Plan Your Visit
This can vary depending on what your horse is coming to NWEP for, whether it is a lameness evaluation or advanced imaging; such as a standing MRI or nuclear scintigraphy (bone scan). If you have any questions before your appointment please do not hesitate to contact us by phone at 503.632.9151 or email at info@equinepi.com.
General Information
When you arrive for your appointment, please pull your trailer between the first and second building on the right. The first building is a covered round pen and the second is the stall barn. Once parked head to the third building on the right where you will find the office. The front desk staff will then send a staff member to help you unload your horse and tell you where to go. If your horse is staying overnight please fill out an overnight admission form and give all supplements, blankets, and hay needed to the staff member helping you at this time. A veterinarian will be with you shortly to begin your horse’s evaluation. Fresh coffee is available in the client lounge along with snacks.
Payment in full is requested at time of discharge. We accept cash, check, Visa, Mastercard or Discover.
What to Bring
Any medical history on your horse including; previous lameness exam history, radiographs, ultrasounds, any previous imaging done on your horse can be emailed over prior to appointment.. info@equinepi.com
Supplies for your horse to stay in the clinic if further diagnostics are necessary (blankets, treats, grain, supplements, etc). We offer eastern Oregon grass hay and or alfalfa to the horses in the clinic, but we DO NOT stock any grain.
If you think your horse’s lameness is more visible or worse with a rider than bring your tack and a helmet. We have a covered outdoor arena exclusively for this purpose, so come with whatever you may need. We will just have you sign a waiver in the office before riding occurs.
Lameness Exams
Lameness evaluations may require a substantial amount of time. If you are unavailable to stay for the entire exam feel free to drop your horse off and schedule a convenient pick up time with the front desk. Please leave your contact information with the front desk staff so we will be able to contact you if necessary. We typically have staff available to handle your horse during the exam, so you can observe your horse with the veterinarian.
We are an elite equine sports medicine practice; so more than one veterinarian is likely to be involved in your horse’s case during your appointment, depending on what diagnostics are necessary.
Bone Scan
Horse arrivals are scheduled between 8:00 and 8:30am the morning of the bone scan appointment. Please be sure to call the office to arrange an alternative drop off time if necessary.
Your horse’s shoes may need to be pulled depending on the area of concern, or if something is seen during the scan within a foot.
A technician will call you once your horse’s bone scan is complete to give you an update on how they are doing.
The horses are radioactive for 24 hours after injection of the isotope. For this reason, they MUST spend the night in the clinic and cannot be discharged until the following morning.
If this is an in house Bone Scan, meaning you are a NWEP patient there will typically be a follow up examination the following day and or further diagnostics/treatment performed. Please schedule accordingly.
If you are coming as a referral, the following day a report will be sent to your veterinarian and they will go over findings and treatment plan if necessary.
Standing MRI
Dr. Rachel Buchholz is responsible for the NWEP standing MRI cases and will need your horse’s lameness history and other pertinent details to best plan the MRI. She will also contact your referring veterinarian.
Your horse’s shoes will need to be pulled. If it is a front end MRI, then both front shoes will be pulled. If it is a hind end MRI then both hind shoes will be pulled. This is done so the horse’s feet do not get stuck to the magnet during the MRI. We recommend having your farrier pull the shoes before the MRI appointment if possible. We can pull shoes at the clinic if needed, but it takes more time and there is an associated charge.
The MR images are often reviewed by a board certified radiologist, Dr. Natasha Werpy DVM, DACVR. The MR images are sent to her on the day of the MRI via email and we typically get her report back the following day. Your referring veterinarian can request a different radiologist if they choose.
If you are coming as a referral, Dr. Buchholz will be in contact with you, your trainer and/or your referring veterinarian the following morning after the MRI to go over the imaging results and to develop a treatment plan. You will not have your horse’s MRI results immediately following the MRI.
If your horse is a patient at NWEP then your veterinarian will be in contact with you the following day to go over the results and come up with a treatment plan.