Mallyon Hills Warmblood Stud
Dr Kylie Ewart BSc (Vet Biol) BVMS N6658
Dr Kylie Ewart is the resident veterinarian at Mallyon Hills Warmblood Stud. Graduating in 1999 from Murdoch University, Kylie started out in rural mixed animal veterinary practice, but has over the years, developed a particular interest in equine veterinary medicine, particularly that of equine reproduction. The stud offers on site reproductive services; pregnancy ultrasound, artificial insemination, foaling down services, "problem" mare management, stallion semen collection, evaluation, and preparation for transportation.
An ambulatory and emergency service is also offered to local horses, including vaccinations, dentals, xrays, and general illness and lameness assessments.
Foaling down services
A fully veterinary supervised foaling down service is offered on the stud. Mares are classically brought to the stud two weeks prior to their due date, or when foaling looks imminent (bagging up udder, softening vulva etc). On the stud we use a "safe mate" foaling alarm. This alarm uses sweating as a trigger, and as such usually gives about half an hour's notice of imminent foaling (alarms when first stage labour is fully commencing) This early notice means that mares are supervised prior to the foal entering the birth canal, all the way through until delivery. This allows for intervention to commence early if required.
This service is ideal for the maiden mare, the mare with a history of foaling difficulties, or just the well loved mare where the best of care is wanted.
Foaling down on stud also has the benefit of the mare already being on site ready for rebreeding if desired.
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Treatment of the sick newborn
Just like human babies, our equine babies can become very ill, very quickly. When needed, we have the facilities to admit a mare and foal so that we can treat and nurse a sick neonate to give that foal the best chance of survival. Treatment will often include IV fluids, plasma abtibiotics etc.
The owner of a foal should also consider having a post foaling check performed, which will include an IgG test, to check that a foal has absorbed an adequate amount of good quality colostrum. Failure to do so puts the foal at great risk of becoming ill.
Stallion semen collection and assessment
On the property we have a
phantom mare with an inter
-nal AV which we use for the
collection of stallion semen.
From this we can perform stallion fertility assessments, create management strategies for sub fertile stallions, and also prepare semen for extension and chilling ready for the transportation of fresh chilled semen. Semen can be flown out from Port Macquarie airport and be available to most mares within Australia the next day. Please plan ahead though. Poor planning is the main cause for disapp
-ointment. Please call and chat about your stallion's needs.
Mare breeding services
We can assist you with breeding both the simple and difficult to conceive mare. There are many reasons why a mare may have difficulty conceiving, but there are various techniques that may be able to be used to assist her. These may be as simple as regulating ovulation, flushing, performing a caslick procedure etc. Each mare is an individual and is treated as such.
Hendra Policy
Whilst the hendra virus is not a high incidence disease, it is disease of high consequence. To a horse it is uniformly fatal (those not dying directly as a result of the virus must be euthanased compulsorily due to a risk to human life. For a human to contract the virus, the prognosis is also not good. There have been several human deaths resulting from the virus, and several also left chronically ill. I strongly encourage all horse owners to have their horses vaccinated for hendra virus. This is the best way to protect both the horse and humans coming in contact with that horse. At this stage, I will still see sick horses of PRE-EXISTING clients, but I would not refer to my books as being "open" to sick unvaccinated horses that are not pre-existing clients. It needs to also be understood, that if you horse is not vaccinated, but presents with any symptom that could be interpretted as possibly being an early symptom of hendra (just about any "sick" horse, but often thought of as fever, nasal discharge, respiratory tract infection, colic, neurlogical symptoms etc) treatment options may be limited. PPE (personal protective equipment) will be worn by both myself and one horse handler in attendance. Blood and swab samples will be taken for hendra exclusion, but not for general health profiles etc as this potentially will expose lab technicians to the hendra virus. Similarly no invasive treatments or investigations will be performed (eg stomach tubing, rectal exam, iv fluids etc) I understand that this can be very upsetting, as life saving treatment may be delayed whilst awaiting the hendra "all clear". As a vet. I also find this situation to be extremely frustrating and upsetting. ​