Medicine is a complex and exciting new frontier in veterinary science. Years ago it was seemingly sufficient for the equine veterinarian to treat medical cases despite a training that may have been surgical or reproductive. Well things have changed in the last 20 years. Universities are offering a range of internships and residencies that deal solely with horses medical problems. These problems range from dehydration and shock in acutely ill diarrhoea cases, to intensive care of foals with immunity problems or infection and a myriad of other conditions such as heart irregularities or murmurs. 

Of course the boundaries of medicine and surgery often overlap. Have a look at the wonderful world of the respiratory system and some of the things that we see using high quality equipment.

Medicine encompasses things such as 'not eating' or 'losing weight' or 'poor performance'. It even covers problems of the heart. A problem we see more than just occasionally is a heart condition called 'atrial fibrillation'. The history of this condition is usually a horse that has been performing well and suddenly puts in a bad performance. They finish well back in the field and often are distressed after the race. Sometimes the abnormal rhythm of the heart actually reverts to a normal rhythm before a diagnosis can be made, but most commonly the problem persists and we need an 'ECG' to diagnose it.
We can treat this condition and many horses have gone on to have a successful career in performance after being 'converted'. 

The GVEH has a whole wing in the hospital devoted to foal medical problems. Foals are quite quick to stand in general but are also vulnerable to infections from lack of good quality first milk (colostrum) or overwhelming challenges of bacteria in the environment. We are the largest referral hospital in southern Australia for foals with medical problems.