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Take a look at our equine services
Our vets are happy to carry out all types of emergency and routine veterinary care for horses, ponies, and donkeys. We offer an ambulatory service to all areas of Derbyshire and the Staffordshire Moorlands.
We offer a Zone Visit scheme for routine equine work. Take a look here!
Go to Equine Zone Visits
Order your horse's medication here!
Go to Farm & Equine Medication Order
Atypical Myopathy disease is caused by the sycamore seed also known as ‘helicopters’ affecting horses. Ingestion of the seeds by horses causes muscle damage which includes the muscles controlling breathing and the heart.
Clinical signs can look like mild colic but also include muscle weakness, dark coloured urine, lethargy progressing into recumbency and breathing difficulties. The disease can be fatal with already one case diagnosed this year.
If you have sycamore trees in or near your fields then if possible avoid grazing in these fields is ideal. If this is not possible then remove and burn as many of these seeds and supplementing any poor grazing to prevent your horse eating any.
Worming your horse is very important, however resistance to available wormers is getting worse.
The most common worms are:
Regular worming without knowing which worms are present creates a worm resistant population that can’t then be treated. This can potentially cause colic, poor nutrient absorption and poor performance. A short animation video can be viewed at www.moredun.org.uk/news/war-worms-animation that explains this further.
New thoughts on how to worm and when
We strongly advise to collect a faecal sample from your horse during the grazing season and have it analysed for how many eggs are present. If the egg burden isn’t high then worming is contraindicated. If the number of eggs is above the reasonable threshold then your vet will recommend a suitable wormer.
Tapeworm and the small redworm CANNOT be detected via looking for eggs in faeces. A blood test is available to test for both these worms but a new saliva test is now available for tapeworm detection.
Other ways of reducing worms:
Pasture management
Biological control
Benefits to you by testing for the worms in your horse
Reduced cost of wormers by using only the correct ones at the correct times if at all!
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