Planning to breed your mare can be an exciting journey, but successful breeding requires careful planning, timing, and management. During our recent Winter Seminar, Hastings veterinarian Tarryn Walker shared practical insights into the breeding process, common reproductive challenges, and how veterinary support can help maximise your mare’s chances of success. Whether you’re breeding your first…
What is it, and why are we using it in horses? VS Equine recently purchased a portable Radial Pressure Wave device so that our veterinary team can offer shockwave therapy for treating musculoskeletal problems, soft-tissue and bone injuries in horses. Radial pressure shockwave offers non-invasive treatment solutions for both acute and chronic, long term insertion…
Are you ready for foaling? Assess body condition and feed supplementation Your mare should be in a good body condition with a nice coat. It’s recommended to feed them a good quality broodmare mix and increasing their maintenance feed by 20% during the last 3 months of pregnancy. Do you know your pregnant broodmares selenium status?…
Are colds, mucous, and coughs interrupting your horses training programme? Equine Herpes Virus (EHV) is a complex disease – it’s highly infectious and outbreaks can be costly! Similar to children getting colds when they start attending kindergarten, young horses entering into training are often exposed to carriers of the virus. EHV is spread…
Vet Services Wairarapa had a really cool case about a gorgeous wee donkey called Errol last year. Errol caused his mum a lot of stress and heartache, but the story has a good outcome! Errol was born then didn’t suckle properly for his first 12 hours. We first examined him because he was dull and…
A pre-purchase exam is a fact-finding session and can be a useful tool for both the buyer and the seller. It is not a guarantee, an insurance policy, or a value appraisal and it is not a certificate of ability, temperament, or merit. It is a physical examination for evaluating health and serviceability on a…
Over the past 12 months Dave Kruger and the equine team have been working with the dedicated owner of a 15 year old standardbred mare with Sarcoids. In late 2020 a 15 year old Standardbred mare presented with a large skin mass just under her right eye. Numerous smaller wart like lesions were present in…
Great your foal has arrived! That’s one stressful part over for your mare and new-born. We now recommend that you book a post foaling check with your vet to help you keep an eye on any post foaling complications which can occur in the first four days of life. Your veterinarian will offer a thorough…
Hot of the press!! Vet Services are very excited to have just purchased a gastro-scope! We are looking forward to now being able to offer this service on a day to day basis A few things have changed since we last spoke – keep reading to find out what the up to date research is…