Taranaki Equine Veterinary Services

14/04/2026

This time of year brings a close to the season for many of our clients and we love following your results! Taranaki Equine Vet Services covers a range of performance horses in helping them achieve their goals in both Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing, Dressage, Showjumping, Show hunter, Pony Club events and Western competition. Shout out to a practice favourite Driver and Wendy Bayley who recently took out the overall Green Rider competition at the NZRHA reining show 🥇

Now is a great time of year to consider looking at your athlete holistically with the goal of keeping them sound and happy for the rest of the year.

08/04/2026

At Taranaki Equine Veterinary Services we are committed to providing your horses with the highest standard of care, from routine lameness and performance exams to digital radiography and ultrasound diagnostics.
We offer both an on road service and a drive in service with facilities. Due to the current global situation and fuel crisis, our on road service has had to adjust our travel fees accordingly. We are striving to make this as efficient as possible in linking calls so that the cost of travel is shared. As always you have the option of travelling to our facility if you would prefer.

Thanks to all our clients for your understanding during this period, as always we remain committed to providing the best service to you as possible. If you have any questions regarding fees and travel please get in touch.

15/03/2026

Hello Taranaki, it’s been a little while since we posted but that’s because we have been super busy! Please expect a delay in appointments at the moment, we are doing our best to accommodate you ☺️

21/02/2026

Wowee
I have just spent the last three days at the most amazing ISELP conference in Sydney. Hosted by the EVA and presented by ultrasound phenomenon Jean-Marie Denoit, the conference covered all things associated with the foot and pastern. I can’t wait to put new skills into practice and apply them to our performance horses here in Taranaki 💚

03/02/2026

It seems it’s been a while since this picture was taken, but apparently I’ve always wanted to be a doctor! A fun memory of ribbon day dress up classes back in the day 💚

We have been absolutely flat out with Performance horse work which ranges in nature from lameness, poor performance, behaviour under saddle, respiratory conditions affecting performance (super common at this time of year) and general maintenance of those under our care. This is always such a cool time of year as we get to see and hear about how your horses or ponies are going. If you have any questions regarding your own horses current performance please get in touch 😌

23/12/2025

Merry Christmas to all our clients!!! Here’s a few snaps of Christmas BBQ’s and morning teas! I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful break, we look forward to seeing you in the New Year 🎄🤩

22/12/2025

24/11/2025

Congratulations to Millar Racing for taking out the Group 3 Counties Cup on the weekend with Final Return. They also had multiple other wins and placings and deserve a big👏. Proud to support this team 🏆

Final Return clings on to win the Gr.3 MyRacehorse Counties Cup (2100m) in a blanket finish.  Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images) Nicholas captures Counties Cup with mid-race masterstoke Richard Edmunds, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk 22 November 2025 Comeback jockey Elen Nicholas took her career to its gr...

02/11/2025

Happy birthday to this Superstar 🌟

Hope you are having a wonderful day on this Taranaki stunner. Thanks for all your hard work in front and behind the scenes, and making phone calls 📞 when needed 😂

31/10/2025

Today we were pretty in pink👚
In honour of a society that has become a warm hug amidst what has felt to be a relentless storm.
The breast cancer society is an extremely supportive group that always has their door open if you are in need of support. A donation their way helps them help us🙌🏼
This is your reminder to check yourselves, book your mammograms and be vigilant-early detection saves lives 🙌🏼

24/10/2025

Does your horse cough when you ride it?

Did you know that your horse can have issues with both the upper respiratory anatomy and the lower respiratory airway that causes poor performance?

The only way to truly separate some of these issues is by the use of an endoscope examination. Which means we can visually check the upper respiratory anatomy is correct, that the anatomy of the airway that operates the opening and closing of the trachea is normal and that the trachea itself is clear of mucus. In some cases the referral for a dynamic endoscopy helps diagnosis for upper respiratory issues such as dorsal displacement of the soft palate, this can occur in racehorses and also in horses during exercise that involves flexion at the poll.

The trachea is the windpipe into the lung tissue itself and should be free of mucus and or blood. When checking a coughing horse we often take a washed sample from the trachea for culture and a washed sample from the lungs (BAL) for inflammatory cells. Why? Because this is the most diagnostic information to tell us your horse may have asthma or a alternatively a bacterial infection.

Equine asthma is one of the most diagnosed issues of the horse with clinical signs such as coughing, clear nasal discharge, shortness of breath and poor performance (understandably). If your horse is making a noise while working or coughing when you ride it, get in touch today, as left untreated it can create chronic pulmonary issues commonly seen as 'heaves' later in life.

Reference pictures: Management of chronic airway inflammation in the horse: A systematic review. K. M. Ivester, L. L. Couëtil. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1111/eve.12238