Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

Natalie Crofts

‘Hoselink products have been a godsend to my work,’ that’s what equine veterinary surgeon and Director of Equine Veterinary & Dental Services, Dr Oliver Liyou, had to say after we spoke to one of our best customers. The equine-only practice, EVDS (www.evds.net.au), commits to keeping horses healthy and is the leading training centre in Australia for equine vets wishing to learn and master equine dentistry – and that’s where Hoselink comes in!

‘We adapted your Super Jet Washer (pictured left) to become a tool for cleaning out periodontal pockets in horse’s mouths, and it works brilliantly!’ Dr Liyou explains. A small, specially modified brass end is attached to the tip of the Super Jet Washer to take it from hose accessory to oral examination tool, allowing water to spray in an angled jet blade ideally suited to the task of removing trapped food from in between the horse’s teeth.

‘I had used all the other brands of hose fittings for this purpose, but continually had them popping off and soaking me more than the horse! So, to now have your strong and reliable products is good and helping a lot of vets in Australia…I won’t use anything else these days!’ says Dr Liyou.

In addition to the multi-use attachments, the practice fits Hoselink’s Retractable Hose Reels to a series of mobile horse crush setups utilised by vets around Australia and New Zealand.

‘We are in the process of getting all our hose attachments in the clinic transferred to Hoselink fittings,’ Dr Liyou explains. ‘We host 50-60 veterinarians a year through our post-graduate training short courses, so they get to use the items. Plus, lots of our horse-owning clients ask about Hoselink when they see the reels on our mobile horse crush setups.’

The youngest of six children, Oliver Liyou grew up on a farm where his love for animals developed from an early age as he tended to and cared for any sick or injured wildlife the family encountered. At the end of high school, Oliver discovered he could make a career from his passion and, after graduating from veterinary school, he went on to spend 10 years treating all species of animals before following his heart to focus solely on horses: 'My first living memory was sitting on a horse. There were always lots of horses around our home and farm,’ Oliver explains, who has been treating horses for the past 15 years.

Today Oliver owns and runs a successful equine veterinary clinic offering preventative services such as equine dentistry to horse owners, also using the facility to train equine veterinarians on how to perform equine dentistry. Water is a key component in this type of dentistry, and having reliable hoses is important. During the procedure, horses are sedated to allow vets to thoroughly examine and treat painful problems in their mouths, without causing any stress to the animal.

In another venture, Oliver and his brother Shawn have developed a unique portable veterinary workstation, called a Porta Safe Stock, to provide a safer and more efficient way to perform a variety of veterinary and husbandry procedures for every size of horse. A Hoselink Retractable Hose Reel gets attached to each trailer used for everything from weighing the horse and performing eye examinations to x-rays and treating dental disease.

Now the Super Jet Washer is part of this equine vet’s tool kit, who knows what innovation is next for Hoselink’s brilliant watering accessories!

Did you know…?

· Horses can sleep both lying down and standing up

· Horses are found in almost every country in the world, and every continent, except Antarctica

· There are over 350 breeds of horse and pony in the world

· A horse’s age can be estimated by examining its teeth

· Horses are herbivores, meaning they only eat vegetation

· A horse usually grazes throughout the day to consume the amount of food it needs

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