NICK FREEMAN

After leaving school I took a year out, traipsing around Asia.  On return to the UK I went to Bristol University and acquired a degree in Biology. I then spent five years as an infantry officer, serving mostly in Canada on exchange with the Canadian army. However, working for a large government organization did not suit me so I decided to change direction slightly and become a vet, something I had decided I was going to do when I was 6 years old according to my parents. I graduated from Glasgow vet school in 2000, the same vintage as David.

After 6 months as a mixed vet in the Lake District, I decided that itchy bottoms and itchy ears were not for me so I gave up cat and dog work and came to work in Hexham as a large animal vet dealing with just horses and farm animals. In 2002, we set up Intake Vets and over the last few years I have focussed more and more on the equine side of work. My day to day work is now 100% equine although I still cover farm animals for emergencies. I enjoy working with horses (well most of them anyway) and I aim to provide my clients with a high quality personal service. Most of my work is done in the field, including lameness work ups, although we have access to facilities in Hexham for those cases which need certain procedures that are best done in a more controlled environment. Working in a small company allows me to develop a good relationship with you the client and allows me to really get to know your horse. I am convinced that having one vet deal with a problem leads to a better standard of care than having a different vet out each time.

My areas of special interest include lameness investigations, laminitis treatment and dentistry. I am a big fan and an approved fitter of the thermoplastic Imprint™ shoes.  These shoes have revolutionized laminitis treatment but they are also extremely useful for treating all sorts of hoof ailments such as wall damage and solar pain.  My wife Stella is a physiotherapist, so I have a good understanding of the skills and benefits that a Chartered Physiotherapist can bring to the treatment of an injured animal. I have trained in the use of acupuncture and very occasionally this can help when all else fails.

My general philosophy of horse medicine is that no one has all the answers, although hopefully I have a few, and that every horse is different and what suits one horse may well not suit the next.

Outside work, I enjoy climbing with Stella. In the summer we are over in the Lake District as often as possible and in the winter we do the odd route in Scotland as well as a few frozen waterfalls in the Alps each year. I would point out that statistically rock climbing is safer than sitting on 500kg of temperamental horseflesh moving at speed, but that will probably guarantee me coming a cropper next time I go climbing…..

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