How to make an appointment
For professional ethical reasons and for the best interests of your horse, we will only make appointments to see horses for medical investigations or surgical procedures if they are referred by veterinary surgeons. Horse owners who call us directly will be asked to discuss referral with their own veterinary surgeon before an appointment can be made at Rossdales Equine Hospital or Diagnostic Centre. It is essential that if your horse is insured for mortality, loss of use or veterinary fees, you advise your insurance company of the circumstances, prior to admission of the horse.
When making an appointment for lameness investigation, we can provide advice as to whether your horse should be shod or not, whether you should continue to keep your horse in light work, and whether it should continue on any pain-killing medication up to the time of its appointment.
Our Hospital and Diagnostic Centre's office hours are Monday to Friday, from 8.30 am to 5.30pm and appointments are made by telephoning between those hours. Reception is manned between 9.00am and 11.30am on Saturday and Sunday mornings, to provide an information service for horse owners and referring veterinary surgeons, as well as for admitting routine and emergency cases. If your horse is admitted outside office hours, e.g. at the weekend, it will be the intern on duty who will meet you and handle the admission process, rather than the veterinary surgeon to whom your horse has been referred.
On arrival, you will be asked to sign a consent form, which must be signed before any investigations can commence. We will ask you to provide us with details about your horse’s history, to enable us to look after it as you would wish whilst it is in our care and we will ask to see its passport. If you are unable to accompany your horse to its appointment, please advise this when making the appointment and provide a contact number so that our clinician can telephone you to discuss additional details of your horse's history. The necessary paperwork can then be completed as appropriate, ahead of the appointment date.
