The Hospital
In January 1952, the first veterinary practice was established in the small country town of Oakey (population 2000) situated on the north-eastern portion of the Darling Downs, the home of Thoroughbred breeding in Queensland, Australia. The initial single practice covered approximately 40,000 dairy cattle, small animals, a very small brood mare farm and 2 small racing stables.
Initially, Tuberculosis eradication and dairy cattle practice were to form the core of the practice. In 1954 a new thoroughbred farm was established and the first routine ovarian palpation service was offered to horse breeders in this area.
This first veterinary facility was a four by three metre concrete extension to the car garage, and was constructed in Reg Pascoe’s “spare” time.
In 1955 David Laws, a new graduate, joined Reg and they became a 2 person practice.
Both general and equine practice increased, with the closest horse farm being 5 miles away and the most distant 90 miles from the practice base. Much time was wasted travelling and the concept of animals coming to a treatment area was becoming very attractive.
Twelve acres of a hilly farm paddock on the outskirts of the then town limits were acquired in 1957. The site was partly open clear ground and partly covered with native trees such as Morton Bay Ash, Grey Box, Coolibah and Wilga. A boundary fence was needed, a very deep bore hole drilled for water, and preliminary accommodation built. The beginnings of the current OVH complex began.
Reg’s horse farm clients now totalled three, with approximately 300 mares and 7 stallions. At this time Reg also engaged, in a modest way, in racetrack practice in Toowoomba , a city 20 miles east of Oakey with about 250-300 Thoroughbred horses in training.
In 1959 a large future workshop in which we lived was built on the new land while our new home was being built and finished in 1960. The workshop then served as a temporary surgery and consulting area until the completion in 1964 of a 6m x 12m veterinary facility constructed of cavity concrete block which became the basis for future expansion needs.
It contained an office, small animal surgery, consulting room, pharmacy, small laboratory and kennels, by the end of which time, a third veterinarian, Paul Green, had joined the practice, eventually forming the initial partnership of three which remained until 1988 when Reg’s son David became the fourth partner. Progress was slow due to limited finance and the main income producer’s were still very much dairy cattle medicine, pig practice and small animals.
By 1967 Reg’s horse farms had increased to 10 with approximately 600 mares. Our modest equipment comprised of a second hand mobile X-ray machine with a faulty timer, hand developing, a rigid AO endoscope for the examination of the nose and throat of horses, an ECG machine and a larger than usual collection of second hand human surgical instruments purchased cheaply, some of which were excellent and are still in use today.
In 1968 Reg visited practices in England at Lambourn, Newmarket, Kildare in Ireland, then Lexington, Kentucky and Davis California USA. This proved to be highly informative and allowed Reg to formulate the building of an Equine Hospital which through 50 years of careful planning, was able to expand, to over eight building extensions to its present capacity, with minimal major reconstruction at any time, to the then existing main buildings.
Late 1968, the Equine Hospital became a reality following the addition of a cavity concrete block construction comprising a new professional office, small animal and equine operating theatres with a common scrub and instrument storage room, a totally padded recovery room and four stables with five outside yards. A new toilet block and new pharmacy was added, thus forming an L shaped facility. All block walls where horse contact occurred were steel rod and concrete filled for additional strength.