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Follow-up and guidance of sport horses
In today's world, horses have evolved into top-level athletes with demanding schedules, reflecting the performance-oriented nature of contemporary society. To achieve and sustain peak performance in these athletes, optimal guidance is crucial. In addition to experience and effective management, veterinary care plays a pivotal role in ensuring a successful and enduring career.
There is a lot involved in this veterinary supervision:
- Maintaining general fitness
- Routine check up to prevent problems
- Routine check up to be able to intervene in time with small problems before they manifest themselves as performance problems or lead to lengthy rehabilitation processes
- Correct diagnosis in order to know whether the horse may continue to work or needs to be rested for a longer period of time
- Establishing optimal rehabilitation processes in case of more severe injuries to make the athletes fit to compete again as soon as possible
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Prepurchase examinations
Know what you are buying or selling...
The purchase of a horse is not a simple matter. As a buyer, it is important to know whether the future horse is the right partner for the purpose you have in mind.
The veterinarian's job is to examine the horse for defects, or any signs of them, and to discover or rule them out. Based on these findings and the future purpose, a risk analysis is then made which gives a picture of the health of the horse and its suitability for its future purpose. Based on this, the buyer can decide what risks he or she is willing to take.
This is why it is important, as a buyer, to have the prepurchase examination performed by a veterinarian whom you trust and has the necessary experience.
In the meantime, we have already done a few hundred prepurchase examinations at home and abroad for regional, national and international riders.
We also often act as second opinion veterinarians for buyers who would like to have the photos checked again..
What does an examination consist of?
An examination consists of 2 parts.
1) A general clinical examination in which the eyes, lungs, heart, coat, etc. are examined and listened to.
2) An orthopedic examination: inspection, palpation, movement analysis and bending tests.
This standard examination can be further supplemented by a radiological examination.
If it is desired/recommended to do further examinations afterwards, such as ultrasound, endoscopy,... this is possible.
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Orthopedic examination
Is your horse limping? Is your horse stiff? Does the horse feel different than normal?
These findings may be one of the reasons why you, as an owner, want to have an orthopedic examination done on your horse.
A good orthopedic examination begins with a comprehensive anamnesis that includes how the problem arose, how long the problem has been going on, what treatments, if any, have already been tried, etc.
The anamnesis is followed by a good clinical examination in which the horse is fully examined and scanned for any joint incidence, swelling at the level of tendons, pain spots, conformation abnormalities, ...
A movement analysis is the next step in the orthopedic research. The horse is examined on the lunge on a hard and a soft surface with additional bending tests. If necessary, this examination is supplemented by a ridden examination
The goal is to find the region where the pain/crushiness is coming from. For a more specific indication of the pain location, local anesthetics are then used.
Once the pain site is localized, medical imaging is applied to arrive at a correct diagnosis and thus to initiate appropriate treatment.
Tendon problems?
The cause of lameness is very often related to soft tissue problems.
Thanks to the specialized trainings, we can apply the correct treatment by a correct diagnosis and the use of ultrasound.
Ultrasound examination is indispensable to clarify which tendon is injured and in which stage this injury is located.
It is also important to prevent tendon injuries !
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Basic treatments
Of course you can also come to my practice for more routine treatments such as the (semi) annual vaccinations and a tailor-made deworming strategy for your horse and pony. Of course also for dental check ups and all other types of problems
For more information, you can always contact me.
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Emergency 24/7
Do you have a colic horse? A gaping wound? A wound with blood loss? A horse with a suddenly swollen thick leg? A horse that suddenly walks on 3 legs?
For emergencies I am available 24/7.
You can reach me on 0498357013