Common Procedures and Conditions

This is some intro text for common procedures

Choke

One of the most distressing conditions for an owner to witness is an episode of choke. Fortunately choke in horses refers to an obstruction of their food pipe (oeseophagus), as apposed to the windpipe and therefore is very rarely life threatening.It is quite a common condition and occurs when food blocks the oesophagus, which is […]

Laminitis

Laminitis is a condition we see very frequently within our practice and is now an almost year round condition. Wherever there are overweight ponies and horses there will be cases of laminitis. The two main causes of laminitis are Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Cushings Syndrome. There are other causes ( traumatic or toxin associated), however […]

Liver Biopsy

Liver biopsy is a procedure we perform when we suspect a horse may have a problem with their liver. It is very rare to suspect liver disease simply based on clinical signs, the vast majority of liver disease cases we see are diagnosed following blood tests (see section on blood testing). Although blood tests will […]

Testing for Respiratory Disease

Sometimes if we suspect your horse may be suffering from respiratory disease we will recommend further testing. This may include endoscopy, x rays, Tracheal Washes or Broncho Alveolar Lavage. We have included some notes for you to read about these techniques to help understand why we do certain tests and how they are performed. […]

Ultrasound

Ultrasound is a technique we often use to diagnose soft tissue injuries and abnormalities. An ultrasound machine is composed of a probe and a processor. The probe emits ultrasound waves which bounce back off the tissue and are then processed by the processor to create an image on the screen. The most common situation we […]

Investigations

Taking blood is a procedure very commonly performed and is done for a number of reasons. Sometimes it is to test for a certain disease in particular- for example evidence of strangles, although most of the time we take blood in order to get more information that allows us to work out what condition your […]