Hess Equine Veterinary Services, LLC

Home
United States
Stewartstown, PA
Hess Equine Veterinary Services, LLC

Ambulatory Large Animal (Equine) Practice

07/02/2025

These goats have clearly chosen Dr. Pappalardo. Unfortunately, for them, we only treat equids.
We wish our clients and friends a relaxing and safe holiday weekend celebrating the Fourth of July.
Our office will be closed on Friday, July 4. If you need any medications refilled please contact the office by noon on July 3.
Dr. Rogers will be on call seeing client emergencies Friday through Sunday.

06/26/2025

Please join us in giving a warm welcome to Dr. Mikaela Boutilier. She joined our practice this week and will be with us for the next 12 months as a veterinary intern.

Dr. Mikaela Boutilier is originally from Toronto, Canada. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto, where she completed the Psychology Research Specialist program. While pursuing her undergraduate studies, she worked as a stable hand and riding instructor, which deepened her love for horses and ultimately inspired a career change into veterinary medicine.

Dr. Boutilier graduated at the top of her class from the Ontario Veterinary College in 2025. Her passion for equine medicine was fostered through five years of experience as a veterinary technician at Woodbine Racetrack, where she enjoyed working closely with elite equine athletes. She is excited to explore a wide range of fields during her internship and is grateful for the opportunity to learn from the experienced team at Hess Equine Veterinary Services.

Dr. Boutilier lives in New Freedom, PA with her off-the-track Thoroughbred gelding. In her spare time, she enjoys horseback riding, weightlifting, hiking, and spending time with her family and friends.

06/23/2025

A few hot weather tips for keeping your horses cool:
• Ensure your horses have adequate shade and shelter from the sun
• Adequate airflow can help them stay cooler; high velocity fans are much appreciated
• Frequently clean and refill your horses water supply, as they require significantly more water to stay hydrated during periods of excessively high heat and humidity
• Any forced exercise (riding, driving, etc) should be performed with caution and limited to the coolest hours of early morning or late evening. Closely monitor your horses and stop working if they are intolerant of exercise
• Foals especially struggle with thermoregulation which can be significantly increased if they are on certain medications. Special care should be made to address their comfort including verifying that airflow is at an adequate height for them
• Geriatric horses and those with Cushings disease often also struggle with heat intolerance and should be closely monitored to prevent overheating
• Horses that do not sweat are at especially high risk and may require multiple cold hosing sessions daily.

Stay safe out there!

06/19/2025

Hopefully you’ve had the chance to meet some of the 4th year vet students that have been with us the last two weeks. They certainly enjoyed meeting our patients and clients.

“I had an amazing time! I got to do a lot, and I was treated like a soon-to-be doctor” -Abby R.

“It truly mean the world to me that you have confidence in my abilities as a future equine veterinarian, and I will be a much better doctor because of YOU!” -Sierra O.

“Visiting Hess equine has been amazing because I was able to gain so many new experiences and develop my skill set” -Nate H.

06/10/2025

The commercial breeding season is winding down. We’ve welcomed over 300 foals and we have celebrated nearly 300 mares in foal for 2026. Congratulations to our friends and clients who work so diligently to keep these mares, foals, and stallions producing the next generation of equine athletes.

06/05/2025

“If I’m half haflinger does that make me a quarter-linger?”

05/27/2025

Congratulations to North Harford High School student Grace Bauer on her incredible poster presentation and research project. You may have met her while she was working with Dr. Pappalardo exploring pneumonia in foals.

05/22/2025

The office will be closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day. If you have an emergency and need assistance, Dr. Pappalardo is on call (631)942-8150. If you need medication refills please contact the office to arrange pickup before noon on Friday.

05/20/2025

Sammy and his best friend Happy.

05/12/2025

New foal exams are exhausting!

05/08/2025

Happy National Donkey Day. We see some impressive long ears in our travels. We’d love to see a picture of your favorite Donkey.

05/05/2025

It’s time to have a frank discussion about deworming.

Yes rotational deworming is ineffective and has created a lot of resistance to commercial deworming products.

HOWEVER

Horses with negative f***l egg counts ABSOLUTELY still need to be dewormed and here is why. We do NOT see bot eggs on f***l egg count, we rarely see tapeworm eggs on f***l egg counts, we rarely see threadworm eggs on f***l egg count and ALL are a problem for horses regardless of any other factors. They are infected with bots and tapeworms and sometimes threadworms even if they have a negative f***l egg count.

ADULT HORSES: At a MINIMUM even adult horses who are negative or low parasite shedders should be dewormed every 6 months with either ivermectin or moxidectin in combination with praziquantel. There are ONLY three commercially available products that contain those ingredients: Equimax™, Zimectrin Gold ™ or Quest Plus™. And these are the only dewormers that will work against those silent parasite infections as well as infections with strongyles (which are the primary parasite infection that we see in adult horses). Horses that are moderate or high shedders likely need additional deworming – but ONLY with products effective against the parasites they battle – and you should definitely talk to your veterinarian about how to properly manage them.

FOALS & Up to 2 Years Old: Foals (until they are two years old) need to be dewormed very aggressively against roundworms (ascarids) which are the most common parasite infecting young horses and if improperly managed can - and unfortunately far too often does - result in death. The anti-parasiticide that is effective against roundworms is fenbendazole and only in double doses. All foals should be dewormed once a month with a double weight dose of either of the two commercially available fenbendazole dewormers (Panacur™ or Safe-guard™). At the ages of 6, 12, 18, and 24 months foals should interrupt their regular deworming protocol for a single weight dose of Equimax™ or Zimectrin Gold™. Once horses reach the age of 2 years old they need to be dewormed as adult horses and have routine f***l egg counts. Definitely talk to your veterinarian about how to properly deworm your foal. If your foal is over one month old and has not yet begun a deworming regimen or deworming has been sporadic, talk to your veterinarian before you deworm them to develop an appropriate plan.

NOTE: moxidectin products (Quest™ and Quest Plus™) are metabolized in fat and therefore SHOULD NOT be used in very young, very old, nor very thin horses.

Address

21279 Barrens Road S
Stewartstown, PA
17363

Website

http://whessdvm.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Hess Equine Veterinary Services, LLC posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Hess Equine Veterinary Services, LLC: