South Fork Veterinary Service

06/20/2025

Hi all! Happy summer! Starting Saturday June 21st I’ll be on my first of two youth horse pack trips of the summer and we’ll be back on July 1st. I’ll be intermittently available by text, but not very good phone service. You are welcome to text or leave a phone message and I’ll get back to you when i can, or when I return. If you are having an emergency during that time, please call another local clinic for assistance.

06/04/2025

🙌🙌🙌

05/29/2025

😎

05/03/2025

🤣🤣🤣

04/30/2025

Hi everyone, happy spring! I hope everyone is starting to find their horses under all that hair and getting ready for good weather season! Here’s my annual reminder about my summer activities. I will be on the horse pack trip again the last week of June and the last week of August so I will be available intermittently by text message but not for any appointments during those times. I will post the dates again as it gets closer.
If your horse is due for anything this spring, go ahead and reach out sooner than later, so we can get it on the books. Spring and Summer are already getting busy!

03/25/2025

It can be rough in there..

03/24/2025

Let’s talk “Gold Standard” VS “Try your best”

When I graduated vet school in 2018 I felt conflicted as hell. I was taught gold standard and what is expected for medicine and surgery. I was taught what was “old school”, and judged and deemed inappropriate or unacceptable.

I went right into overnight ER medicine directly in a low income marginalized community when I graduated and got a healthy dose of wake up call. You can expect and desire gold standard all you want but that’s just not going to fly here…

Animals are going to suffer, and pet owners are going to be endlessly frustrated and demoralized by lack of care.

Sometimes, you just have to try your best with what you have. This isn’t Greys Anatomy, we don’t always work in beautiful top tier hospitals offering the best of the best.

In my opinion, vet med is not human medicine. We are wholly different. Because we HAVE TO BE. We have to be more flexible, or animals aren’t going to get care.

Spectrum of Care means being capable of offering and advocating for gold standard medicine (referral, etc), and then realizing this might not be the best or only option in each individual case. It may be affordability, but it also may be qualify of life. Just because we *can* doesn’t always mean that we should. As type A animal advocates that can be really hard for us and it weighs on us like nothing else in this world.

So then what does it mean to just try your best?

Don’t “try your best” if the pet parent WANTS referral. Or hasn’t even been offered other options.

Don’t “try your best” if it is just going to make the animal suffer purely to satisfy the owners demands.

Don’t “try your best” if it’s going to destroy your own soul or potentially put you in a really bad spot legally or ethically.

DO “try your best” if there is no other option available and this has the potential to help. (Ie amputate the limb because surgically fixing it is not affordable to the owner).

DO “try your best” if you can control pain and reduce suffering even if the method is not the ideal or most aggressive route. (Ie steroids instead of referral for surgery and chemo).

DO try your best if you are their only hope.

03/16/2025

02/06/2025

This is how I do it also! If you don’t have a horse weight tape, or yours is difficult to read, this is a great way to monitor changes in body weight and get plenty close enough in accuracy for things like dosing dewormer. 

Knowing how much your horse weighs is useful in determining how much daily feed is needed. Also, dewormers and other medications are designed to be dispensed at specific levels relative to a horse’s weight. Unfortunately, most horse owners do not have easy access to a set of scales and must often resort to visual evaluation for estimating weight. A simple formula to help you more accurately estimate your horse's weight.

11/27/2024

These tips, properly adjusted, apply to dogs and cats as well.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone ! And I hope not to see you 🥰🥰🥰

As we enter Thanksgiving week in the US, many of your vets will be out of town or spending much needed time with their families.

It’s times like these that horse owners need to practice preventative caregiving.

During this holiday time, as an emergency only vet, I recommend the following:

- Don’t deworm your horse right now.

- Don’t start a new feed right now.

- Don’t get a new round bale of coastal hay right now if you’ve let the last one go to dust (give small amounts at a time or mix with a stemmy hay until they’ve had their fill, then give the round bale).

- Don’t change schedules.

- Don’t vaccinate your horse right now, especially if you have a known reactor.

- Don’t be in a rush and fail to soak your feed for long enough (choke risk) - especially if you’re late to feed due to holiday errands/get togethers.

- If you have visitors, limit treats. Ensure gates are closed. Make sure feed doors and bins locked.

There is already a shortage of equine vets - and the few we do have will likely be out of town or trying to enjoy the holiday.

Let’s all have a very Happy Thanksgiving. And let’s let our vets stay home with family!

Remember: Proper Preparation Prevents Postponed Potlucks! 😂🥴

11/16/2024

Hi everyone!!! Just a quick note that my clinic trailer will be out of commission this coming week for sealing and maintenance. I will have some basic supplies and equipment still available. Please call with any urgent concerns and we will figure out if I can cover it, if you will need a referral out, or if the appointment can wait. Thanks all!!
Happy Fall! 🍁🌦️🌈