Clinical

Nursing care of geriatric donkeys

Donkeys form strong lifelong bonds with their companions. For this reason, donkeys should always be admitted to the practice with their companion. Separating donkey companions can lead to stress,...

Figure 1. Retropharyngeal and/or submandibular lymph nodes (pictured) are commonly abscessed during S. equi infection.

Nursing a horse with strangles

When a horse ingests or inhales S. equi, the bacteria move quickly to the lymph nodes around the head – most commonly the submandibular and retropharyngeal lymph nodes. By entering a lymph node,...

Figure 3. (A) Laterolateral and (B) left ventral-right dorsal oblique views of the mid-cervical vertebrae of a 6-year-old thoroughbred gelding presenting with ataxia. A rounded osseous fragment is visible at the cranioventral aspect of the left C4–C5 articular process joint, with mild to moderate enlargement of the joint and smoothly irregular periarticular new bone formation present.

Radiography and ultrasound of the equine neck

The first cervical vertebra (C1) or atlas has no ‘body’ or articular processes, though the cranial fovea articulate with the occipital condyles, and has a flattened shape caudocranially, with two...

Figure 1. Photograph (cranial-caudal) of a transverse sacropelvic anatomic section showing the right sacroiliac joint. Ultrasound-guided sacroiliac joint region injection was performed with methylene blue before dissection. Note the interosseous sacroiliac ligament (*) with some methylene blue staining, the ventral sacroiliac ligament (arrowhead) and the sacroiliac joint where the hyaline cartilage of the sacrum is stained with methylene blue. I=ilium; S=sacrum.

Diagnosis and treatment of sacroiliac joint region pain in horses

Sacroiliac joints are atypical diarthrodial joints, forming the articulation between the ventral aspect of the ilium and the sacral wing (Figure 1). The sacroiliac joint is angled at approximately 30°...

Figure 3. The simple descriptive scale for scoring recovery (R1)

Effect of temperament on recovery in isoflurane-anaesthetised horses

Data from 30 horses were included in the analysis. The sample consisted of 12 mares and 18 geldings of mixed breeds (10 Warmblood, four Thoroughbred, seven Cob, three Connemara ponies and six Irish...

Factors that cause bandage complications in equines and how they can be resolved

The causes of injury during the time a bandage is on and once it has been removed can be divided into primary and secondary. Primary injury refers to the time that the bandage is still in place, when...

Recovering horses after general anaesthesia

Considering the signalment of the horse is important in order to identify any aspects which may affect anaesthetic risk. Studies have identified the following to be associated with higher risks during...

Interpretation of distal limb nerve blocks in the horse

For diagnostic analgesia to be correctly interpreted, the horse must have a consistent lameness from which an improvement can clearly be seen. It can be difficult to appreciate an improvement in very...

Figure 3. Transtheoretical model of change by Prochaska and DiClemente (1984).

Applying the science of behaviour change to the management of strangles

The science of human behaviour change incorporates a breadth and depth of different disciplines and expertise that we can learn from, first to understand behaviour and then how to change it (Figure...

Figure 8. Standing ventriculocordectomy via a laryngotomy a) laryngotomy incision b) general positioning for the procedure c) intraoperative picture of the forceps grasping the everted ventricle.

Standing upper airway surgery: what can be done?

This occurs when the aryepiglottic membrane envelopes the rostral aspect of the epiglottis (Figure 1). The treatment for this is to transect the membrane to release the entrapped epiglottis; there are...

Figure 2. Here a proportion of the hay ration was mixed with straw to increase foraging behaviour and improve time spent with head and neck in a natural grazing position.

Optimising the welfare of equids on box rest: thinking outside the box

Ruet (2019) considers there to be four behavioural indicators of poor welfare state in horses: stereotypic behaviour, aggression toward humans, withdrawn state and the expression of stress...

Figure 3. The four categories of weight management

How human behaviour change science can help us manage obesity in horses

A useful way of thinking about how change happens is to divide it into stages, as in the stages of change model (Prochaska and Velicer, 1997; DiClemente and Prochaska, 1998) (Table 1)..