General Practice Services

Emergency and Out of Hours Care

Glasgow Equine Practice always has an equine vet on duty; day and night, every day of the year. To contact the on-call vet after 5.30pm and before 8.30am please contact the answering service on the out of hours number and one of our vets will call you back.

For some complex equine emergencies, your horse may be referred to our Glasgow Equine Hospital specialists at the Weipers Centre.

The hospital has advanced equipment and facilities:

  • Critical care facilities including a foal unit
  • Surgical theatres
  • Isolation unit for horses with suspected contagious diseases
  • Advanced diagnostic imaging including MRI and scintigraphy

In case of an emergency, you can contact us on 0141 330 5999.

Pre-Purchase Examinations

Thinking of buying a horse or pony? Glasgow Equine Practice recommend a 5 stage pre-purchase
examination, also known as a vetting. This thorough examination at rest and at exercise, the details
of which are determined by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and the British Equine
Veterinary Association, will enable us to pick up issues that may impact on your plans for the horse.
We can also perform a limited 2 stage vetting in which the horse does not undergo vigorous
exercise.

We can perform pre-purchase examinations on behalf of our clients and non-registered clients. We
are not able to carry out pre-purchase examinations on horses already registered with the practice
or under instruction from anyone other than the purchaser or their agent.

Please contact Glasgow Equine Practice during working hours or complete this form and we will be in
touch. A suggested form for a purchase warranty which, while not being part of the vetting, can also
very useful when buying a horse, is available- please contact Glasgow Equine Practice on 0141 330 5999 for further details.

Minor Surgeries and Castrations

Glasgow Equine Practice are happy to perform many minor surgeries on yard including:

  • Castration
  • Wound evaluation and repair
  • Skin and other external biopsies
  • Minor skin mass removal
  • Selected dental surgeries
 

Some cases may benefit from additional specialist facilities and knowledge available at Glasgow Equine Hospital; this will be determined at the time of the appointment.

Castration FAQ

We recommend castration between 6 and 18 months. It is important that both testicles have dropped.

Castration in some horses older than 18 months does not result in the loss of stallion-like behaviour (Although it often does).

Horses with only 1 testicle will need examination by a vet and if another one cannot be located will need to come into the hospital.

Horses which are older than 4 years and which have served mares are at increased risks of complications- our vets can castrate at your yard but we will need to discuss this first and castration at the hospital would be safer.

We prefer to castrate at home when conditions are not muddy and flies are not bad- if these are an issue castration at the hospital is preferred.

Under these circumstances we would strongly advise having a friend hold your horse and either being involved distantly or not at all as castrating horses is not bloodless and even burly farmers have been known to have to sit down!