Hartland Equine Veterinary Services, PLLC

01/18/2026

Update: We are back to work and deeply apologize for not bringing the warm weather back to VA with us! I tried 💔❄️

🐟 ☀️Out of Office 🌞 🌴

Dr. Megan is now on vacation with her family! And as most of you know, time away from work is precious (and rare for equine vets!)

Please do your best to honor that time *off the clock*, if at all possible, for the next few days! If your horse has an emergency and you are a regular client, please refer to the client email so you details on dates and contact information for our wonderful vet on call, or call the regular number and listen to the voicemail for that info.

01/03/2026

Happy New Year to our family of clients and patients! We so appreciate your support, your friendship, and the honor of being trusted to help care for your horses!

As a thank you to our clients, we are offering a $50 coupon to use on any shockwave treatments scheduled during the month of January!

We have been seeing excellent results with our PiezoWave shockwave machine in patients with osteoarthritis, soft tissue injuries, splints, sore necks and backs, kissing spine and heel pain/navicular pain and we hope to benefit even more of our patients with its use!

Please reach out to [email protected] to discuss how we can help your horse feel his or her best with this treatment modality!

11/21/2025

The Equine Disease Communication Center is monitoring an outbreak of EHM that originated at the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) World Finals and Elite Barrel Race event Nov 5-9. To date, officially confirmed cases have been reported in the following states-

11/20/2025

A great post by our friends at Haymarket Vet! Long gone are the days where good advice is telling people that there is nothing we can do about EOTRH! We discuss this disease process with clients regularly. Dental radiographs are diagnostic and can help decide which teeth are affected and how severely they are. This is one reason why having an equine veterinarian perform sedated oral exams and dentistry with the option for dental radiographs is so important in the care of our horses.

Incisior extractions sound scary at first, but horses are immediately so much more comfortable and brighter after surgery which really highlights the degree to which their quality of life is impacted by the chronic pain this disease causes.

Reach out to your equine veterinarian with any questions you have!

Senior dental care continued—EOTRH edition

Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercemetosis 🦷

What is it?
-progressive condition of the most commonly the incisors/canines in older equines
-can be painful and limit ability to bite/graze

Clinical signs
-reluctance to graze or pull hay out of a hay net
-drooling
**most horses show minimal signs despite being painful**

Appearance of the teeth
-reddening/raised tissue at the gumline
-receding gum line
-“bulbous” appearing/swollen tooth roots
-ulcers/pustules along the gumline
-loose teeth

Diagnosis
-suspicions from oral exam
-radiographs of tooth roots needed

Treatment
-mild cases: dietary modifications, pain management
-severe cases: surgical removal of affected teeth, this is typically done just under standing sedation and local nerve blocks!

EOTRH is a sneaky disease and one that most horses don’t communicate how much it is truly affecting them.
The most common report we hear from owners after removal of teeth is “my horse is completely different, I didn’t realize how much pain those teeth were truly causing”

Schedule an oral exam today for your older equine friends if you have any concerns!
703-754-3309 📞

10/31/2025

We are so proud of Justin Haefner and Kola! I feel like we've known them since they were both "kids" and it has been incredible to be a part of your journey together!

10/16/2025

Happy National Vet Tech 🩺 week to all of the veterinary technicians and assistants who work hard to support veterinarians, keep them safe, and who love and take care of your horses (and other animals) as if they're their own!

Please join me in thanking our superstar ✨ assistant, Katie LaVallee ✨ , for all of the hard work she does to help Hartland Equine's patients! 🐴

Thank you, Katie!!

09/03/2025

Sharing this again as the night temps get cooler and the sugar levels in the grass are spiking! Keep those muzzles on or consider (re)checking your horses endocrine status through blood work to assess their level of risk!

Preventing laminitis is so much easier than treating it!

08/19/2025

We have seen several cases of anhidrosis this summer! Stay on the look out!

Most of our clients noticed a rapid respiratory rate and nostril flare along with elevated re**al temperature which alerted them of a problem!

As a large portion of the country continues to experience extreme heat, it's imperative that horse owners do their due diligence to keep their horses safe and healthy during heat waves.

One of the side effects of the heat for some horses is the inability to sweat properly. This condition, called anhidrosis, is potentially dangerous for horses because it compromises their ability to thermoregulate even in weather that doesn’t seem that hot, and therefore puts them at higher risk of heat stress.

Anhidrosis is not fully understood yet; it is widespread in the hot and humid regions of the southeastern United States and the Gulf states, but it is also widely reported elsewhere during the summer and particularly during heat waves. If your horse has a high respiratory rate and does not seem to tolerate turnout on hot days, be sure to discuss it with your veterinarian.

Remember that administering unnecessary medications without consulting your horse doctor first could do more harm than good, as it puts your equine friend at risk of developing harmful side effects!

08/15/2025

Fall Vaccines are here! 🍁 🍂 (Even though we have found ourselves in 2nd summer 🌞 🥵)

We are excited to see you and your horses!

✅ Physical exams include: 👁️ ❤️ 🩺 🪥 🌡️ 🧲 ⚖️
✅ Appropriate vaccines 💉
✅ Fecals 💩 🪱
✅ Routine blood work 💧
✅ Treats for positive reinforcement 🍪
✅ Happy horses and ponies who are (mostly!) excited to see us too!

Routine appointment scheduling by email at [email protected]

07/18/2025

Donkey lovers, stop scrolling!

A friend and client of ours has discovered the most incredible hack for protecting her donkeys legs from fly strike! No messy creams, less fly spray, and happy donkeys.

** Toeless compression socks for kids **

These are just rigid enough to hold their shape well on the leg but still flexible enough to seem comfortable and not cause rubs and the legs are completely bite / bug / scab free underneath.

Dr. Megan was super impressed and Tootsie and Tw***ie are so happy to not be stomping at flies! Happy Friday !!😃😃

03/15/2025

Though we wish our horse doctors could be there for our equine friends in any emergency, the reality is that our horses' primary veterinarian cannot be available 24/7 and still juggle the needs of their own personal lives, health and happiness.

The most significant pain point for many veterinarians is caring for their clients during regular business hours and then also being on call for emergencies after hours. For single-doctor or small practices, this traditionally has been the case most nights of the week.

However, private veterinary practices and veterinary schools have more recently focused on developing new models for emergency care which ease the strain on individual practitioners. This includes the growth of emergency cooperatives where two or more practices in a geographic area work together to share after-hours care, as well as more emergency-only practices and the use of tele-triage services to address client concerns after normal business hours.

As equine veterinarians reevaluate what after-hours care looks like for their practices, the support of their clients is critical to creating a balance that works for both parties. If your horse doctor talks with you about changes in how after-hours care is delivered, we hope you’ll welcome the adjustments. This evolution of emergency care must take place in order for equine veterinarians to avoid burnout and continue to be at their best to treat all of your equine friends.