Veterinary

“Bleeder” is a term given to a horse that has blood present from one or both sides of its nose after strenuous exercise such as racing or galloping during training.  To be classified as a bleeder, the blood must come from the horse’s lung (hence the name Exercise Induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage or EIPH) and not just from a nose bleed.  To confirm that a horse is a bleeder, its upper airway (throat and windpipe) is are examined with a camera called an endoscope.  If the horse is confirmed as a bleeder, the rules of racing stipulate a compulsory period of recovery time in which the horse cannot race.

• Race Day Vet Report (Bleeder).pdf

• Race Day Vet Report (Roarer).pdf
  

•  Race Day Vet Report (Lameness).pdf

• Race Day Vet Report (Respiratory Disease).pdf
  

The term Gelding refers to a horse that has been surgically castrated.  The procedure is often performed on male horses to assist with both stable management and safety in addition to improving a horse’s ability to relax and focus when racing.

• Gelded horses.pdf

Orthopedic surgery refers to any surgery to bones, ligaments or tendons.  In racehorses the two most common types are arthroscopic surgery where a small camera is inserted into a horses joint using key hole surgery to remove chip fractures or damaged cartilage in the joint and fracture repair where screws and occasionally metal plates are inserted into broken bones.

• Orthopedic surgery.pdf

Upper airway surgery is any surgery performed within the throat of a horses.  Depending on the condition being treated it can be performed standing with a laser or under general anesthetic either through the mouth or via a skin incision on the neck.  The most common upper airway surgeries in horses are Tie Back operations for Roarers (the horses airway opening does not work properly and causes an obstruction to breathing) and Epiglottis Entrapment surgery where part of the opening to the trachea gets caught in a piece of tissue.  

• Upper Airway Surgery.pdf