Lone Q Equine Veterinary Services

29/07/2025

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08/07/2025

Make sure you thank you farrier for their very important, usually difficult job. We couldn’t enjoy this passion without you!

July 6-12 is National Farriers Week! In celebration, we’re taking time to appreciate those skilled individuals who take care of the hooves on our equine friends. Your work and skill keep our horses healthy and moving well! Thank you for all you do!

25/06/2025

It’s time to jump on the schedule for your horses Potomac Horse Fever vaccine.

This condition can be a serious, life threatening one that causes fever, depression, diarrhea, laminitis, and loss of appetite. It’s transferred by your horses accidently ingesting aquatic bugs or flukes from snails. I suggest the vaccine to anyone who lives near any sort of low land or body of water (which lets be honest, is most of central MN). It’s generally seen in late summer/early fall in our area so now is the perfect time to vaccinate!

Keep your buckets clean, shut off barn lights at night to keep bugs away, and vaccinate your horses to help prevent this condition from affecting your horses.

For those of you who have done spring vaccines with me, this was NOT a part of that series. Give me a call or text with any questions or concerns!

19/05/2025

🚨 Heads up 🚨
Next week is going to be a bit of doozy.

Dr. Christy’s availability is as follows:
Mon 5/27: Emergency Only
Tues 5/27- Wed 5/28: Normal hours/availability
Thurs 5/29: NOT available/unreachable
Fri 5/30 - Tues 6/3: Telehealth only
Wed 6/4: Return to normal businesses hours.

Reminder that in order to provide telehealth services, Dr. Christy legally needs to have done an exam on your horse in the past 12 months.

17/05/2025

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and I think it’s an important thing to touch on.

Veterinary professionals face a high rate of mental health challenges. There’s a number of reasons that contribute to this but it boils down the fact that we just care a whole heck of a lot.
I create boundaries that help me provide you and your horses the best care possible while also allowing me to care for my own mental health. This is important so I can continue to provide local equine care for years to come. I sincerely appreciate each and every one of my cleints who not only respect and understand these boundaries, but encouage them.
It does not go unnoticed.

But, the real thing I want to touch on is YOU.

A number of you have felt comfortable sharing your mental health struggles with me especially when it comes to how it affects the care and treatment plans for your horses.
THANK YOU.
I want to create a plan that combines a realistic and effective way for you to care for your horses. Your honesty and realness allows me to help you help your horse. I know it’s not easy and I imagine you haven’t always been met with kindness.
You will be here.
I also know how many of you can get anxious googling things. I mean it when I say, let’s chat about it before you panic or worry about it. (If you’re reading this thinking “Oh god, she’s talking about me.” I assure you, there are more than a few of you that I’ve had this same discussion with 😉.) It may be something worth looking into more, but more than likely, I can can give you the reasons we don’t need to be worried about it. Telehealth appointments are PERFECT for this. I know it comes from a place of wanting to take good care of your horse and I’m happy to help ease your worry.

Please know that your mental health matters.

If you need immediate emotional or mental health support in Minnesota - call or text 988.

https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/suicide/988/systems.html

12/05/2025

I know it’s tempting to turn those horses out but it’s safer for your horses and better for your pastures to hold off a bit longer!

🐴 Hold your horses! Before turning them out to pasture, here’s what you need to know:

🛑 Wait until plant heights average 6 to 8 inches. Waiting allows plants to recover from winter, produce leaves necessary for regrowth, and reach lower nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) levels.
🌾 Slowly ease horses onto pastures in 15-minute daily increments.

⏰ Begin with 15 minutes of grazing on the first day, 30 minutes the second day, etc until you reach 5 hours. After that, unrestricted grazing can occur if adequate forage is available. Slow transitions in diet provide time for the horses' microbes to adjust, which reduces the chance of laminitis and colic.

🍽️ To further support a slow transition, feed hay prior to pasture turnout to discourage horses from overconsumption early on.

ℹ️ https://extension.umn.edu/horse-pastures-and-facilities/fall-and-spring-pasture-do-lists -your-pasture-for-grazing-in-spring-69710

09/05/2025

I ALMOST missed world donkey day! What a tragedy that would have been. 🫏

We love a good set of long ears around here!
I provide regular work for a good number of outrageously adorable ones. Post your donkey below in the comments so we can all love on them 🩶

This is Felicia, Dr. Christy’s mini donkey. And yes, she 1000% knows she’s fabulous and has no problem putting you in your place if you have the nerve to think otherwise 💅

27/04/2025

With severe weather headed our way tomorrow, I thought I’d post a list of what I do/consider for my own herd.

I always get asked: Should I leave my horses in or out?
This is a personal question without a right answer. If there is large hail, ideally horses are inside and protected. If there is a tornado, outside may be the better option as there’s a risk of building falling on/trapping them.

‼️What I WILL say about this choice: make a choice and DO NOT run out to change it last minute. We all love our horses but there is not a horse in this world worth more than your life. Please stay safe. ‼️

Otherwise here’s a list of what I consider each time before a storm comes:

🌪️ Hay can help some of your anxious horses.
🌪️ Halters in multiple spots in case you can’t get to the one spot they are in.
🌪️ I’ve seen lots of people lose barn doors and windows in high winds because they aren’t properly latched.
🌪️ Decrease as many flyable hazards as possible with high winds.
🌪️ If your horses do get out, make it easy for people to find who they belong to. Waterproof tag (paper wrapped in packing tape with a ribbon/binder) braided into the mane works great. Do NOT leave halters on horses- if they get out, they will be around hazards.
🌪️ Fill all your buckets and troughs. If you lose power, many of us will lose access to water which means risk of colic. You can always dump em out after the storm.

If you have more helpful hints/reminders, drop them in the comments!

21/04/2025

🚨 Heads up! 🚨

I will be unavailable and unreachable for 24 hours.
Break out the bubble wrap and make sure you’ve got a trailer ready to haul should you have an emergency.