Orrell Equine Veterinary Ltd

31/10/2025

🐾 You’ve met our vets… now it’s time to meet our pets! 🐶

Meet the Orrell Equine “Paw-fessional” Team:

🐾 Sarge – Head of Security
🐾 Munchies – Head of Customer Relations
🐾 Mylo – Senior Accountant
🐾 Rae – Office Supervisor
🐾 Albie – Junior Vet Assistant

Each of our four-legged employees brings their own special skills to the clinic but they all share expertise in cuddles!!! 💕

Be sure to say hello when you see them around☺️

14/10/2025

Strangles Booster Reminder! PROTECT YOUR HORSE AND MAINTAIN HERD IMMUNITY!🐴💉

Strangles remains one of the most common and contagious equine respiratory diseases. Vaccination plays a critical role in limiting outbreaks and maintaining herd immunity, especially in high-risk environments such as livery yards and training facilities with frequent horse movement (E.g new arrivals, visiting horses for lessons or clinics, and horses coming and going for competitions)

Boosters are essential to ensure continued individual protection and to reduce disease spread within the wider equine population.

If your horse is due (or overdue) for their strangles booster, now is the time to book!

Maintaining up-to-date vaccination status helps:

✅ Prevent severe clinical signs

✅ Reduce bacterial shedding in exposed horses

✅ Minimise the risk of outbreaks

✅Support overall yard biosecurity

📞 Contact the clinic today to check your horse’s vaccination status or schedule a booster.

Protect your horse. Protect the herd.

01/10/2025

Castration season has begun! 🐴👀

The c**t chaos is nearly over... 🍂
* We’re excited to let our lovely clients know that castration season has officially begun, and we’re now taking bookings!

Cooler weather means fewer flies, easier aftercare, and a lower risk of infection making autumn the ideal time for your c**t’s procedure.

Is your c**t ready? ✅
* Here’s what we look for before booking:
* Two fully descended testicles
* Up-to-date vaccinations
* Under 3 years old

If you're unsure or any have questions, feel free to get in touch. We’re always happy to help!

📞 Call us on 01942 733989 to get booked in today, chop chop! ✂️🐴

11/09/2025

Did you know? Horses can get bladder stones too! 🪨

Cystoliths, also known as bladder stones, may not be something most horse owners think about—but they can cause serious discomfort and health issues for your equine companion.

What Are Cystoliths?
Cystoliths are mineral stones that form in the bladder, often from concentrated urine or mineral imbalances. While not extremely common, they can lead to irritation, infections, and in some cases, urinary blockage.

⚠️ Signs to Watch For:
- Straining to urinate or frequent urination
- Blood in the urine
- Posturing to urinate without results
- Behaviour changes or signs of discomfort
- Dribbling urine

Cystoliths are often made of calcium carbonate and may form slowly over time. In geldings and stallions, symptoms are usually more noticeable due to their anatomy, while mares may show more subtle signs.

🧪 Diagnosis & Treatment:
We use a combination of clinical signs, re**al exams, ultrasound, and endoscopy to diagnose bladder stones. Treatment typically involves surgical removal, but in some cases, dietary and management changes can help prevent recurrence.

💧 Prevention Tips:
- Ensure constant access to clean, fresh water
- Monitor urine output and behaviour
- Review diet for excessive calcium or imbalanced minerals

If your horse is showing any urinary changes or signs of discomfort, don't wait—early intervention makes all the difference! 🐎

One of our lovely patients recently had a 6cm cystolith surgically removed at Leahurst following endoscopic diagnosis on yard by our vet Charlotte and is now recovering at home!

22/08/2025

18/08/2025

Obesity in the UK horse population is a growing welfare concern, with up to 50% of UK horses estimated to be overweight or obese.
Equine obesity is directly associated with endocrine conditions such as Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) and laminitis and has been shown to significantly exacerbate conditions such as Arthritis and Asthma.
Managing weight through diet and exercise is crucial in preventing and addressing obesity in horses!

We thought we would share the efforts one of our amazing clients goes to, to keep her miniature Shetland ‘Smartie’ slim and disease free!
Being a native pony, Smartie is the classic ‘good-doer’ and being so small, it’s difficult to exercise him the conventional way through riding etc and dietary restriction is only part of the story with controlled his weight!
Smartie is the smallest patient we know that goes to the water treadmill for exercise! Helen and her family, Smartie’s owners, take him once or twice a month for a fat burning session to the water treadmill which is a novel way to keep him lean, along with this he regularly goes to the beach for some exercise and water therapy!

Not only is this an excellent form of resistance exercise to help keep him lean, apparently he also absolutely loves it and it’s certainly a sight to make you smile!

For any advice on weight loss, give us a call and any of the vets are happy to have a chat! We hope all our lovely clients have a super week.

28/07/2025

We are having a few problems with our phone lines at the moment.

Please call 07968109721.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

13/06/2025

12/06/2025

👁️ Eyelid emergencies!

A wound to the eye or surrounding structures is nearly always a reason to call for an emergency 🚨 examination. Horses being horses quite often sustain injuries in this area 🤦‍♂️

A client of ours recently found her Welsh pony ‘Ted’ with a fresh wound to his right lower eyelid, sustained in his stable, most likely from colliding with the stable wall! She called our vet, Matt out straight away to assess.

On the surface, the wound didn’t look too bad but following sedation and more in depth investigation, Matt realised the laceration extended through the ‘tarsal plate’ of the eyelid…. A BIG Problem! This structure is a thick layer of connective tissue at the eyelid margin that gives the eyelid structure and more importantly, spreads the tear film over the eye surface and prevents the eye becoming dry and potentially damaged.

This had to be stitched back together ASAP to ensure correct healing and return of normal function.

Matt placed a nerve block to numb and stop Ted being able to move the eyelid. The suture used was approximately the thickness of a human hair (0.1mm), certainly a fiddly job, but Ted was a perfect patient and the procedure went well.

Thanks to the rapid response of Ted’s owner and lack of further complications, his eyelid has healed almost perfectly and its function is completely normal now!

Eyes injuries should never be ignored or monitored, please call the office even just for advice!

12/06/2025

Is your horse 🐎 ‘Not Quite Right’ or you’re experiencing ‘Poor Performance’?
⭐️ We're Here to Help! 🩺

At Orrell Equine Vets, we offer on-yard full lameness work-ups and ‘poor performance’ investigations:
Including digital radiographs, ultrasound scanning, Sleip gait analysis and gastric/respiratory endoscopy—all from the comfort of your own yard! 🚚💨

✅ No stressful transport needed!
✅ Modern cutting edge imaging equipment!
✅ Expert veterinary care where your horse is most comfortable!

We’ve recently been looking after ‘Gypsy’, a lovely mare who presented with an acute left hindlimb lameness. One of our superstar vets Fi carried out full investigations including diagnostic nerve and joint blocks, X-rays and treatment all on yard. As you can see, Gypsy took it all in her stride from the comfort of her own stable. She’s looking very smart with her freshly clipped legs! 😎

Whether it’s a subtle change in movement or an ongoing issue, our fully mobile team is fully equipped to diagnose and manage lameness issues quickly and efficiently.

📅 Book your visit today!📞 Call the office on 01942 733 989 or email us at info@orrell-equine.co.uk

19/05/2025

🍼 Foaling Season 🍼

We just had to share with you some adorable photos of Shire baby Edgar born on Thursday at 1.03am! 🌙
Both mum and Edgar are doing really well and enjoying spending time together in the field!

If you have a mare that is due to foal this season, a useful rule to remember is the 1-2-3 Rule:

1. Standing within 1 hour
2. Nursing within 2 hours
3. Placenta passed by mare within 3 hours

Ensure that the mare and foal get a check over by a vet post-foaling. We will check that the foal has received enough colostrum🥛from the mare within the first 24 hours via a simple blood test 🩸 and check that they are fit and well! 💪🏼

Please also keep the placenta for our visit and we’ll check that no parts of the placenta have been retained 🔎. Any retained placenta can put the mare at risk of metritis, a potentially serious uterine infection post foaling!

We are so pleased that this foaling went “text-book” smoothly, and that our client now has a lovely new addition to the family 🐴 We are all very excited to watch him grow!

11/04/2025

Next up on Meet the Team!!

Our final and newest vet, Daisy, who started at Orrell Equine this January! Daisy has equally fitted in perfectly, just like Charlotte; we’re thrilled with our current superstar 🌟 team of vets!

We know you’ll all make her feel very welcome too!

Dr Daisy Benn
Veterinary Surgeon

Daisy graduated with her Veterinary degree from the University of Liverpool in summer 2024. Her and Charlotte were actually in the same year! Daisy impressively also completed a research-focused masters degree (MRes) in Clinical Sciences during an intercalation year (additional year of study during her veterinary degree)!

We are very lucky to have Leahurst on our doorstep, it is renowned for producing some of the best equine vets in the UK and beyond (Matt and Steve may be a tad biased 😉). Being only one of the few UK Universities with a dedicated Equine Veterinary hospital (RVC included), it means graduating vets have a wealth of hands on experience and arguably excellent clinical skills!

Originally from Hull in East Yorkshire, following graduation, Daisy started her Veterinary career down in Suffolk at a mixed veterinary practice. Having worked for a few months, Daisy realised she enjoyed equine work most and made the decision to look for 💯 equine work back up north nearer to home! Lucky for us she applied to Orrell equine!

Daisy has settled with her partner Sandesh in Carrington and loves the hustle and bustle of life around Manchester! No pets currently…. but we’re working on her 😂!

Daisy is a quiet and calm person (great traits to have in this job!), she enjoys all aspects of ambulatory work currently and wants to be a great all rounder, she’s loves the variety of work that each new day brings!

Her favourite part of the job is joining an amazing team 💪🏼 (her own words btw, but we do agree!), meeting clients who are always so welcoming and making a difference to the care of all your horses! 🐴
Her most disliked part of the job (there’s a theme here 🧐)….. the traffic and getting lost 😂!

Outside of work Daisy is loving exploring Manchester, hunting for the best food spots, or having a pint 🍻 at the pub with friends. Any restaurant recommendations you have for her are very welcomed! 😃

So welcome Daisy!

We’re trying to do profiles on the fabulous office ladies next but they’re being somewhat shy 😅