29 May 2020

#CoronaChronicles: Week 10

While there is still a long way to go, with the sun shining and the lockdown beginning to ease, there appears a small chink of light at the end of the tunnel.

These past 10 weeks (goodness, we’ve hit double figures!) have seen Redwings face some extraordinary challenges and we know we have more to face as we count the cost of this unprecedented time.

Thank you to everyone who has already supported us; whether through donating to our emergency coronavirus appeal, taking part in one of our online fundraisers or sharing one of our stories on social media, all your help has gone a long way to ensuring we can be here for those horses in the most desperate of need, now and into the future.

We’re now working hard, in line with Government guidance (as and when it is released), to slowly re-introduce the working practices we had to suspend at the onset of the pandemic.

In last week’s #CoronaChronicles, we told you about the steps we’re taking to restart our Guardianship Scheme, and this week we’re throwing the spotlight on our veterinary services.

At the start of the lockdown, in line with guidelines from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) and the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA), we began focussing solely on emergency cases and time critical care, i.e. treatments for horses whose health would have likely deteriorated if we did not intervene during the lockdown. This enabled us to reduce the workload of the veterinary team and cut back on the number of staff working at our sites at any one time. Please click here to find out more about the measures we took.

Following new advice, vets in general are now taking a more individual, risk-based approach, allowing them to provide more essential procedures as long as they can observe social distancing.

Every veterinary practice will have a different definition of what “essential” is depending on the area of work they’re involved in, but for us at Redwings, we are using the revised guidance to start providing dentals for those horses whose routine checks have run overdue because of the lockdown.

A horse should receive a dental health check at least once per year, but some may require more attention, especially if they’re older or have any mouth abnormalities. Our vets have begun tackling the backlog by concentrating on those horses with known dental issues first and will then move onto younger horses whose checks are overdue.

Our vets have also been supporting the Rehoming team by providing dental checks and vaccinations for those horses ready to go to loving new homes as part of our efforts to restart our Guardianship Scheme.

Like everyone else, we continue to await further guidance from the Government before launching into further veterinary procedures, but – as long as the easing of the lockdown continues to move forward successfully – we hope to be able to re-introduce more of our working practices later this summer.

As a charity 100% funded by donation, it is only because of you, our supporters, that we can provide veterinary help for our rescued horses. If you’re able to support our vets at this time, please click here to find out the ways you can donate.

Thank you #RedwingsAngels!