Circle Oak Equine, a specialty veterinary center that focuses on equine sports medicine, lameness and rehabilitation, has opened a new state-of-the-art surgery and imaging center. The center–which includes Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging’s standing equine MRI–will offer fully integrated, specialized sports medicine services.
Located in Petaluma, California, Circle Oak Equine serves California, Nevada and Southern Oregon. The center is an equine sports medicine and rehabilitation facility, offering a wide variety of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities unique to the area including a HydroHorse underwater treadmill and ECB cold saltwater spa.
The addition of the standing MRI (sMRI) system will allow veterinarians a key tool in diagnosing lameness in horses.
“What we have lacked is surgery and advanced imaging capabilities, so we are thrilled to open our new surgery center, equipped with state of the art technology such as a standing MRI,” said Carrie Schlachter, VMD, Circle Oak’s medical director. ‘We can now offer fully integrated services from a swift, accurate diagnosis, whatever treatment is necessary, to a rehabilitation program that is capable of bringing horses back to full function.’
Schlachter added they chose Hallmarq’s sMRI because it eliminates the need for general anesthesia. In the sMRI system, the horse is simply walked into the machine to do the scans.
“It is a very safe choice for the horse,” said Schlachter. “We get the quality images we need to make clear and accurate diagnosis and minimize the risk to the horse.”
“Circle Oak Equine is a key location for our sMRI,” said Dan Brown, BVSc, MRCVS, business development director at Hallmarq. “They now have the only standing system in the heavily horse-populated Marin and Sonoma counties, which means more horse owners and veterinarians than ever have access to do an MRI easily and stress free.”
Schlachter added that Circle Oak Equine offers full sports medicine surgery services with Jack Snyder, DVM, PhD. In addition, Sarah Puchalski, DVM, a boarded radiologist, can guide and report on sMRI for referring veterinarians.
“We offer an extensive array of services,” said Schlachter. “But, we know many veterinarians simply want the ability to get an early and accurate diagnosis, so we also offer standing MRI services to our colleagues in the area, which can help achieve that goal without any anesthetic risk to the horse.”
To find out more about Circle Oak Equine, visit www.circleoakequine.com, and to learn more about Hallmarq, its products and locations of other standing MRI machines across the country, visit www.hallmarq.net.
As the sole global manufacturer of MRI systems for the standing, sedated equine, and with more than 50,000 anesthesia-free exams on record, Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging is the pioneer of safer MRI diagnostics. The Hallmarq team has decades of experience in the design and manufacturing of clinical, research and industrial MRI systems for a range of applications globally. From its beginnings in 2003, Hallmarq’s mission has been to improve the safety, accuracy and cost-effectiveness of equine MRIs, while making them affordable and profitable to key equine veterinary clinics worldwide.
