Our veterinarians are here to provide all aspects of wellness care for your horse!
Preventative medicine is crucial to help decrease the chances that your horse will become ill from a preventable condition. Preventative care appointments are also important to help establish our patients’ baseline normal exam findings. For this reason, our veterinarians do a brief physical examination at all vaccination appointments. This way, if your horse experiences an emergency or illness, our veterinarians are familiar with their baseline normal to quickly identify abnormalities.
Finally, these wellness visits are ideal for establishing that essential veterinary-client-patient-relationship (VCPR). VCPR is a legal requirement for our veterinarians to be able to script out medications (such as Equioxx or Prascend) as well as give basic advice over the phone without having to see the horse in person.
Vaccinations
Our veterinarians follow the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) recommendations for all our patients including adult horses, foals, and broodmares.
All horses, regardless of whether they leave the farm or not, should receive yearly spring vaccinations consisting of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), Western Equine Encephalitis (WEE), Tetanus, and West Nile Virus (WNV).
Rabies vaccine should be given to all horses once a year.
Influenza (Flu) and Rhinopneumonitis (EHV) boosters are recommended every 6 months for all horses, but recommendations can vary based on the horse’s individual situation.
Foals, or horses receiving vaccinations for the first time, require a vaccination booster series in order to achieve proper immunity. We are happy to discuss these plans with you.
Broodmares require additional pregnancy vaccinations to help protect their foals. We are happy to discuss these plans with you.
Dentistry
Our veterinarians follow the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) recommendations of performing an annual sedated oral examination of all adult horses. These exams are performed at the same time as ‘floating’/oral adjustment for most patients. Recommendations for the individual horse may vary regarding oral adjustments or more frequent oral exams. Please see the “Dentistry” section of services for more in-depth information on the services we offer.
Equine Infectious Anemia (Coggins) testing
It is recommended that every horse who is at a boarding facility, is showing, or will be traveling across state borders get a yearly Coggins. A current negative Coggins for horses over the age of 6 months is REQUIRED in order for our vets to be able to write a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (“health certificate”). This test consists of a blood draw that is submitted to an outside lab. The turnaround time is generally 3-5 business days. We understand that situations will arise where you need the Coggins result back quicker; please call the clinic if needed a 'rushed' Coggins.
Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI or “Health certificates”)
Our veterinarians need to have a current (within the last year) negative Coggins (EIA) test on the horse in order to sign a health certificate. If the horse has a current negative Coggins, we can get you the CVI paperwork the same business day as the exam, unless there are any concerning findings on the exam. Be sure to bring the Coggins test with you if another veterinarian performed it.
If you do not have a current negative Coggins test, we can do this testing at the same appointment as a health certificate exam, we simply have to wait for the negative EIA results before completing the CVI paperwork (turnaround time is approximately 3-5 business days).
Most health certificates are good for 30 days, but we recommend all clients check with their destination state and facility to be sure this is the case.
We will ask you to have all the following information for the visit: the full address and phone number of the destination the horse is hauling to, the hauler’s information, the date of hauling, and a copy of the current negative Coggins if not done by our clinic. You are welcome to email the information to us at [email protected] prior to the appointment as well!
Fecal floats/deworming
We follow the AAEP guidelines and recommend fecal egg per gram counts in the spring and fall to determine the best deworming frequency and product for your horse. We also recommend fecal egg reduction counts for some horses and can deworm your horse for you or dispense dewormer for you to give yourself.
Microchip placement/registration
We offer microchip placement for horse identification purposes and can register the microchips for you or allow you to register them yourself. Microchips are inserted in the nuchal ligament in the neck by the mane of the horse. Microchipping horses is ideal in general, but especially in areas like Colorado that have a high fire risk.