Western Equine Veterinary Services

08/09/2025

You may be forgiven for thinking Dr Miranda was participating in a real-life re-enactment of the iconic vomit scene from The Exorcist 🤮🤮🤮, but in fact this was the result of working to clear an obstruction in a mare that had a condition known as “Choke”.

Oesophageal obstruction, or choke, is relatively common in horses. It occurs as a result of feed or a foreign object causing a blockage in the oesophagus, which is the muscular tube that carries feed from the mouth to the stomach.

Choke is often caused:
- when horses eat too fast (those piggy horses that bolt their feed)
- don’t chew their food properly (often due to dental disease)
- swallowing a foreign object (aka The Whole Carrot 🥕)
- eating when sedated
- inadequate water intake, or
- the presence of oesophageal disease.

Frequently signs include:
- Bilateral nasal discharge containing saliva and feed
- Coughing
- Gulping and excessive salivation
- Extension of the head and neck
- Sweating/colic signs
- General restlessness or malaise

Complications of choke include aspiration pneumonia and oesophageal trauma (mild to severe). The longer the obstruction is present, the higher the risk for, and severity of, complications.

If you suspect your horse may be “Choking”, please contact your veterinarian.
Whilst waiting for the vet to arrive, remove access to feed and keep your horse calm.
Please 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 do not try to “flush” or clear the obstruction yourself with a hose - this just increases the risk of aspiration.

26/08/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/1DvoLxe8Hk/?mibextid=wwXIfr

𝐒𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 💩🐛🌱

As horse-carers it is your job to know and understand the lifecycles of the parasites that infect your horses. Management of worms is not just about the worms that live inside your horse. One could be so bold as to say that the worms inside your horse are the least important part of the whole equation. In the long term, as with all infectious diseases, it is far more important to control/manage the source of the infection, rather than the infection itself.

The most important part of (strongyle) worm management in horses is managing the free-living larvae that live on your horses’ pasture. These are the infective stage, and the amount of larvae present on a pasture will have the greatest impact on the amount of worms living inside your horse.

In spring, when the weather warms up, the development of larvae from an egg (deposited in the horses’ manure) into an infective larvae speeds up. In optimal conditions (~15-25oC) this occurs in as little as 5 days. The overall lifecycle takes about 5 - 6 weeks, with a period of time where the larvae have to mature into an adult worm inside the horse before they can begin laying eggs again.

This is where you need to start thinking about the timing of the lifecycle and what is going to happen to your pasture over the next 5 months (Aug – Dec). Eggs will be shed, develop, be ingested, mature, begin shedding eggs again. In as little as five weeks, one egg can turn into an adult female worm that will be shedding 1000’s of eggs per day. Over spring, that can be up to four sets of lifecycles; the larvae will survive on the pasture throughout all of spring, so throughout each lifecycle, the number of larvae will continue to build up.

Horses will have immunity in place to limit the establishment of new worms, however the more infective larvae they are exposed too, the more likely it is their worm burden will increase. Additionally, when horses are exposed to high pasture larval loads, they are more likely to develop encysted larvae burdens. These encysted larvae may not cause a problem until the start of autumn, or even mid-winter the following year; what you do now is not just to manage worms during spring, but also for months in advance.

In spring, your job is to limit/manage how many larvae are on the pasture. How can you do this?

𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐅𝐄𝐂-𝐞𝐝, and then deworm your high shedding horses. If you go into spring by eliminating the majority of eggs being shed, you will be one step ahead. This does not mean deworming all of your horses. You can stop 95% of egg shedding by only deworming half your horses. Deworming those horses that are only shedding a few eggs will only cost you more in wormers and continue to drive drug resistance. High-shedding, young and immunocompromised horses may need to be FEC-ed early in spring and also again towards December.

Avoid manure build up. Sometimes it is difficult to stay on top of manure pick up so chose other ways such as not over stocking and resting paddocks if you cannot collect all manure.

Cross-graze, if possible. Rotate through other livestock (cattle, sheep etc) to clean off horse worm larvae. How you do this is up to you – it depends on paddock size, how fast the grass is growing, stocking rates.

For details on how to submit samples for testing, see the Sample Submission Page of the website for posted samples (can be Aust wide), or see the Store drop off Page on the website for all the upcoming in-store FEC drop offs across Victoria.

(NB: this is a repost - most posts, including this one, are also avaliable on the WormCheck Blog)

09/08/2025

We’re really happy with our new sponsorship sign at Elcho Park Equestrian Centre. ❤️ 🐎 🐴

08/08/2025

Our dedicated nurse Renee Pedretti is off for the next couple of weeks raising money for kids in need. Donations embraced ❤️:
https://fundraise.variety.org.au/fundraisers/car2278wonderland721

Morning coffee with a side of Wonderland magic! ☕✨
Excitement is building as we gear up for the 2025 Variety Bash – not long to go now! 🚗🎉
Big adventures ahead for Team Wonderland, and we can’t wait to hit the road for this amazing cause.

25/07/2025

Laminitis

With the recent rain, and fresh green grass we have been happily seeing about the place, we have been seeing a few cases of laminitis.

Laminitis is a painful and potentially devastating condition affecting horses hooves. In chronic or severe cases, it can lead to permanent, irreversible damage to the hoof structure.

Common causes include:
- Overeating lush grass or high-starch feeds
- Obesity or metabolic disorders (like EMS or Cushing’s)
- Stress or illness
- excessive weight-bearing on one leg, ie if the opposite limb has a significant lameness.

Early signs to watch for:
- Reluctance to move
- Shifting weight between feet
- Warm hooves or strong digital pulses
- Lameness, especially in the front feet
- sometimes we can see reluctance to eat, especially if fed on the ground as they need to shift more weight forward to reach the food = ouch!

Any lameness should be evaluated by a vet, but if you suspect laminitis then you should call your vet ASAP. Early intervention is key to a better outcome.

Prevention tip:
- Monitor diet and weight
- Avoid sudden changes in feed or pasture, especially to higher energy feeds
- Regular farrier care and vet checkups as sometimes we can pick up on subtle changes before we have a clinical lameness.

13/07/2025

08/07/2025

🌧️❄️Winter Woes ❄️🌧️

Call me weird, but winter is my *favourite* time of the year. The cold, the rain, the warm snuggly jackets and the fluffy woolly paddock poofs I get to visit all around the place. Unfortunately, there’s a few pesky little critters that also like winter for the same reasons I do…… LICE!

Lice are small, wingless insects, and whilst they cannot fly or jump from one animal to the next, they can spread very easily between horses through direct contact and shared rugs, saddle blankets, brushes etc.

For those of us that were triggered by the very mention of ‘lice’, it’s going to be ok- lice are host specific, so they generally don’t transfer to humans or other animals.

Typically we see itching and restlessness, but infestations can be associated with wounds due to traumatic rubbing/biting, anaemia, behavioural issues and ill-thrift.

Call us if your horse has any of the above symptoms, as it is always best to have your vet assess your horse and rule out any serious medical conditions that may produce similar signs or predispose to infestation.

25/06/2025

WINTER SPECIAL - DISCOUNTED IN FIELD GASTROSCOPY
Our gastroscopy service is back as Dr Miranda grows her expertise with all things EGUS (Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome). To accelerate this growth we are offering a discounted price on gastroscopy over the quieter winter months. $220 plus sedation + travel.
This is a great opportunity to check if that girthy, irritable or NQR horse may have stomach ulcers, without having to leave home or wait for an in clinic scoping day. No minimum numbers required.
Please note: horses will need to be boxed/yarded over night with ALL access to food/grass/bedding withheld for 12hrs prior. We also require safe barn/shed facilities with power to protect our equipment. We can take patients in for overnight boxing and scoping at our Werribee South facility if required.

20/06/2025

Kissing Spine - not as romantic as it sounds.

Kissing Spine Syndrome (KSS) is a condition where there is crowding and overriding of the dorsal spinous processes of the thoracic-lumbar vertebrae in horses. It is a relatively common condition, is associated with back pain and may manifest as difficult behaviours under saddle.

If your horse has shown signs of back pain, and you are worried they may have kissing spines, radiographs are a useful diagnostic tool to allow us to assess for the presence of impingement and characteristic bony changes suggestive of KSS.
Below on the left shows a radiograph of a patient we recently radiographed to check for KSS. The second image is an example showing impingement, modelling of the cranial edge of T13 & 14 (asterisks), as well as sclerosis and radiolucency at T15-T16 (arrowhead). Image credit: from http://doi.org/10.2460/javma.22.09.0419

05/06/2025

AFTERHOURS EMERGENCIES - LIMITED SERVICE FOR OUR ACTIVE CLIENTS AND PRE-BOOKED EVENTS.
With a plummeting global equine vet workforce (due to excessive hours and poor pay rates compared to other professions/trades), and online pharmacies and corporates undermining small vet businesses competitiveness, equine veterinary businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to staff / fund an afterhours service.
Despite tireless effort we find ourselves in the same position.
So we encourage all horse owners, including our clients, to ALWAYS have access to a float and have a plan B formulated in case an emergency happens and an ambulatory vet can not be reached. We are lucky where we are located because there are several world class 24hour equine hospitals in Victoria who will take in new clients after hours so long as you haul in.
At WEVS we value our clients and genuinely want to give back to those who support us. So we still aim to be available out of hours as best we can for our active clients (and pre-booked/paid events). By being an active client you contribute to funding the retainer fees we pay to have staff on call at night and on weekends.
To be an active client we only need to provide a routine in hours service once every 12 months. This can be basic husbandry services like annual health check and vaccination, dental assessment and filing, metabolic blood tests, soundness assessment, etc. We also especially appreciate our clients who help pay the wages by valuing our professionalism, goods and services - resisting the pull of online discounts and competitors 'package deal' temptations.

The article we've shared here outlines how the shortage of equine and large animal veterinarians is a global issue, and what practices are doing to manage the situation world wide.

Horse owners were surveyed about their equine veterinarian's policies for providing emergency services. Here are the responses.

13/05/2025

Horses do the darndest things!
The owner of this wee pony found her with a stick of about 5cm poking out of the back of her leg. They pulled out what they could, but the fine end broke off and a piece approximately 2cm long was left stuck under the skin.
This is the splinter mid-removal, and was *extremely* satisfying to locate and pull out.

(Video of removal in comments for those that love that sort of thing 😉🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️)

12/05/2025

VALE DR RAYMUND HORSEY
It is with a heavy heart we share news of the passing of our founder Dr Ray Horsey.
Ray is an icon of the equine and veterinary community in the west of Melbourne. He is the person so many people trusted and relied upon at all hours of every day throughout his illustrious veterinary career from the 1970s though to the late 2000s.
Western Equine Veterinary Services grew from the substantial goodwill and clinical standards Ray had established.
Ray was like a second father to so many people inside and outside of the veterinary community, including our Dr Nick. He was a people’s person and so naturally took those younger than him under his wing and championed and encouraged them to bring out their best. As a natural born leader and brilliant clinician, he inspired so many kids to pursue a career in veterinary science.
Ray was one of those people who you just wanted to be around. He told the best stories and had so many interesting tales to tell about his escapades particularly as a large animal veterinarian. He was a pioneer in his field and an unsung hero. Ray was never afraid to be the first to try new techniques and attempt difficult and intricate surgical procedures when euthanasia was the only other option.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Ray’s family in this difficult time. He leaves a massive hole in the hearts of so many he touched so profoundly over his lifetime. He truly was a great man who epitomised determination, resilience, effort, fairness and inclusiveness – everything good human beings should aspire to be.
Rest in peace.