Breeding Your Mare

Breeding Your Mare

So, you want to breed your mare.  You think you have the perfect stallion to match her and so it should be easy, right?  Not quite.  Nowadays, it can be much more complicated than just getting a mare and stallion together.  There are many different options available for breeding your mare.  In this blog post, we will discuss the mare’s reproductive cycle, the different types of semen available, and when to have pregnancy checks done on your mare. 

Partner Announcement

Partner Announcement

Dr. Kirby Penttila and Dr. Crystal Lee would like to announce the start of their partnership as Crystal joins the management team in 2017.  Their vision for Burwash Equine Services is to deliver complete and compassionate horse health care by providing exceptional diagnostics and personalized care with honesty and integrity.  2017 is already off to an exciting start and they are looking forward to more excitement to come throughout the year!  Stay tuned!

What happens to wild horses that don't get dental care?

What happens to wild horses that don't get dental care?

As many of you are aware, one of Dr. Butters’ special interests is equine dentistry.  Knowing this, one of our fantastic clients generously provided us with a wonderful and very interesting skull specimen that we wanted to share.

This skull is from a stallion that lived in a wild/feral state west of Cochrane.  Our client knew the stallion, and relayed that he died during the very cold, deep snow winter we experienced several years ago.

Dr. Butters believes she knows what may have contributed to this early death.

Fall Seminar 2016 - Senior Horses - A Focus on the Care and Quality of Life of Older Horses

Fall Seminar 2016 - Senior Horses - A Focus on the Care and Quality of Life of Older Horses

Dr. Lindsay Rogers discusses topics of importance to the care of senior horses, including weight control and feeding, winter care, herd and housing management, and diseases that are more common in geriatric horses. She offers advice on monitoring and optimizing the quality of life for individual older horses, with lots of awesome examples from her own eccentric herd of equine seniors.

Saying Goodbye: a discussion about euthanasia

Saying Goodbye: a discussion about euthanasia

Euthanasia is a term that comes from the Greek language and translated into English means “good death.”  The most common method of euthanasia is via a lethal injection of a barbituate drug, but other methods may also produce a “good death.”  There are many reasons for an owner to choose euthanasia and the decision to euthanize a horse is often a difficult and deeply personal for the owner.

Fall Seminar 2016 - A Snapshot of the Horse's Foot - Equine Podiatry

Fall Seminar 2016 - A Snapshot of the Horse's Foot - Equine Podiatry

Dr. Kirby Penttila gives an overview of equine podiatry, including a discussion of the anatomy and biomechanics of the horse's foot, the importance of shoeing survey films, and the importance of a good veterinarian-farrier-client-patient relationship. Common lameness conditions and the impact of podiatry on the treatment of these conditions are discussed in detail.