What to do on arrival
Once parked and prior to unloading your horse, please report to the main reception office, located at the front of the hospital on your right hand side. The receptionists will check your details and the horse’s passport and will ask you to sign a consent form to allow the examination to be performed. There are toilets available.
Please allow at least 15 minutes before your appointment time for booking in a new case and then follow the procedure below:
- Unload your horse and proceed to the Diagnostic Reception Office, which is situated past the hospital on the left hand side. You will be met by a member of yard staff who will show your horse to his/her stable.
- You will then be shown to the Diagnostic Reception where there are toilets and you may help yourself to tea and coffee.
- The veterinary surgeon that will be assessing your horse will take a history from you and check some details. This is an important part of the examination.
- For lameness examinations, the initial examination of your horse will be performed in the stable, after which it will be taken to the trot-up area and the dynamic examination will be performed. Horses will be seen walking and trotting in straight lines as well as on the lunge. We have three different surfaces (hard, medium and soft) on which we can assess lameness. If the problem is most apparent when ridden, we like to observe the horse being ridden by the owner or normal rider, and then sometimes additionally by one of our riders, with your permission. We have an Ecotrack arena at the Diagnostic Centre, and jumps are also available.
- For horses who will be in-patients, care is taken to accommodate the need of each individual horse in relation to feed and bedding for the varied caseload. A veterinary surgeon and a nurse is on site at all times over night.
