Nicolette Adamson, Vet Services Waipukurau
The breeding season has brought our team at VS Equine plenty of challenging cases this year, with the weather playing havoc with mares in the region, who would rather it stay one temperature for them to cycle predictably!
We have however had many great successes, and mares diagnosed with infections early on in the season have been able to be treated successfully and have positive pregnancy scans before Christmas! As the racing population are closing up shop on the season and focussing on their yearlings, our sport horse and pleasure riding clients are able to keep going into the warmer months where we will hopefully get more predictable weather and a few more chances at bringing more beautiful blingy foals into the world!
We have an exciting new method of diagnosing problem mares at our fingertips this season and for seasons to come, with one of our vets attending a course earlier in the year and bringing back with her a technique that we can utilise.
Hysteroscopy is a procedure whereby our endoscope is passed into the uterus of the mare and we are able to visualise the interior of the uterus. A case recently in Waipukurau saw an older mare require further investigation into why she wasn’t conceiving and we were able to get fantastic images of her uterus to give us a clearer picture of what we can do to give her the best chances going forward.
Some things we are able to diagnose with a hysteroscope are cysts, foreign materials including remnants of old pregnancies, growths and masses, inflammation and importantly in this case, fibrosis or scarring of the uterine wall.
The images below are from our recent scope, we are then able to discuss options and expectations with the owner of the mare to ensure that if we proceed, we can have all the tools in our belt working together to give her the best chance of conception. Without the images from the scope, in some mares we can end up feeling like we are “flying blind”, but are now able to give the owners the most accurate prognosis we can and allow them to make decisions with as much information as possible.
The equine industry is a fast moving target and is constantly adapting to new technology. This makes it exciting for our vets who are able to continue to upskill and ensure we are bringing everything that we can to the equine athletes of the Hawke’s Bay.
