San Pedro Veterinary Service, PLC

01/22/2026

As we are revising and updating our lecture for this evening, we wanted to take a moment to discuss something that has been weighing on us for awhile.
In today's internet world, access to information is readily available. But what isn't clear is the quality of that information. While there are a number of people and groups that post information to be educational for the benefit of knowledge, there are a vast majority that post opinions as information in order to market a product or service that they provide. When you know what to look for in these posts it becomes clearer which category posts fall into. Now, to some degree almost every online post, article, video, etc is an opinion piece by the author. We all present complex material in a story format and thus from our point of view. Certain things are still just hard and true facts, typically things citing numbers like vital parameter ranges for horses. How one interrupts and presents case studies, or even research papers can shift them from quality information into the realm of interruptive opinion, rather quickly. So we would like to caution our followers on believing everything presented to them online.
And we have some prime examples of why this matters.
So our Doctor recently sat down and reviewed some radiographs from an online post with some paraprofessional colleagues... the accompanying story was that the horse was so much better out of shoes and with the heels fully removed. Well, the radiographs presented told a very different story... the first series showed a tight hoof wall lamina zone and what would have been by textbook definitions a club foot with its higher ground palmar angle but no evidence of laminitis. What followed was a series showing development of mechanical laminitis and subsequent return to higher palmar angle before the hoof wall lamina zone started to return to parallel. But because the presenter was able to tell the story, and most individuals lack ability to read and interrupt the radiographs they were able to market a service based on a false narrative. Now, we see this almost everyday with the hoof care posts. But we also see it with the equine dental world, the horse training communities, and even within the veterinary practice posts.
To pick on more than just the hoof care industry, the equine dental community is another one that does a tremendous amount of "marketed" online posts. Our non-veterinarian dental providers like to market themselves as "dentists" and having superior dental knowledge over veterinarians. We have saw some recent posts promoting student graduations, from 2 week courses. A human dentist has a full medical degree with over 8 years of college education, your veterinarian has a minimum of 8 years of college education. A hoof care provider that has attended most horseshoeing schools will have a least 8 weeks of education. Are you catching onto where the marketing side of this exists. While some of these individuals are highly skilled in the technical aspects, they lack the basic anatomy, physiology and pharmacology knowledge that was fundamental to your veterinarian's education.
As for the training realm, that's all opinion. No one method works for every horse. No one tool is always effective. Most of what will be shown is half the story and meant to elicit an emotional response.
And to be fair, we will poke fun at ourselves as well. We post a wide variety of educational material. Some of this material is presented in such a way that it is simply these are the numbers. Some times we present material in a way to encourage our clients to ask about new services. As we have added in house PPID testing, discussing the rates and typical signs of the disease to encourage clients to test is a marketing technique within an educational context. We are a business for our local community after all, but we try to target the majority of our educational posts to non-clients without intent of growing clientele. Now, some practices will use these educational opinion pieces to market certain services and products to gain customers. Frequently, these are promoted as posts highlighting use of certain products that might even be their own brand supplements.
These are marketing techniques disguised as educational posts.

So just a word of caution when scrolling, not everything posted as educational is educational.

For those that scrolled through, tonight Jan 22nd we are hosting 1st client education lecture of 2026 with a topic of what is an emergency. It's free to attend but only offered in person. Open to clients and non clients.

01/16/2026

We are looking at schedule for lecture next week. Topic will be emergencies but what day? Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday?

01/16/2026

2025 was a difficult year and we are thankful for all of the support we received. It had some great moments though. We want to express our deepest pride for Dr Moore who finished her residency, earned a Masters degree, added Diplomate status to her credentials, and most importantly said "I Do" to our own Dr Alltop. Speaking of our Doctor, he added additional farrier credentials to his name and started offering some of the most advanced podiatry techniques practiced by experts from around the country to arsenal of options for our patients. Along with that he took part in international podcasts, spoke at hoof care conference and managed to produce more client education material.

Now onward to 2026. Our Doctor has been gone to start the New Year. He helped his wife move for her new private practice role. Disappointedly, she elected to not join us here at San Pedro Vet Service. We still have her available for phone consults as needed. Our Doctor upon return is kicking off year with several laminitic cases to manage. We are going to put the new in house insulin (equine metabolic panel) and ACTH (Cushings) blood analyzers to work. While we offer advance therapeutics for the hoof, management of laminitis is dependent of addressing underlying cause and we're committed to streamlining these diagnostics in 2026. We are going to kick off the client lectures again before end of month, add to our online write ups, expend YouTube library and continue to bring quality education material to clients.

And for those that did not know. 2026 is our 10yr anniversary.

So again Thank you for 2025 but also thank you for 2016-2025. You and your equines are the reason we do this.

Better care through better education.

01/11/2026

Though farriers are largely focused on the hoof, looking out for hoof health can also mean taking a holistic approach and accounting for other factors that influence hoof health, such as weight management. However, some horse owners have skewed perceptions of a healthy body condition score.

01/09/2026

For our PPID Cushings horses, a new treatment option is coming to market soon. This is an equivalent medication to Prascend but with a peppermint flavor intended to improve administration. We do not currently have cost comparison but have call into rep for that information..

Zygolide® is a first-to-market generic, peppermint-flavored pergolide tablet, offering enhanced features for horses suffering from PPID.

01/04/2026

There will be no lecture on Jan 6th. Working on 2026 lecture schedule.

01/02/2026

12/28/2025

One of the hardest lessons that I have had to learn as a practitioner is when I need to say "No" and walk away from a scenario. Today, had one of those very situations. For the safety of the animal, the owner and myself... I made the decision to stop and just walk away. All equine professionals should remember that they have this option and it doesn't make us less. Clients need to understand that if we are injured in one of these circumstances it's not just their animal that suffers but all the others we cannot see until we heal... if we can heal. Ultimately, no animal is worth our life.

There are reasons why it is best to stop and reconsider if what doing is best. The number one reason for this is safety. Safety applies to more than just the individual but also those in proximity and the animal. I value human safety as the absolute number one priority and these days, I will not proceed if I feel like there is unnecessary risk of human injury. Often dealing with 1000+ lb animals and they can hurt you without even trying and this is just an inherent risk. Additional, risks to safety exist for a couple of additional reasons... environment, handler, and animal are probably the most common causes of safety issues.
Sometimes, the environment creates an unsafe situation where there is not sufficient room or excessive dangers that present too great of risk for injury. Examples of these are small areas with limited escape routes and areas with tons of obstacles. Another issue that arises with the environment creating safety concerns is the weather. With the little bit of rain, paddocks are wet and slick. This creates a safety concern as reactive animals are more likely to slip. That slip can result in injuries to them but it can also result in them stumbling over top of the handler. I would also consider poor lighting as a safety concern for the environment, it's one of the reasons why I encourage night time emergencies to haul in. Having appropriate sized, well lite, secure footing areas for professionals to work is greatly appreciated and will often improve the outcome of calls.
Equine practitioners are at a disadvantage compared to our small animal colleagues. Most of us do not travel at all times with a handler and rely more often on the owner to handle their horses. Other equine professionals like hoof care providers also suffer from this situation. While a number of owners are great handlers, and help to maintain their animals calmer demeanor. There is also a number of them that make the situation more dangerous for all involved. In today's society we have to monitor the handler to make sure they are actually paying attention. Too often the person in charge of making sure the professional lives is watching TikToks or scrolling Facebook and have no idea what the animal is actively doing. Standing position around the horse to optimize the escape routes available to the professional are not understand by most handlers. If the handler is struggling to be a safe position, it compromises the safety of themselves, their animal and the professional. Owners often neglect to think that if they are handling their animal the responsibility for their safety still rests with the professional (yes, the inherent risk laws apply but any good professional is valuing everyone in the vicinity's safety.) A good horse with a bad handler is more likely to get someone hurt than a bad horse with a good handler.
Ultimately, the largest factor in my mind to safety and having to reassess the situation is the animal. A well broke horse under saddle, may not be a safe horse for the veterinarian or other equine professional to work on. Ground manners and personal space are disappearing training basics in today's equine population as we rush to get them under saddle and in competition sooner. Horses often fall into one of three categories... safe, reactive, or dangerous. Safe horses are well handled, they don't react aggressively to basic asks, allow people to approach, pick up hooves and touch most places. Reactive horses take a little more time because they react. Most reactive horses just want to leave when asked to be part of something they don't want to partake in. With the right handler, these are not overtly dangerous in good environments as can let them have their reaction and then reapproach. Reactive horses with bad handlers are the horses that run over the professional and can get someone hurt. Few horses are dangerous but I do come across some. No matter what the history of the animal, there is zero excuse for a horse that violates personal space and shows aggression to people. Behavior that is aggressive includes biting, kicking, striking, and charging. Horses that exhibit these types of behavior are difficult to work with in ideal environments and with competent handlers. If you add in poor environment without necessary exit routes, these can be deadly. These are also horses that injury to the handler is not uncommon. Sedation of a dangerous horse does not make them safe. Sedation does not replace training. Reactive and dangerous horses that are sedated do not warn which increases the risk of injury to people. Sedation might be necessary for certain procedures but it does not make them less dangerous and should not instill a false sense of safety. The horses demeanor can be the most critical factor on when there is a safety concern.
So when is it okay for a professional to say "No". Well, it's quite simple in words and quite difficult in action. But short answer is when the risk of injury to the animal or people outweigh the need to perform the task. This could be because handling the animal in the environment cannot be done without risk of fall, puncture, or other trauma. Environment reasons also include the inability to effectively see such as in low light situations. If the handler, cannot maintain control of the animal to facilitate the examination and procedure necessary without risk of animal getting loose or into position that likely causes harm to people. This is situations such as when the animal is consistently running through the handler. But most common reason for a professional to say no and encourage the owner to seek help from a trainer is aggression by the animal. An equine showing signs of wanting to bite, strike or kick is difficult to treat even in ideal circumstances. And if multiple professionals are repeatedly telling you that your animal is difficult, it's likely not the professional but your animal that is the issue. In all of these situations, the reason for the interaction versus the risks of injury have to be weighed.

Prime example of time to walk away... dim lit stall with owner on cell phone with horse that is cow kicking needing trimmed. The need for a trim is lower priority than the risks to safety of people. The time with a trainer can proceed the trim with limited harm to animal.
Example of non ideal that risk of injury increases but needs for treatment greater... Colic that is down thrashing in a stall. Bad environment with tight area. Behavior that is unpredictable but not directed towards people.

So recommendation for those that have read along. Train horses... reactivity is okay, aggression is not. Develop a working area for professionals that has good non slip flooring, good lighting, and limited obstacles. If handling horse, be in correct position and aware of what is going on (stay off phone).

Here's an example of a "safe" horse

https://youtube.com/shorts/8ChD9ooW11s?feature=share

12/25/2025

Since it's our own doctor in their picture, seems fair we use it to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

From our family to yours, we extend a blessing of happiness and joy to you and yours. Merry Christmas and to all a good night.

12/21/2025

As an owner, hoof care provider, and veterinarian, I think I have some reasonable knowledge and experience on where each of these falls on the realm of responsibility for care of our equine companions. So let's have an honest conversation about who is responsible for what of the three major parties responsible for the care of equine. By no means is this an absolute and there is definitely overlap on certain things.

Of these three the hoof care provider has the lowest responsibility for overall care. So let's start there.

Responsibilities of hoof care provider.
*Maintain the hoof capsule- prioiritize protection.
*Alert owner of any changes presented in capsule.
*Present options for necessary protection, balance and other mechanics
*Explain mechanics
*Provide professional level service
*Recommend and/or consult when animal requirements are beyond skill level
*Maintain necessary inventory for service
*Require timely schedules

Responsibilities of veterinarian w/ active VCPR
* Provide guidance on general health needs
* Recommend vaccine schedules appropriate for animal
* Recommend dental work and bloodwork as necessary to ensure health
* Grade body condition and make dietary recommendations based on body condition, activity level, and nutritional needs
* To best of ability diagnose health ailments
* Offer gold standard medical treatment options based on suspected/confirmed diagnosis
* Discuss medical conditions, treatment options, and prognosis of treatment
* Refer/consult specialists (these are those people with a diplomate status such as DACT, DACVS, DACVIM)
* Provide ethical treatment within constraints of VCPR
* Have any necessary difficult conversations
* Provide emergency service or contact for emergency service if unavailable

Responsibilities of Veterinarian without active VCPR
* Provide copies of historical records

Responsibilities of owner
* Daily management.
-Purchasing and providing feed (amount, type, timing all controlled by owner)
-Dosing medications
-Guaranteeing access to water
-Verifying no external trauma
- Picking hooves
- Providing safe and secure environment
*Hoof management
- Scheduling hoof care provider
- Maintaining schedule with hoof care provider
- Picking hooves
- Following recommendations on cycle length
- Consider and discuss necessary mechanics and protection methods
- Provide safe working environment for hoof care provider
-Pay bill at time service is rendered
*Veterinary related management
-Schedule annual examination
-Schedule and authorize vaccines
- Authorize and pay for routine medical care
- Discuss and approve recommended diagnosis methods
-Authorize bloodwork
-Know individual animal normals (TPR)
- Understand body condition scores
- Know what medications horse is currently on, when and how dosed including
- Refill longterm medications in timely manner
- Recognize emergencies and have emergency plan
- Maintain basic first aid kit
- Ask for clarification when explanations or directions unclear
- Provide safe working conditions
- Provide timely updates on conditions
- Bring up for discussion concerns and settle changes such as small bumps or changes in eating habits
- Contact in timely fashion for emergencies
- Quality of life decision
- Pay for services when rendered
* Additional management
- weight and body condition score
- exercise routine
- environment
- training
- tack fitment
- Authorize and pay for professional services
- seek education on care


I am sure I have left some things off the list but the point is to start having a discussion of reasonable care and who is responsible for providing such care. We all want the best for our equine companions

Dr J Alltop, DVM CBT APF-II
San Pedro Vet 2025

12/19/2025

Everyone loves a good abscess.

Pocket of exudate from dead cells and bacteria lanced and drained on a sedated horse. the horse will recover just fine in couple of weeks with no long term i...