We offer a comprehensive list of veterinary health care for horses and donkeys at Western Ontario Equine Services. Located in Ilderton, we treat animals throughout Southwestern Ontario for routine veterinary care as well as dentistry, reproduction services and more.
With 2 well-equipped mobile units, we provide emergency care for colic, wounds and medical issues 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We look forward to working with your animals; contact us today to schedule an appointment.
Click on the links below to find out more about the services we offer:
We offer performance dentistry and corrective floating as well as dental radiographs to diagnose diseased teeth and sinuses. A thorough exam is included to identify any malocclusions, sharp points, front or rear hooks and ramps, tall teeth and wave mouth arcades.
Many of the problems resulting from lack of routine dental care develop slowly. It is always best for your horse if you schedule regular dental exams and procedures.
Schedule an appointment with us immediately if you note any of the following symptoms:
Why Horses Need Dental Care
A horse’s mouth could be compared to a steering wheel on a car. A horse with a healthy mouth has power steering. Regular dental care removes irritation and malocclusions and helps maintain your horses’ health and performance. It’s also cost-effective. A healthy horse requires less feed to obtain required nutrition.
About Your Horse's Teeth
Horses have hypsodont teeth. Contrary to human teeth that remain the same for a lifetime, equine teeth continue to grow and wear down throughout its life.
A horse's teeth pulverize fodder and crush grain with a side to side chewing action. This lateral motion creates sharp edges (called points) and irregular surfaces on the teeth. Points can be painful and may actually cut the inside of the horse's cheek.
Before we domesticated horses for our use, they spent 12-16 hours a day grazing on coarse forage. Chewing forage necessitates wider lateral movement than chewing the grain and pellets we feed our horses. As a result, modern feed does not encourage the more regular tooth wear found in wild horses.
Uneven biting and chewing surfaces make it difficult for the horse to process feed and get the nutrition it needs for optimum health and performance. Incomplete chewing of feed leads to incomplete digestion and nutrient absorption (and sometimes colic). A painful or unbalanced mouth makes the bit uncomfortable and leads to performance problems and difficulty in riding or driving the horse.
Performance Dentistry & Maintenance
Horses need dental care throughout their lives. Regular dental maintenance corrects problems before they jeopardize the horse's health and performance.
Recommended Dental Care Schedule
Types of Dental Problems in Horses
Incisors
Molars
Wolf Teeth
Caps
Other Problems
We offer comprehensive lameness examinations and diagnostics including digital radiography and ultrasonography, cryotherapy, joint injections, and Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy.
With our portable digital radiography systems we are able to acquire amazing DR images quickly and easily both at our mobile home base and on-site at the farm.
Pre-Purchase Examinations
These exams are tailored to each prospective buyer's requests and may include a full physical exam of the horse, medical history, performance exam and flexion tests.
Digital radiography, ultrasonography and endoscopy are offered as imaging modalities. Radiographs are routinely taken as part of the pre-purchase exam. A full set of x-rays provides valuable information by which to base the purchase decision, a baseline for that particular horse and a basis for later proving that insignificant x-ray changes in the horse have been unchanged over a period of time.
This includes annual vaccinations such as rabies, tetanus, eastern/western equine encephalitis, west nile virus and flu/rhino. We also offer general health exams, insurance exams, Coggins tests, Complete Blood Count (CBC) and biochemistry blood work as well as fecal exams, deworming and nutritional advice.
Internal parasites, or worms, are silent thieves and killers. They can cause extensive internal damage, with the effects ranging from a dull hair coat, unthriftiness, colic and even death. They lower your horses’ resistance to infection, steal valuable nutrients and can cause permanent organ damage.
Whichever deworming product or program you use, it is important to have your veterinarian perform occasional fecal egg counts to make sure your deworming program is effective.
At Western Ontario Equine Services we utilize the McMaster Quantitative Egg Count. This gives us a precise number of parasite eggs per gram of feces, and identification of the type of parasite present.