ADVICEFROMTHE VET
livery yardstohelp findtailored, practical solutions to preventativehealthcare. Not only including vaccination, dentistry,and worming; but also,biosecurityand infectious disease control (in the case of an outbreak).
FOOT BALANCE & LAMENESS.
in bridlesputsother pressures on their mouths, which wouldn’tnaturally happen in the wild. It is important to have your horse’steeth
checked regularly,eveniftheyare notshowing signs of discomfort. Howoften routine dental checks take placevariesaccording to the individual horse and will depend on age and anypre-existing conditions. Agood rule-of- thumb is that teethshould be examined at leastannually,but in some cases, checks might be undertaken two or three timesayear.
WORMING Unfortunately,the resistanceofequine worms
to chemical wormersisbecoming more common. Faecal egg countsare acrucial way to help monitor the worm burden of your horse,tostopthe overuse of equine wormers, and the incidenceofresistancedeveloping.
Remember,a clear faecal egg count doesmean thereare no activeadult worms producing eggs in the sample provided, but, it doesnot mean that your horse doesnot have anyworms. Some typesofworm do not showinanormal faecal
egg count, and thereare further teststhat can be carried out at specifictimesofthe year to assess the burden of tapeworm and encysted redworm. Tailored worming programmesensure specificworms aretargeted with an effective productatthe right
time.Tohelpreducethe incidenceofresistance, we recommend:
• Usefaecal worm egg countsto determine whether awormer is needed and which one to use.
• Weigh (orweigh tape) horse/sbefore dosing to avoid under-dosing.
• Rotate the activeingredient/classof wormer used foreach grazing season -speak to your vetfor advice.
• Target specificworms with an effective productatthe correcttime of year.
• Ensuregood pasturemanagement- poo pick fields twiceweekly.
• Crossgraze pasturewith other species, forexample,sheep.
• Avoid over-crowding fields. As aPractice, we work with some of our
Hoof imbalanceisone of the mostcommon problems associated with lameness in horses. Conformation, the type of shoes fitted and how regularly the horse is shod, canall be attributing
factors.The entireweight-bearing surfaceof the foot should hit the ground at the same time.Abnormalitiesinfoot balancecan cause increased stress and strain on different partsof the limb,overtime these canbuild up leading to overload injuriesand increased risk of lameness. X-rays areused to viewthe inside of your
horsesfoot, which in turn help your vetand farrier work together to evaluateand correct the foot balanceissues. Your farrier will trim the foot to help the conformation and correctthe
imbalances.Severeimbalanceisoften evident without an x-raybut mild to moderateimbalance canbepresent in a“normal” looking foot. Having regular foot balancex-rayscan help to pick up potential problems, beforetheyactually become aproblem and cause lameness. Preventativehealthcare; taking care of the small things makes abig difference.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TomRighton BVSc, MRCVS Tomqualified from Liverpool University in 2011 and joined the team at Hook Norton Veterinary Group in 2014. He has previously worked in amixed practiceinWorcestershireand hasa special interestinorthopaedic work as well as lameness work ups and wound management. Tomlikes to follownational hunt racing/point to point and spends his sparetime mountain biking. •HookNortonVeterinaryGroup, WhiteHillsSurgery,SibfordRoad, HookNorton,Banbury,Oxon,OX155DG.
www.hooknortonvets.co.uk T
el:01608730085
PleasementionCentralHorseNewswhenresponding toAdvertisementsNOVEMBER/DECEMBER2020
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