AI Receptionist for equine vet practices
Horse owners don't wait. If you don't answer, the next equine vet gets the call.
AI answering service for equine vet practices: Ava triages colic, laminitis and foaling complications at 6am, dispatches your equine vet with a full case brief, and books routine yard visits — so you never miss a yard account again.
A yard manager who cannot reach you during a colic at 6:30am calls the next equine vet — and often stays with them for all their yard's routine work. A commercial yard with 20 horses is worth £8,000–£25,000 a year. One unanswered early morning call costs you the account.
The short answer
The problem
A yard manager calls at 6:30am. One of the horses is showing signs of colic. They need an equine vet immediately. They call two practices. The first rings out. The second answers — and gets to the yard within the hour, winning a yard account worth £8,000/year.
What Ava does
Ava answers every equine call with urgency — triaging colic severity, laminitis, wounds, and foaling complications — dispatching your equine vet with full case details, and managing routine yard visit bookings alongside emergency responses.
An equine colic emergency: £500–£5,000+. A commercial yard account with 20+ horses: £8,000–£25,000/year. Answer the early morning call.
How does Ava triage a colic call at 6am?
Ava asks the clinical questions an experienced equine vet would ask first: gut sounds on both sides, manure output and consistency, pain score, heart rate if known, and whether the horse has had colic before. Quiet gut sounds on one side, no manure for 12 hours, and a horse pawing and rolling is dispatched immediately as a medical emergency.
Colic triage in equines requires more specific clinical questions than most small animal emergencies. A horse pawing mildly after a feed change is a different presentation from one that has been rolling for three hours with no gut sounds on the right. Ava knows the difference and routes each appropriately — not because she makes a clinical diagnosis but because she applies the questions that allow your vet to make one.
The gut sound question is the most clinically meaningful single data point in a colic call. An owner who reports 'very quiet on the right' with no manure in 12 hours is describing a presentation that warrants immediate attendance regardless of the pain score. Ava escalates it that way. An owner describing normal gut sounds on both sides after a mild episode that has self-resolved gets a same-day monitoring call rather than an emergency dispatch.
Your on-call equine vet receives an SMS with the yard name and address, the horse's name, age and known history, the pain score and gut sound assessment, heart rate if available, and the owner's mobile number. They can begin calculating their route and preparing their kit before the call ends.
How does Ava handle a commercial yard account with multiple horses?
Ava identifies the yard by account name, captures which horses need attention and the nature of each case — routine, sick, or emergency — and builds the visit schedule to group the yard's work efficiently. A yard manager who calls about three horses needing vaccinations, one lameness check, and one colic gets each handled in the appropriate urgency tier in a single call.
Commercial yard relationships are the most valuable in equine practice. A livery yard with 30 horses generates consistent routine work — vaccinations, dentals, passport updates, dental power float — as well as unpredictable emergency callouts. The practice that answers every call from that yard, at any hour, retains the account. The one that misses calls loses position.
Yard managers often call for multiple horses in the same conversation. Ava works through each horse systematically: name, age, presenting reason, urgency. For routine work she builds a yard visit schedule that groups the horses geographically and by treatment type, which reduces the number of journeys and maximises the visit revenue per trip.
For high-volume yards on account with your practice, Ava can apply priority handling — faster routing, specific protocols, and a dedicated point of contact within your team. That priority handling reinforces the commercial relationship rather than treating a 30-horse yard the same way as a single horse owner calling about an annual vaccination.
Can Ava handle pre-purchase examination bookings and foaling complication calls?
Yes — these are two of the highest-value call types in equine practice. For PPE bookings, Ava captures buyer details, horse identity, vendor, and examination level requested. For foaling complications, she triages by duration of active labour and presentation, and escalates a malpresentation after 20 minutes of active pushing as an emergency.
Pre-purchase examinations are time-sensitive, commercially significant cases. A buyer who is purchasing a horse at £15,000–£100,000 needs a PPE booked at a time that suits both the vendor and the buyer, ideally within a week. Ava captures the horse's identity, the desired examination level — 2-stage basic or 5-stage including ridden assessment and X-rays — and coordinates the timing between both parties, then confirms back to both.
A 5-stage PPE including X-rays is worth £400–£800 per examination. A vet practice that handles PPE enquiries professionally — answering promptly, capturing the detail, coordinating logistics — builds a reputation with both buyers and vendors that generates repeat bookings. Missed PPE enquiries go to the practice whose number the buyer can reach.
Foaling complications are true emergencies. A mare in active second-stage labour for more than 20 minutes without a delivery, or a foal presented in an abnormal position — leg back, head down — needs veterinary attendance immediately. Ava triages by duration and presentation, escalates immediately, and tells the owner exactly what to do while the vet is on their way: keep the mare walking if possible, avoid traction, and do not let the foal's legs retract if they are visible.
£8,000–£25,000
Annual vet spend from a single commercial livery yard account with 20+ horses
UK equine veterinary industry estimate
£500–£5,000+
Revenue from a single equine colic emergency, depending on severity and treatment
UK equine veterinary industry estimate
6:30am
When yard managers call — before practices open, when colic and foaling problems peak
UK equine veterinary practice observation
The difference
Voicemail takes a message. Ava books the appointment.
What callers ring about
Every equine vets call, handled.
- Colic emergency triage and dispatch
- Laminitis and lameness calls
- Pre-purchase examination (PPE) bookings
- Routine yard visit and vaccination scheduling
Hear it in action
This is what your callers hear.
- Good morning, Riverside Equine Vets — how can I help?
- One of our horses is colicking. She's been pawing and rolling since 5am.
- Understood — that's serious. Is she still passing manure, and can you hear gut sounds on both sides?
- No manure, and very quiet on the right.
- This is urgent. I'm dispatching our on-call equine vet to you now. Can I take the yard address and the horse's name and age?
Before you choose
What to look for in an AI receptionist for equine vets.
Equine-specific colic triage — not generic urgency
The AI must ask about gut sounds on both sides, manure output, pain score and heart rate — not just 'how serious does it seem?'. A flat urgency question is clinically inadequate for equine colic. Test this with a realistic colic scenario before committing.
Early morning availability, every day
Colic, foaling complications and laminitis peak in the early hours and before practices open. The service must answer at 5am on a Sunday with the same quality as a Tuesday morning call. Confirm this explicitly.
Yard account management for multi-horse calls
A yard manager calling about three horses needs a single, organised conversation that captures each case correctly and prioritises appropriately. A service that handles one booking per call is not suitable for commercial equine practice.
PPE coordination between buyer and vendor
Pre-purchase examinations require timing coordination between two parties who may be in different locations. The AI should capture both sides and suggest a time that works — not just book one party and leave the other to be contacted.
Common questions
Everything you’re wondering.
Can Ava triage equine emergencies like colic, laminitis, and wounds?
Yes. Ava applies species-specific triage — pain score, gut sounds, digital pulse for laminitis, bleeding severity for wounds — to classify urgency before dispatching your equine vet.
Can Ava handle yard visit scheduling for routine work?
Yes. Ava manages dental, vaccination, passport, and pre-purchase examination bookings across multiple yards — giving your equine team a structured diary.
Can Ava handle calls from livery yards with multiple horses?
Yes. Ava captures yard name, account status, number of horses requiring attention, and the presenting horse's details — giving your vet a complete yard brief before arrival.
What about calls regarding horse purchase vetting (PPE)?
Ava captures the buyer's details, horse details, vendor, and desired examination level (2-stage or 5-stage), and books the PPE at a time convenient for both parties.
What does Ava ask on a colic call to triage severity?
She asks about gut sounds on both sides, whether the horse is passing manure and its consistency, pain score (pawing, rolling, looking at flank), heart rate if known, last time the horse drank and ate, and whether the horse has had colic before. That triage matches what an experienced equine vet would ask first.
Can Ava handle a laminitis call and assess digital pulse?
Yes. Ava asks whether the owner has checked the digital pulse — bounding, strong or absent — and whether the horse is reluctant to move, shifting weight, or lying down. Bounding digital pulse with severe reluctance to move on hard ground is escalated as urgent.
Can Ava manage bookings for multiple horses on a commercial yard account?
Yes. Ava identifies the yard by account name, captures which horses need attention and the nature of each case, and builds a visit schedule that groups the yard's work efficiently — reducing your travel time and maximising the visit value.
How does Ava handle a foaling complication call?
Ava asks how long the mare has been in active labour, whether there is a visible presentation, and whether the foal or the mare appears to be in distress. A foal presented incorrectly for more than 20 minutes of active labour is escalated immediately as an emergency.
Pricing
Ava pays for herself on call one.
An equine colic emergency: £500–£5,000+. A commercial yard account with 20+ horses: £8,000–£25,000/year. Answer the early morning call. Plans from £397/mo. One recovered job a month covers it — everything else is pure upside.
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