Keeping Preakness horses healthy and treating their injuries requires specialized treatment. Veterinarian Dr. Chris Smith has always loved animals. “When you become a veterinarian, you want to help animals,” Smith told 11 News. “You kind of catch the virus when you’re younger.” Especially for horses. “The amount of stuff and what the horses can do in their different disciplines is really cool,” Smith told 11 News. | GUIDE: Here’s everything you need to know about Preakness 149. He turned his passion into a profession by opening Foxhall Equine in Fallston, a state-of-the-art veterinary facility that includes everything a horse could need and more. A specially designed treadmill allows horses to exercise with less weight on their joints, ligaments and tendons. “We try to do everything we can for these athletes,” Smith told 11 News. “We’re going to start with the crown jewel, I’ll call it, you know, the water track, the underwater treadmill.” There’s also something usually found in a spa, instead of a veterinary facility, a solarium. Erin Margolis, senior associate veterinarian at Foxhall, said the tanning bed increases blood circulation and helps with muscle recovery. “The solarium is one of my favorite places in the clinic,” Margolis told 11 News. “It has additional benefits by increasing the immune system, white blood cell production and vitamin D production.” Photo gallery below: 149th Preakness in photos. Another treatment is a salt room which helps with allergies, and of course there is laser therapy to stimulate “They also help release and stimulate stem cells…in the body so that they go to the site of the disturbance or problem,” Smith told 11 News. All of these services aim to keep these athletes in the best possible shape. “These patients are athletes. They may not play basketball, but they have their own jobs, which require different levels of athletic ability and can be taxing in their own way,” Smith told 11 News. He also said they treat a wide range of people. injuries, as well as helping horses prepare for competition.
Keeping Preakness horses healthy and treating their injuries requires specialized treatment.
Veterinarian Dr. Chris Smith has always loved animals.
“When you become a veterinarian, you want to help animals,” Smith told 11 News. “You kind of catch the virus when you’re younger.”
Especially for horses.
“The amount of stuff and what the horses can do in their different disciplines is really cool,” Smith told 11 News.
| GUIDE: Here’s everything you need to know about Preakness 149
He turned his passion into a profession by opening Foxhall Equine in Fallston, a state-of-the-art veterinary facility that includes everything a horse could need and more. A specially designed treadmill allows horses to exercise with less weight on their joints, ligaments and tendons.
“We try to do everything we can for these athletes,” Smith told 11 News. “We’re going to start with the crown jewel, I’ll call it, you know, the water track, the underwater treadmill.”
There’s also something usually found in a spa, instead of a veterinary facility, a solarium. Erin Margolis, senior associate veterinarian at Foxhall, said the tanning bed increases blood circulation and helps with muscle recovery.
“The solarium is one of my favorite places in the clinic,” Margolis told 11 News. “It has additional benefits by increasing the immune system, white blood cell production and vitamin D production.”
Photo gallery below: 149th Preakness in photos
Another treatment is a salt room which helps with allergies, and of course there is laser therapy to stimulate healing.
“They also help release and stimulate stem cells…in the body to travel to the site of the disorder or problem,” Smith told 11 News.
All of these services aim to keep these athletes in the best possible shape.
“These patients are athletes. They may not play basketball, but they have their own jobs, which require different levels of athletic ability and can be taxing in their own way,” Smith told 11 News.
He also said they treat a wide range of injuries and help horses prepare for competition.
