Ever wanted to make sure your horse has the best standard of preventative care but not sure what you should be doing?

Do you want to get to know your vets so that we are better prepared to help you in times of need?

Would you like to access discounts on routine procedures and veterinary supplements?

Does paying monthly for this service appeal to you?

Here at Ridings Equine Vets we want to be part of your horses lives in the good times and not just the emergencies! We believe that if we can be involved in your horses preventative health care throughout the year we are better prepared to help whenever you have concerns. It is good to get to know you, what you do with your horse, your priorities and how you manage them on a day to day basis. This helps us to give you personalized advice and we know what it is possible for you to do in terms of management.

From an advice perspective we will always consider your horse as a whole including any concurrent conditions or requirements. For example when we are performing dentistry if you have other concerns and are not sure if the teeth are causing the problem or not we can discuss what else may be going on. If we are providing you with a worming programme we consider your horse's individual risk based on their veterinary history before advising if and which wormer to use.

All the information on what is included with our health plans and how much they are in available here:
https://www.ridingsequinevets.co.uk/health-plans-2/

Please note these health plans are not an alternative to insurance and we would still highly recommend your horse is insured to help with the costs of any emergency treatment required.

Personally I love our golden oldies plan, for our older friends (any horse over 13 for the purposes of the plan). The reasons why:

1. It means they will definitely get 2 full dental examinations a year. It is true that once horses get to a certain age they need less rasping HOWEVER they are more prone to dental problems such as diastema (painful gaps between teeth where food gets rotten and damages the gums), fractured teeth and EOTRH (see our previous blog!). A full dental examination with light sedation helps us to pick up any of these painful conditions.
2. It keeps them up to date with their annual vaccinations. Older horses can be more susceptible to infections, contrary to the belief that they do not need vaccinations if they have been vaccinated for many years, they actually need them more!
3. It includes annual blood tests - one of these is for equine cushings disease which we think affects around 1 in 5 horses over the age of 15 and many may only have subtle clinical signs before they come down with laminitis which we want to avoid. The other one is a general screen which tests things like red and white bloods cells, protein levels, kidney, muscle and liver enzymes. This may be an early indicator of any problems. With horses being prey animals they often don't show signs of disease until things are very severe and these blood tests act as an early detection system.
4. The annual check up is a great time for us to discuss how you are managing your golden oldie in general and any small concerns you may have about your horse that you might not otherwise have mentioned but that we can help you with.
5. Inevitably there will come a time when our golden oldies need extra veterinary attention. This plan means you will receive 5% off any extra professional work we do and if your horse needs any long term medication we will provide prescriptions free of charge.

If you would like to start a health plan application forms can be downloaded from our website from this page

Jess Timmins xx