Equine Mobile Veterinary Services: Kris Anderson DVM

02/08/2025

The Texas practice act, unfortunately, allows lay people (untrained, often quite harmful to your horse) to perform dentistry in horses, with some minor requirements. Most of these people do not even bother obtaining their state “license” which only states they know the laws governing them (which they all chose to break), and has no requirements of education or competency.

No matter what these people tell you, here are some facts:
- They are NOT dentists. Dentists attend years of school. They have significant education. These people have neither. Some did a few weeks of courses, often not teaching quality, science based information. Most didn’t even get that.
- They cannot administer sedation. They cannot legally carry sedation. If your horse has a sedation reaction, they are not trained in how to handle it, and this will result in injury or even death to your horse. Because they broke the law and carry no insurance, you have no recourse.
- They cannot perform extractions unless of erupted wolf teeth or caps that are already loose. Diseased cheek teeth may be extracted so long as they are so loose as to be done by hand without any tools.
- They can only remove sharp points and correct small malocclusions.
- They MUST be under the general supervision of a licensed veterinarian.
- They cannot diagnose or treat, nor can they prescribe medication.

I continue to come across horses harmed by these people. Just in the last 24 hours, I have seen or been made aware of the following three cases:
- a mature performance gelding with enormous caudal hooks that had eroded into the mucosa opposing them. Clearly, someone without appropriate knowledge or skill had been in this horse’s mouth, as the rostral hooks had been reduced, but the caudal hooks had clearly not been touched. Chewing, which horses spend over 20 hours of the day doing, was painful for this horse, and had been for a very long time.
- a miniature mare that was aged by the layperson floater at 5 years old. This mare was indeed 5 years old - well over a decade ago.
- a gelding that had a cheek tooth extracted from a layperson floater, when the owner called to request a specific antibiotic she was told by this layperson she needed. The vet supervising this layperson should be able to provide this, assuming a valid VCPR (which I doubt is present). Legally, I cannot just hand out antibiotics without an exam on a patient I haven’t seen in many years. This horse needs a proper examination to ensure extraction was performed appropriately, he needs pain control, and he needs tetanus prophylaxis at minimum. Obviously, this person was practicing veterinary medicine without a license, and the horse will suffer for it.

There are multiple veterinarians in the area that are very skilled in dentistry. Those few bucks you may save (often negligible) don’t matter much to your horse who gets a poor quality job. Please stop using these folks. We owe our horses to do better.

::steps off soapbox::

09/16/2024

A big thank you goes out to Dr. Kris Anderson, Equime Mobile Veterinary Services, for her Bluebonnet sponsorship of the Bluebonnet Horse Expo & Rescue Horse Training Challenge.

Dr. Anderson provides mobile veterinary services throughout the greater Houston area, and she's been the veterinarian for many of the Bluebonnet horses. She also helps on neglect cases, fosters, and recruits new folks everywhere she goes.

Thank you, Dr. Anderson, for making a big difference in the lives of so many horses!

You can learn more about Dr. Anderson at https://www.facebook.com/EquineMobilevVet

09/09/2024

Effective immediately:
If you are not a current client, and you are calling about emergency services, you will need to pay the farm call and emergency fee upfront before being added to the schedule. This fee is nonrefundable and not transferable.

To work any emergency in is a chore, adding to an already packed schedule. And that’s ok, because things happen with horses and we understand. What isn’t ok is to allow me to rearrange the schedule, often including rescheduling clients drive nearly all the way to you, and then you to decide you’re going to have your “regular vet” come out instead. Or you decide to haul the horse somewhere.

Ambulatory vets are hard to come by, which means I stay very busy. Colleagues who have experienced the above have solved the problem by refusing to see anyone who isn’t a current client. I’m not there. But each time this happens, I’m getting closer.

05/08/2024

Come on y’all we still need more trainers!

While we love the pro trainers, there truly is a place for everyone with horse skills in the challenge, and the horse to match them!

Even if you don’t have time to work every single day with your partner, that’s ok. Every minute you spend with them teaches them valuable skills that they would not have had without you. Skills that will make them more adoptable, that you can show off in October. So if you really only have weekends, that’s cool! There’s a lot of weekends between now and then.

There are a lot of really cool horses that have yet to be assigned, including three of my fosters, and lots of my patients.

If you've thought about competing but haven't gotten your application in, it is time! We're working on assignments all of this week.

The Bluebonnet Rescue Horse Training Challenge is about to start - and we still have plenty of horses for the professional division and the in hand division! (We'll also take applicants for the non pro under saddle division, but we may run out of horses for that division). We're assigning horses this week, so if you have thought about being part of the Challenge but haven't applied yet, now's the time!

What is the Challenge? It is a competition where professionals and non-pro horse lovers work with a Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society horse for four months and then compete in an obstacle course, basic skills challenge, and freestyle. The competition takes place on October 5th at the Williamson Co Expo Center - and folks come from all over Texas (and often from surrounding states!) to watch everyone compete.

You can read the rules, learn more about the scholarship program or professional trainer incentive, and apply to compete in the Challenge at http://www.bluebonnethorseexpo.com/blog/challenge

If you are a professional trainer, this is a great way to get your name out there - many of our Challenge participants have gained clients after participating in the Challenge. And when we need to hire a trainer for a rescue horse, we mostly use previous Challenge trainers. This year, any professional who participates will receive 20% of their horse's adoption fee as long as the horse is adopted by the end of October.

For non-pros, this is a great way to help a horse, show off your riding or handling skills, and be with other horse lovers. While this is a competition, the group is incredibly supportive and the professionals often donate time to help non-pros through training problems. We've also added a youth scholarship this year.

While you are working with a horse for the Training Challenge, we pay for all pre-approved veterinary care, hoof trimming (and shoes if medically necessary and pre-approved), and deworming. We also pay $160/month as a stipend (paid after the competition) to help offset partial costs of hay, grain, shavings, etc. ($80/month for ponies, minis, and donkeys) Money spend on the Bluebonnet horse but not covered by the stipend may be tax-deductible since we're a 501c3.

You can read the rules, learn more about the scholarship program or professional trainer incentive, and apply to compete in the Challenge at http://www.bluebonnethorseexpo.com/blog/challenge

03/23/2024

We are a dying breed. As there are fewer of us, it makes it harder for me to get to everyone. Hiring a new vet would be nice but i think the odds might be better to win the lottery these days.

02/13/2024

Y’all, sign up! This is one of the coolest events and everyone has a blast! You don’t have to be a pro trainer to participate, and ANY skills you can teach these horses are more skills than they had before they met you, so it’s a win!

Whether you are amazing at working with a horse on the ground, a good crash test dummy for the unknown guys under saddle, or like to finish a green broke horse, there’s a good fit for you here, and you will give them much needed skills for that forever home.

02/09/2024

Typically, our patients' lips are sealed, forcing us to rely on our handy dandy knowledge to figure out what's wrong... but not this guy!

01/30/2024

It was eight and a half days of determination, community, and care as Boonie Babies Saipan and members of the recently reopened Saipan Cares for Animals partnered to fix 259

01/25/2024

From the gentle giants to the spunky minis, we absolutely adore all our patients. This post is featuring a couple of our favorites, Biscuit and Sassy💜.

01/10/2024

Excellent advice!