MBG Equine Vets

24/03/2025

5th-11th May is Strangles Awareness Week and we will be taking part!
Stay tuned to our socials over the next month for the BEST ways to protect yourself and your yard from strangles and keep your eyes peeled for lots of information over

17/03/2025

Managing our horse's weight can be vital in avoiding and treating laminitis.
Knowing your horse’s weight is also important for accurate dosing of wormers and medicines. You can estimate your horse’s weight using a weight tape or we can bring our horse weigh scales to your yard to get an accurate weight. We need a firm flat surface to use the scales.

Because different breeds of horse have different builds, body condition scoring can be a more helpful monitoring tool over the year to recognise what weight is optimal for your horse’s health.
There are 2 body condition score scales They are either measured from 0(emaciated) to 5(obese) or from 1(poor) to 9(obese). Either scale works well if you stick to the same one and let us know which one you are using. The aim for most horses is to be comfortably in the middle and potentially a bit on the lower side of the scoring system as they come out of winter, allowing for some weight gain over the spring.

Although they can also have issues with weight, donkeys are body condition scored differently to horses, comment below if you would like more information on body condition scoring of donkeys.

To evaluate body condition score; look at the neck, abdomen and bottom. Horses that are very underweight have visible bones over the ribs, hips and tail head, we rarely see horses in this condition that are not very unwell or part of a welfare case. Unfortunately, we do see more horses with high body condition scores who have difficult to feel ribs, cresty necks and fat deposits around the tail head. Due to the health risks of obesity, scoring at the top of the scores can also be a welfare concern.

Some horses may have health conditions that mean their metabolism is not functioning normally which may prevent them for loosing weight.

If you would like more advice on how to body condition score your horse or if you are concerned about your horse’s weight and would like advice or a visit, please give the office a call on 01905 773262.

10/03/2025

Diagnosing Laminitis.

In many cases we will diagnose laminitis based on the symptoms, but we will often recommend blood tests to check for metabolic conditions like Cushing's or EMS, which can increase your horse’s risk and severity of laminitis.

If a horse or pony has had repeated or severe episodes of laminitis, radiographs (x-rays) of the feet may be needed to give us an idea of what is happening inside the foot.
Both the pictures on this post are of horses with marked laminitic changes.
Radiographs can help your farrier to provide a more personalised treatment for better ongoing hoof support and can provide us with information on the likelihood of returning to ridden work.

Call our office on 01905 773262 if you have any questions about testing for horses and ponies with laminitis.

08/03/2025

Happy International Women’s Day! Here’s to all the fantastic women on our team (too many pictures to fit on the post!) and to all the women over the years who have made it possible for women to practice veterinary medicine today!🙌

07/03/2025

06/03/2025

Some of you will be well clued up on the signs of laminitis and be able to recognise early on if your horse seems a bit ‘footy’. However, if your horse hasn’t suffered from laminitis before or has a more unusual presentation such as hindlimb laminitis the symptoms can be trickier to recognise.
🐴The main symptom is lameness. This isn’t necessarily obvious in all cases and may be as mild as a slight reluctance to trot, increased tripping or a shortened stride on the turn. In severe cases it can develop into a ‘sawhorse stance’ where the horse tries to take weight off the affected feet or needing to lie down for prolonged periods of time.

😣Most (but not all) horses suffering from laminitis will have an increased digital pulse in the feet affected. The hoof can feel hot to the touch and as you run tour hand up the side of the leg you may be able to feel the blood vessels as the run over the inside or outside of the fetlock with your fingers. It can be difficult to feel pulses in breeds with thicker skin or feathers.

🐎Your horse will be reluctant to stand on the affected limbs. You may notice your horse shifting weight between legs as they rest. If you are unsure, trying to pick up other legs for a few minutes can give you an idea of your horse’s pain level, especially if you are struggling to find a digital pulse

🏥Early treatment with anti-inflammatories can reduce the severity and length of a laminitis episode. If you think your horse may be suffering from laminitis, please call the office on 01905 773262.



Thanks to for this great infographic, they also have lots more information about laminitis on their website

03/03/2025

Spring is in the air! Longer days and sunshine are (hopefully) on the way. However, this can mark the start of our high-risk time for laminitis. sunshine means more photosynthesis which means more sugar production by the grass. If temperatures drop overnight the grass won’t use up sugar made throughout the day to respire and grow meaning that the following morning the grass will be much richer.
This means during the spring, when temperatures might rise during the day and fall at night, morning grass is especially dangerous, even if there hasn’t been a noticeable frost.
Providing soaked hay as an alternative low sugar forage, limiting grazing and increasing exercise to improve metabolism can be key in reducing the risk of laminitis.
Grazing muzzles are a great way to reduce grass intake whilst still allowing your horse or pony to go out and socialise. Using track systems or strip grazing can help to limit grass intake even if you can’t get your horse or pony to keep a muzzle on.
Our team is always happy to discuss management with you if you would like further advice on avoiding laminitis

thanks to American Association of Equine Practitioners for this great infographic

28/02/2025

27/02/2025

We've had a few calls recently about how to check for and treat tapeworm.

Tapeworms need to be controlled and managed in a different way than the other worms generally seen in our horses. They are picked up from the environment so even horses that live alone may be at risk.

Adult tapeworms release eggs in the horse’s faeces. These eggs are eaten by Orbatid mites which live in soil, hay and grass. The eggs hatch and develop into an infective stage within the mites. Whilst grazing on grass or hay horses consume mites containing the infective larvae.
The larvae develop a head which attaches to the wall of the caecum, here they develop into adults over 6-10 weeks producing body segments filled with eggs which are eventually released into the intestine.

Not all infected horses will show symptoms, but large infections or sensitive horses can show the following symptoms.
• Colic
• Poor coat quality
• Lethargy
• Diarrhoea
• Weight loss

We can’t measure tapeworm burden using faecal worm egg counts like we can for other worm types as the eggs are cot consistently produced during the tapeworm’s growth. A blood test is available to test for exposure to tapeworms, but the Equisal saliva antibody test is the most sensitive testing method for tapeworm.

Due to the long lifecycle of tapeworms we recommend testing every 6- 12 months, If you would like to test your horse contact reception and we can put up a saliva test for you to perform at home.

24/02/2025

Managing horses prone to ulcers

🍏Feeding🍏
• Increasing forage intake will increase chewing time which will increase saliva production helping to naturally buffer stomach acid
• Keep meal sizes small and feed frequently
• Ideally provide hay or haylage ad lib, but never less than 1.5% of bodyweight (dry matter) basis
• Look for feeds with sugar and starch percentages below 10%, this will help keep acidity in the stomach lower- look out for feeds that carry the BETA Feed Assurance Mark for equines prone to Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS)
• Add oil to your horse's diet if they are not overweight, this helps reduce acid splashing
• Make sure water is available at all times

🫗Supplements
There are a number of supplements on sale to help managing gastric ulcers. We stock Pectigus which is made by Hestevard for veterinary practices.
If you want to look at other options try to find a supplement which contains some of the following ingredients:
Pectin, Lecithin, Calcium and Magnesium carbonate, Glycine.
There is no requirement to test animal feed supplements to check their contents matches what is written on the tub which can make it hard to know what you're really giving. Look for supplements that are BETA NOPS accredited or have performed their own assurance testing.

🐎💨Exercise
• If appropriate (e.g. not laminitic) provide as much turnout time as possible
• Where possible take measures to reduce stress – if your horse has gastric ulcers it is recommended to give 2 days off work a week.
• Ideally provide some fibre before any intense exercise is carried out to help reduce the risk of acid splashing on the non-glandular part of the stomach e.g. 2 scoops of chaff.

If you want to discuss managing horses with gastric ulcers with our team call us on 01905 773 262.

20/02/2025

Diagnosing Gastric Ulcers.

The only reliable method of diagnosing ulcers is through gastroscopy.
Gastroscopy is the use of a long camera to look around the inside of your horse’s stomach. In order to see the lining of the stomach the horse must be starved overnight and its best if water is removed for 2 hours before the scope. This means that we can look at all the different surfaces of the stomach. It is the gold standard method of diagnosing gastric ulcers.

We always sedate horses for gastroscopy as they need to stand still whilst the examination is completed. A tube is passed down the horse’s nose to protect the scope from damage and then the camera is pushed down this tube into the oesophagus and then the stomach.
We inflate the stomach with air to make it easier to navigate around to the different parts of the stomach. Examining the stomach can identify a few different conditions; certain parasites can be identified on gastroscopy as well as gastric ulcers, inflammatory conditions, and gastric impactions.

If you would like to book your horse in for a gastroscopy please call our office team on 01905 773 262. We can do the procedure on any yard with electricity available or you can book in on one of our clinic days.

17/02/2025

Gastric ulcers are a very common condition. They affect over 50% of leisure horses and over 60% of sports horses in the UK.
There are two main types of ulcers, squamous ulcers and glandular ulcers although they cause very similar symptoms.

We see a range of symptoms associated with gastric ulcers and whilst the following are the most common, we see, horses rarely display all the symptoms listed.
• Wind sucking
• Altered/poor performance.
• Increased lying down.
• Poor coat condition
• Weight loss
• Reduced appetite.
• Increase in “grumpy” behaviour particularly when being tacked up or groomed over the girth area.
• Explosive behaviour or change in behaviour when ridden, in particular when going into canter or jumping.
• Colic signs

If you think your horse has gastric ulcers please get in contact with the office, we can arrange a gastroscope which is the gold standard test for gastric ulcers. Gastroscopy can be preformed on your yard if you have access to electricity or at our clinic day at Dodderhill Equestrian Centre.

Our next clinic day for reduced price gastroscopy is 25th March 2025

14/02/2025

Happy Valentines from the MBG vet team! Who’s going to be our valentine this year?

13/02/2025

We've talked about causes, symptoms and treatment of impaction colic over the last 2 weeks. Now for our most important post:

How to reduce your risk of impaction colic

•🦷 Regular (minimum yearly) dental checks with a vet or registered EDT are important to help your horse chew forage effectively so that there are less long fibres reaching the gut.
• 💧Add extra water to feeds and forage during cold weather, this helps to encourage water uptake and replace the water content your horse would normally get from wet grass
• 🍏If your horse needs to stay in for a longer period than usual due to wet weather or an injury, try to break their meals and hay nets into multiple smaller feeds and nets to discourage them from gorging and maintain a more natural digestive pattern.
🪱🪱 Regular worm testing to reduce the liklihood of a high worm burden.

What do you do to reduce your colic risk?

10/02/2025

How is impaction colic treated?

Most impaction colic cases respond well to treatment at home but can take a little longer to clear than some other types of colic. In addition to pain relief and gut relaxants your vet may give a fluid bolus, either directly into your horses vein or into the stomach via a nasogastric tube. We often add extra salts to these fluids to help hydrate the impacted material.

If the horse is happy to drink we will also encourage them to drink themselves with a bucket of water with added salts alongside their regular water bucket.

Regular hand walking is often recommended overnight to try to improve gut movement, putting your horses bit into their mouth for these walks can encourage them to chew and so encourage further gut movement.

In some cases, hospitalisation may be required for more intensive treatment, surgery may be recommended if the horse seems very painful.

06/02/2025

FEI Vaccination Update

For the attention of all clients taking part in FEI events!

As of the 4th February it is a requirement for all horses competing under FEI rules to have their vaccinations recorded on the FEI Horse App as well as their passports. The vet must sign the passport and complete the app at the time of the vaccine.

To assist us with your vaccination:
💉 Double check your vaccine dates
💉 Ensure you have your passport available
💉Go to https://inside.fei.org/hub/it-services/mobile-apps/%20fei_horseapp to Download and create an account on the FEI Horse App before your appointment
💉Enter your previous vaccinations onto the app before your appointment

☎️ Please call us on 01905 773 262 if you want to book in for a vaccine or have any questions.

06/02/2025

In our last post we talked about what an impaction colic is.
But how do we diagnose Impaction colic?
Impaction colic has very similar symptoms to other types of colic.
You should always contact the office for a veterinary exam if you notice any of the following symptoms :

Restlessness or agitation
Eating less or Reduced droppings
Abdominal pain (flank watching or kicking at the belly)
Clinical changes (Increased heart and respiratory rate, reduced gut sounds)
Tired or lethargic.

We will preform a full clinical exam when we arrive to try to work out what is causing your horse's colic symptoms.
As part of our clinical exam the vet may preform a re**al exam if it is safe to do so, often we can feel an impaction on re**al palpation.
Sometimes impactions can increase the chances of other changes in the abdomen such as displacements so we may feel these as well.

03/02/2025

Each season has risks for different types of colic. Bad weather and the need to rely on dried forage like hay and haylage mean that winter is our prime season for impaction colic.

What do we mean by impaction colic?

Impaction colic occurs when partially digested material becomes stuck part way around the digestive system.
The most common place for material to become stuck is at the pelvic flexure where the gut starts to narrow and also changes direction.
This can happen for a number of reasons; if the material hasn’t been adequately chewed or is very dry it can be more likely to become stuck. Worms can also narrow the intestines meaning that the material cannot pass through as easily.