Routine Equine Veterinary Care
Routine preventive care for horses includes everything from annual physical examinations, vaccinations, and deworming to dental exams and diagnostics. At Equine Surgery & Medicine, we offer comprehensive preventive care, which aims to safeguard your horse from common diseases and disorders and prevent their spread to the entire herd.
By prioritizing preventive care, we ensure that your equine partner has the best chance at a long and healthy life. Our dedicated team works closely with you to create a personalized preventive care plan tailored to your horse's individual needs, lifestyle, and potential risk factors.
Finally, remember that your horse's annual and bi-annual dental exams are a very important part of your preventive care plan. Issues with a horse’s teeth can affect proper chewing, digestion, and nutrient absorption, and can even negatively impact performance.
The ultimate goal of preventive care is a healthy and happy horse. Talk to your veterinarian today to get set up with a preventive health care schedule that includes a yearly exam, routine dental care, and annual vaccinations.
Mobile Equine Care You Can Rely On
Our veterinarians are able to provide comprehensive mobile services, whether your horse needs a routine check-up, vaccinations, dental care, diagnostics or emergency care at all hours of the day of night.
Vaccinations for Horses
Having your horse vaccinated is one of the best ways to prevent illness and disease. This preventive measure will help keep your horse and their herd healthy and ultimately lead to fewer medical appointments and emergency visits.
Types of Vaccinations
There are two types of vaccinations for horses, core and risk-based vaccines:
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Core Vaccinations
The five core diseases that all have significant fatality rates in horses are:
- Rabies
- West Nile virus
- Eastern equine encephalomyelitis
- Western equine encephalomyelitis
- Tetanus
All horses can be exposed to these potentially fatal diseases. Because of this, all horses need to be given the annual vaccinations above to protect them, according to the American Association of Equine Practitioners.
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Risk Based Vaccinations
The vaccinations below are given if your horse's lifestyle may put them at risk:
- Equine influenza virus
- Herpesvirus
- Strangles
- Equine viral arteritis
- Leptospirosis
- Rotaviral diarrhea
- Potomac horse fever
- Botulism
Necessary vaccinations will vary depending on your horse’s unique lifestyle and environment.
Deworming Your Horse
Internal parasites can cause extensive internal damage. It is important to have your horse on a strict deworming protocol in order to protect their health and the health of the horses around them.
Deworming Strategies
There are two common deworming strategies:
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Fecal Egg Count
Fecal Egg Counts (FEC) should be performed to determine a horse's parasite load. These FEC results will allow our veterinarians to determine their level of shedding (low, moderate, high), and then create a unique deworming schedule for your horse. Once this is complete, your veterinarian can identify which horses are high-shedders and are responsible for the majority of parasite transmission.
Fecal egg counts should be performed in the early spring (March to April) before peak parasite transmission season. Every horse in a herd should be tested to identify them as low, moderate, or high shedders to provide the appropriate treatment.
The goal is not to eliminate all parasites from every horse but to maintain the health of horses and reduce the environmental contamination of parasite eggs and larvae. With this approach, we can effectively reduce the parasite burden in your horse while preventing parasite resistance.
This target approach will improve your horse's overall health, body condition, reduce complications that arise from parasitic infections such as colic, and reduce unnecessary deworming treatments.
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Traditional Rotational Deworming
Traditional rotational deworming relies on using different deworming medications at regular intervals to control parasites. This strategy assumes that all horses carry a similar parasite burden and equally contribute to environmental contamination.
It is convenient for many large barns and boarding facilities as it does not require fecal egg counts of every horse to identify high and low shedders. This approach is thought to contribute to parasite resistance of our current deworming medications. Contact your veterinarian to determine which parasite control program best fits your horse’s needs.
The Importance of Equine Dental Care
Maintaining your horse's teeth is an important aspect of their health care. Horses' teeth continue to erupt throughout their life which can lead to issues if they are not properly taken care of with routine exams and floats.