Client Information Sheets
There is a wealth of information in these articles, covering many different conditions, procedures and management practises. Please scroll down to make to sure you don’t miss anything.
Latest Information Sheets
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Strangles – Deben Valley Equine Guide to Sensible Strangles Management
Strangles is a bacterial infection of the upper respiratory tract of the horse caused by the bacteria Strepticocci Equi. These bacteria are highly contagious and are infamous…
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Heat Stroke
Heat stroke in the horse is a serious, life-threatening illness, which needs emergency veterinary attention. It is caused when the horse’s temperature can’t be controlled by it’s own body and the horse needs help…
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Managing your horse in hot weather
Over the last few years, we have seen more extremes in our weather in Suffolk, this can cause havoc for riding ambitions, comfort and training schedules…
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TAPEWORM FOUND TO BE CAUSE OF COLIC FOLLOWING INVESTIGATION
The individual colic cases occurred over several years (one in 2014, and three in 2019/2020) at a well-managed Thoroughbred stud farm…
Highlights
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Vettings – What Does a Vetting (Pre-Purchase Exam) Involve?
The purchase of any horse involves you in the taking of a risk; no horse is risk free and at best we can aim to identify, assess and attempt to quantify that risk for you so that you can reach an informed decision as to whether or not to proceed with your intended purchase…
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Vetting (Pre Purchase examination) – What is required
We need the horse’s name, date of birth, colour, sex and breed/type. We also need to know what the horse’s job will be and if the buyer has any particular concerns about the horse…
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Lameness – A Gallop Through Lameness Investigations
Horses coming in for lameness investigations at the clinic may have several different procedures undertaken to try and pin-point the cause of lameness. These commonly include…
A to Z Information Sheets
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Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a treatment which involves the stimulation of specific points in the body, usually by the insertion of very fine, pre-sterilised, stainless steel needles…
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Artificial Insemination
The actual procedure of Artificial Insemination (or AI) is very straightforward. However, meticulous planning and preparation is required before this point to maximise the chances of your mare becoming pregnant.
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Back Problems in the Horse
Back problems in the horse are relatively common. Horses can get primary back problems, but secondary back problems caused by other diseases are much more common.
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Career Advice – So You Want to be a Vet?
If you’re reading this article then chances are, like myself, you’ve thought being a vet is what you want to do from a young age. I’m going to try and help guide you through the process, using my experience as a newly graduated vet…
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Case Discussions
Case discussions are carried out nearly every week at Deben Valley Equine Vet Clinic. All vets sit down together and work through the list of cases seen during the previous 7+ days…
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Castration – Colt Castration Notes
Usually performed from six months of age. Prevents undesirable ‘stallion’ behaviour if performed before maturity…
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Castration – Colt Castration Post-Op Notes (see Colt Castration Notes first)
Colt Castration Post-Op Notes
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Coughing Horse / Dust Free Management
A cough is a reflex action to clear airways of mucus and irritants. A horse’s lungs are continually dealing with attack from airborne moulds, bacteria and viruses, not to mention dust and ammonia which cause irritation, inflammation and increased mucus secretion…
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Cushing’s Disease (also known as Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction – PPID)
Equine Cushing’s Disease (ECD) is more correctly known as Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID). This condition results in the pituitary gland, located at the base of the brain, releasing hormones in an abnormal manner…
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Dental Caries in the Horse
Quite simply Caries are the erosion or decay of tooth or bone. Dental Caries in horses is a relatively recent discovery; however, we are recognising that if identified early, it is possible to prevent more severe dental disease such as fractures and pulp root infections…
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Dental Mondays
Our standard dentistry fee incl. sedation if required is £65 for a thorough mouth examination and routine rasp. It does not include wolf teeth removal, treatment of fractured teeth, diastema, gum disease or overgrowths…
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Dentistry
Regular dental checks should be part of your horse or pony’s routine preventative medicine program along side vaccination and worming. Dental checks should be performed a minimum of every 12 months in normal horses…
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Drugs – Tips for Feeding Medicines to your horse
Sometimes even the greediest horse can decide not to eat the medicine in its feed, there are a few things you can do to try and prevent this…
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Euthanasia – Time To Say Goodbye
Sadly for all of us who own and look after horses, sad days involving the loss of a horse are inevitable. Sometimes events are taken out of our hands but whenever possible it is always best to plan in advance and have thought things through…
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Fire Safety for Horse Owners
We do not like to think of the possibility of having a fire in our stables/barn but we do need to plan for the probability. A fire can be devastating with the possibility of loss of life, beloved horses, premises, livelihood, and equipment…
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First Aid Kit list
See our list of suggested items for a first aid kit.
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First Aid Tips
Wounds: Cold hose with clean running water. Use diluted Hibiscrub if dirty. You can apply wound gel (e.g. Vetalintex)…
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Foaling Protocol
Foaling Protocol information sheet…
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Gastric Ulcers – Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS)
The stomach of the horse is small compared to other species, its capacity is only 10-15 litres. The stomach sits in the abdomen beneath the rib cage, food comes from the mouth down the oesophagus (food pipe) and enters the stomach through the cardiac opening…
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Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an uncommon eye condition of the horse. In the dog and man, it is extremely painful and very obvious at the onset. However, in the horse the signs can be very subtle, with only intermittent pain, allowing the condition to reach quite…
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Grazing Muzzles – A Guide To Grazing Muzzles
Grazing muzzles can be a very useful tool to help diet horses, particularly if reducing turn-out time is not an option or is already minimal. It is important, however, to remember that they will alter both a horse’s eating and social behaviour.
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Heat Stroke
Heat stroke in the horse is a serious, life-threatening illness, which needs emergency veterinary attention. It is caused when the horse’s temperature can’t be controlled by it’s own body and the horse needs help…
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Herpes – Equine Herpes Virus
Equine herpes virus (EHV) is a contagious viral infection which can cause respiratory disease, abortions and neurological disease. There are two different types of EHV which mos commonly cause disease in horses…
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Herpes & abortion – Guidelines to Decrease the Risk of EHV1 Infection in Pregnant Mares
Equid Herpesvirus (EHV) is very common – more than 75% of horses have been exposed at some point in their lives. Young horses are especially susceptible. Horses can become carriers, and these may spread infection even if they are not unwell, especially at times of stress…
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Influenza – Equine Influenza (Flu)
Equine influenza is an important contagious respiratory disease of horses resulting from infection with influenza viruses (of the H7N7 or H3N8 subtype). The disease is characterised by high fever, depression, coughing, and nasal discharge and is often…
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Insurance Tips – Top Tips for Equine Insurance
Check how much vet fee cover your policy provides. They vary between £1 – 5,000. £5,000 would be our minimum recommendation; a few policies offer up to £10,000 or just extra for colic cases…
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Joint Supplement
Deben Valley Equine are pleased to stock a NEW Nutritional joint support for horses, containing the highest quality, purest ingredients and with the added advantages of Boswellia…
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Lameness – A Gallop Through Lameness Investigations
Horses coming in for lameness investigations at the clinic may have several different procedures undertaken to try and pin-point the cause of lameness. These commonly include…
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Liver Disease
The liver has many important functions including protein metabolism, toxin neutralisation, producing clotting factors and proteins for the blood and vitamin and mineral metabolism to name but a few…
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Managing your horse in hot weather
Over the last few years, we have seen more extremes in our weather in Suffolk, this can cause havoc for riding ambitions, comfort and training schedules…
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McTimoney Therapy
I qualified as a McTimoney Practitioner in 2008 from the McTimoney College, Abingdon. This was fuelled by a lifelong involvement with animals and fascination with how they work and improving health and performance…
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Melanoma Fact Sheet
Melanoma are pigmented tumours usually found on grey horses. They can occur on other colour horses, but are less common…
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Mud Fever
Mud Fever is caused by a bacteria called Dermatophilus congolensis, which is found in the soil and on the skin of grazing animals. The bacteria sit around innocuously on normal skin but can invade damaged / vulnerable skin and then multiply causing an infection…
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Obesity – The Curse of Horse Domestication
Deben Valley Equine can only help you diet overweight horses and ponies only if you accept, they are too fat in the first place! We have a weighbridge at the clinic for complete accuracy…
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Ragwort Control
Ragwort is a tall erect plant up to 90cm (3ft) tall bearing large flat-topped clusters of yellow daisy-like flowers from July to October. Ragwort is biennial and it’s seeds lie dormant within the ground. This means removal methods may have to be used annually until the weed is eradicated. The Weeds Act 1959 specifies five…
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Regenerative Medicine – Tendon and Joint Repair
Tendon injury is a major problem in the horse due to its frequency of occurrence, difficulty in treatment, lengthy rehabilitation time and also the high risk of re-injury. Once the force on a tendon becomes too great it can cause physical disruption to the tendon matrix…
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Riding Establishment Inspections
Helen Whitbread is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Riding School Inspectorate, and able to perform inspections of riding establishments and also beach donkey operations according to the Riding Establishments Acts of 1964 and 1970…
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Ringworm in Horses (Dermatophytosis)
Ringworm is a fungal infection of the skin and hair shafts. It causes hairless, flaking or crusting lesions which may be itchy. Occasionally raised non-itchy nodules may be seen. The most common sites to see lesions are areas of skin prone to minor damage, such as in the girth area, on the face and under…
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Safe Travelling
If you move your horse around, even occasionally, it is important to be prepared for any eventuality. We’ve tried to compose a guide of what we feel is important to have when travelling…
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Sand Colic and Psyllium
You can start the day as normal with your lovely horse and by the end of the day, despite best veterinary care and your efforts, suddenly your horse is gone…
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Sarcoids – Equine Sarcoids – Minor or Major Problem?
Horses generally have a low rate of cancer. However, their most common type of cancer or tumour is a sarcoid which is a type of skin growth. Cancer sounds so serious, what does this mean?
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Sedation for Horses
Sedation of horses and ponies is a routine procedure performed on several horses within this practice every week…
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Skin Disease in the Horse
Skin disease is surprisingly common in the horse and it can present in a variety of ways. Many diseases are pruritic or itchy, others will be associated with scale and pus, some are restricted to particular areas such as the legs and others…
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Strangles – Deben Valley Equine Guide to Sensible Strangles Management
Strangles is a bacterial infection of the upper respiratory tract of the horse caused by the bacteria Strepticocci Equi. These bacteria are highly contagious and are infamous…
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Sweet Itch
Sweet itch is the commonest summer allergy seen in the UK. Culicoides hypersensitivity is its official name because it is in fact an allergic reaction to the saliva of the biting Culicoides midge…
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Sycamore Toxicity / Atypical Myopathy -2020 update
A fatal muscle disease affecting horses in the UK has been linked to sycamore seed and seedlings ingestion. Atypical Myopathy (AM) causes damage and destruction to muscles involved in breathing…
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TAPEWORM FOUND TO BE CAUSE OF COLIC FOLLOWING INVESTIGATION
The individual colic cases occurred over several years (one in 2014, and three in 2019/2020) at a well-managed Thoroughbred stud farm…
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The cost of veterinary care explained
This document has been produced by the British Veterinary Association to help explain costs and although it has been written primarily for dog and cat owners, the general principles apply…
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Unlicensed Drugs – The Use of Unlicensed Products at Deben Valley Equine Veterinary Clinic
Some drugs used to treat horses will be veterinary licensed. This means they will have been vigorously tested for safety, qualify, and efficacy (ie. they do what they are expected to do in the majority of horses eg, relieve pain)…
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Veteran Horse
Older horses now form a large part of the equine population. As horses age, some body systems start to wear out. Going into winter, the veteran requires extra care…
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Vetting (Pre Purchase examination) – What is required
We need the horse’s name, date of birth, colour, sex and breed/type. We also need to know what the horse’s job will be and if the buyer has any particular concerns about the horse…
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Vettings – What Does a Vetting (Pre-Purchase Exam) Involve?
The purchase of any horse involves you in the taking of a risk; no horse is risk free and at best we can aim to identify, assess and attempt to quantify that risk for you so that you can reach an informed decision as to whether or not to proceed with your intended purchase…
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Vettings guidance during Covid-19 pandemic – UPDATE
We are pleased to announce that Deben Valley Equine will be able to offer vettings (PrePurchase Examinations) again in mainly Suffolk under strict government guidelines…
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What is EOTRH syndrome?
Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis, also known as EOTRH, is a syndrome in horses that results in resorptive lesions of the incisors and sometimes canine teeth, so the tooth roots literally ‘dissolve’…
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Worm Egg Counts – Collecting and Storing Samples Correctly
We just need 3g of dung to perform a dung worm egg count on. HOWEVER, to be representative different faecal balls should be sampled. So if you purchased our worming programmes 2 pots (A & B) per test are now included & labelled for you. Please use a different faecal ball for each pot…
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Worm Egg Counts – what are they?
Nearly all horses, particularly those who graze, will have some level of parasitism. This may or may not result in signs of illness, but these can include weight loss, diarrhoea, colic, loss of condition and collection of free fluid (oedema)…
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Worming Guide
Despite major medical and pharmaceutical advances, the sad fact is that at the beginning of the twenty first century, horses and ponies still die from the effects of worms (endoparasites)…