Healthy as a Horse! 🐎

Normal Parameters for a healthy horse:

Heart Rate:
32-48 Beats per minute.
Take the heart rate on the left side of the horse behind the elbow.  Count the number of beats in 15 seconds and multiply by 4

Respiration Rate:
12-20 Respiration per minute.
This can be difficult to see, Easiest to look at the horses flank for movement.  May take a few tries to count the number of breaths, but most important is HOW the horse is breathing ( rapid, struggling, shallow)

Gut Sounds:
Classified as present, not present, or overactive
Listen in 4 areas, In front of the point of the hip on the left and right, and below the flank slightly forward on the lower left and right.  Move the stethoscope around if you are having trouble hearing gut sounds.  Wait and listen as you may not hear anything at first.

Temperature:
97.0-101.5 degrees
Take the horses temperature rectally. Be sure to stand off to the side.

Mucous Membranes:
Described as pink, moist, tacky, dry, red, pale
Using your finger, run along the inside of the horses mouth between the upper lip and the teeth. 

Capillary Refill Time (CRT):
>2 seconds
Press firmly on the gum until the color disappears.  Then remove your finger and count how many seconds it takes for color to return.

2018 Fall Haul-In vaccination clinic

2018 Spring Haul-In Coggins and Vaccination Clinic

Take advantage of out discounted pricing and haul-in to have your horse vaccinated!

A Look Back at 2017 and Exciting News for 2018!

We hope that all of you had wonderful holidays and a Happy start to 2018!  We are excited to share some of what we have been up to in 2017 and our new additions to 2018!

This past year, we made some exciting renovations to our facility and to our practice.  Many of you have seen the new box and slide addition to our new Tahoe we affectionately call “Rookie”.  The team at Bay Horse Innovations designed our box, and we couldn’t be more excited! 

In 2017, the barn saw the addition of new LED lights in the wash rack and aisle, our new flax seed bedding, as well as, new steel mesh stall fronts to allow for added ventilation and visibility.  We are confident these improvements will help us in continuing to provide our patients with the best possible care.  

We also focused much of our attention on equine podiatry in 2017.  It is our goal to provide affordable care to those horses with laminitis and increase their level of comfort and quality of life. We have incorporated the use of the EVA shoe along with Equicast and continue to educate our clients on preventing and treating this debilitating disease. 

Our technician Donna continues to trim horses and is working on perfecting her technique at glue-on shoes as an adjunctive treatment for those horses with laminitis.  In September, Dr. Tillotson, Donna and our farrier, Ed Zangerle, attended the ELPO (Equine Lameness Prevention Organization) conference, continuing their education in managing and preventing lameness.  We will continue to pursue our hoof education in 2018, and look forward to sharing those discoveries with you!

In 2018 we are thrilled to introduce Pro-Stride into our treatment protocol!  Pro-Stride is a regenerative medicine joint injection that uses your horses own blood to harvest cells, platelets, growth factors, and anti-inflammatory proteins and then re-inject those into areas of injury. This cutting edge treatement is performed stall side, making it both convenient ad efficient, allowing us to treat quickly after an injury.  We are very excited about being able to offer this advanced, non-steroidal therapy to our clients!  Please ask for more information if you think this may benefit your horse!  

Thank you for being a part of the Tillotson Equine family.  We look forward to serving you in 2018!  Please like us on Facebook and check out our website www.tillotsonequine.com for upcoming news and information.  If you have any questions or would like to set up an appointment we can be reached by phone (336) 330-0166 or email ktdvm1998@gmail.com. 

The Team at Tillotson Equine

On Friday, we helped this wonderful soul cross the Rainbow Bridge.  Patches was owned and loved by Sharon Ritch and her family.  She was one of the most patient, kind and loving souls that we have had the pleasure of caring for.  Patches loved children, and taught so many how to ride! She was the pony for all 8 of Sharons' grandchildren.  She will be missed terribly, but we are able take comfort knowing she is well, and that she was deeply loved by so many.