Mackay Equine Vets

19/10/2026

Daily Hoof Care: Small Habits That Make a Big Difference

With all the rain we’ve had recently, it’s a timely reminder that daily hoof care is especially important during prolonged wet weather!

Healthy hooves are essential for your horse’s comfort, movement and overall wellbeing. While regular farrier visits are important, daily hoof care is just as valuable when it comes to identifying potential problems early and keeping your horse’s feet in good condition.

Constant exposure to wet, muddy conditions can soften the hoof and contribute to problems such as thrush, white line separation and seedy toe. Taking a few minutes each day to check your horse’s hooves can help you spot changes before they become bigger issues.

Here are some simple ways to support your horse’s hoof health:

- Pick out your horse’s hooves daily to remove dirt, stones, manure and other debris that can become trapped in the hoof.
- Check for signs of injury, including cracks, chips, bruising, swelling or unusual heat.
- Look for signs of thrush, such as a foul smell, dark discharge or soft, damaged tissue around the frog.
- Check for lodged stones or foreign objects, particularly if your horse is footsore or suddenly becomes lame.
- Pay attention to changes in hoof shape, growth or condition, and discuss any concerns with your farrier or veterinarian.
- Provide access to a dry, well-drained area where possible, allowing your horse’s hooves some time away from constant moisture and mud.
- Keep your horse’s environment as clean and well-managed as possible. Prolonged exposure to wet, muddy conditions or consistently damp, manure-filled areas can contribute to hoof problems.
- Maintain regular farrier appointments to ensure your horse’s hooves are appropriately trimmed or shod.
- Be alert to sudden changes in comfort or movement. Reluctance to walk, shortened strides, shifting weight between feet or new lameness should never be ignored.

Why is daily hoof care so important?

Many hoof problems develop gradually and can be easy to miss without regular checks. Picking out your horse’s feet gives you the opportunity to become familiar with what is normal for them, making it easier to recognise changes early.

Problems such as thrush and seedy toe may seem minor at first, but if left unmanaged, damage can progress deeper into the hoof and potentially lead to more significant complications. Early identification means you can seek veterinary or farrier advice before things have a chance to worsen.

🌿 Healthy Herd Tip: You don't need to be an expert to make a difference to your horse’s hoof health. Consistent daily checks are especially valuable during wet weather, when conditions can change quickly. If you notice persistent discharge, a foul smell, increasing separation or sensitivity, seek advice from your farrier or veterinarian.

At Mackay Equine Vets, we believe preventative healthcare starts with the small things you do every day. Our Healthy Herd Program helps you stay on top of your horse’s routine preventative healthcare, supporting their health and wellbeing throughout the year.

Find out more about our Healthy Herd Program:

How often do you pick out your horse’s hooves? Have you ever spotted a problem during your daily checks? Let us know in the comments! 👇

16/10/2026

🌿 ITCH SEASON IS COMING… AND PREVENTION STARTS NOW!

We’re already seeing some of our itch-prone horses starting their yearly cycle, which means it’s time to start thinking about your horse’s preventative plan!

If your horse suffers from seasonal itch, you’ll know how miserable it can be. The constant scratching, rubbing, broken skin and missing hair can quickly become a cycle that’s difficult to get on top of. But we believe in preventative care, and getting in early can make a real difference!

So, what can you do now, before your horse is scratching themselves raw?

1. Get a suitable rug on early

We’ve had great success with Wild Horse rugs, which are specifically designed for itchy horses. They have permethrin impregnated into the rug fibres to help repel biting insects, offering an extra level of protection compared with standard rugs.

We stock these at the clinic, so get in touch if you’d like to know more! Just keep in mind that they can be an investment, particularly if your horse is a professional rug destroyer.

2. Make your fencing itch-friendly

If your horse loves to scratch, consider electric fencing off barbed wire and other rough or abrasive surfaces they can rub against. Preventing access to these areas can help reduce skin damage when the itch starts.

3. Be proactive with insect control

If rugging isn’t an option, regular use of an appropriate permethrin-based spray, such as Permetrol, may help reduce insect exposure. Always follow the product label, including application directions and safety precautions.

4. Be cautious with oils and topical products

Some owners find oil-based products, such as Pony Coat, helpful for their horses. However, in our hot North Queensland climate, it’s important to consider the risk of overheating and skin irritation or burns, particularly with sun exposure. Always check the product's suitability before applying it.

5. Talk to your vet about treatment options

If your horse needs a little extra help, we have veterinary treatment options available. These may include prescription topical treatments, such as Equicort, or injectable medications, depending on your horse’s individual needs. A veterinary consultation allows us to assess your horse and recommend an appropriate plan.

The takeaway? Don't wait until your horse has rubbed half their mane and tail away!

If you know your horse struggles with seasonal itch every year, now is the time to start planning. Getting ahead of the season may help reduce the severity of flare-ups and keep your horse more comfortable throughout summer.

Get in touch with the Mackay Equine Vets team if you'd like help putting together a preventative itch management plan for your horse.

Let's make this summer a little less itchy!

14/10/2026

Colic Prevention: Simple Steps to Support Your Horse’s Digestive Health

Colic is one of the most common emergencies we attend, and while some cases occur despite excellent management, many involve risk factors that can be reduced through simple, everyday practices.

The good news? Small changes to your horse’s daily routine can make a big difference in supporting their digestive health.

Here are some simple ways to help reduce your horse’s risk of colic:

- Prioritise regular dental care to ensure your horse can chew their feed and forage properly.
- Provide plenty of good-quality forage to support normal digestive function.
- Introduce feed and hay changes gradually, ideally over 7–14 days, to allow your horse’s digestive system time to adjust.
- Use targeted parasite control guided by regular faecal egg counts (FECs), rather than worming unnecessarily.
- Ensure fresh, clean water is always available.
- Provide adequate salt, particularly during hot weather or when your horse is sweating, to help support normal hydration and electrolyte balance.
- Reduce sand ingestion by avoiding feeding directly on sandy ground where possible. Hay feeders, hay bags and suitable rubber mats can help.
- Remove plastic twine, net wrap and other foreign materials from hay before feeding to reduce the risk of accidental ingestion.
- Encourage regular exercise and maintain a consistent feeding and management routine wherever possible.

Why is dental care so important?

Horses rely on their teeth to grind forage and feed into smaller pieces before swallowing. When dental problems interfere with chewing, horses may struggle to process their feed properly, increasing the risk of choke and potentially contributing to digestive problems.

Regular dental examinations help identify issues early and are an important part of your horse’s overall preventative healthcare.

Healthy Herd Tip: Prevention isn't always about doing more. Sometimes, it's about getting the basics right and staying consistent. Regular dental care, appropriate feeding, good hydration and targeted parasite control all play a role in supporting your horse’s health.

At Mackay Equine Vets, we believe prevention is better than emergency treatment wherever possible. Our Healthy Herd Program helps you stay on top of your horse’s routine preventative healthcare, making it easier to identify potential problems early and reduce the risk of avoidable emergencies.

Find out more about our Healthy Herd Program: https://mackayequinevets.com.au/healthy-herd-program

What steps do you take to support your horse’s digestive health? Let us know in the comments.

09/10/2026

Rotational Grazing: A Simple Way to Improve Your Horse's Health 🌿

Good pasture management isn't just about growing more grass. Rotational grazing is one of the simplest ways to improve your horse's nutrition, reduce parasite burdens, and protect your paddocks.

Instead of leaving horses in one paddock all year, rotate them through multiple paddocks and allow grazed areas time to rest and recover.

And rotational grazing doesn't have to mean having multiple permanent paddocks or making major changes to your property. It can be as simple as putting a few star pickets in an existing paddock and running an electric fence to divide it into smaller grazing areas. This allows you to move your horses between sections and give areas of pasture time to rest and recover.

Benefits of rotational grazing:

• Allows pasture to recover, producing healthier and more nutritious grass.
• Reduces overgrazing, helping maintain better ground cover and preventing erosion.
• Helps reduce parasite contamination by breaking the lifecycle of worms, especially when combined with targeted worming and regular faecal egg counts.
• Encourages horses to graze more evenly instead of repeatedly eating the same favourite patches.
• Reduces the spread of weeds, as healthy pasture is better able to compete with invasive species.
• Improves pasture longevity, saving money on reseeding and pasture repairs over time.

A few extra tips:

• Avoid grazing paddocks down to bare ground. Leaving adequate pasture behind allows it to recover much faster.
• Pick up manure regularly where practical, especially in smaller paddocks, to help reduce parasite build-up.
• If possible, rest paddocks for several weeks before returning horses to them. The longer the rest period, the greater the benefit for both pasture recovery and parasite control.

💙 Healthy Herd Tip: Healthy horses start with healthy paddocks. Good pasture management works hand in hand with quality nutrition, routine dental care, targeted parasite control and annual health checks to keep your horse healthy year-round.

At Mackay Equine Vets, we believe preventative healthcare starts long before a horse becomes sick. Our Healthy Herd Program is designed to take the guesswork out of routine healthcare, helping you stay on top of your horse's health all year round.

Find out more: https://mackayequinevets.com.au/healthy-herd-program

🌿 Rotational Grazing: A Simple Way to Improve Your Horse's Health to implement? Let us know in the comments 🌿

25/09/2026

Product Spotlight: Why We Recommend Total Gold Products

We’re often asked about supplements and which products we recommend to support long-term horse health. One range we regularly stock and recommend at Mackay Equine Vets is Total Gold.

We’ve recently had a restock, so we currently have plenty of Hoof Gold, Bone Gold and Total Gold available in clinic.

Hoof Gold:

Healthy hooves start from the inside out.

Hoof Gold is formulated to provide nutritional support for:

* Strong, healthy hoof growth
* Improved hoof quality
* Horses with brittle, cracked or slow-growing hooves

Good nutrition is an important part of maintaining healthy feet, particularly for horses that struggle with hoof quality or are prone to cracks and poor growth.

Bone Gold:

Here in North Queensland, many of our horses graze tropical pastures that can be naturally high in oxalates. Oxalates can bind calcium in the digestive tract and reduce calcium availability to the horse.

Long-term calcium deficiency can contribute to nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, commonly known as Big Head Disease.

Bone Gold is designed to provide nutritional support for:

* Maintaining healthy calcium levels
* Bone strength and development
* Horses grazing high-oxalate pastures

Total Gold:

For those looking for an all-in-one option, Total Gold combines the nutritional benefits of Hoof Gold and Bone Gold into one comprehensive supplement.

It provides nutritional support for:

* Hoof health
* Bone health
* Vitamins and minerals
* General condition and wellbeing

For many horses, this can be a simple way to provide broader nutritional support without having to feed multiple separate supplements.

As always, every horse is different, and the most appropriate supplement will depend on their individual diet, workload, age and health requirements.

If you’re unsure which option is best for your horse, our team is always happy to have a chat and point you in the right direction.

Have you used Hoof Gold, Bone Gold or Total Gold for your horse? We’d love to hear how you’ve found it!

06/09/2026

Foaling Season is Officially Here! Is your foaling kit ready?

When your mare decides it's time, there's no pause button.

The last thing you want is to be scrambling through cupboards, racing to the produce store, or wondering if you have everything you need during one of the most important moments of the year.

That's why we've put together our vet-approved Foaling Kits. They are carefully selected by our equine vets, packed with the essentials you'll want close by when foaling begins and designed to help you feel prepared, confident and ready when every second counts

We won't spoil the surprise by listing everything inside (we've spent a lot of time refining what's included!), but you can trust that each item has been chosen based on real-world foaling experience.

Whether you're welcoming your first foal or your fifteenth, having a foaling kit on hand can make those early moments less stressful and help you focus on what matters most, your mare and her foal.

Give us a call or send us a message to secure your kit before they're gone.

Because preparation isn't about expecting something to go wrong, it's about giving every foal the best possible start.

03/09/2026

Not All Grass Is Created Equal!

Most horse owners assume that if their horse has plenty of green grass, they're getting all the nutrition they need. Here in North Queensland, that's not often the case.

Many common pasture grasses, including buffel, setaria, guinea grass and pangola, are high in oxalates. Oxalates bind to calcium in the digestive tract, reducing your horse's ability to absorb this essential mineral.

This means your horse may be consuming calcium, but not absorbing enough of it.

When the body can't absorb enough calcium from the diet, it begins drawing calcium from the bones to maintain normal body functions. Over time, this can lead to weakened bones and, in severe cases, nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, more commonly known as Big Head Disease.

The good news is that this is largely preventable if you...

• Know what pasture your horse is grazing.
• Feed good-quality forage, such as Rhodes hay, where appropriate.
• Supplement calcium appropriately when grazing high-oxalate pastures.
• Speak with your veterinarian or an equine nutritionist to ensure your horse's diet is balanced for our local conditions.

💙 Healthy Herd Tip: It's not just about how much calcium your horse eats, it's about how much they can absorb.

At Mackay Equine Vets, we understand the nutritional challenges horses face in North Queensland. We can help you assess your horse's diet and recommend a feeding plan that's appropriate for your pasture and your horse's individual needs.

Want to get on top of your horses health? Follow this link: https://mackayequinevets.com.au/healthy-herd-program

25/08/2026

Some of the most devastating diseases affecting horses are also some of the most preventable.

Vaccinations are one of the safest, most effective and scientifically proven ways to protect your horse against serious disease. They're not just another item on the checklist, they save lives.

Here in Queensland, Hendra virus remains one of the most serious diseases we face. Although it is uncommon, it is almost always fatal in horses and can also be transmitted to people.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that Hendra only looks one way. In reality, there are more than 100 recognised clinical signs associated with Hendra virus. A horse with colic, choke, a fever, nasal discharge, difficulty breathing, neurological signs or many other seemingly routine conditions could potentially fit the case definition.

Because of this, if an unvaccinated horse shows clinical signs that could be consistent with Hendra virus, veterinarians are legally and professionally required to treat it as a potential Hendra case until the disease has been excluded. This means a Hendra exclusion test must be completed before routine veterinary treatment can proceed, which takes time and money.

This is why we say the Hendra vaccine does more than protect against one disease.

It helps protect your horse and the people caring for them, but it also allows us to safely provide veterinary care when your horse needs us most, whether they're suffering from colic, choke, a respiratory illness or another emergency that may share clinical signs with Hendra.

We also recommend keeping your horse up to date with their 2-in-1 Tetanus and Strangles vaccination, protecting against two other serious diseases that are largely preventable with routine vaccination.

💙 Healthy Herd Tip: Vaccination isn't just about preventing disease, it's about making sure your horse can receive prompt veterinary care when every minute counts.

Our Healthy Herd Program includes annual vaccinations, helping you stay up to date and giving your horse the best protection throughout the year.

Find out more: https://mackayequinevets.com.au/healthy-herd-program

21/08/2026

💙🩵 This is an amazing post that embodies almost perfectly the way we have approach taking care of our patients. Ask the questions. Try new things. Never stop caring. Never stop learning. Thank you to our wonderful clients for always supporting us! (Dr Ash)

I have a veterinary degree. That’s it. No residency, no board certification, no master’s, no PhD. I don’t even have a bachelor’s degree, which occasionally makes my CV look like somebody misplaced a page.

When I graduated from Purdue in 2001 and went back to rural West Virginia, I became about as much of a generalist as a veterinarian can be. I treated cows and horses, diagnosed Labradors, spayed cats, worked up complicated medical cases, performed surgery, and handled whatever emergency decided that 4:55 p.m. was the perfect time to become dramatic. I loved it, but I was also young and inexperienced.

In a teaching hospital, complicated cases came with specialists down the hall. Rural practice was different. Referral might mean several hours of driving and considerably more money than many of my clients had. I always offered it when I believed it was appropriate, but plenty of people simply couldn’t do it. More than once, someone would put what money they had on the counter and essentially say, “Here’s what I’ve got. Do the best you can.”

That forced me to learn one of the most important distinctions of my career: there is a big difference between not knowing how to do something and simply never having done it before.

So I started stretching. I took orthopedic and soft-tissue surgery wet labs. I learned ultrasound. I called surgeons, internists, radiologists, and anyone else who knew more than I did. I read actual textbooks before procedures, usually the sort heavy enough to qualify as exercise equipment. I referred when I needed to, admitted when I didn’t know something, and tried very hard not to confuse confidence with competence.

Over time, some of the cases that once intimidated me became ordinary parts of practice. Not because I had somehow become a specialist, but because I had become a better generalist. Repetition matters. Preparation matters. So does having enough humility to know when you are stretching appropriately and when you are simply in over your head.

I haven’t worked up a case or scrubbed into surgery in more than six years now. These days I walk the halls of a veterinary teaching hospital surrounded by specialists, residents, interns, and students. Watching them has made me wonder whether we have become so good at teaching young veterinarians to recognize risk that we may occasionally teach them to fear it.

I don’t want a new graduate attempting something clearly beyond their competence. That isn’t courage. But I also don’t want them believing every unfamiliar procedure, difficult case, or uncomfortable decision automatically belongs to somebody else. Veterinary school prepares people for more than they sometimes realize.

Use the specialists. Ask questions. Take the course. Read everything you can. Know your limitations and refer when referral is truly the right answer. But don’t automatically confuse “I’ve never done this before” with “I can’t do this.”

There is a tremendous amount of professional growth in the space between recklessness and staying permanently inside your comfort zone. A lot of my own career was built in that space, usually with a technician beside me, a textbook somewhere nearby, and a client trusting me to do the best I could.

Somewhere along the way, that is how I became the veterinarian I had to become.

*Regarding the “AI content” label: I’ve added a personal explanation in the comments below.