament, there’s often visible swelling on the outside and inside of the injured leg. With the branch area, swelling usually occurs on the one side of the fetlock.
📹 In this video, we’re using our portable diagnostic ultrasound machine to scan this horse’s front suspensories to try and ascertain the cause of his ongoing poor performance. Scanning enables us to make an accurate diagnosis and informed treatment plan for the horse.
We’re able to carry out diagnostic work such as ligament scanning either in our on-site treatment room or at your own yard, depending on your preference and your individual horse’s circumstances.
Treatment for a suspensory ligament injury depends on the extent of the damage and the time since injury, but can include shockwave therapy, PRP (platelet rich plasma) therapy or stem cells. Surgery in the form of a neurectomy can also be possible in particular cases. In any case, rest combined with a slow and controlled return to exercise will be necessary to allow the injured ligament time to heal and repair.
📞 If your horse is displaying lameness, signs of poor performance or heat and swelling in the suspensory ligament area, call us on 01564 783404.
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