Whether your horse is an equine athlete or a retired companion, spring is a great time to have a spring wellness exam performed on your horse. Spring wellness exams are routine exams to make sure your horse is happy and healthy as they transition out of winter and gear up for summertime. These exams address preventative health and are a great way to evaluate any goals you may have for you and your horse.
Spring wellness exams are a proactive way to evaluate health and wellness as well as provide a multitude of benefits for you and your horse. Your veterinarian will perform an overall physical exam, administer core and risk-based vaccines, discuss parasite prevention, and perform an oral/dental exam. It is also a good time to request routine bloodwork, discuss nutrition, evaluate soundness, and update Coggins tests as you and your horse gear up for traveling to shows or hitting the trails. Routine wellness exams also allow you and your veterinarian to catch smaller issues before they evolve into greater health concerns, which can minimize the impact of health costs on your wallet.
Physical exam
When your veterinarian performs a physical exam, they gather information including your horse’s vitals, body condition score, and overall appearance. Vitals such as heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, and gastrointestinal sounds are taken to make sure the values are within normal limits. Body condition score is a scale used to objectively rate the overall body condition of your horse. This scale can help determine if your horse is at an ideal weight, overweight, or underweight. Together you and your veterinarian can develop a plan for your horse to reach an ideal weight if necessary. A horse’s coat can also lend insight into a horse’s overall health. Whether or not your horse is shedding their coat properly can be indicative of metabolic diseases such as Cushing’s disease (PPID) or equine metabolic syndrome (EMS). By catching diseases like this early on, it can prevent catastrophic health conditions later such as laminitis.
Vaccines
Spring is a great time to make sure your horse is up to date on vaccinations. Vaccines are the best way to help protect your horse from various diseases. Often, they are required for travel or horse shows, as well. There are two classes of vaccines: core vaccines and risk-based vaccines. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), core vaccines “protect from diseases that are endemic to a region, those with potential public health significance, required by law, virulent/highly infectious, and/or those posing a risk of severe disease.” It is encouraged that horses receive core vaccines annually as patients receive great benefit with low risk.
- Eastern and Western equine encephalomyelitis (EEE and WEE)
- Rabies
- Tetanus
- West Nile virus (WNV)
Risk-based vaccines can be discussed with your veterinarian based on your horse’s individual needs, herd status, and geographic region.
- Anthrax
- Botulism
- Equine herpesvirus (EHV-1 and EHV-4)
- Equine influenza (EIV)
- Equine viral arteritis (EVA)
- Leptospirosis
- Potomac horse fever
- Rotavirus
- Snake bite
Please reference our equine vaccination guidelines for more information on vaccine recommendations.
Parasite prevention
Parasite prevention also plays a role in spring wellness exams. Consult your veterinarian to make sure your herd is on a suitable parasite prevention program. Your veterinarian may also advise a fecal egg count once a year to analyze the success of parasite control. It is typically recommended that horses are dewormed biannually – once in the fall and once in the spring.
Please reference our recommended deworming schedule for further information on equine parasite prevention and deworming protocols.
Oral exam
Dental health is another key factor in equine wellness. Dental health is imperative to making sure your horse’s mouth is comfortable and that they are properly receiving the nutrition they need. If your horse has had a recent dental float and has no other oral concerns, your veterinarian may do a brief teeth check by peeking into their mouth and feeling the first few molars. However, a proper complete oral exam requires a horse to be sedated and have their mouth opened with an oral speculum. This allows for a more thorough oral exam to rule out any underlying concerns such as fractured or missing teeth or diseases such as equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis (EOTRH). If any sharp points on their teeth are observed, then a dental power float can be performed.
Additional services
Bloodwork
Bloodwork may be performed to provide baseline values for your horse if requested, to check for diseases such as Cushing’s or EMS, or if recommended by your veterinarian.
Coggins test
A Coggins test is a blood test that checks for the presence of equine infectious anemia (EIA), which is a contagious viral disease with no known cure. It is required to have a negative test to travel between state lines and is often required at boarding facilities and horse shows. It is encouraged to have a Coggins test done annually.
Nutrition
With spring, comes lush green grass and likely a higher workload for your horse. These are both topics to discuss with your veterinarian to help evaluate your horse’s nutritional needs. Spring grass is high in starch and sugars, so it is important to limit a horse’s intake that has metabolic diseases such as PPID and EMS and/or is prone to laminitis. It is also a good time to consider what your horse’s workload will look like and what additional nutritional needs they may have as they rebuild their fitness coming out of winter.
Sheath cleaning
Sheath cleanings are an important component of owning a gelding or stallion. A buildup of smegma (combination of lubricating mucous, dead skin cells, and oils) and other debris in the horse’s sheath can cause discomfort while urinating. Sheath cleans also allow the owner or veterinarian to look for other abnormalities such as tumors.
Soundness evaluation
As your horse’s level of activity increases, it may be a good idea to have a soundness evaluation done. Many horses have time off during the winter due to colder temperatures and less daylight. As they are brought back into work, they may exhibit lameness from soreness, injuries, arthritis, or other causes. With a soundness exam, your veterinarian can evaluate whether your horse is demonstrating any signs of lameness. During a lameness or soundness exam, your vet will observe your horse move, perform a musculoskeletal exam, flexion tests, any indicated imaging, and develop a plan for your horse, if necessary, that aligns with your goals.