| Adelaide Plains Equine Clinic | |||
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We are a general equine practice and can take care of most of your equine veterinary needs. We also have a retail store and are happy to investigate products and advise our clients in equine health maintenance at your request.
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4058 Two Wells Road
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| Latest NEWS | |||
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Jack Woolsey DVM My friend, mentor, colleague and father died this week at the age of 87. He was a respected equine practitioner, and a leader in his time especially in equine reproduction. He and his partners developed a first class equine surgical and referral clinic in Windsor California. His interest in equine veterinary medicine never ceased, and I was the lucky recipient of his knowledge, magazine articles, text books and a few handy tools over the years. He inherited a strong desire to keep up from his father, a human surgeon who helped him do surgeries quietly at the back of the Woodland Clinic in the 1950s , and for his age was well read until the last few months of his life. He worked long hard hours, and he just could not say no to his clients. Our family suffered from this, but in those days a family of someone in the medical profession just accepted it. I just went with him on his calls. At the age of five I remember my dad taking me on his shoulder out to a cow with milk fever. We were “batching” it at the time, and it was too early for school. He sat me down on the cow as it was muddy and cold. He gave the cow the cal dextrose, and I held the bottle while sitting on the cow. When it was empty he picked me up and the cow popped up. This was repeated several times during that week. At his peak, he would work all day in Sonoma County and at the end of the day he would drive 1 ½ hours to Davis where I was in college and pick me up. I would drive him 1 ½ hours further up to the Sierra foothills, and he would attend the mares booked to a top Quarter horse stallion Sizzling Hot. He would palpate mares and I would fish ( something I also learned from him) and then we would make the trip back. My job was to drive so he could sleep. He did this every other day during the breeding season for several years. His hard work was rewarded. He was the inaugural recipient of the Sonoma County Fair award for Excellence in the horse industry. He was the keynote speaker at the California Thoroughbred Association annual meeting in 2008. His other two interests were the importation of first Australian Blue Heelers, and then for over 4o years Australian Kelpies with his good friend and bestselling author Tony Parsons from Queensland. Tony wrote a tribute to my dad in his last book on Kelpies calling my dad a national treasure. My dad’s other interest, or as I would say obsessions, was his involvement in the horse racing. He loved his race horses. His two most favorite horses were Raise Your Skirts and Grenzen. Both were on the cover of the blood horse magazine. Grenzen was sold to Moyglare Stud in Irelend, and she went on to be a foundation mare for them. While the direct progeny won many races and money, her 2nd generation of foals were outstanding, including Media Puzzle who won the Melbourne Cup.
On a visit to Ireland a few years ago he reported that he was given “rock star” treatment when visiting the pub near the stud. My father had a deep interest in philosophy and from the early 1960’s until recently he read constantly from many sources. His views were shaped by Ayn Rand and Ludwig von Mises. He was a true libertarian. In the mid 1960’s he attended many lectures in San Francisco given by the Nathaniel Brandon Institute. I was lucky enough to attend a few of the lectures although I was only 15 at the time. I heard Nathaniel Brandon talk. I missed hearing Ayn Rand as she had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. We were all disappointed.
As a daughter, my dad was the “good cop” while my mom was relegated chief of the fun police squad. My dad loved parties and anything that had a hint of danger especially roller coasters. He loved fishing and flying. That interest stemmed from his Army Air Corp days when during WW2 he flew over 35 missions over Germany as the navigator of a B24J. As with most men of his time, he never discussed this much until recent times. My dad was a happy optimist. He only saw the good in people. He loved his children and grandchildren. All of us gave him reason to be disappointed at times, but he never dwelled on past discretions. He only saw the good, and he would relate any small positive aspect of our lives to the other siblings. You should be so lucky to have a dad like mine. John Hughes DVM was his friend, classmate and colleague in equine reproduction. John did the initial work on measuring the various hormone levels of mares during the estrus cycle. Many of the drugs that we now use came from John’s initial research.
My dad helped fund the Dr. John Hughes Endowed Chair Fund so that UC Davis could have a respected leadier in the industry involved in reproductive research. So in memory of my dad if you feel moved to support his causes then this would make my dad very happy. Donors should also indicate that their contributions are in honor of Dr. Jack Woolsey and are to be directed to They should send their memorial gifts to this address: If you like me more than my dad then send it to Auburn School of Veterinary Medicine ( my dad was not perfect ) . Jack Woolsey July 14th 1923 - March 23rd 2011 A Life in Pictures
Life is rarely boring: Harley Watts to the rescue This is a mare caught over the chest rail of a float. Harley showed up with a hack saw. I provided the "Atmoshphere"
Shed Mural By Ben Leverink
See all the photo of the day on our False dandelions or cape weed
'This is a horse eating false dandelions or cape weed which causes Australian stringhalt. In the early stages they have a jerky movement in the hind legs or shift weight and hold their legs up in the air. For some reason (high water content or other) the palatability is enhanced this year and horses are eating like it is candy. Roundup or generic glyphosphate is a good herbicide. We recommend that you spray it.
Davey had a small colon impaction He did not pass feces for about three days despite aggressive IV fluids, trocarization and oral fluids. He is a senior citizen , and well behaved so he was a candidate for a standing flank laparotomy. I had felt the impaction early in the treatment, and I was pretty sure that I could get to it from the near side. He was sedated and a local anesthesia was given.
I exteriorized it and massaged it for about 10 minutes before I was satisfied that it had broken down enough to pass through the rest of the small colon. Davey started to pass wind ( gas for us Americans) about 30 minutes later and finally passed manure about 8 long hours later. He went home 2 days later and returned for suture removal last week. What a little fighter.
Happy 40th Ally Kylie Baverstock’s old horse Ally would not get up one Sunday morning. The number one rule out would be pain from arthritis or spinal arthritis. Ally was 39.8 years old. In August he would be 40! Kylie said he was not arthritic, and he would often run around the paddock. So after the usual pain meds did not help Ally, I noticed his leg shaking. I also noticed the paddock full of soursobs. The shaking can be a key to acute low calcium. So we gave him some intravenous calcium and an hour and a couple of big blokes later Ally was up and to his credit reached 40 years of age. I think he is the oldest horse in our practice. Am I wrong?
Colostrum needed
There are a few things you need to remember for foaling mares: This will give the foal immunity for several months providing it gets a good dose of colostrum. The tetanus antitoxin given to foals after they are born will only give protection for about two weeks. Make sure the foal nurses by 3 hours. If there is any doubt call us ( see foal above). Dip the navel several times in either a strong iodine or chlorhexidine solution. Worm the mare within a few days either side of foaling to prevent the transmission of parasites through the mild and lessen the severity of foal heat diarrhea. A post foaling examination is beneficial even if the foal looks great. A colostrum Ig G test will ensure that the foal got adequate immunity and help prevent serious illnesses. See our Power Point on the education site “What to expect when she is expecting”
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A painting of Grenzen is our clinic logo. 
The incision was made and I reached in where I had previously felt the impaction. It was about the size of a grapefruit.
