Great Lakes Equine, LLC

10/14/2025

This week is National Veterinary Technician Week! We are very fortunate to have great support staff for our veterinarians here at Great Lakes Equine. We thought it would be fun to get to know them better. Each day this week we will introduce them and give you some interesting information. They were all asked the same 4 questions. Here's their answers!

Today let's meet Kaitlynn!
1. What do you like most about your job? The part I like the most of being an assistant is learning how to do my job better. There is always something to learn to do better.

2. How long have you been involved with horses? I have been riding horses for the past 6 years.

3. What is your favorite hobby? Painting! My specialty is painting animal portraits.

4. What pets do you have? I currently do not have any pets. Hopefull that will change soon!

10/13/2025

This week is National Veterinary Technician Week! We are very fortunate to have great support staff for our veterinarians here at Great Lakes Equine. We thought it would be fun to get to know them better. Each day this week we will introduce them and give you some interesting information. They were all asked the same 4 questions. Here's their answers!

Today let's meet Jennifer!
1. What do you like most about your job? The part I like the most of being an assistant is helping our clients.

2. How long have you been involved with horses? I have owned horses for the past 18 years but I started riding at 7 years.

3. What is your favorite hobby? Horses! Most of my free time is spent riding our horses.

4. What pets do you have? I have 5 horses, 3 dogs, 8 cats, 20 cows and 8 fish!

10/12/2025

10/10/2025

Its Feline Friday!

Any ideas for a caption for this lovely shot of BG?

10/08/2025

Did you know...

❄🐴🌾 Is it safe to graze horses after a hard freeze? What do I need to consider before turning them back out on pasture? Also, what defines a hard freeze?

🌡 A hard freeze refers to a frost that is severe enough to end the growing season. The National Weather Service defines a hard freeze when temperatures fall below 28ºF for a few hours. Cool-season grasses commonly found in Midwest horse pastures go into dormancy for winter and conserve their energy stores (starches and sugars) following a hard freeze.

❄️ We recommend keeping horses off pastures for at least 7 days after a hard freeze. Frost-damaged pastures are higher in nonstructural carbohydrates (starches and sugars) because plants can not use up their energy stores as efficiently. It can take plants 7 days to return to more normal nonstructural carbohydrate levels. Higher levels of nonstructural carbohydrates can lead to an increase risk for laminitis, especially in horses diagnosed with or prone to obesity, laminitis, Cushings, and Equine Metabolic Syndrome.

The decision to graze again after a hard freeze depends on the condition of your pasture. After a hard freeze, no additional regrowth of the pasture will occur, even though the pasture might appear green in color. If your cool-season grass pasture is

✅ taller than 3 to 4 inches, then grazing can resume 7 days after a hard freeze and can continue until the pasture is grazed down to 3 to 4 inches.
❌ shorter than 3 to 4 inches, then no grazing should occur after a hard freeze. Grazing below 3 inches can harm the plant and lead to poor productivity next season.

🌾 Plants rely on stored nonstructural carbohydrates in the lower 3 inches for energy. Therefore, the 3- to 4-inch minimum height recommendation is necessary to help maximize winter survival and can help predict a vigorous and healthy pasture come spring. We do recognize horses rarely graze uniformly and pastures tend to have areas of both over and under grazing. You will need to base decisions on the average appearance of your pasture

10/07/2025

It’s Tongue Out Tuesday!!

10/03/2025

It's Feline Friday!

BG has an automatic feeder so we are ensured he gets fed daily and over weekends. As you can see his favorite day is when we refill the hopper and he can get unlimited food for a few seconds! He makes sure we know his favorite thing to do is eating!

09/28/2025

Today is world Rabies day! It’s the least expensive vaccine we carry and Rabies is 100% fatal. Make sure your horse is vaccinated once a year.

Today is —a time to remember the dangers of rabies and how important it is to protect our horses. Rabies is 100% fatal and poses a significant risk to both horses and caretakers but it’s preventable with annual vaccination.

09/26/2025

It's Feline Friday!

Do we believe Dr. Adam when he says he is not a fan of BG?? I think we can beg to differ...here he is sharing his breakfast with BG. BG seems to have a way of getting those non cat people to come over to his side!