NewsletterJanuary 2020

NEWS FROM THE WEST OF OUR PRACTICEWe are delighted to announce that we

will be providing future veterinary services to the equine clients of Tamar Vets from January 2020. Over the past four years we have been working with Tamar Vets and their clients on a referral basis, providing supplementary diagnosti c services and treatment. When the directors of Tamar Vets decided to concentrate on their small animal work it was an honour to be asked, as a neighbouring independent practi ce if we would provide ongoing care to their clients. We already work throughout the

Bradworthy, Bude and Holsworthy areas on a daily basis and look forward to meeti ng new clients on routi ne or emergency visits in due course. We will have a base at the Tamar Vets premises in Bude, Holsworthy and Bradworthy. Medicines will be able to be ordered and collected in the normal way.For existi ng and new clients in the Bradworthy, Holsworthy and Bude areas, we have a new, dedicated equine telephone line for all routi ne and emergency calls which is 01409 331009 (the existi ng 01271 879516 number also remains in use).In additi on, our local Torch surgeries can

also be contacted on:● 01288 270670 Bude● 01409 331007 Holsworthy/Bradworthy● 01237 870456 BidefordWe have an additi onal zone day on a Tuesday and have slightly altered our Wednesday and Thursday areas - more informati on can be found in the enclosed leafl et. In additi on, we of course conti nue to provide pre-booked and emergency visits to all areas as required.

Independent vets, dedicated caret: 01271 879516 e: info@torchequinevets.com

torchequinevets.com

Wishing all of our clients a happy and healthy New Year!Thank you for your conti nued support throughout 2019.

We saw more horses than ever and welcomed many new clients to the practi ce. Considering the nati onal picture of practi ce acquisiti ons by private equity fi rms/corporate companies, it was a pleasure to be asked by Tamar Vets to take over the care for their equine clients. This move also provides our existi ng clients in this region with local medicine pick up locati ons.

We are fortunate that we care for such a range of horses. Nothing gives me personally more pleasure than followinglocally bred horses throughout their careers. This year in parti cular many have succeeded on the county, nati onal and internati onal scenes in showing, dressage, NH and fl at racing, eventi ng, driving, endurance and show jumping. Well done to you all and we wish you all a very enjoyable 2020.

Kindest wishes from Marti n, myself and all of the Torch Equine Vets team.

INFLUENZA AND VACCINE REMINDERS - WHAT’S NEW?

As many of you will be aware, due to the Influenza outbreak in 2019 several of

the UK governing bodies for the equine world are continuing their requirement for six-monthly boosters. Prior to the outbreak the FEI and some European horseracing jurisdictions already required six-monthly boosters. The graph below depicts why six-monthly boosters are being recommended, You can see that immunity against Influenza has decreased significantly by six-months post-vaccination. There seems to be consistent evidence that reducing the vaccination interval from 12 to six months reduces the risk of outbreaks. Many clients have recently requested six-monthly vaccine reminders to assist them

in keeping their vaccines up to date and eligible for competition. For this reason, all clients will now receive six and 12 monthly vaccine text reminders which we hope will be of assistance.

Many clients may wish to continue vaccinating at the 12 month interval; this is fine - you will continue to receive an annual text reminder if you do not act upon the six-monthly reminder.

We will be updating our gold, silver and bronze Equine Total Health Care Plans so there is a six-montly vaccination option available which takes advantage of the 10% discount.

Those on the schemes will be contacted and if you are not currently on a scheme

but would like further information about the savings you can make, please visit our website torchequinevets.com or call us on 01271 879516.

If you do not currently receive text message reminders but would like to receive them, please get in touch.

The future?

The horseracing (and horse sports) authorities within Europe are currently in consultation. It is anticipated that an ‘across the board’ six-monthly booster requirement may be introduced in January 2021. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) currently have an eight-month booster requirement with a one-month grace period!

Immunity to equine flu and the role of vaccination

Adapted from Paillot et al. (2017) Equine Vaccines: How, When and Why? and reflecting the latest advice from the Animal Health Trust and British Equine Veterinary Association

Protected against flu

Booster vaccination

Leve

l of i

mm

unity

High risk of infection V1

V2V3

4-6 weeks 4-6 months

Primary vaccination course

6 months 6 months

To assist you in vaccinating new or elapsed horses we are running our annual vaccination offer this

February and March. This year we are pleased to be able to additionally offer Equine Herpes Virus as part of the promotion - watch this space for further information!

VACCINATION OFFER ON INFLUENZA, TETANUS AND

EQUNE HERPES VIRUS FEBRUARY & MARCH 2020

. Don’t forget - reduced call-out fees are available through our zone visit scheme. More information is available in the enclosed leaflet.

Take advantage of the first two Flu & Tetanus vaccinations in a course of three for just £50, or

a complete course of two Tetanus vaccinations for £35.

EXCITING NEW SUPPLEMENT LAUNCHED Available exclusively through veterinary

surgeons, we are delighted to be able to off er this new product to our clients.

‘BozMerix’ is a palatable, aniseed fl avoured supplement. It is free from prohibited substances so safe to use in competi ti on horses, and designed to help with orthopaedic functi ons so can help with horses that are:

• Showing signs of sti ff ness• Older• Rehabilitati ng• Undergoing training and competi ti on

It is ‘kind to the gut’ and can be a parti cularly useful additi on to their daily rati on, or as an alternati ve for those on long term ‘bute’.

BozMerix contains four key ingredients:

Curcuma Longa – The concentrated acti ve ingredient of Tumeric but with 85 ti mes higher oral absorpti on to horses. It is also a proven anti -oxidant.

Avocado/Soybean - Unsaponifi able (ASU) – shown to increase producti on of glycoaminoglycans and assist with maintenance of normal carti lage.

Omega Powder concentrate – anti -infl ammatory properti es and proven to increase stride length in horses.

Boswellia Serrata – a popular anti -infl ammatory.

BozMerix is easy to use and palatable. It comes as a daily feeding sachet in boxes of 60. It is recommended to feed 1 sachet daily for horses at rest or light work or 2 sachets daily during intensive exercise or following surgery. Please speak to your vet or give us

a call to fi nd out more. Further informati on is also available on the supplements page on our website: torchequinevets.com

We are hosti ng a gastroscopy clinic day at Mullacott Veterinary

Practi ce on Thursday 30 January.

Call our equine team on 01271 879516 to book your horse onto the clinic to take advantage of a reduced scoping price of £160, which includes sedati on and vat.

Concerned your horse might have ulcers?Any equine can be suscepti ble to Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS), no matt er their job or breed. Signs of uncerati on can be vague and oft en mistaken for other symptoms or behavioural problems. Clues that your horse may be suff ering include:

• Changes in behaviour and temperament• Poor performance or a noti ceable drop in performance• Weight loss or inability to maintain conditi on• Resistance to girthing or riding aids.

What to do if you suspect gastric ulcersThe best way for us to confi rm diagnosis is to perform a gastroscopy. This involves passing an endoscopic video camera into the stomach to assess the presence of

ulcerati on. Pictured below are glandular haemorrhagic ulcers found at the exit of this 12 year old event horse’s stomach (Pylorus). This parti cular horse was treated with two oral medicati ons and responded well.

GASTROSCOPY CLINIC DAY THIS MONTH: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SIGNIFICANT SAVINGS

A NOTE FOR CLIENTS WITH SMALL ANIMAL ACCOUNTS

With the evoluti on of Torch Farm & Equine and Charter Veterinary

Hospital Groupn (CVHG), the two businesses are increasingly separate.

As a result, it has become impossible for

Torch Equine to off er account faciliti es on small animal work with CVHG. All future small animal work with CVHG will now be under the account terms of CVHG. We appreciate that this will be a change for some of our valued equine clients but regret

that it has become impossible to conti nue to off er this account facility.

Independent vets, dedicated caret: 01271 879516 e: info@torchequinevets.com

torchequinevets.com

HAVE YOU GIVEN YOUR HORSE THEIR WINTER WORMING DOSE?

Now that the fi rst frost has passed it is once again ti me to ensure your

horses have received their annual winter worming treatment.

Moxidecti n is used to specifi cally target the encysted larval stages of small redworms (Cyathostomes) which cannot be detected by a worm egg count. Following a cold spell, redworm larvae go into hibernati on within the horse’s gut lining. This can lead to life threatening diarrhoea, gut damage and colic when the larvae emerge en mass in the spring.

There is an emphasis on waiti ng for the fi rst frost as this is the best ti me to break the worms’ life cycle in one fell swoop by killing all the larvae picked up from the pasture just as they are getti ng ready to hibernate.

Those taking advantage of the money saving benefi ts of our Equine Total Health Care Plans and Targeted Worming Programme, will already have received their dose of Equest Pramox via the post.

Worming intelligence

Through our Targeted Worming

Programme we conti nue to save hundreds of unnecessary worm treatments each year. Take a look at the graph below which demonstrates the high % of samples showing less than 250 eggs per gram and therefore not requiring treatment across 2019. We strive to follow the most up to date knowledge in the fi eld of parasitology and conti nue to update our protocols accordingly. This year, we will

be distributi ng a new questi onnaire to our programme members to gather more informati on on your horse’s environment and management conditi ons, allowing us to build an even more targeted approach to each individual horse.

A CHEEKY UPDATE..... We are pleased to support local rider

Tichy Sanders and her beauti ful pony ‘Cheeky.’ They had a brilliant 2019, with some huge achievements. Here, in her own words, is a summary from Tichy of the adventures this lovely partnership had last year:

“Wow! What a year Cheeky and I have had! We have travelled all over the country

and competed at some wonderful venues.

We have represented Devon at the Inter County, represented the south-west at the Inter Regionals and rode as part of the England team for the Home Internati onal. We won the Novice Under 25 music at Sheepgate and then came 4th in the Nati ves NetTex Finals at Elementary.

We had a slight blip in the middle when Cheeky wasn’t picking up a contact and at ti mes putti ng his tongue over the bit.

But, with help from a Torch Equine vet who checked out his teeth and then suggested trying an a anatomical bridle, Cheeky started going bett er than ever before. Next year, I really hope that we can do it all again. The experience has been fantasti c. Thank you Torch for your support!

Love from Tichy and Cheeky”

“This was during our test at the BD Home Internati onal. I was the youngest competi tor and everyone was very friendly and gave me lots of advice. Now I’m training very hard in the hope of being picked again for the teams. But this ti me I want to win!”

Please remember that we have ‘cash’ prices available on many routi ne

medicines such as Prascend™, Danilon™, Equipalazone™ and Pepti zole™.

These discounted prices are available when payment is made upon collecti on and as a result, the need to supply paper prescripti ons for clients purchasing online is minimal.

We have daily collecti on sites based at Mullacott (Ifracombe), South Molton, Barnstaple – Bridge house in Pilton and Charter Hospital – Roundswell, Bideford, Torrington, Holsworthy, Bude and Bradworthy. Many of these sites have a facility for ‘out of hours’ collecti ons if you require.

If the medicines are not in stock at the parti cular clinic then medicines are moved around the practi ce on a daily basis ensuring that same day or next day collecti on is possible.

NEWS FROM OUR PHARMACY: