- Dental CareRegular dental maintenance is critical to your horse’s overall health. We recommend your horse receives a dental examination at least once a year. We perform dental exams to ensure good oral health and teeth floating to eliminate sharp enamel points that can cause discomfort and decrease performance. Both of these procedures promote proper chewing and utilization of feed — and they help extend your horse’s life span. With the use of motorized equipment, we can address each tooth specifically and accurately. Sedation and mouth speculums have made dental procedures safe, low stress, and gentle on the horse.
- VaccinationOur vaccination programs are established for individual horses based on their age, risk of exposure, use, geographic area and environment. Vaccines can minimize risk and severity of infectious diseases.
- Nutritional CounselingThe most convenient way to estimate your horse’s weight is with a weight tape. The tape uses the measurement of the horse’s girth circumference to estimate the weight and is fairly accurate in most cases. This is also the best way to track weight gain and loss.
- Comprehensive ExaminationA yearly health exam or pre-season soundness exam can optimize your horse’s overall wellness and performance. These exams can give you a baseline and help identify future health risk factors so they can be addressed early on. We examine the heart, lungs, intestinal system, temperature, dental health, eyes, weight, and the horse’s overall condition. We’ll discuss your goals and concerns, and work with you on strategies to ensure your horse’s optimal performance.
- Parasites Treatment and ControlYou should begin deworming your foal at 6 weeks of age. Foals’ immune systems are still developing which leaves them open to infection with parasites, especially Round Worms (Ascarids). Continue to deworm your foal once monthly until he/she is 2 years of age. Start with Strongid then rotate with Panacur and Ivermectin. These are very safe dewormers; estimate on the high end for body weight.
- Pain ManagementIf your horse has been sedated for a procedure or for pain control, it is important to place them in a safe area such as a stall or small paddock with no food available until the sedation wears off. Because their reactions are dulled and their ability to maneuver has been compromised, it is best if they have good footing, safe fencing or stalls free of “obstacles” and if they are by themselves so their herd-mates don’t inadvertently injure them. Food is withheld for two reasons, 1) they can choke on food that hasn’t been properly chewed due to the sedative effects, and 2) most of our sedatives mildly decrease gut motility and could lead to colic if food is introduced too quickly. Depending on the sedative used, your horse could recover in as quickly as 30 minutes, or it could take as long as 2-3 hours. Your veterinarian should provide you with a more specific time frame.
- Wound and Fracture CareNot all horses being treated for lacerations or puncture wounds will require a tetanus booster if the horse has been vaccinated within the last 6 months. Note: The booster is a tetanus toxoid and not to be confused with tetanus antitoxin.
- Veterinary SurgeryEvergreen Equine Veterinary Practice has excellent relationships with regional equine health care practices and hospitals that offer procedures that cannot be done on the farm. These include MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), nuclear scintigraphy (bone scan), orthopedic surgery, and intense rehabilitation such as swimming and hyperbaric medicine.
- X-RayAs veterinarians, our goal is to return the horse to soundness. Having an accurate diagnosis is important to developing an appropriate plan to help your horse recover. To accomplish this, we offer lameness evaluations and advanced-diagnostics including digital radiography, digital ultrasound, and gene analysis for muscle disorders.
- Microchipping