The open rear of a box-body veterinary field unit, both rear doors swung wide, the shelved and drawered interior lit by a strip light, parked on gravel between two long low barns at dusk.

Ambulatory surgical unit 01 · Clay, Clinton, Platte and Ray counties

The theatre arrives by road.

A referral practice for horses and cattle that does its work in the client's barn aisle. One vehicle, four compartments, and a written boundary at the point where a barn aisle stops being the right room. Everything below describes what is carried and what is not.

41minMedian dispatch to on-farm, measured across the 214 farm calls in the illustrative log for this mockup.
62miRoad radius from the yard. Past it a case is referred rather than driven, because arrival time stops being defensible.
1,400lbRated working load of the hydraulic stocks carried on the unit. Above it the patient is not worked standing in the field.
6.5kWContinuous inverter output on the unit, sized to run the radiograph generator, the ultrasound and suction at the same time.

Compartment index

One vehicle, opened four times.

A referring veterinarian asks one question first, and it is never about philosophy. It is: what can you do at my barn without hauling the horse. The honest answer is a list of what is bolted into the truck, and the shorter, more useful list of what is not. This page is that inventory, compartment by compartment, followed by the cases that leave in a trailer.

01Imaging bayDirect radiography, two ultrasound probes, a video endoscope. Reads a distal limb in a barn aisle and stops well short of an adult thorax.Nearside, forward
02Standing restraintHydraulic stocks, head stand, padded bars. Everything that can be done to a sedated horse on its feet happens here.Roof rack + tailgate
03Sterile packsWrapped instrument packs, cycle-logged, with the autoclave back at the yard rather than on the unit.Offside, sealed
04Anaesthesia and monitoringSedation, local and regional blocks, and a five-channel monitor. No inhalational circuit, for the reason set out under Limits.Cab-side, locked

Compartment contents, capacities and positions on this page are invented for a design mockup. Nothing here describes a real vehicle, a real inventory, or a real practice's capability.

A portable radiography generator on a wheeled tripod aimed at a flat detector plate held against a horse's hind cannon bone in a clean barn aisle, with cables coiled on the concrete behind it. — Compartment 01 · portable generator and flat detector, set up in an aisle

Compartment 01

Imaging in a barn is a power problem.

A hospital machine puts enough energy through a horse to see a pelvis. A unit running off an inverter does not, and pretending otherwise is how a referring vet gets a grey film and a wasted afternoon. The table below is written from the far end: what each instrument on the unit actually resolves at the end of a driveway, and the point at which it stops.

Illustrative field imaging capability · placeholder figures
Instrument	Reads in the field	Stops at
Direct radiography 30–100 kV portable	Distal limb, fetlock, carpus, hock, stifle in a light horse, head and sinuses.	Adult thorax and pelvis. Not enough output. Referred.
Linear ultrasound 5–13 MHz	Flexor tendons, suspensory branches, joint effusion, reproductive tract.	Anything deeper than about 14 cm.
Curvilinear ultrasound 2–5 MHz	Abdomen, thorax, pregnancy diagnosis in mares and cows.	Fine detail below roughly 20 cm.
Video endoscope 1.6 m × 9 mm	Upper airway, guttural pouch, oesophagus, bladder.	Adult stomach. Needs a 3 m scope, not carried.

Every instrument, wavelength, kilovoltage and depth figure above is a placeholder written for this mockup. None of it describes any real equipment or any real practice's imaging capability.

Compartment 02

A horse on its feet is a different operation entirely.

Standing surgery is not a lesser version of the hospital procedure. It is a separate discipline with its own limits, and the limit is almost always time: how long a sedated horse holds still, how long a local block lasts, and how long a surgeon can work at chest height with a two-handed grip. The log below sorts the field list by that clock.

Illustrative standing procedure log · every column is a placeholder
Procedure	Restraint	Standing time	Field
Castration, standing	Stocks, sedation and local infiltration	25–40 min	Yes
Distal limb laceration repair	Stocks or wall, perineural block	30–60 min	Yes, once synovial involvement is ruled out
Sinus trephination	Stocks, sedation and local	40–70 min	Yes
Enucleation	Stocks, sedation and retrobulbar block	60–90 min	Yes
Caesarean section, bovine	Chute, paravertebral block	45–75 min	Yes
Left displaced abomasum, bovine	Chute, line block	35–60 min	Yes
Exploratory coeliotomy, equine	Requires general anaesthesia	—	No. Referred.
Long bone fracture repair	Requires general anaesthesia	—	No. Splinted and referred.

Illustration only. These durations, restraint methods and yes-or-no calls are invented for a design mockup. No procedure should be planned, refused, or expected on the basis of anything in this table. Ask your own veterinarian.

Compartment 02 · hydraulic stocks, set up in a client's barn bay

Stainless steel surgical instruments laid out in precise parallel rows on a folded blue sterile drape on a steel table, lit evenly from overhead.

Compartment 03

Sterility is a paper trail, not a feeling.

A pack is sterile because a cycle ran, an integrator turned, and somebody wrote it down. The unit carries wrapped packs and carries no autoclave: the sterilising happens at the yard, where the cycle can be logged and a weekly biological indicator can actually be incubated. A pack that cannot be traced to a cycle number does not leave the building.

P-01Field general packThirty-one instruments. Double muslin wrap, class 5 integrator inside the fold.121 °C / 30 min, gravity
P-02Castration packNine instruments and one emasculator. Peel pouch, single use per call.134 °C / 4 min, pre-vacuum
P-03Laceration and closure packSeventeen instruments, suture drawn separately at the point of use.121 °C / 30 min, gravity
P-04Ophthalmic packFourteen fine instruments, wrapped and handled apart from the general packs.134 °C / 4 min, pre-vacuum
P-05Bovine obstetric and caesarean packTwenty-two instruments plus obstetric chains, kept as a dedicated pack rather than assembled on arrival.121 °C / 30 min, gravity

Pack contents, instrument counts and sterilisation cycles above are placeholders invented for this mockup. They are not a sterilisation protocol and must not be used as one.

Compartment 04

Five channels, watched by one person.

Field sedation is monitored, not assumed. The unit carries a five-channel monitor and one set of eyes, which is the real constraint: a channel is only worth carrying if a drift in it changes what happens next. The trace below is an illustration of that record, not a recording of one.

Illustrative monitoring record · placeholder data Elapsed 00:00 · standing sedation, illustrative

ECG lead II36bpmIllustrative alarm band 26 to 48
Mean arterial84mmHgIllustrative alarm band below 70
End-tidal CO₂44mmHgIllustrative alarm band 35 to 60
Core temp37.4°CIllustrative alarm band below 36.0

A large-animal anaesthesia machine with corrugated breathing hose, rebreathing bag and a bank of pressure gauges, standing beside a stainless table in a padded induction room, with a patient monitor showing waveform traces on the wall behind it. — Compartment 04 · the circuit that stays at the yard

Why each channel is carried

Illustrative monitoring channels · placeholder bands
Channel	Sampled	A drift here means
ECG, lead II	Continuous	Rhythm, and the first warning that sedation is deepening faster than intended.
Mean arterial pressure	Every 5 s	Perfusion. The number that decides whether the procedure continues.
End-tidal CO₂	Breath by breath	Ventilation, and in a standing horse the earliest sign of a slumped airway.
Peripheral oxygen saturation	Continuous	Oxygenation, read with suspicion because a pigmented lip reads poorly.
Core temperature	Every 5 min	Heat loss in a barn in February, which is faster than anyone expects.

No drug, dose, dosing table, concentration or drug schedule appears anywhere on this page, and none will. Every alarm band, interval and reading above is an invented placeholder for a design mockup. It is not veterinary guidance, not a monitoring protocol, and not a basis for any decision about any animal.

The boundary

What does not happen in a barn aisle.

This is the shortest section on the page and the one that decides whether the rest of it is worth reading. A field practice that will not say where it stops is a field practice that will find out in front of a client.

→Anything requiring recovery from general anaesthesiaA barn aisle has no padded recovery stall. A horse standing up badly on concrete is the single worst outcome available on any given day, and it is entirely avoidable by not starting.Referral hospital
→Surgical colicSplinted, decompressed where indicated, and moved. The unit's job here is the first forty minutes and the phone call ahead.Referral hospital
→Long bone and articular fracturesStabilised in a Kimzey or a Robert Jones by grade, then hauled. Nothing definitive is attempted at the farm.Referral hospital
→Arthroscopy and any joint entered electivelyA barn is not a theatre and no amount of drape makes it one.Referral hospital
→Thoracic and pelvic imaging in an adultThe unit cannot make the exposure. See Compartment 01.Referral hospital

The referral boundary above is invented for a design mockup and does not describe the scope, capability or judgement of any real veterinary practice.

An unmarked white pickup with a fitted utility bed on a county road at first light, black cattle grazing beyond a fence line in rolling pasture with mist lying in the low ground.

Response

The radius is drawn in road miles.

Straight-line distance is a real estate measurement. What matters to a horse in a stall at six in the morning is gravel, a low-water crossing, and how many gates there are between the county road and the barn. The table is ordered by drive time from the yard, not by distance.

Illustrative response bands · placeholder figures
Town	Road miles	Median arrival	Band
Kearney	0–4	12 min	Scheduled and urgent
Holt	8	19 min	Scheduled and urgent
Excelsior Springs	13	26 min	Scheduled and urgent
Liberty	14	27 min	Scheduled and urgent
Smithville	16	30 min	Scheduled and urgent
Lathrop	18	32 min	Scheduled and urgent
Trimble	20	33 min	Scheduled and urgent
Plattsburg	26	41 min	Scheduled
Richmond	28	45 min	Scheduled
Platte City	30	47 min	Scheduled
Cameron	34	52 min	Scheduled
Beyond 62 road miles	—	—	Not covered. Referred to a nearer practice.

After hours

Stated plainly, because a page like this one should: this mockup practice provides no after-hours emergency response. The illustrative line runs Monday to Friday, 7:00 to 18:00, and Saturday 7:00 to 12:00. Outside those hours a caller reaches a recording that names a referral hospital and nothing else. If a real animal is in trouble right now, call your own veterinarian or your nearest emergency veterinary hospital. Do not call any number on this page.

Distances, arrival times, coverage bands and hours above are placeholders written for a design mockup. They are not a service commitment and no real practice keeps them.

Referrals

A referral starts with a phone call, not a form.

On a real practice's page this is where a referring veterinarian would find the direct line, the fax that radiographs actually arrive on, and the hours the truck is loaded. Every line below is a placeholder written for a mockup.

Referral line: (816) 555-0142Placeholder number. Not connected to anything.
Email: referrals@example.comPlaceholder address at a reserved example domain.
Yard: 123 Main Street, Kearney, Missouri 64060Placeholder address. Do not drive to it.
Loading hours: Monday to Friday 7:00–18:00, Saturday 7:00–12:00Placeholder hours. No after-hours emergency response.
Illustrative call-out fee: $95 within 20 road miles, $2.40 per mile beyondPlaceholder pricing invented for this mockup. Not a quote, not a rate, not a fee any practice charges.
Licensing questions: Missouri Veterinary Medical BoardThe state board is where licence status is actually verified. Nobody described on this page is licensed anywhere.