Any horse owner in the Northeast Texas and East Texas area knows how hard it is to find a good horse veterinarian versus a veterinarian that mostly does small animal, or used to be a large animal veterinarian, but mostly does small animal medicine now, and does a little horse work on the side. Now add on top of that trying to find a horse veterinarian after normal working hours to help take care of an incident like the laceration or colic.
Times are changing folks and it is getting harder and harder to find equine exclusive veterinarians which can keep up with all of the advances and changes happening with the horse. Millions of dollars are spent annually through federal grants and private donations the study the horse in ways that we can do things more efficiently. Not only do we keep up with these cool changes, but we actively participate in some of the research by providing valuable real-life feedback to researchers at universities and private research institutions as well as participating in medication trials and passing on opportunities to you, the horse owner, to receive advanced care for condition your horse may be experiencing at a fraction of the cost because of financial supplementation for that research from grant money. In short, we get it, we're with it, and we love it!
Sounds awesome right? In order to be able to provide this level of care Dr. O'Bryan asks that you allow him to spend enough quality time at home with his family to "recharge his batteries", so he can be 100% up-to-date and focused on the needs of your horse when you need him after hours.
We have found that the best way to do this is to allow us to participate in your horses preventative care, by allowing us to come out at least once annually to perform a thorough examination from nose to tail which includes a complete eye exam, unsedated or sedated oral examination, looking at your horse's feet and making a recommendations for training as well as looking at your property for any areas of concern that could lead to one of those after-hours "bleeding wound emergencies", as well as reviewing what you're feeding your horse and making suggestions, if any, on some possible improvements you may make, and obtaining a good fecal sample for a microscopic fecal parasite exam which is actually three different types of test in one. Based upon the fecal results we will recommend a dewormer for you and then schedule a follow-up fecal examination to make sure everything is working like it should. After all what is the point of spending the money to deworm your horse if you don't know if it is even working? Routine preventive care ALWAYS cost less money than emergencies. There are risk factors for equine colic that we can identify and control as part of the routine annual examination, and there are risk factors that we cannot control. Statistically those courses receiving preventive care under the guidance of a veterinarian not only have fewer incidences of colic, but the severity of the colic that they do experience tend to be much more mild, they have a better prognosis all of which result in less financial burden to the owner.
The national average for:
Annual Veterinary Preventative Care is about $250 (Horses receiving annual veterinary preventative care who follow veterinary risk factor reduction recommendations are up to 9.8 times less likely to experience a colic episode versus horses who do not receive preventative care, or basic care is provided by the owner alone).
Emergency Medical Colic is about $375
Emergency Medical Colic with IV Fluids is about $2750
Emergency Surgical Colic is about $7500 (uncomplicated surgery and recovery with an average of 5 days of hospitalization)