Save
Money on Vaccines by Scheduling a Clinic (pdf article)
AHC ECONOMIC
IMPACT STUDY (JPG format)
CHECK OUT OUR FOALING SERVICES—SPACES
LIMITED!!
2008 Foal
Services
BEFORE FOALING
Fetal Ultrasound - $225
Evaluates fetal heartbeat, foal size,
placental thickness, and placental fluids
Fetal ECG - $29
Evaluates fetal heart rate and rhythm
Predict-a-Foal - $29
Helps time the foaling using the mare’s milk
AFTER
FOALING
(Strongly recommended within
the first 24 hours)
Post–Partum
Exam - $87
Foal IgG - $41
FOALING OUT YOUR MARE AT LBEMC
Routine Doctor-Assisted Foaling
(Mares with no history of complications) - $545
5 days of board
Doctor-assisted delivery
Foal IgG the following day
Post partum exam of mare and foal the following day
High-Risk Pregnancy
(Sick mare or history of complications with prior delivery) - $1075
5 days of board with daily fetal ECGs and treatments/monitoring
Fetal ultrasound at admission
Doctor attended delivery
Foal IgG the following day
Post partum exam of mare and foal the following day
Please book early as space is limited!
Miniature
Horse and Donkey Health Care Symposium 2008
Over
70 people attended our Second annual Miniature Horse and Donkey Health
Care 
Symposium
which covered topics including Colic, Dystocia, Hoof Care, Embryo
Transfer, Nutrition and First Aid/Wound care. The daylong event was
held at The Ridge golf course in Auburn, Ca. Fort Dodge, Pfizer Animal
Health, and Purina Feed Company attended the day as sponsors and handed
out valuable information to the attendees. Farrier, Blake Brown, was
the guest speaker for the day, and all other talks were given by Loomis
Basin Equine Medical Center veterinarians. The day was a huge success,
and plans are already in the works for an even bigger and better symposium
next year!
Listed below are the topics presented along with the name of the
presenter. The Power Point images and text can be accessed as a PDF
document by clicking on a specific topic:
Colic
– Langdon Fielding, DVM, DACVECC
Dystocia
– Jill Higgins, DVM
Hoof
Care – Guest Speaker: Blake Brown
Embryo
Transfer – Catherine Jacobs, DVM
Nutrition
– Michelle Lee, DVM
First Aid & Wound Care – Molly Dinucci, DVM
(Contact Dr. Dinucci at the clinic for a copy of this article.)
Dr. Greg Fellers Retires
On August 26, 2007, friends and colleagues gathered
to honor Dr. Greg Fellers’ 35 years of veterinary practice
and acknowledge his retirement from Loomis Basin Equine Medical
Center. The afternoon was marked with sunshine, a barbecue,
speeches and some hilarious anecdotes. The story of Greg being
tipped over in a porta-potty was so funny that it was told more
than once.
Greg grew up in Los Angeles but was able to escape the urban
environment with trips to his grandparent’s farm in Iowa.
It was here that he developed an interest in the care of large
animals which would eventually lead him to attend the School
of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis. He was awarded the DVM in1972.
To further his training, Greg completed a large animal medicine
internship at New Bolton Center, University of Pennsylvania
School of Veterinary Medicine and then worked for 3 years at
Valley Large Animal Hospital in Morgan Hill, CA. under the mentorship
of Dr. Eugene Carroll. It was here that Greg first vetted endurance
and competitive trail rides and joined the Tevis veterinary
committee.
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Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center
2007 |
Loomis Basin Veterinary Clinic circa
1976 |
In 1975, Greg and Dr. Rick Frey, a close friend and veterinary school
classmate, founded Loomis Basin Veterinary Clinic. At first, the practice
was only mobile, operating from a VW bus and an International Travelall.
The business soon expanded into a quaint 2-bedroon house on Taylor
Rd. (next to the Hardware Emporium) with Spouses, Jani and Kathy serving
as receptionists and technicians. Even the next generation got in
the act with sons Cory and Brad and the Frey boys serving as part
of the backroom pet patrol.
Through hard work and a commitment to quality service, the clinic
thrived and a new hospital facility was built at 3901 Sierra College
Blvd. Doctors were added to the staff and ownership of the clinic
was expanded first to include Dr. Corey Cherrstrom and finally, Dr.
Bob Morgan.
With more doctors to share the load, Greg was able to become more
involved in community activities. He served on the Loomis Incorporation
committee and became the town’s first treasurer and its third
mayor. Other community involvement includes the Chamber of Commerce,
South Placer Heritage Foundation, Loomis Fire Department ( Board president),
leadership in the First United Methodist Church of Loomis, an avid
promoter of Del Oro High School’s SOS program, Marriage Encounter,
and Habitat for Humanity. Greg was a recipient of the UC Davis School
of Veterinary Medicine’s Distinguished Alumni Award for community
service.
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In 1990, Greg joined with Dr. Bob Morgan to form Loomis Basin Large
Animal Services, which eventually became Loomis Basin Equine Medical
Center. By reducing his time as a practicing veterinarian, Greg was
able to coordinate and oversee the construction of the state of the
art equine facility that houses the practice at this time. The building
was completed in 2004. Greg served as practice administrator until
his retirement.
With more personal time available, Greg will be able to continue his
community activities and commit more time to his interests in running,
volleyball, bicycling, and snow and water skiing. There will be more
travel in the future with Los Angeles being the most frequent destination—that’s
where his new grandson, Kevin Gregory lives. It’s pretty certain
that Greg will be seen frequently at the clinic. He will again be
the Head Veterinarian for the Tevis Cup Endurance Ride and the clinic
is a marshalling area for the veterinary supplies needed for the ride.
Also, Greg, along with Rick Frey, maintains the ownership of the clinic
property and, as such, he is the only one who remembers where the
water and electrical cutoffs are located. And maybe, just maybe, the
front office staff will talk him into running out on just one more
colicky horse.
Dr. Inoue joins LBEMC
as surgeon
Starting in November,2007, Olivia Inoue, DVM, Diplomate ACVS will
join the staff of LBEMC as surgeon. Dr. Inoue’s extensive background
in equine surgical practice is highlighted on the Doctor page of our
website. Dr. Inoue will be available for orthopedic exams, surgical
consultations, and surgical procedures during the first two weeks
of each month. Appointments for her should be scheduled through our
front office; she will also be available for emergency surgery.
CHP Mounted Unit
Loomis
Basin Equine Medical Center is privileged to provide the veterinary
care to the California Highway Patrol Mounted Unit. The Unit was formed
in 1986 under the auspices of the California State Police which was
later merged with the CHP. The Unit provides high visibility patrol
in order to deter crime on the grounds of the California State Capitol.
They also handle crowd control situations around the Capitol. Ceremonial
duties include parades, funerals, opening ceremonies, and school presentations.
The unit consists of four full-time and two part-time officers. There
are four equine members:
Rusty, an 18 year old bay QH gelding
Bo, a 12 year old bay QH gelding
Spike, a 12 year old dun QH gelding
CJ, a 7 year old black QH gelding
The Officers pictured with the Governor are:
On the left On the right
Eric Luhrs on Rusty Tony Pinero on Bo
Good Mustangs and Burros! Really?
Article by Britt and Stuart Porter
| Porter’s
Mustangs
My husband and I own 7 Bureau of Land Management Mustangs and
love all of them dearly. We use our horses for all kinds of
riding, mostly trail rides, but also endurance, SOS (Sweep riders
of the Sierras), parades and we show them at the Wild Horse
and Burro Show in Reno every year in many events. This three-day
show has everything from halter, conformation, Western and English
classes to great costume contests. We have found the BLM Mustangs
to be very smart, easy to keep, and very adaptable to many riding
disciplines. The fitness, survival skills, mental reasoning,
and overall hardiness they get from natural selection are very
hard to replicate off the range. They are truly “bred
to be tough”. |
Our "Miller" in the Georgetown Light Parade
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"Kelsey's"
front feet after a summer of 40 to 60 miles a week without hoof
boots |
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Our "rent-a-kids"
Stacey Burgett & Maia Morrison on "Jake" &
"Kelsey"
at the Tevis 2004 finish line |
"Stacey" and "Jake"
going over
Cougar Rock First Tevis
for both horses and riders |
Mustangs have great feet and bone. We ride our horses barefoot most
of the time except for endurance rides where we use modified hoof boots.
Two of our horses completed the 50th Annual Western States 100 Mile
Trail Ride (Tevis Cup) in 2004 wearing just hoof boots; in fact Mustangs
have the highest completion rate of any breed over the last 11 years
of this ride. They are very well suited for long distance work since
they usually travel 15 to 25 miles a day in the wild. They take good
care of themselves and are very good eaters and drinkers.
Unfortunately the BLM is overstocked with horses and under stocked
with potential adopters. Many people do not want to take on the responsibility
of training and are unsure of the outcome. There are some new programs
that take these horses and train them for public auction. The Nevada
State Prison at Carson City does a wonderful job of gentling and training
these Mustangs. Their horses have 100 to 
120
days of training on them and are much more than just “green broke”,
they are ready to ride anywhere. Another program is the BLM volunteers
group that my husband and I are members of. This group helps out the
BLM by gentling horses and then placing them in homes with friends and
neighbors, or once gentled returning them to the BLM for adoption and
placement
Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center has been our horses’ veterinary
care provider for 6 years. They have performed many procedures, and
we have always had great results. Their caring professional staff, and
state of the art facility is unmatched. They always tell us that our
horses are some of their best-behaved patients, a likely story! We want
to thank everyone at LBEMC for your love and devotion to our horses,
and for the opportunity to write this article.
Stuart and Britt Porter, Georgetown, CA.
LaDonna’s Adoption Story
Like many young girls, I fell in love with horses. As an adult, I am
still just as enthusiastic about them. 
Growing
up in the Midwest, I didn’t know that wild horses even existed
until I moved out West. While in college, I took a summer job at a pack
station in the Eastern Sierras where most of the saddle horses were
mustangs. The outfit preferred mustangs because of their tough feet
and soundness. This is where my fascination with the “wild horses”
began.
In college I researched the history and social and physical attributes
about the wild horse. I also arranged an internship living three months
on one herd management area (HMA) working with various wild horse specialists.
I have gained a great appreciation for their attributes of survivability
and adaptability. They are nature’s horse uncorrupted by human
selection.
When the time was right, I chose to adopt a prison-trained mustang.
With such a busy work and family schedule, it just made sense to not
start with fresh one off the range. I attended the Cason City prison
adoption in February 2006 and was amazed how well the prison trainers
had gentled and trained these horses. I would have been happy with any
of them, but got a 3-year old strawberry roan paint who I named Chief.
I brought Chief home and took him for a tour around the farm. It was
a whole new world to him. After a couple of days soaking in his new
environment, I took him out for his fist trail ride. He was eager to
explore and brave to face anything the troubled him. We crossed creeks,
bridges, rocky slopes, heavy brush, attacking dogs and bicycles -all
without freaking out or balking. What more could you ask of a trail
horse?
The Donkeys
While Chief is a great horse for my husband or myself, he is not the
best beginner mount for my daughters ages 3 and 5. We wanted a smaller
buddy animal, so we adopted two jennys and their foals. All that I have
learned and experienced with BLM burros is that the Jennys, once gentled,
make great companions for children.
The information that BLM provided me when I adopted explained that
burros are different from horses mentally and socially. For instance,
horses are herd animals and prefer to be in large groups, while donkeys
are buddy animals and pair off in twos.
Horses have a strong flight instinct and are easily startled while
donkeys have a keen sense of curiosity and not easily startled. Donkeys
are independent thinkers. If you attempt to dominate the donkey, as
in many horse-training methods, he will just avoid you. A donkey’s
strongest instinct is survival. Training a donkey relies on showing
him by words and actions that he can trust you to protect him from harm.
If you communicate your requests without pain or fear, you will have
a willing, happy donkey buddy.
In many respects, working with donkeys is like raising children. They
both will place their trust in you. Both must be handled with patience
and understanding. Both will love you unconditionally, mistakes and
all. Ultimately, both can be your very best buddy.
When I brought my donkey’s home, I housed them according to BLM’s
adoption requirements. Each pair had a 10 x 30 area that was half in
the barn, half outside. Within a few days, I noticed that one of the
Jennys stopped eating and looked depressed. After consulting the BLM,
they said that occasionally, burros, particularly a nursing jenny, will
shut down. A doctor from Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center examined
her only to find nothing physically wrong with her. She was simply depressed
in her new environment. Perhaps she was separated from her buddy when
I adopted her. I offered her many types of feed and hay but she refused
to eat and continued to grow weaker.
After a week, things were not looking good for her. In a last attempt
to cheer her up, I moved her and her foal to small pasture. It is not
usually recommended to turn a wild burro loose in a pasture until they
are 
gentled
and easily handled, but we would worry about that later. Almost immediately,
she looked happier and began grazing. She was going to be okay!
After about a month working with “Blue” and her foal Rosie,
I had gained their trust as a friend. This was a major turning point.
Now that I was their trustworthy friend, it was so easy to ask to them
to lead, pick up feet or whatever. I don’t believe they’ll
do anything to intentionally hurt my children or me. My daughters climb
all over and sit on them even though we haven’t begun any formal
training yet.
The other jenny A.J. and her foal Moe are still coming around. They
are still a little afraid of people and not sure that they want be buddies
yet. They are all individuals, so we’ll continue to be kind and
patient. These are the first wild animals I’ve adopted. I was
hesitant to take on such a task, but have learned that as long as you
can understand their body language and communicate with them, becoming
their friend is more a matter of patience than training skills. I have
no doubt my girls will be going down the trails with their buddies this
summer.
LaDonna Smith, Pilot Hill, CA
Recent Mustang Adoptive Parents
We first met “Honey II” in November 2005. A friend and neighbor
had just picked her out of a BLM 
adoption
corral. As a four-year old mare she had twice been passed over for adoption.
She appeared to be strong, quick and smart but you couldn’t get
close to her. Except for the BLM tag around her neck and freeze brand
she was still a wild horse and appeared to be in no mood to change.
The transformation since then has been truly amazing. Honey II has “joined
up” with humans in a way we have rarely seen before in a horse.
Proof of that came in late December 2005, when she was seen at Loomis
Basin for an eye problem. Without hesitation, she hopped in the trailer
alone for the one-hour ride. Once at Loomis the veterinarian said that
he had not ever treated a horse so trusting and calm as he performed
a thorough eye exam inside a darkened exam room without any sedative;
this on a horse that was wild, and deemed un-adoptable, only a couple
of months earlier. My wife and I have owned over 35 horses in our lifetimes;
and we both ride endurance. We have never seen a horse this confident
and sure of itself.
We knew Mustangs were strong and tough. Maybe smart, too, in some cases.
But “trusting” – that surprised us. We formally adopted
Honey II a couple of weeks ago and look forward to years of partnering
with her.
Jerry and Penny Scribner, Greenwood, CA
For more information on adopting a Mustang or Burro please visit the
following web links:
http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/index.php
The official BLM website.
http://www.silverstateindustries.com
Carson City Prison Trained Horses.
http://www.cabaa.org California
BLM Adopters Assistance.
http://www.mustangs4us.com/burros!.htm
Wild Burros and Mustang information
http://www.kbrhorse.net/ KBR
Horse Net for Mustangs and Burros
http://www.hoofrehab.com Pete
Ramsey, Barefoot Hoof Specialist
http://www.barefoothorse.com/
Barefoot information and Links
We'd like to thank our good friends and clients,
Britt and Stuart Porter for writing and coordinating this informative
article about success stories in the adoption of Mustangs and Burros.
Thanks also for the contributions by LaDonna Smith and Jerry and Penny
Scribner. The Porter's are ideal ambassadors for wild horse adoption
because of their success with their band of formerly wild horses and
their ongoing advocacy for saving theses remarkable equines. The clinic
wanted to lend a hand by providing our website as another vehicle for
spreading the work about adoption.
LBEMC
DISCONTINUATION
OF FOOD ANIMAL SERVICE
Based on continuing trends reported to our sheep, goat, and cattle
clients early in 2004, we have discontinued our service to food animal
patients. As the portion of our practice represented by sheep, goats,
and cattle dropped below 5%, we found it difficult to hire staff with
skills in both food animal and equine. With attrition and new hiring,
our staff now is oriented exclusively to equine patients.
While we appreciate the longstanding relationship and loyalty of our
food animal clients, we can no longer provide the service your animals
deserve. We have listed below some local veterinarians who are willing
to accept new food animal patients. Please give them a call as your
food animal veterinary needs arise.
Auburn Animal Medical Center 530-823-5166
Dr. Sami Macon 530-888-9645
Dr. Becky Childers 916-645-8644
Dr. Robin Skillman 916-645-3775
MAJOR MEDICAL INSURANCE
We all consider first aid kits, veterinary availability, and access
to a horse trailer to be components of a preparedness program for a
major equine emergency. Ability to finance a major medical crisis is
not often considered until the actual situation is confronted. An uncomplicated
colic surgery and hospital after-care averages $5000; the financial
burden is tremendous. Large veterinary bills can also be incurred with
mayor trauma, pneumonia, pleuritis, and complicated orthopedic problems
just to name a few.
Purchasing major medical insurance for your horse is one way to prepare
for these emergencies. The policies typically come with choices of $5000,
$7500, or $10,000 payout per incident with an deductible of between
$250 and $500 per incident. The insurer also requires the owner to take
a mortality insurance policy on the horse as a companion to the major
medical
coverage. A typical annual premium for $5000 mortality and $5000 major
medical is $450.
Major medical insurers will cover horses up to 15 years of age, but
most companies will extend surgical coverage to 18 or 19 years of age.
“Surgical only” insurance is less expensive annually than
major medical coverage.
There are several companies offering equine major medical insurance
and there are equine insurance brokers in our area that can help the
horse owner select the best policy. Check the phone directory under
“Insurance” or call the clinic.
The addition of this insurance to your equine emergency preparedness
program can give real peace of mind if a serious medical problem confronts
your horse.
New Equine Hospital Opens
Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center is 
proud
to announce the opening of their new 5,500 square foot full-service
equine hospital. The facility features: a surgery room, two induction/recovery
rooms, an intensive care unit with four climate-controlled stalls, expanded
laboratory capabilities, and an outpatient/receiving treatment room.
In addition, there are two barns with eleven stalls and four paddocks
available for hospital cases, turn out of long term patients, and day
boarders. The practice also utilizes four fully-equipped ambulatory
hospital units for “out service” calls.
Dr.
Fellers is one of the original owners who started the Loomis practice,
in a house on Taylor Road, in 1975. Dr. Morgan joined the practice,
as an owner, in 1980.
Over the years, the practice has grown to thirteen staff veterinarians
and specialists, a hospital administrator, and approximately twenty
support staff that provide twenty-four hour care, by appointment, seven
days a week, 365 days per year. Specialties include: surgery, radiology,
ultrasonography, endoscopy, equine reproduction, neonatal intensive
care and dentistry.
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