Guardia Equine Sports Medicine

10/28/2026

We love a specialty shoe 🙌👌🫶🧲

After a foot abscess interrupted Sovereignty's training, the 2025 Kentucky Derby winner has been training wearing a specialized shoe designed to relieve pressure on the outer heel of his left hind hoof.

Details and explanation from Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott at the link in the comments.

10/18/2026

POV: Your vet is a horse girl, just like you.

I understand your struggles because I’m right there with you.

If you are looking for an equine veterinarian who understands the whole horse and why it’s not always just the hocks, give me a call or message.

859-785-5287

10/16/2026

09/24/2026

Concierge veterinary care means more than bringing the veterinarian to your barn. It means knowing your horse, knowing your goals, and being part of the team. 🐴

At Guardia Equine Sports Medicine, every horse gets an individualized approach to performance and wellness.

I work closely with owners and trainers to understand what they are trying to accomplish with their horse, while collaborating with the horse’s farrier, primary care veterinarian, and other members of their professional team.

From diagnosing the source of a performance problem to developing a rehabilitation plan, I look at the whole horse. That may include physical therapy, strength and conditioning, exercise management, recovery strategies, targeted treatments, and ongoing performance management.

The goal isn’t simply to treat a problem and move on. It’s to understand why it happened, what this particular horse needs, and how we can help them perform comfortably and sustainably.

Every horse is different. Every partnership is different.
Their veterinary care should be, too.

📍 Mobile Equine Sports Medicine | Houston, TX and Lexington, KY
📞 Houston: 713-249-1648
📞 Lexington: 859-785-5287
🌐 GuardiaEquine.com

09/15/2026

We are asked often what we do at FEI horse shows as a Veterinary Delegate. We advocate for the horse’s welfare and help support fair play. This is always an unfortunate situation, but a good example of how that system helps support equine athletes.

🐴 HORSE’S WELFARE COMES FIRST AS BURGHLEY DREAM ENDS AT FINAL INSPECTION

American rider Jennie Brannigan and her experienced partner FE Lifestyle—affectionately known as Foxy—had already completed one of the toughest cross-country courses in the world.

The 16-year-old chestnut produced a clear jumping performance across Burghley’s demanding terrain, adding only 11.2 time penalties and leaving the pair in an impressive 12th place overnight.

They were hoping to secure their third Burghley completion and Foxy’s tenth finish at five-star level.

But before any horse could enter the final showjumping arena, there was one more important test to pass: the Sunday-morning veterinary inspection.

All 28 horses that had completed the cross-country phase were presented before the ground jury and veterinary team. FE Lifestyle was sent to the holding box for further examination before being presented for a second time.

After careful consideration, officials decided that he should not continue. No specific injury or diagnosis was publicly announced.

It was a heartbreaking end to an incredible performance, but it also demonstrated exactly why final horse inspections matter.

Horses cannot explain when something feels wrong. At the highest level of sport, adrenaline and courage may carry them through an exhausting cross-country course—but the responsibility then belongs to the people around them to examine, listen and make the difficult decisions.

A place on the leaderboard is never worth gambling with a horse’s welfare.

Foxy left Burghley without completing the competition, but he did so as an extraordinary athlete who had already shown tremendous bravery, experience and heart.

Sometimes the most important result is not the one recorded on the scoreboard. It is knowing that the horse comes first. ❤️

Let’s send Jennie, Foxy and their entire team our very best wishes.

09/11/2026

📣We have had a good number of clients request to continue to use Dr. Guardia’s care for their elective performance horse needs. 🐎 We are thrilled with that and want to get a head count of who is interested. Depending on how many barns and how frequently they want Dr. Guardia to come, we will get regular visits back to Texas scheduled. Either leave a comment here or send us a DM or email at [email protected] if you’d like to sign up for that. We will work out logistics and details once we get a secured list of folks wanting this service. We will most likely send out a Doodle Poll to gather information as to the frequency and timing our clients would want. Send us your name (or whomever will be the point of contact for the barn) and preferred email so we can send you those details.

09/10/2026

There has now been a horse identified to be infested with NWS. The horse was located in Presidio County, far southwest of Houston. We share this as a reminder to keep checking your horses daily for any new wounds and have a veterinarian examine them if any are found.

On September 9th, an infested zone was established in Presidio County in association with a NWS detection in a horse. The zone expands into portions of Jeff Davis and Presidio Counties.
View individual animal cases here: https://bit.ly/USDA-NWSConfirmedCases
See the current infested zones in place here: https://bit.ly/NWS-ZoneMap

09/03/2026

♥️ I have been overwhelmed by the kind comments and well wishes from clients and friends since the announcement went out this week. If you missed it, please read the letter from me to you in the comment below. Texas will always be my home and my patients and their owners (and puppies) have become family to me. From educating students to partnering with my performance horses as part of their winning team, I thank you from the bottom of my Texan heart. ♥️ With all my love, Dr. Ciera Guardia

08/30/2026

1. Your HITS Hudson Valley CSI2* veterinary team:
Dr. Ciera Guardia - Veterinary Delegate
Dr. Angie Yates - Veterinary Services Manager

Thank you for having me! It was a really fun show 🍎🏇🏾

2. Being a horse doctor means you get to cuddle puppies and they never know you’re the vet!

3. One of the prettiest show offices I have ever seen and the neatest sign showing all of the HITS horse shows.

4. Dinner our last night on an offshoot of the Hudson River.

5. Finally made it to the “Big Apple”

6. Lovely international ring.

7. Double rainbow over the FEI schooling ring.

08/25/2026

🐎 It was an honor to be invited back for the second USEF Veterinary Summit discussing how to improve equine welfare and competition. These colleagues inspire me to be better every day. Thank you to the AAEP for trusting me to lead the Performance Horse Committee and thank you for keeping horses at the forefront of the conversation. ❤️🐴

Now I’m off to New York to officiate the HITS on the Hudson CSI2*. Wheels up 🛫 to Albany!