Wellness and preventative health-care for horses: A comprehensive wellness program will not only increase your horse’s quality of life, it can also boost performance under the saddle.
The following is a breakdown of some of the main components of our program.
Physical Evaluation
The physical exam is the veterinarian’s most basic diagnostic tool, yet it is also the most important. During a physical evaluation, we start by observing your horse and its environment. Next, we examine the animal closely from head to tail. The information gained through this process can be extremely valuable to your horse’s health and performance. If we detect any issues, we’ll bring them to your attention and discuss them in detail.
Vaccinations
Vaccines help to minimize the risk and severity of disease to your horse. The diseases that we vaccinate most commonly against in Ontario are:
Core: highly recommended, regardless of intended use of the horse
- Rabies
- Tetanus
- West Nile Virus (WNV)
- Eastern & Western Encephalitis Virus (EEE/WEE)
Non-core: recommendation dependent on lifestyle of the horse(showing, travelling, boarding ..etc)
- Influenza (Flu)
- Equine Herpesvirus (Rhinopneumonitis)
- Strangles
Dental Exam
A proper dental examination is one of the most important parts of a comprehensive equine-wellness plan.
As part of our dental-exam procedure, your horse is sedated, and a mouth speculum is applied. This allows us to perform a thorough exam. Following the exam, we’ll correct any abnormalities and remove sharp enamel points, using modern, power-dentistry tools.
When we’re finished, balance will have been restored to your horse’s mouth for optimum function and well-being.
Please note that serious dental problems requiring more extensive treatment — problems such as severe wavemouth, fractured or loose teeth and periodontal disease — are not covered through our wellness programs. If we detect serious dental health issues during our examination, we’ll bring them to your attention, and you can decide on further treatment.
Fecal Analysis and Deworming
Deworming is necessary to control gastrointestinal parasites in horses. We recommend targeted use of deworming medication, but due to to the emerging problem of parasitic resistance, we strongly encourage our clients to adopt a comprehensive deworming plan that includes non-drug strategies.
Here in Ontario, for instance, there has been a rise in the number of acute cases of larval cyathstominosis over the past several years. This is a consequence of the inappropriate use of dewormers: using the same wormer repeatedly and deworming too frequently.
Our approach is to work with you to develop a plan that suits your individual situation. As a first step, we assess your horses and your environment. Then, through the application of strategic deworming principles, we’ll devise a program that provides good parasite protection while avoiding the over-use of dewormers.
The cornerstone of our method is to use fecal parasite analysis to actually count the number of eggs and identify the horses responsible for shedding the most eggs.
At the end of this process, we’ll be able to determine which (if any) de-wormer would be most appropriate to administer, and when.
COMPREHENSIVE DEWORMING PROGRAM
We can’t stress enough: deworming alone is NOT a sufficient control program!
Learn more about comprehensive parasite control for horses.
