Dr. Rachel B

Dr. Rachel B Equine veterinarian focused on sports medicine and rehabilitation

Associate at NW Equine Performan

Heading to Redmond for the weekend💜🏔️🐴If you need anything I’ll be around Friday afternoon thru Sunday morning at the ra...
10/09/2025

Heading to Redmond for the weekend💜🏔️🐴

If you need anything I’ll be around Friday afternoon thru Sunday morning at the race in the usual spot. Call the office or message me for an appointment or just stop by.

Chronic cough? Poor performance? Bleeding(EIPH)?Let’s talk BAL 🫁🐴A bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a diagnostic procedur...
08/12/2025

Chronic cough? Poor performance? Bleeding(EIPH)?
Let’s talk BAL 🫁🐴

A bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is a diagnostic procedure that helps us understand what’s happening in your horse’s lungs.

During a BAL, we pass a tube into the lower airway and gently flush a small amount of sterile saline into the lungs. We then collect that fluid back to analyze the cells and check for signs of inflammation, bleeding, and/or infection.

🔍 Why do we do it?

Coughing in horses is common, but not normal. Horses have VERY large lungs and therefore it can take a long time for a respiratory issue to be noticed because they can compensate for mild inflammation for quite some time. However, this compensation CAN cause performance issues. In events where half a second matters🐎🛢️decreased respiratory function is NOT helpful.

Equine Asthma or Inflammatory Airway Disease (IAD) is a common diagnosis in our equine athletes and the signs can be quite subtle. Some horses show respiratory signs of coughing or mild nasal discharge. Other horses start not finishing as strong as usual/ performance starts to decline.

A BAL gives us the answers we need to target treatment and help your horse breathe—and perform—better.

The lungs are just as important as legs when it comes to performance. Don’t overlook your horse’s respiratory health.💕🫁

Why do we inject joints in horses? 🧐💉🐴It’s not just about “fixing” a lame horse—it’s about managing inflammation to prot...
08/12/2025

Why do we inject joints in horses? 🧐💉🐴

It’s not just about “fixing” a lame horse—it’s about managing inflammation to protect long-term joint health.

Inflammation ➡️ Damage 🫤

Even low-grade inflammation inside a joint can slowly break down cartilage over time, leading to arthritis and reduced performance.🐎

🐴💉 Joint injections allow us to:
✔️ Deliver targeted anti-inflammatory medications (like corticosteroids or biologics)
✔️ Reduce pain and swelling
✔️ Improve mobility and comfort
✔️ Slow down the progression of degenerative joint disease

We often use joint injections proactively — not just when a horse is obviously lame, but when we notice subtle changes in movement, comfort, and/or performance.

We can’t replace joints in horses, so the more proactive we are about joint health in our equine athletes the better.👏🏻🥳

Why do a pre-purchase exam (PPE) when buying a horse?A PPE is basically a full check-up before you commit. It’s an in-de...
07/28/2025

Why do a pre-purchase exam (PPE) when buying a horse?

A PPE is basically a full check-up before you commit. It’s an in-depth evaluation to help you understand the horse’s history, soundness, and suitability for your goals.

As a sports medicine veterinarian, I look at conformation, movement, joint health, and any subtle signs of issues that might limit performance down the road. Radiographs (and other diagnostics pending the clinical exam) are recommended to help determine any underlying risks and to help us plan for the future.

It’s NOT about passing or failing—it’s about giving YOU the information to make an informed decision.

A PPE helps you as the buyer:
✔️ Understand risks
✔️ Budget for future care
✔️ Protect your investment—financial and emotional

Buying a horse is exciting—let’s make sure you’re starting off strong.💪🐴

Have a great day! -Ducky the foster dog❤️
06/14/2025

Have a great day!

-Ducky the foster dog❤️

Starting to plan for summer☀️🐴Here are my central Oregon dates so far. I’ll be seeing horses at the events and at barns ...
04/03/2025

Starting to plan for summer☀️🐴

Here are my central Oregon dates so far. I’ll be seeing horses at the events and at barns in the surrounding areas.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about🐴💉omeprazole lately so here’s the scoop.It is still a compounded medication, s...
03/19/2025

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about🐴💉omeprazole lately so here’s the scoop.

It is still a compounded medication, so it is NOT proven to actually work/the medication is not approved. This means there are liability issues for your veterinarian in prescribing it and there will be a discussion about the risks. This newer formulation does have fewer reports of adverse reactions compared to what we had before. The most common being injection site reaction/ abscess, but anaphylaxis/death is still a risk.

It has NOT been shown to be better than oral medications in treating ulcers. However, if your horse does not allow you to give oral medications this could be a good treatment option.

The 💉omeprazole does have a place in treating refractory ulcers aka more chronic ulcers that have not responded well to the typical oral medications.

Giving the injection every 5 days versus every 7 has been shown to have better results.

LMK if y’all have any questions and I’ll try to answer them💜🦄

Happy 29th birthday Romeo!!🥳🎉
02/27/2025

Happy 29th birthday Romeo!!🥳🎉

Had the best time celebrating birthdays🎉and best friends🍷last weekend. Forever grateful for these ladies.
02/07/2025

Had the best time celebrating birthdays🎉and best friends🍷last weekend. Forever grateful for these ladies.

Happy Anniversary♥️ I wouldn’t want to do this life with anyone else😘Missing the Italian countryside
09/05/2024

Happy Anniversary♥️ I wouldn’t want to do this life with anyone else😘

Missing the Italian countryside

Happy 28th Birthday Romeo!!🎂💜🦄
02/22/2024

Happy 28th Birthday Romeo!!🎂💜🦄

Had a great time at my first had my fav🍺- Resting Pit Face👏🏻🩷
02/18/2024

Had a great time at my first

had my fav🍺- Resting Pit Face👏🏻🩷

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Mulino, OR

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