EQUINE HOSPITAL
Those horses requiring more than a day for work up or treatment are admitted to our Equine Hospital.
Over 1000 horses are hospitalised at Regionhästsjukhuset Strömsholm every year. We are continuously reviewing and improving our facilities and protocols to optimise our efficiency, service and patient care.
Admission of a horse to the hospital
Please inform us of the feeding routines, bedding preference and any treatments the horse is on at home when leaving your horse, so that we may care for it best. If your horse response best to a certain way of handling, or has an aversion to certain things this is also useful to know.
Feeding
Routinely the horses are given hay / silage 3 times daily, apart from those horses suffering from colic who may be receiving small amounts more often during the day, and grain / hard feed is given twice daily.
Water
Water is provided by a water cup in all boxes. A water bucket can be provided to horses that are used to this.
Paddocks
We have 6 paddocks where horses can be turned out. If you horse is used to being outside during the day this may be possible depending on the treatment your horse requires.
Telephone calls
It is most important that correct telephone numbers on which you are able to be contacted on at all hours are provided.
Even if you come to us regularly please check when your horse is admitted that these are correct.
If your horse is to go home you will be called between 0900 and 1000 in the morning on week days.
Every week day between 1600 and 1700 calls are made from the reception to give updates on the horses in the hospital, unless you have already been phoned during the day time.
If there is a serious problem with your horse, or it's condition has changed you will be called by a veterinarian, however please be aware that there is only a limited amount of time available for such calls, to avoid patient care and monitoring being affected.
Visiting
We prefer not to have owners come and visit their horses in the hospital for safety reasons.
This may be able to be organised under special circumstances, however you may be politely requested to leave if the hospital if there is a great deal of procedures needing to be performed.
Routine
The day starts around 0630 in the hospital with feeding, mucking out and taking the temperatures on all the horses. Rounds when the veterinarians check all the patients and work out the day's strategy starts at 0800, and after this medication and treatment of the patients starts.
Staff
Normally there is 1 veterinarian and 3 assistants working daily in the Hospital caring for the patients.
At night time there is always a veterinarian on call and an assistant always at the hospital giving treatments and monitoring the patients.
Time at the hospital
The time each case requires to stay at the hospital varies hugely with the problem admitted for.
Horses admitted for routinely surgery will normally be kept over night after surgery to ensure that they are eating well and bright the following morning, and if not they will be kept for monitoring.
Horses with infected joints or tendon sheaths may require multiple lavages of the structures under general anaesthesia or standing in addition to intravenous antibiotics and these horses tend to stay closer to 2 weeks even if we manage to resolve the infection quickly.
Colic horses - SImple, quickly resolved colic problems may stay in the hospital for anything from 1 - 7 days depending on how well the horse coped with the re-introduction of feed.
Post operative colic horses tend to stay in the hospital at least 1 week to ensure that they are doing well and eating a sufficient amount after surgery prior to going home.
Discharge
When your horse is to go home you will have been called between 0900 and 1000 in the morning.
You will normally receive discharge instructions and have the opportunity to discuss after care of your horse with a veterinarian when your horse is discharged.
In order for 'direktreglering' to be performed, if you wish for this, you need to be at the hospital before 1500.
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