Central Gippsland Equine Veterinary Services

21/07/2025

Not all dental care is equal.

Every dental assessment and performance float we do begins with oroscopic examination using a state-of-the-art dental endoscope (oroscope). The live feed is streamed directly to a 13” iPad Pro, allowing both us, and you to view everything in HD.

This technology lets us see things that can’t be felt manually, and that might be missed even with a mirror and light.

When it comes to equine dental work, visualisation, and a relaxed safely restrained horse is everything.

Our 6-Phase Exam covers:
• External head anatomy, symmetry, jaw mobility and excursion, both while unsedated and while comfortably relaxed into sedation. Your horse is also weighed, so we can track this over time.
• Incisors assessed on their own on all surfaces for correct occlusion and pathology
• Cheek teeth are palpated for abnormalities
• Visual examination with a high-powered focused light into the mouth which helps to assess the normal curvature of the arcades as well as look for gross pathology.
• Full oroscopic exam of each cheek tooth
• Targeted assessment of pathology and tooth integrity using specialised instrumentation such as picks and probes.

We also offer on the spot advanced diagnostics (not essential, we aim for routine and to keep the cost as low as possible while offerring as comprehensive as service as we can!) including portable digital X-ray and ultrasonography. These tools help us assess not only the dentition, but also the TMJ, sinuses, and guttural pouches, and treat pathology accordingly—such as with TMJ injections.

This multi-dimensional approach allows us to assess not just the teeth, but the whole horse—looking at function, comfort, and the broader clinical picture. We consider things like muscle asymmetry, behavioural history, and secondary pathology (e.g., cracked teeth, periodontal disease, caries) to understand the “why” behind what we find—and to deliver a targeted, effective solution.

21/07/2025

We have some “out of town” appointments availability this week - take advantage of shared travel costs!
Keep in mind Dr Ethan will be away for all of august, so if you’re needing a horse seen to, or they’re due for dentistry before spring don’t miss out.

Tuesday - Toongabbie, Cowwarr, Glengarry.

Wednesday - Hazelwood

Thursday - Callignee and Gormandale

Friday - Boolarra and Yinnar

20/07/2025

Who knows what we can see here?

Did you know we offer faecal egg counts in house? This is so that we can determine your horses level of worm burden, identify if a deworming treatment is necessary, and recommend a dewormer to target the species present in your horses gut?

Faecal egg counts can not only save you a fortune on deworming pastes, but can also prevent the build up for resistance in not only your herd, but the wider Australian herd of horses.

If we are out to see your horse, we are more than happy to take a sample while we are there - just ask!

19/07/2025

A fun one to share for your weekend!

Dr Ethan has been known to occasionally pick up the non-horsey-side-quest when there is no one else to help get the job done! We are booked out most weeks at the moment, but sometimes we’re in the right place at the right time!

14 year old Pig Angelo had a problem with his tusks (which are truly just strange teeth! So this is dentistry still right?) growing so long that they were growing back into the skin and bones in his face.

Angelo underwent a general anaesthetic in his pen (of course choosing to drop in a puddle despite our best efforts!) and had his tusks shortened to a safe length.

Angelo recovered well, and will be a lot more comfortable - music to the ears of his very dedicated owners.

Pigs are extremely intelligent animals, but also extremely powerful animals. This can make handling them, and performing procedures on them quite dangerous for handlers and the vet. Carefully calculated anaesthetic cocktails in experienced hands make the process safe for everyone, with our patients health and wellbeing held at the highest importance. imes es aeime

17/07/2025

We’ve been asked a fair bit frequently about horse insurance so we thought we would answer a few quick FAQ’s here. Picture for attention of an eye Dr Ethan Removed this week from a patient with an annterior lens luxation 👁️

Is insurance worth it?
In the past we’d have said no and Instead just said save up an emergency fund. The last 5 years or so, it has actually become a lot easier and reliable to make claims particularly for vet care. We advise everyone to either take up a policy for their horse, or save away money in case of emergency to make the decision process a lot easier!

Can we recommend an insurer?
Under Australian law we as a veterinary provider cannot recommend an insurer, but can advise using third party insurance comparison companies (think Meercats)

Mortality? Vet care? Loss of use?
Depends on what your horse is used for! I think for breeding stock loss of use is fantastic. It is a more expensive option for sport horses, but can be cheaper than redoing the time, time, effort and love that goes into producing a horse. Mortality and Vet care often go together, and they are fantastic and very affordable.

How much would it cost?
Under a value of $20,000 you can get insurance on the spot without the need for a vet check, generally with anywhere from 5-10k vet insurance. For a policy like this you would expect to pay $1000-$1500 approximately depending on your horses age, discipline and history.

What if they’re worth more than that?
You’ll need a vet check which we can certainly help with, and you’ll need evidence of that value either by a horse evaluator, or professionals such as coaches, judges or other equestrian officials.

Happy to chat more about this during your next vet visit, but please remember that we cannot recommend you an insurer even if we want to! 🤓t n

10/07/2025

Oroscopic examination of a horse’s mouth this week. Can anyone tell me how old this horse is? There are two things in here that can give us a very accurate estimate of his age.

There is also something in this arcade that we don’t want there! Any ideas what that is and why?

28/06/2025

How good is this fellow’s owner, to spot this on a Saturday morning and have the vet out to remove within an hour, before the eyeball could be damaged. We pulled out 4 big grass seeds requiring sedation and a nerve block to the eye lid.

Eye injuries are almost always an emergency! Make sure to always assess your horses eyes daily, and be familiar with their normal appearance for your individual horse, that is the best way to stop a more serious injury in its tracks.

25/06/2025

24/06/2025

Do any of our local clients have a Flexi-Neb nebuliser that we could borrow for a very very sick horse with pneumonia? 🙏

21/06/2025

It may not be a horse, but he needed help!

If this isn’t being an Aussie vet in a nutshell!

21/06/2025