Equine Services

Our vets are experienced and trained for being event or racecourse veterinarians and we constantly keep ourselves updated and trained for such duties. We believe keeping up to date is important to give you the best advice, for example, on medications prior to competition.

We have experienced and trained vets for:

• Racecourses
• One or three day events
• Endurance competitions
• Pony club or riding club events

Our vets are fully trained for emergencies and we are listed by BEVA as a practice with training and capabilities to cope with equine emergencies.

Our experienced equine vets are happy to examine a horse or pony that you are looking to purchase or insure according to the BEVA guidelines for a 5 stage pre purchase examination. We have experience in examining equines for all disciplines and can also perform pre-purchase radiography or endoscopy if required. We will travel any distance and fees are charged for the examination and mileage.

It is a legal requirement for all equines to have a passport and for all new foals to be microchipped. We provide these services at a very reasonable cost. We also will examine horses for breed registrations or gradings (E.G. stallions).

Export Certification

We have trained LVIs (local veterinary inspectors) who will happily perform all the examinations and blood tests required before you travel your horse(s) abroad. Please telephone the surgery for details or advice.

We have a very busy reproductive service with a wealth of experience in natural and assisted reproductive techniques. As well as our BEVA listed AI service for mares we can now offer, in partnership with our studs and stallion owners, a new stallion AI service. Stallions are listed on a separate page. We offer fixed price AI covering fees and an AI stud service here at the practice. Please telephone us for more details about our reproductive services, even if it simply advice about putting your mare in foal, our vets will be happy to answer your queries.

Stabling and 6 Acres of Paddocks with Foaling Boxes with CCTV

Foaling mares, mares and mares with foals will all have a comfortable stay and can have individual turnout while they are here. On site vets provide 24-hour cover and our experienced and dedicated staff will look after your horses during their stay.

AI Facilities for Frozen and Chilled Semen (BEVA Approved Centre)

Stocks, ultrasound scanners, semen storage and laboratory provide the facilities needed for successfully inseminating mares and we are approved by the British Equine Veterinary Association as an AI centre.

We have fixed all in prices for AI or can price work on an individual procedure basis, whichever is your preference.

Semen Collection and Processing Facilities for Chilled and Frozen Semen

We can collect from stallions for immediate inseminations or for chilling or freezing. We can perform tests for freezing suitability We have storage facilities for stallion semen - please telephone for a quote.

Visits and Reproduction Services

As well as our breeding services here at the clinic, we also provide breeding services to studs and private premises. Please telephone the surgery to discuss your requirements.

Other Breeding Services Include:

• Pregnancy diagnosis of mares by ultrasound
• Pre covering examinations
• Swabs and blood tests for stud. 48hr clitoral swab results
• Monitored foaling (24hr) in dedicated foaling boxes
• Poor fertility examinations and treatments for mares and stallions
• Semen analysis

Hawkedon Equine Clinic in Suffolk is well equipped and designed to deal with lameness examinations and treatments.

On site vets provide 24-hour cover and our experienced staff will look after your horse and give it the very best care while it is at the clinic.

Lameness Examinations and Treatments

• Examinations at the clinic on hard and soft surfaces
• X-ray
• Ultrasound
• Nerve blocks
• Joint injections
• Shockwave treatments and stem cell treatment

Digital X-Rays

Fast, high quality pictures. Our x-ray system is digital and very high resolution. It provides the high-quality pictures we need for diagnosis. Being digital we can easily adjust the image on computer to get the very best pictures.

We have a mobile unit for on yard radiography for cases that cannot travel such as laminitis or suspect fractures.

We can also take high quality radiographs of horses for purchase or for insurance. Pictures can be stored and copied onto disk for use by your farrier, for pre purchase examination, for your own interest or sent to specialists for second opinions.

Trot up areas and ménage for lameness and respiratory examinations

Lameness examinations often require horses to be exercised or ridden and trotted on different surfaces and we have these facilities at the clinic. For respiratory or cardiac (heart) cases we often want to exercise your horse, sometimes with a radio-endoscope or ECG machine attached. Our ménage allows us to exercise stabled horses that require it.

Ultrasound

We have a very high-quality ultrasound machine with three probes which we use to scan many of the structures involved in lameness. Pictures are stored on to disk and we can give you copies. The stored pictures are used to monitor how treatment is going. Our ultrasound machine is used very frequently in our lameness examinations.

Nerve Blocks

Because horses cannot talk it is sometimes difficult on examination to know exactly where a lameness is on the leg. With a knowledge of anatomy, we can place local anaesthesia over the nerves in the limb - a nerve block - to numb the area where the lameness is suspected to be. If the lameness improves once the nerve block has had time to work, then we know where the pain is on the leg and can then take radiographs or scan the area. We also use nerve blocks prior to surgical treatments of areas of the limb or for pain relief.

Joint Injections

Our vets are experienced and trained to inject all the joints accessible in horses and ponies. We inject joints to localise the site of a lameness or pain and also to administer medication into a joint. Medications used not only include steroids (cortisone) but also medications mad from your horses own blood cells such as IRAP or PRPP, these are newer and effective joint medications.

Shockwave and Stem Cell Treatments

Shockwave therapy is useful for certain conditions where tissues need to be stimulated to repair. A probe applies high intensity shock waves to the tissues. We use it for suspected ligament problems, and some back problems. Stem cells are very 'young' cells taken from the bone marrow. They are cultured and replace onto damaged tendinous or ligamentous structures, commonly the superficial digital tendon. This new treatment has shown to give the best results for tendon repair and our vets have been trained to give your horse this treatment.

Referrals

Much as we would like to, there are certain things we cannot offer at our clinic. These include surgery, MRI Computed Tomography (CT) and Scintigraphy. We work closely with the equine hospitals in Newmarket for referral for these services or for second opinions from specialists.

Our in house lab is run by our own trained staff and gives fast and accurate results. We use it frequently for routine tests such as worm egg counts and to help us diagnostically. Being in-house there are no waits whilst samples are sent in the post and in emergencies, rapid diagnostics make for rapid decisions that can help save a joint or make a decision for surgery for colic.

Blood Tests

• Haematology
• Biochemistry
• Foal immunity levels

Joint Samples

Joint infections can be catastrophic for a horse unless they are treated immediately. Our staff will process joint samples as soon as we get them to the lab so there is no delay in treatment for joint or tendon sheath penetrations. This we know, is critical for the success of treating wounds where joints are involved and saves horse's future athletic careers.

Worm Egg Counts

Worm egg counts are an essential part of any worming program. Our worm egg counts are competitively priced and this price includes telephone advice on worming on your premises. Bespoke worming programs can be drawn up for your premises, including tapeworm control.

We believe that our advice on worming is better than any other commercial service for the simple reason that we know you your horses and premises and management better than anyone else. We also know where resistance has occurred and when worm problems are increasing.

Over the years we can advise you on how to keep your horses clear of internal parasites and so lower the risk of colic, diarrhoea and weight problems.

Skin Scrapes

• Tests for skin parasites
• Skin scrapes are looked at for mites and lice

Ringworm Tests

We culture ringworm, a fungal infection of the skin, in the lab for diagnosis as well as look at samples under the microscope. Confirmation can take up to five days as ringworm takes a long time to grow in the lab

Reproductive Work

• Semen analysis including tests for freezing semen
• Uterine cytology
• Uterine culture: bacteriology – simple growth and sensitivity testing, for pre covering checks

We use outside laboratories for other tests

• CEMO, Klebsiella and Pseudomonas swabs for breeding
• Hormone tests – E.G. cushings tests, equine metabolic syndrome, rig tests
• Strangles blood tests or swabs

Endoscopes are small cameras on the end of narrow tubes that enable us to visualize parts of the horse's anatomy, most commonly the respiratory tract but also the bladder, stomach, uterus, sinuses and teeth. We offer a full endoscopy service including gastroscopy and radio-endoscopy.

Standing Endoscopy

Endoscopes can be used in the standing horse with sedation if necessary. We commonly look at respiratory problems and place the endoscope up the nose. Not only can we visualise the nasal passages, pharynx and larynx but we can also use the scope to take samples from deep in the lung to look for bacteria, bleeding, or to scale the level and type of inflammation.

Endoscopy of the urinary tract and uterus can be done on standing sedated horses.

Sinoscopy

The cause and extent of sinus disease can be investigated by placing a narrow endoscope directly into the horse's sinuses by making a small hole in the skull. Although this sounds horrific it causes very little problem and is performed on standing sedated horses. We perform this procedure quite commonly as part of investigation of sinusitis or dental disease.

Gastroscopy

Gastroscopy is the visualisation of the stomach using an endoscope and is performed on standing horses under sedation. A long 3m scope is used and the horse has to be starved overnight so that the stomach is empty. Ulceration is a frequent cause of poor performance, especially in stabled horses and we can diagnose and then monitor this problem using the gastroscope. We hold gastroscopy clinics for owners concerned that their horse may have ulcers as well as investigations in individual cases.

Radio Endoscopy

We also offer radio-endoscopy. Radio-endoscopy is a new innovation where the endoscope is placed in the upper airway of a horse while it is ridden and the video pictures sent wirelessly to a remote computer where they are viewed at the time and recorded. It has revolutionized our assessment of horses that make a noise as dynamic changes can be seen and we can offer this service here at Hawkedon or come out to your yard.

Our vets have fully equipped vehicles for day to day calls and emergency situations. We provide area rounds with no visit fees once a month for all areas that we service. Most simple cases can be dealt with on call-outs but more extensive examinations or treatments are performed at the clinic or referred to nearby specialist equine hospitals. Emergency visits are available 24 hours a day 365 days a year by our equine vets.

• Visits for vettings or dentistry or veterinary examinations beyond our normal range can be catered for with a quote given for mileage, please telephone the surgery for details
• Simple lameness examinations, some endoscopy and some ultrasound scans can be performed on visits
• No visit fees for yard visits once or twice a month

Reproductive work performed on visits include:

• pre-covering examinations
• preparations for stud
• chilled semen inseminations
• pregnancy diagnosis
• and semen collection for analysis

Most foal care can be done on visits, including plasma transfusions for low immunity foals, but very sick foals need hospitalization at the clinic.

We can take emergency X-rays where horses cannot move with a mobile machine but for high quality images, we like to see horses at the clinic.

Out of hours, there is always one of our vets available to visit your horse or give advice on the telephone.