Ambulatory/Preventive Medicine

At Chaparral Veterinary Medical Center, we offer comprehensive dental care using safe, water-cooled modern power dental equipment. We provide thorough oral examinations using sedation to keep your horse calm and relaxed during the exam and any dental procedures. During our oral exams, we look for abnormalities with the teeth, tooth fractures, diastemas, gingivitis, retained deciduous teeth (caps), malalignment, and much more. The equine oral cavity is complex and constantly changing. Young horses may need retained deciduous teeth removed and can have very sharp enamel points that need to be floated (rounded) to prevent damage to their cheeks and pain during bitting. Middle aged horses can have waves, steps, hooks, and ramps that need to be addressed. Our older patients can have loose teeth that need to be extracted, infections, or diastemas with food packing that need to be treated. These are only a few of the reasons why routine oral exams and teeth floating are so important for your horse’s health--from the young to our special geriatric horses. We take special care to address your horse’s dental needs, whatever their age.

We recommend vaccinating your horse based on the AAEP (American Association of Equine Practitioners) Vaccination Guidelines, which include a list of core vaccinations as well as multiple risk-based vaccinations. We work with you and your specific situation to formulate a protocol that is best for you and your horse. Please give us a call or send us an email with any questions you may have or to schedule an appointment.

Our geriatric patients are very special patients. As with any species, our aging horses may have special medical needs. Biannual physical exams are very important to screen for dental problems, endocrine issues, nutritional changes, musculoskeletal problems, and much more. If you have a geriatric horse, please give us a call and we will be happy to discuss any questions you may have or schedule an appointment.

Wellness exams are an essential part of a complete health plan for your horse. Chaparral can tailor wellness evaluations to the needs of you and your horse and can range from basic to advanced, depending on many factors. Also, several colic coverage plans are now available through supplement companies that require specific evaluations to be performed semi-annually by a veterinarian. The wellness exam may include any or all of the following: physical exam, review of your horse’s health, vaccination and deworming history, nutritional analysis, housing and farm management, fecal parasite evaluation, dental evaluation, screening bloodwork, and soundness evaluation. Call CVMC today to inquire about a wellness evaluation for your horse and let us know if you plan to enroll in a colic coverage plans so that we can be sure to evaluate your horse based on specific requirements of that plan.