I am so incredibly excited to feature Guardia Equine Sports Medicine based in Houston, Texas on my blog. Dr. Guardia recently moved back to the Houston area, where she grew up to open her very own equine veterinary practice. I have to share with all of you some of the reasons I absolutely love Dr. Guardia. Over the years I have learned something about equine veterinarians, there is something so incredibly special when you find a veterinarian that really does love their profession and treats each one of their patients as if they were their own. Not only that, but it takes a special type of love and understanding of horses and the relationship between horse and rider to really be able to deal with the tough situations that can so often occur with horses. Dr. Guardia grew up riding and showing and completely understands what it is like to be in the situation that we as horse owners often face when dealing with equine emergencies.
I had the privilege of photographing Dr. Guardia at work recently and have to share with all of you some of my favorite images. I just loved watching her work with each horse, not only patiently but she was so incredibly understanding with the owners also. This past week while I was traveling to Lexington, Kentucky to photograph some horses, my husband called around 5pm on Friday evening to let me know that our 3 month old foal could barely walk. The panic set in, knowing that the Oldenburg inspection at Isabella farms is only a couple of weeks away. I instantly hung up and called Dr. Guardia without even hesitating, I knew that the only option was to have someone out to our property in Montgomery to look at the baby. My husband is an ever so loving, and helpful horse husband, but he isn’t very well versed in horsey things. He could however tell me that there was no blood, and that nothing was swollen which was a HUGE bonus.
Dr. Guardia made it out to our place, and I have heard a million times from my husband how incredibly patient and well she handled our 3 month old little bundle of fire… She quickly figured out that our mischievous foal had somehow punctured her hoof and that with a little soaking and bandaging, she should be back to good in no time. Have I mentioned, that our sweet little foal, may have a hint of her mother’s stubbornness when it comes to doing things that she didn’t have planned? Well my husband said that Dr. Guardia held on to that baby’s foot through squirming around, and even a few attempts at escaping and managed to get her all bandaged up. She also took the time to educate my not so much of a horse person husband on how to soak the baby’s foot, wrap it, and give her all of her medication. She left him well informed and feeling like he could conquer the world, although I have to admit and he may kill me for telling the world this…but it was not nearly as easy as she had made it look, and he earned his first few battle scars learning to wrap a foal’s hoof. Dr. Guardia with Guardia Equine Sports Medicine also made sure to talk with me after and fill me in on what they did and the type of care that we would need to provide for our sweet, well sometimes sweet, little Calypso.
