Facilities

Blaircourt Equine Clinic was established some 30 years ago based in Rettendon. Our purpose-built clinic in Woodham Ferrers was officially opened in July 2006, and was designed to allow easy access and movement of horses, as well as provide pleasant rural surroundings for horses, owners and staff alike. The clinic is less than 10 miles from Chelmsford with easy access to the A12, A13, A127 and M25.

The reception area is a hive of activity at Blaircourt, with it being the first port of call for all enquiries. Our dedicated and knowledgeable reception team book all appointments, arrange for medications and prescriptions to be picked up, process insurance claims and arrange referrals.

We have a comfortable client waiting area with tea and coffee facilities on site.

Hospitalisation facilities include a large, well-ventilated barn to house 8 in-patients along with 2 external stables. There is CCTV to monitor the stable and yard area. We also have four large paddocks to ensure suitable patients can be turned out to grass.

Due to the high number of lameness investigations carried out by ourselves every year we have four dedicated surfaces to facilitate our investigations. These include:

• A 30m flat trot up area
• A hard standing lunge area
• A 23m x 20m arena (sand/rubber surface) for gait evaluation on the lunge or under saddle on a soft surface
• A turf lunging facility

The clinic has a large work-up area where all consultations are carried out, with stocks available if necessary. An internal stable allows for close-up monitoring of critically ill patients, as well as providing us with a handy day-stable for patients waiting for procedures.

The clinic also has a dedicated diagnostic imaging suite where all X-rays and ultrasound scans are performed.

Find out more about our diagnostic imaging services here

A purpose built well-padded induction/recovery box and operating theatre occupy the end of the main clinic building. This operating suite has been built to a high spec and allows us to perform surgical procedures in a sterile, modern environment. CCTV observes the induction/recovery box and this allows us to monitor the patients as they recover from a general anaesthetic.

All procedures involve at least two vets - one to perform the surgery and the other to induce and monitor the general anaesthetic. Sophisticated monitoring equipment is used to ensure the smoothest of anaesthetics, and to ensure the safety of our patients.

Find out more about our surgery services here

Our in-house laboratory allows immediate interpretation and reporting of blood profiles using our new “5 diff count” haematology and biochemistry machines. We also conduct SAA snap tests and analyse joint fluid and urine samples when required. Serum Amyloid A (SAA) is a protein produced in response to infection, it can indicate the severity of an infection and how the body is dealing with it. In a healthy horse SAA is generally very low, but the level of SAA rises significantly when the horse experiences a challenge that causes inflammation such as infection or damage to muscle. A SAA snap test will inform us whether the inflammation is under control.

In most cases these results will be interpreted and reported the same day the sample is received.

Faecal Worm Egg Counts and Pin Worm tape tests are carried out on site, the results of which are usually within 48hrs. This is accompanied with a tailored treatment and management plan.

Find out more about our laboratory services here