Vet Services Hawke’s Bay is proud to be a locally owned business which has provided over 70 years of trusted animal care in the Hawke’s Bay region. First established in 1949 as the ‘Central Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Veterinary Club’ the business was renamed Vet Services Hawke’s Bay in 1967 and has continued to grow, improve…
So, you want to breed a champion horse? Richard McKenzie outlines the factors you will need to consider when exploring artificial insemination. Finding the right stallion First of all, read the contract thoroughly! They all differ and offer a number of terms and conditions that you will need to familiarise yourself with. For example, do…
There are a number of conditions of the hind leg in the horse that cause very specific, atypical type lameness and gait abnormalities. These include stringhalt, shivers, upward patella fixation, fibrotic myopathy and rupture of the peroneus tertius muscle. Dave Kruger outlines each of these medical conditions and what to look out for below. STRINGHALT…
With the equestrian season kicking off in most disciplines, Spring is a good time for your horse to have its annual “warrant of fitness”. Parasites: A faecal egg count is a simple way of getting an idea of the parasite load in your horses. Many horses that are drenched at routine intervals probably do not…
WHAT IS LAMINITIS? Laminitis is a very serious disease of the equine hoof that can lead to a disastrous loss of function. It occurs when there is failure of the attachment of the pedal bone to the inner hoof wall. The inner hoof wall is attached by sensitive laminae or folds to the pedal bone…
Colic, a word that strikes fear into the heart of every horse owner! But what is it and what can we do? In the simplest sense, colic is a broad term used to describe abdominal pain and the behaviour that we see associated with that pain. This is most commonly associated with the gastrointestinal tract,…
Wolf teeth are technically known as the first premolar teeth in horses. They usually erupt into the mouth at between five and twelve months of age, but do not continue to grow or erupt into the mouth as do the rest of the cheek teeth. It has been estimated that approximately seventy percent of horses…
Stomach ulcers (gastric ulcers) are a hot topic! Stomach ulceration is a somewhat confusing syndrome – the syndrome can have a multitude of clinical signs, ranging from very subtle performance issues, or picky eating, to weight loss and colic. There is also a multitude of products on the market which claim to help with ulcers,…
This is the name given not to “affectionate backs” but to over-riding or impinging of the dorsal spinous processes of the vertebrae commonly in thoracic (chest) or lumbar (lower back) region of the horse. Often it is in the region of wither or saddle and can be associated with a poor saddle fit or trauma/damage…