Island Equine Vets

08/08/2024

This poor chap…….not only does he have a sore eye but Dr Ro has resorted to a very embarrassing solution to stop him rubbing 😂😂

However bad your week is going at least you don’t have a bra on your head 🤣

29/07/2024

☀️☀️☀️ summer has returned so Dr Joey and Dr Ro made several ice cream stops on their rounds today.

To help ensure your horse stays happy and healthy in the extreme heat, it is advisable to ride early in the morning or late afternoon (beach time yay!) and actively cool them after exercise. Some horses are fussy drinkers so try and find other ways to keep them hydrated like adding water to feed or encourage them have a go at apple bobbing. It is also a good idea to give electrolytes after hard exercise.

Enjoy the sunshine and we will see you all out competing at St Lawrence Charity Horse Show this weekend 🐎

17/07/2024

All smiles for stallion Pom Pom and our trident student Amelie 🙂

Amelie has joined us from JCG for two weeks and has got truly stuck in learning about ambulatory equine practice warts and all. She has been a huge help. We love getting to know our students and try and learn as much as we can about them on placement to support them in their learning experience…….

Likes: watching and learning about nerve blocking, poor performance examinations, learning to interpret X-rays,
Dislikes: CHICKENS 🐓😬😂

Thank you Amelie for being such a good sport and we will strike ‘poultry vet’ off the UCAS form 😉😂

02/07/2024

🥹I truly feel so lucky to have such wonderful clients. I absolutely love being part of this amazing island community and really appreciate you all ❤️❤️❤️

A big shout to one of our bestest friends a HUGE part of our little village! Dr Ro Wood from Island Equine Vets ♥️

We are so grateful to be sponsored by Ro and have her overseeing us training both in person and over video. She has looked after Enzo since he was 2 years old and knows him inside out! 🦄

I am very lucky *touches wood* to say that Enzo has never had any medical intervention as far as joint injections etc goes.. but Ro monitors Enzo with X-rays & scans annually and in between if we ever want to be extra sure!

She is always on the end of a phone, or happy to pop up to watch training if I need a bit of advice or reassurance. I know that I speak on behalf of the Jersey Equestrian Community when I say .. what would we do without her 🥹♥️

30/06/2024

Working on the weekend made glorious thanks to the lovely team from Equine Dental Services Jersey ❤️ you guys are always such a pleasure to work with and had the added bonus of Sunday cuddles with Cracker the gorgeous Jersey cow

24/06/2024

Our patients come in all shapes and sizes! Dr Ro enjoyed having some love with baby Harry the gorgeous 3yo Clydesdale and his tiny brother, yearling mini Shetland Henry today ❤️

Not quite the size difference of Island Equine’s Bam Bam and Ru but Harry still has plenty of growing to do!

22/06/2024

Thank you to all my amazing clients for making Dr Hattie feel so welcome this week ❤️🐴

Hattie is so excited to move to the island permanently and we are so incredibly lucky to have her joining the team, continuing to provide amazing care to our Island’s equines and whipping Dr Ro into shape on the admin side 😂

Stay tuned for some exciting client evenings and official welcome drinks when Hattie joins us in September. I hope everyone is enjoying our JDC and BSJA midsummer shows ###

07/06/2024

Gorgeous sunny day on our beautiful island ☀️ Dr Ro made sure she blocked out time on the diary for all the foaly cuddles ❤️

How cute are Jerry and Primrose?! Just the most adorable babies

06/06/2024

Introducing Dr Harriet Gardner 🥳🥳🥳

Hattie graduated in 2019 from the Royal Veterinary College having already achieved a degree in medical pharmacology from Cardiff University.

Since qualifying Hattie has gained a wealth of experience in equine practice including working at the horse trust caring for ex-service and rescue horses. She has a keen interest in emergency and critical care and enjoys all aspects of equine medicine - from minis and donkeys to top class competition horses.

Hattie will be covering the practice 15-22nd June while Ro is on holiday and will be coming on board permanently from September. She is moving over with her partner and two gorgeous pointers Otto and Rosa, having been lured by our island’s beautiful coastline and outdoor lifestyle.

Hattie shares our commitment to providing top level veterinary care with the friendly and personal touch that only a small independent practice can provide and I have assured her that we have the most wonderful clients in the world. Our sense of community is what sets us apart.

We are very lucky to have her and I know she is excited to meet you all (hopefully just for vaccines and not anything more sinister!) watch this space for official welcome drinks in September. Thank you to all our clients for bearing with us as we found our feet as a fledgling practice admin wise, I am truly blown away by your kindness and loyalty.

Exciting times!

28/05/2024

They did it 🥳🥳🥳 our Island Equine sponsored rider Naomi Aguilar has made her debut at Grand Prix with her super talented home-produced pony Whitehawk Dancing Fire and we couldn’t be more pleased for them.

Absolutely fabulous to see a young local rider flying the flag for Jersey 🇯🇪 I feel extremely privileged to be part of the support crew for this wonderful pony. The smallest guy with the biggest heart ❤️

Well done Enzo and Naomi, you have done Jersey proud

24/05/2024

Very unusual case today - Dr Ro was called out to investigate a horse who wasn’t happy going forwards under saddle.

The horse was purchased in the uk last year as a lightly backed 6 year old. Who can take a guess what is going on in this back X-ray……?

Definitely not what we were expecting and a career first for me. Thank you so much to the horse’s owner for letting us share this unusual finding.

23/05/2024

Busy visit to Chestnut Farm today with lots of patients to see!

Ocean the gypsy vanner gets our slimmer of the year award 🥳 she came down with bad laminitis recently and the farm team have been amazing sticking to a strict diet of 1.5%bw forage ration of soaked hay. She has lost a whopping 50kg and her laminitis has resolved. Remember that ‘she’s just on hay’ doesn’t mean a horse isn’t at risk of laminitis. If you need any advice about laminitis risk call the practice and Ro is happy to advise.

Charlie the donkey was having some X-rays of his knees due to chronic lameness - we found some things that need attention, we will follow his story in another post. In true donkey form he isn’t the most compliant patient but farm manager Lorna is brilliant with him so we managed to get some good images.

Flopsy the goat has had ongoing issues with his feet due to deformities from birth - again we will post again to follow his journey with new prostheses on his medial claws to make him comfy.

And Ethel, Emmett and Elvis the donks were too cute not to include 😂❤️

Happy Thursday all

11/05/2024

Huge congratulations to Alex Weber and Ricardo Colours for winning the Island Equine Vets sponsored class at liberation show 🏆

This is a particularly special win for the whole team as Luca sustained a serious injury at the start of 2023 and his future was uncertain. He is a gorgeous boy and very well known on the jersey circuit as a super talented horse. Seeing him back out competing and having fun is the epitome of job satisfaction 🤩

Big Lou is back!!! ❤️ well done to all competitors - looking forward to watching the climax of the team competition tomorrow

08/05/2024

Absolutely gutted to miss our amazing Lib show due to my smashed foot (spoiler alert - I likely wouldn’t have been in the money 😂).

But I am so excited to come and support our competitors and the amazing committee who have worked so hard to put on this fabulous show.

Our sense of community is what sets us apart - looking forward to watching some great competition, eating a lot of paninis and supporting my clients out enjoying their horses and ponies.

See you all there!!!

06/05/2024

We have seen some really interesting cases recently and our owners are often happy to let us share their stories.

Roo presented to Dr Ro with a 7/10 left hind limb lameness which didn’t improve with rest. The first X-ray shows his right hind hock which is lovely and normal. The next X-ray shows his left hock which has some severe changes - new bone formation and lack of joint space in his distal intertarsal joint (yellow arrows).

Dr Ro blocked his hock joint using local anaesthetic and his lameness disappeared - confirming that this troublesome joint was the source of the pain.

After long discussion with specialist colleagues it was decided that an arthrodesis (fusing the joint) would give Roo the best chance of recovery. With travel for surgery not an option due to his degree of lameness a chemical arthrodesis was recommended.

Before injecting the joint with a chemical to fuse the joint, a contrast study was performed to check that there was no communication with the larger and more mobile hock joint above. The X-ray shows the needle placed in the tarso metatarsal joint (blue arrow) and contrast material contained in the two bottom hock joints. Once this was confirmed, the joint was injected with ethyl alcohol which will eventually fuse the joint and fingers crossed this lovely boy will get back to hacking round the lanes which he loves so much 🙂

Thank you to my colleagues from Liphook for their help with this case and to Roo’s owner for letting us share his story.

We have everything crossed for this gorgeous boy!!! He has recovered from his procedure really well and is happy and comfortable (although very upset that he is on fat camp diet rations while he’s out of work 😂)

02/05/2024

Beautiful but choppy commute today as myself, and Rachel and Emily from Liphook Equine Hospital headed out to Sark. With the difficulties involved in getting horses to and from the island, Rachel kindly agreed to make the journey by boat to perform standing laser surgery on three of the island’s famous carriage horses.

Despite a few issues with the weather we made it, all the surgeries went really well and all three horses recovered perfectly - none the wiser and sarcoid free.

Thanks to the Sark community for their amazing hospitality and logistical wizardry in getting us and the kit there and back safely and thanks to Em and Rach for being amazing sports and continuing their brilliant work in supporting our local vets and island communities, providing access to world class veterinary care ❤️

29/04/2024

HELP PLEASE!!! MISSING KIT

I think I have left my ophthalmoscope on a yard sometime in the past two weeks. It is a black box with a metal eye/ear thingy in it.

I need it quite urgently as don’t have a spare so if I have left it on your yard please call me asap.

24/04/2024

Physio…….what is it and why is it important?

It is something that is often thought of as only important in sport/competition horses. But physio has a multitude of benefits for horses of all shapes and sizes doing a huge range of disciplines.

Physiotherapy and groundwork in your training programme can help to create a supple horse with a strong core, reduce muscle tension and help posture - which in turn can prevent injury in working horses and also keep our oldies mobile.

I love working with our resident and visiting physios to create training and rehab programmes for all sorts of different cases.

Here is Bam Bam demonstrating her stretches ❤️ with her we are focusing on groundwork exercises to help her develop self carriage and increasing flexibility and bend through her huge rib cage - as well as helping keep her comfortable in her muscles as she grows up and her work load increases.

19/04/2024

If Carlsberg did clients……..they still wouldn’t be as amazing as mine ❤️ another very busy week on the road so what is better than going on a visit and receiving a surprise gift of local produce to cook for you tea?! Absolutely marvellous!

Happy Friday everyone xx

18/04/2024

Congratulations to our sponsored rider Naomi Aguilar who has been making headlines and flying the flag for Jersey this week after turning heads at the Winter Dressage Championships on her fabulous spotted pony Enzo. Well done Naomi we are all so proud of you 🤩

Also a huge congratulations to my amazing vet colleague Gemma who has been selected to represent Jersey at the liberation show with her superstar horse Condro E. Gemma has been a huge support to the practice and we can’t wait to see her in action.

It’s not long until Liberation Day and I am looking forward to seeing you all there supporting what is set to be an amazing event as always 🤩 🇯🇪 🐎

11/04/2024

DUDE - what’s up with your leg…..? 🤔

Dr Ro was called to a miniature Shetland today who had come in from the field walking very strangely. There was initially a concern that the pony had broken her leg - however X-rays revealed no fractures and a sedated exam revealed the nature of her injury.

The hocks and stifles in a horse are linked with a reciprocal apparatus that prevents the two joints flexing or extending independently. With injury and rupture of the peronius tertius, the link between the two joints is lost causing the pathognomonic abnormal movement of the hindlimb.

Dr Ro demonstrates this abnormal movement in the video. Luckily Ginge is happy and comfortable and we are hopeful that with rest and antiinflammatories she will make a full recovery to continue her career as a loveable lawn mower 😍

Thanks to her owner for letting us share this interesting case

04/04/2024

Brilliant day working alongside the amazing Matt and Emily from Liphook Equine Hospital. Super behaviour from the gorgeous Ziggy having her overground endoscopy.

Ziggy makes a noise at exercise which has got louder as she has progressed in her jumping career. After an endoscopic examination by Dr Ro identified laryngeal paralysis we called on our specialist colleagues at Liphook to help. Using top of the range endoscopic equipment attached to the bridle, they were able to visualise Ziggy’s airways during exercise. Matt identified the problem then performed laser surgery under standing sedation to restore normal airway function.

We also squeezed in a quick orthopaedic procedure to debride an area of dead bone or ‘sequestrum’ on another horse under sedation and local anaesthetic.

We are so grateful for the support from our visiting specialists giving our island equines access to world class referral services only a short trailer ride down the road 🤩

03/04/2024

REALLY exciting news here at Island Equine HQ 🤩🤩🤩

Thank you so much to everyone who supported the planning application for the new clinic - the amount of support has been absolutely overwhelming and today the planning has been approved WOOOOOO.

Watch this space for updates on progress……..it is a really exciting time for our equine community 🙂

03/04/2024

JOIN THE TEAM

Seeking a full-time equine vet with minimum 2 years experience to join our practice. We are the only independently and locally-owned equine practice in the Channel Islands.

We have lovely, friendly clients and see a varied and interesting caseload from donkeys and minis to dressage, show jumpers and racehorses - all in a very beautiful setting ☀️. We are proud to be an independent local practice and are passionate about providing excellent care whist maintaining our friendly and personal service.

For more information please email [email protected] or call 07797 711800 for an informal chat

27/03/2024

EASTER PROMOTIONS 🐣

……..there are none……..😂 at Island Equine Vets we are committed to providing high level veterinary care with a friendly and personal touch, all while keeping prices reasonable - always.

Our routine vaccinations have remained the same price since opening (£45) and we endeavour to do everything we can to keep preventative healthcare affordable. Visit charges and consultations also haven’t changed and our medication prices are extremely competitive. No gimmicks, just a commitment to being reasonably priced in the cost of living crisis and beyond.

I hope that all our lovely clients have a wonderful Easter break. Here is Bam Bam ignoring the cost of living crisis and spending my pot of gold on all her rugs/shoes/stuff 🌈 ❤️

17/03/2024

Good luck to Island Equine’s sponsored rider Naomi Aguilar as she heads of to the Nationals with her superstar spotty Whitehawk Dancing Fire. Jersey is so proud of you 🇯🇪 and I feel so privileged to be part of the team keeping Enzo in tiptop shape.

The practice also sponsored my appropriately named team ‘All The Gear’ for the Island Quest team dressage with big Bam Bam heading out for her first ever competition. Thank you to Seamus Saddlery for the gorgeous saddle pads and Kim Murray for the embroidery.

Wherever you are in your journey, whether it is aiming to take home the silverware, to get round your first pole class, or just to brush, kiss and enjoy your horse I hope this year is filled with pony fun ❤️ and know that we are always on hand for help and advice to keep your horses and ponies happy and healthy.

Roll on Summer!!!! ☀️

10/03/2024

Some interesting discussion prompted by yesterdays H&H article. This is a controversial and divisive topic amongst both veterinary professionals and clients.

We are very proud to be the only independent, locally-owned provider of equine veterinary services left in the Channel Islands.

To us independence means the freedom to practice according to our core values of very high clinical standards whilst maintaining the continuity of care and friendly face of a small, local practice. All whilst keeping prices reasonable.



https://www.facebook.com/share/p/niu4bqkzBCQBsS5N/?mibextid=WC7FNe

The discussion of independent and corporate-owned vet practices in the equine vet industry have arisen as the ongoing vet shortage continues

06/03/2024

SPRING TIME, LAMINITIS AND INSULIN DYSREGULATION 🌸🌱

Whilst we are all enjoying the emergence of Spring……with the sun comes the Spring grass and a huge surge in cases of laminitis.

I have been asked a few times about the role of blood tests in predicting laminitis risk. As our understanding of laminitis has grown, the role of insulin dysregulation has helped us tackle this disease.

Horses and ponies can demonstrate insulin resistance which increases their risk of laminitis. This can be a consequence of PPID (Cushings) or Equine Metabolic Syndrome (similar to human type 2 diabetes). PPID tends to affect older horses and has associated signs such as increased thirst/urination and coat changes. Whereas EMS tends to affect younger horses especially those who are overweight or who have abnormal fat distribution.

Often EMS can be diagnosed on clinical signs alone (overweight, cresty, history of laminitis). However insulin testing can be a useful tool in assessing laminitis risk.

BUT…….it is not a one-size-fits-all test. There is often debate on the usefulness of testing single resting insulin given the high number of EMS cases who can show normal resting insulin.

Resting samples will be influenced by what the horse has eaten prior to sampling so some papers suggest starving for 6 hours prior to blood testing to aid in interpretation of borderline results. Stress and pain (ie during a laminitis episode) has also been shown to affect the results.

Another option is to perform an oral sugar test to assess the horse’s response to glucose. This is a useful method of confirming a diagnosis of EMS in ponies where there is a strong clinical suspicion of EMS with normal resting insulin.

Ultimately, insulin testing can be a useful tool in diagnosis of EMS but the best way to prevent laminitis is a combination of dietary and weight management and exercise and for testing for PPID in older horses exhibiting clinical signs.

If you notice your horse or pony is slightly slower coming in from the field, ‘footy’ on the turn or you think they are carrying extra weight and at risk of developing laminitis please call the practice for advice.

Enjoy the sunshine 🌞 we made it!!

16/02/2024

Natalie the Normandy Cob is one BIG baby ❤️ A-level student and aspiring vet Maisie joined us again from JCG this week for some work experience. As always she pitched in with great enthusiasm and was a great help. Work experience is a great way for our Jersey students to get some insight into life as a vet.

Luckily we still made time for some foaly cuddles. What a cutie pie 😍

14/02/2024

At Island Equine we like nothing better than a good old love fest with our favourite creatures 💕 feel free to share the love and post your favourite pony kisses for Valentine’s Day 🙂