Services

Our veterinarians may do yearly wellness exams on your horse to ensure his or her overall health. A comprehensive physical exam, standard blood testing, and fecal analysis are all possible.

A dental exam, ocular exam, gait analysis/soundness exam, and nutritional consult are all optional procedures.

Taking a preventative approach to your horse’s health allows us to identify and treat health issues earlier, as well as build a deworming and nutrition program tailored to your horse’s specific needs.

Annual Rabies, EEE/WEE/Tetanus, and West Nile immunizations are recommended for all horses.

Depending on the horse’s risk factors, we also give Flu/Rhino, Strangles, Potomac Horse fever, Botulism, and Lepto vaccines.

More information can be found in the FAQ section.

We have a few tests available in house for emergency situations, and any other testing we can send out to our referral laboratories.

We provide 24 hour emergency services to our current clients.  During non-office hours, call the office number and listen for the prompt to be connected to the veterinarian on call.

Our veterinarians are happy to work with your farrier to assist in any necessary shoeing adjustments.  If it is required for the vet and the farrier to see the horse at the same time, we recommend scheduling a first call of the day appointment to ensure that the schedule works for both professionals.

We provide a full array of reproductive services targeted towards the mare.  Reproductive evaluations can include ultrasound, uterine culture, biopsy, or cytology.  We offer breeding mares with fresh or frozen semen as well as embryo recovery for embryo transfer.  If breeding with frozen semen or for embryo recovery we strongly encourage that mares are brought to the clinic at Essex Equine for better monitoring and success.  We do not provide services to stallions at this time (collection or semen evaluations).

Spinal Manipulation is the process of adjusting the skeletal system to restore joint function and support the nervous system. What is the crack sound? Well, that is the sound of pockets of air alleviated in the fluid surrounding the joints.

Acupuncture is the process of inserting thin needles into specific points on the body that help alleviate pain and inflammation and create an energy flow through eh body to strengthen overall health. We now offer electrical stimulation with acupuncture to help amplify the benefits of acupuncture.

Dental health is very important to equine well-being, especially as horses’ teeth continue to grow throughout their lives.  Domestic horses do not wear their teeth sufficiently to ensure a healthy mouth, so annual or bi-annual dentistry is needed to ensure teeth do not get too long or sharp.  The process of removing potentially harmful sharp points and edges from the cheek teeth is called rasping or ‘floating’. This is undertaken on an annual or bi-annual basis depending on the age of the horse and the health of the mouth. To start, a thorough examination of the mouth will be performed using a device called a speculum to safely keep the mouth open. This allows the practitioner to look and feel inside the horse’s mouth to check not only for sharp points but also for other problems such as broken or missing teeth. Essex Equine uses Power Float motorized rasps for teeth floating. Motorized equipment in the right hands can be a very effective tool for both routine floating and the specific management of dental irregularities.

Owning a horse can be a big investment in time, money and emotion. Unfortunately, horses seldom come with a money-back guarantee. That’s why it is so important to investigate the horse’s overall health and condition through a purchase exam conducted by an equine veterinarian. Whether you want a horse as a family pet, a pleasure mount, a breeding animal or a high-performance athlete, you stand the best chance of getting one that meets your needs by investing in a purchase exam.

The veterinarian’s job is neither to pass or fail an animal. Rather, it is to provide you with information regarding any existing medical problems and to discuss those problems with you so that you can make an informed purchase decision. Your veterinarian can advise you about the horse’s current physical condition, but he or she cannot predict the future. The decision to buy is yours alone to make. But your equine veterinarian can be a valuable partner in the process of providing you with objective, health-related information.

A typical pre-purchase examination consists of a physical exam, an evaluation of the horse in motion, including joint flexion tests, and radiographs of any areas that the veterinarian and potential buyer identify as areas to investigate further. Bloodwork may also be drawn to perform tests as recommended by the veterinarian.