Making an appointment at the Hospital & Diagnostic Centre
If you are a veterinary surgeon and would like to refer a case to us for examination or treatment, please contact our hospital reception team on 01638 577754, or complete our online referral form.
If you are a horse owner, and you wish your horse to be referred to us for examination or treatment, please contact our reception team on 01638 577754. Referral must be done with the prior knowledge and approval of your usual veterinary surgeon. This is important both for professional and ethical reasons, and also to ensure the seamless continuity of care and transfer of information when your horse returns home.
If your horse is insured for vets fees, loss of use or mortality, please ensure that you have notified your insurance company prior to referral, and (where the policy requires) received their confirmation that valid insurance cover is in place.
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 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.
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 secretarial team will send you appropriate paperwork electronically, which must be signed and returned to us ahead of the appointment date. 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 the 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.
Check list prior to a Diagnostic Centre appointment
All horses must be referred by your veterinary surgeon
If your horse is insured, please inform your insurance company that you are bringing your horse to Rossdales Equine Diagnostic Centre.
Paperwork: Remember to bring your horse’s passport. Please try to ensure that we have any relevant veterinary history and images beforehand. This can help prevent unnecessary duplication of e.g. X-Rays and thus help keep costs down.
Mare owners: please inform us if you suspect that your mare will be in season when you bring her to our Diagnostic Centre. Some investigations, such as nuclear scintigraphy (bone scan) are more difficult to perform at this stage of the cycle and sometimes it is worth rearranging the appointment date. Please feel free to ring the hospital to discuss this with us.
Lameness/Poor Performance Examinations
Keep in work: For low grade lameness and performance issues your horse should be kept in work and normal turnout until the appointment date, unless your veterinary surgeon indicates otherwise. Lameness will often subside with rest, so this helps ensure that your horse is clinically lame at the time of admission. It is frustrating for owners to make long journeys to be told that their horse is not lame enough to allow a lameness examination to be performed. If in doubt, please telephone us to discuss with the clinician.
Shoeing: All horses should be shod, if they normally wear shoes, preferably in the shoes that they have been wearing in the weeks up to referral as this can reveal the cause of lameness whilst new shoes may not. An accurate lameness evaluation is also compromised if shoeing is very overdue.
Unshod horses often become foot-sore when trotted up for lameness examination. This can be confusing and complicate the diagnosis of the true lameness.
Medication: All anti-inflammatory drugs or analgesic medication should be stopped at least 48 hours before your appointment date unless welfare considerations necessitate their use. These drugs can mask clinical signs and lameness and make adequate examination impossible.
Tack/Rider: Please bring the tack that you normally use for the horse as it may be necessary for our veterinary surgeons to see the horse being ridden under tack. It is preferable that the horse’s regular rider is available in such circumstances, although if this is not possible, we may be able to arrange for a member of our staff to ride your horse, with your permission.
Boarding: Until your horse is examined, it may be difficult to know whether the assessment and treatment will take a couple of hours or involve an overnight stay. Bone scan cases stay for a minimum of two days and MRI cases usually stay overnight. You might like to bring with you your horse’s rugs, relevant medication, etc. in this case. We feed either hay, haylage or soaked hay and offer basic hard feed options (pony nuts/pasture mix and chaff); if your horse has a more complex diet, you may wish to bring your own feed.
MRI: If your horse has an MRI scan, the shoes will be removed following the initial examination at the clinic. If deemed appropriate, or if you request, we normally will be able to arrange that the shoes are replaced, or corrective farriery undertaken.
Check list if your horse is being admitted for a surgical procedure
Paperwork: Remember to bring your horse’s passport. Please try to ensure that we have any relevant veterinary history and images beforehand. This can help prevent unnecessary duplication of e.g. X-Rays and thus helps keep costs down.
Insurance: Please inform your insurance providers that you have an appointment booked and bring insurance details (including a claim form) with you to the appointment, if applicable.
Shoeing: All horses should be shod, if they are normally shod. There is usually no need to remove shoes for anaesthetic.
Box Rest: If having a GA ,the horse will (almost certainly) have a period of box rest afterwards. To reduce the risk of colic, we advise that horses are used to being in the box, rather than coming in from full paddock turnout.
To reduce the risk of infection, please make sure your horse is clean and tidy. If the horse has been clipped for scanning or blocking, then please ensure no dermatitis is present if re-presenting for surgery.
Communication: Whilst your horse is in our care, you will be able to contact us each day and speak to one of our team. It may not always be possible to speak every day to the clinician responsible for your horse, but they will communicate the findings of the assessment to you personally when all the necessary work has been completed.
Boarding: You might like to bring your horse’s rugs, relevant medication etc. We feed either hay, haylage or soaked hay and offer basic hard feed options (pony nuts/pasture mix and chaff); if your horse has a more complex diet, you may wish to bring your own feed.
Report: Following your horse’s treatment, a full report will be sent to you and your vet. If you request it, we will forward the report to your insurers too.
Will my horse need to stay overnight at the Hospital?
In-patients
For all non-emergency appointments, we can advise at the time the appointment is made whether hospitalisation is likely to be necessary.
Your horse will be stabled throughout its stay with us, so any rugs or equipment your horse will require should accompany your horse. We take care to accommodate the needs of individual horses regarding feed and bedding, but if your horse has any special requirements, please advise us before your appointment date. If you horse has any regular feed supplements or medication, please also bring these with the horse. Please remember to bring your horse’s regular tack if it is to undergo lameness examinations.
Your horse will be under the primary care of one of our senior veterinary surgeons. You will be updated daily on the progress of the examination and when a diagnosis has been made, you will be instructed on what management and treatment your horse requires whilst it is with us and subsequent to being discharged.
Upon completion of the examination and any treatment at the hospital, your horse can be collected at your convenience. If this is out of normal hospital hours, special arrangements can be made. Please note that hospitalisation charges will apply from when the horse is admitted until it leaves the hospital.
Can I visit my horse if it has to stay overnight at the hospital?
Owners are welcome to visit their horse whilst it is an in-patient at the hospital. We also welcome owners who wish to view our facilities prior to their horse being admitted for examination or treatment.
Owners can contact the main reception at the hospital during working hours (8.30am to 5.30pm) between Monday and Friday, or between 9.30am and 11.30am on Saturday or Sunday to make appropriate visiting arrangements.
Visiting Hours
Monday to Friday 9:30am–4:30pm
Saturday 9:30–11:00am
Visits at any other time (including Sunday) are by prior arrangement, in exceptional circumstances only.
