Wellness Program for Preventative Health
In an effort to help you keep your horse at his best, Woodside Equine Clinic offers a Wellness Program bundling preventative care services together at a discounted rate.
The service includes a physical exam, appropriate vaccines, yearly dental care and two fecal egg counts. Each plan has additional services specified to your horse’s needs.
Download the details and price of each Wellness Plan here.
Download the Vaccination Schedule here.
For each enrolled horse, you receive a coupon for any service in the 2017 calendar year. The coupons will be worth $40, $30 and $20 for the Gold, Silver, and Bronze programs, respectively. To ensure validity, please present your coupon at the appointment or let the clinic know when you would like to use it prior to service.
Our Wellness Plan Options:
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High Performance Gold PlanThis Wellness Plan provides the optimum preventative care for your high performance horse. This package includes twice yearly wellness exams with consultation about nutrition, soundness and parasite control. Biannual vaccines, a coggins test, two fecal egg counts, an oral exam and motorized dentistry with sedation are included. This plan also provides a musculoskeletal exam with limb palpation, full limb flexions and soundness evaluation in a straight line and on the lunge line. As an additional level of preventative care, two view front feet radiographs and a complete blood profile with chemistry analysis are included in this package. Includes $40 Coupon toward a service in 2017. |
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Silver Wellness PlanThis Wellness Plan is our most popular option. This level of care covers the needs of most horses in our practice. This package includes twice yearly wellness exams with consultation about nutrition and parasite control. Biannual vaccines, a coggins test, two fecal egg counts, an oral exam and motorized dentistry with sedation are included. A complete blood count and chemistry profile analysis at a discounted price. Includes a $30 Coupon toward a service in 2017. |
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Bronze Wellness PlanThis Wellness Plan is best suited for horses that seldom travel or are rarely exposed to new horses. This package includes a yearly wellness exam and consultation on nutrition and parasite control. Yearly vaccines, two fecal egg counts, an oral exam and motorized dental with sedation are included. Includes $20 Coupon toward a service in 2017. |
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Senior Bronze Wellness PlanOur Senior Bronze Wellness Plan is tailored especially for the more mature horse. This plan includes everything from the Bronze level but with the addition of a complete blood profile with chemistry analysis and an ACTH/Insulin laboratory test, the best way to test for metabolic ACTH is a steroid hormone that is increased with Cushing’s disease. Insulin is often elevated in horses with equine metabolic syndrome. Note that for scheduling, horses need to be fasted overnight and sampled first thing in the morning. Timing of these once yearly vaccines is important, therefore we recommend Bronze appointments be set up for late spring only. Includes $20 Coupon toward a service in 2017. |
 Woodside Equine’s Wellness Program fits the requirements of SmartPak’s ColiCare program. This program provides up to $7500 towards colic surgery as long as your horse is on SmartPak’s SmartDigestR Ultra and is receiving yearly Veterinary Preventive Medicine. Although we haven’t seen strong evidence that supports using a product such as SmartDigestR Ultra will prevent colic, we see this as another good way to provide you with the resources if your horse should ever need colic surgery. For details from the company, click here: SmartPak’s ColiCare |
Wellness Plan Service Descriptions:
Physical Exam and Consultation
A physical exam is one of a veterinarian’s most valuable diagnostic tools and is one of the most important aspects of routine preventative health care for your horse.
A physical exam includes evaluation of your horse’s vital parameters (temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate).
Your veterinarian will also auscult (listen to with a stethoscope) your horses heart, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract. Auscultation of these organs can identify heart murmurs or arrhythmias, abnormal lungs sounds indicative of various respiratory issues, and can potentially identify the presence of sand within the large colon.
A basic ocular (eye) exam is also performed to detect any significant abnormalities and/or age-related changes.The body condition of your horse will also be assessed and a weight tape will be used to estimate their weight.
Following the exam, your veterinarian can consult with you on any significant findings noted on the exam and address any questions or concerns you may have.
Vaccinations
In addition to proper management, vaccination is generally considered one of the important and cost effective methods of disease prevention. Your veterinarian will consult with you regarding the vaccination needs of each individual horse. Many major vaccine companies now offer vaccine guarantees, which provide financial assistance for diagnostics and treatment if your horse were to become ill from a disease that it has been properly vaccinated against. However, your veterinarian must be the one to vaccinate the horse to insure the vaccines have been properly handled.
Rabies
Rabies is a neurologic disease that is zoonotic (transmissible to humans) and is always fatal once contracted. This vaccine should only be administered by a licensed veterinarian. In Virginia, if the vaccine is not administered by a veterinarian, the horse is considered unvaccinated for Rabies.
Tetanus
Tetanus is a neuromuscular disease caused by the toxin of a bacterium that typically enters the body through a puncture wound. The bacteria are commonly found in the environment. Tetanus is a difficult and expensive disease to treat, and is potentially fatal. Eastern and Western Encephalitis: These two forms of encephalitis are both neurologic diseases which are almost always fatal, if not extremely difficult and expensive to treat. Mosquitoes transmit the disease to horses, as well as to humans. Our area is at a high risk for encephalitis, and unvaccinated horses infected with this disease rarely survive.
West Nile Virus
West Nile virus (WNV) is the leading cause of arbovirus encephalitis in horses and humans in the United States. This virus is transmitted by mosquitoes and causes severe neurologic disease. The virus cannot be transmitted between horses and humans.
Potomac Horse Fever
PHF is a bacterial infection transmitted by water-dwelling insects and causes diarrhea and has the potential to cause laminitis. The vaccine for PHF is not 100% effective in preventing the disease but is believed to lessen the symptoms and their severity if infected. Influenza: Influenza is a highly contagious respiratory virus transmitted from horse to horse via aerosolized nasal secretions. Equine Herpes Virus (Rhinopneumonitis): EHV is another highly contagious respiratory virus transmitted horse to horse via aerosolized nasal secretions. This virus generally causes an upper respiratory infection; however, there are different forms of the virus, some of which have the potential to cause other diseases, including a neurologic syndrome as well as abortion in pregnant mares. It is important for horses who are traveling or boarded with other horses to receive the Flu/Rhino combination vaccine twice yearly. If your horses potential exposure is higher due to a heavy travel schedule, your veterinarian may discuss more frequent vaccination for these diseases with you.
Oral Examination and Dental
In addition to a physical examination and vaccinations, routine dental care is another important aspect of your horse’s overall health care plan. As a part of our Wellness Program, a thorough oral exam will be performed under standing sedation with an oral speculum. Examination also includes the use of a mirror and a dental explorer/pick. If deemed necessary, motorized dentistry will be performed to remove any sharp enamel points which have developed and correct any mild abnormalities including hooks, ramps, or wavemouth. A thorough oral exam also allows us to identify more advanced conditions such as a loose or fractured tooth, or periodontal disease. Treatments for these types of conditions are not covered under the Wellness Program and are an additional charge. Sedation for the dental is included in the package.
Fecal Parasite Analysis and Sand Sedimentation
Due to the development of parasitic resistance, our approach to deworming is now based on fecal egg counts. This allows us to determine an individual horse’s parasite burden and develop a deworming program specifically based on that horse’s needs. Every horse should be dewormed a minimum of twice yearly. Any additional deworming will be based on the results of the fecal analysis. By using this method we are helping to reduce the overuse of dewormers. Keeping your horse’s parasite burden low may decrease the risk of colic, anemia, and respiratory problems which can arise due to migrating larvae. Included as part of the fecal analysis, is a sand sedimentation test. This test helps to identify horses carrying a large amount of sand in their gastrointestinal tract. Two fecal analyses per year are included in our Wellness Program.
Coggins Test
A Coggins test is a performed to identify the presence of antibodies in the horse’s blood against the Equine Infectious Anemia virus. This virus is transmitted by biting flies and there is no vaccine or cure for this disease. This test is required for most horse shows, boarding facilities, interstate travel, and for the horse to come to our clinic. A Coggins test is good for one year. A Coggins is included in our Gold High Performance and Silver Wellness Plans.
Soundness Assessment and Front Feet Radiographs
Our Gold High Performance Wellness Plan includes a muscular/skeletal exam which includes limb palpations, evaluation of your horse on a straight line as well as on the lunge line, and full limb flexions. Front feet radiographs are also included. Further diagnostics or treatment of any lameness noted in the exam is not included in the Wellness Program.
Complete Blood Count (CBC) and Chemistry Profile
A yearly CBC and chemistry profile are included in our Gold High Performance Wellness Plan and our Geriatric Bronze Wellness Plan. We are also offering just the CBC as an add-on option for our Silver Wellness Plan. This routine blood work is another tool in monitoring your horse’s overall health status. The CBC is used to identify any signs of anemia, infection, or inflammatory disease. The chemistry profile is an indicator of organ function by measuring enzymes and electrolytes in the blood and comparing them to a standardized range.
ACTH/Insulin/Glucose Laboratory Test
This year we are offering a Geriatric Bronze Wellness Plan that includes an ACTH/Insulin/Glucose test. ACTH is a steroid hormone that is increased with Cushing’s disease. Insulin and glucose are often elevated in horses with equine metabolic syndrome. Note that for scheduling, horses need to be fasted overnight and sampled first thing in the morning. Not sure what plan will best fit your horse’s needs? Please call our office to speak with one of our veterinarians who will be happy to consult with you.