Hard work, dedication, setting goals and a supportive team are all components of maintaining your equine athlete competing at a top performance level.  We provide comprehensive services and therapies specifically tailored and designed for your horse to attain excellent long term health and performance.

         Performance Exam:  Extensive physical exam to look for any swellings and strains in any area of the horse's anatomy.  Exam in hand, jogging the horse on a hard ground as well as exam of the horse under tack.  

          Wellness Exam:  The wellness exam tailors vaccination protocols to meet show requirements, deworming protocols best for the individual horse, and address any dental concerns.

          Nutritional Consultation:  Assess current diet and determine if all nutritional requirements are being met, also determine if any supplementations are needed.  

          Farrier Consultation:  Assess current shoeing strategy with farrier and determine if any shoeing changes are needed with x-rays of the feet before and after trimming and shoeing the feet. 

Digital Radiography

Wentworth Equine offers digital radiography which is easily portable and offers superior quality.  The x-ray unit is wireless and has increased diagnostic ability with high resolution images obtained in seconds.  The digital capability makes for ease of transferring, storing and or retrieving on multiple digital modalities.  Radiographs can be emailed anywhere or transferred and stored on jump drives.    

Digital Ultrasound

We also offer digital ultrasound exams with multiple high resolution probes.  This is a valuable imaging capability which allows us to evaluate, diagnose and monitor the healing progression of injuries and other problems.  Soft tissue structures such as tendons, ligaments, muscles, and internal organs can be imaged by the ultrasound machine.  Ultrasound waves do not penetrate bone, but the surface of bone can be evaluated by this technique to look for chips or roughening of the surface.  The machine is fully portable and easily used in the ambulatory field setting. 

Acupuncture

The practice of acupuncture evolved in China some time before 2700 BC to treat a myriad of human health problems.  These human acupuncture points have been translated to veterinary medicine to treat small and large animals.    This adjunctive therapy has been used to keep performance horses on the top of their game and an aid in treating medical problems in many equines.  Musculoskeletal problems such as back pain and arthritis have been treated with acupuncture with great results.  It has also proven to aid in treatment of medical problems such as GI ulcers, heaves, reproductive issues, and neurologic problems like radial nerve or facial nerve paralysis, and laryngeal paralysis.  

Aquapuncture

Aquapuncture is the practice of injecting a small volume of fluid in the acupoint.  The presence of the fluid provides continued stimulation to the point with pressure.  Fluids used in this practice can be used alone or in combinations of antiinflammatory medications, local anesthetics and homeopathic remedies. 

Electroacupuncture

This is another form of acupuncture which involves placing needles and applying gentle pulsating current to the site.  Stimulation of the acupoint can be varied by frequency and intensity of the current.  

Mesotherapy

This is a technique employed to treat primarily neck and back pain.  Very small needles are used on a multiport injector to deposit small amounts of fluid in long lines along the back side.  The injections are very shallow and small volumes are deposited in the middle layer of the skin, called the mesoderm.  The fluids injected can also be a combination of antiinflammatory medications, local anesthetics and homeopathic remedies.  In this location the injections stimulate the Giant Fibers which inhibit the transfer of pain back up the spinal cord to the brain, where the feeling of pain is registered.  The number and frequency of treatments vary depending on the diagnosed problem, chronicity and how the horse responds to initial treatments.  

Eye conditions and injuries can be painful and serious and usually need same day veterinary care.  It is pertinent to have a veterinarian examine the eye, determine a diagnosis, and promptly start the horse on a treatment program to avoid more complicated problems.  Certain breeds of horses are prone to certain diseases and should be monitored for any early onset.   

Signs of a painful eye may include:

        Swelling around the eye     

        Squinting

        Tearing

        Discharge that is not clear

An exam of the eye may include sedation of the horse, with placement of  local nerve blocks in the area to fully examine all aspects of the injury.  For local nerve blocks, a small amount of anesthetic will be injected very close to the nerve that innervates the area.  This will facilitate being able to clearly examine the eye, especially if the horse has the eye lids tightly closed due to pain.  The cornea may be sampled for infectious microbes and also may be stained to help identify any scratches on the surface of the eye.  Pressures in the eye can also be measured with a specialized instrument called a tonometer.  Conditions such as glaucoma may be diagnosed with high pressures or uveitis with measurements of low pressure.   

Common eye problems in the horse:

        Corneal Ulcers

        Conjunctivitis

        Eyelid Lacerations

        Equine Recurrent Uveitis

        Glaucoma

Because of the horses' anatomy, with the eyes set on the side of the head, bulging slightly, corneal ulcers are a common problem.  Foals grazing in tall grass may scratch an eye on a blade of grass, or horses in a windy environment may get a small piece of grit in the eye and cause a corneal ulcer.  Keep an eye out for the signs of a painful eye and call the veterinarian as soon as something abnormal is noted.  

How to treat an eye with ointment:

www.TheHorse.com/Video.aspx?vID=410

Wentworth Equine Veterinary Services provides high quality, complete health care with disease prevention recommendations.  Wellness programs afford peace of mind in ensuring that your horse(s) is being provided with the best possible preventative health care.  The programs combine vaccination schedules, deworming programs, dental care, routine wellness exams, and soundness exams tailored to your horse's needs.  The importance of designing the program for the individual horse is to identify potential concerns and address them before they become a problem.  Regular and timely exams ensure that your horse remains happy and healthy year round.   

Click on the following links for recommendations: 

AAEP Adult Horse Vaccination Chart

AAEP Foal Vaccination Chart

AAEP Parasite Control Guidelines

Lameness Exam

The goal of the lameness exam is to diagnose the problem and tailor a treatment protocol to address the issue.  The first step of this process is visual inspection of the horse for any abnormalities, along with a thorough hands on exam from the hooves up, and from nose to tail.  The hooves are tested with pressure by hoof testers.  Palpation of musculoskeletal structures and flexion of joints are performed to assess  for any pain responses, indicating a problem area.  Then, the horse will be observed in motion, in hand and under saddle.  It is helpful to observe the horse on a flat hard surface, such as an asphalt drive way, as well as other softer footing types, like grass fields and dirt and synthetic ring footings.  The final piece of the exam may incorporate the rider's added weight to observe the horse in modified work or as it normally performs.  

Once an area of concern has been noted, nerve blocks may be performed.  This is a technique where small volumes of anesthetic are injected in locations that block nerve transmission (temporarily freeze) of pain feelings.  This isolates the exact location of lameness issue.  

Once the are of concern is identified, diagnostic imaging is then used to examine the anatomical structure(s) that is injured.  Digital x-ray is able to image bone, whereas digital ultrasound techniques image soft tissues such as tendon, ligament, and muscle.  Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging are also other imaging modalities used to target the diagnosis.    

Depending on the outcome of all aspects of the exam, a targeted treatment protocol will then be designed.  Treatments can range from rest, cold therapy, oral topical and injectable medications, regenerative therapy and complementary alternative therapies targeted to the problem.     

Complete Blood Count (CBC)

Chemistry

Coggins Test (Equine Infectious Anemia)

Drug Screen