New equine surgical hospital facility brings ‘comfort’ to horse owners in Happy Valley
Horse owners in or around Centre County previously may have had to drive several hours for emergency services. But now that drive will be cut down drastically with the opening of an equine surgical hospital facility in the State College area.
Dr. Catherine Radtke, head of surgery and hospital operations at Abington Equine Hospital, celebrated the opening of the $2.4 million surgical facility Wednesday, surrounded by her team, supporters and stakeholders. The hospital includes surgical suites, treatment rooms, an area for lameness examinations and a reproductive management unit.
After Radtke finished her residency in 2015, she was looking for her next step. She wanted to make an impact in an area that didn’t have access to an equine hospital; Centre County was that place. Abington Equine opened in 2016 with ambulatory services and in 2017, Abington Equine Hospital moved to the State College area to expand, according to its website. The facility is located at 156 Abington Lane, Port Matilda.
“We’re going to be able to provide quite a few surgical procedures that were not available to the animals in this community in the past,” Radtke said. “People had to drive an hour and a half to three to find a hospital for their horses.”
Six stalls were added, as well as two treatment rooms and two surgical induction rooms. Two surgical suites, one for soft-tissue surgery and one for orthopedics, are in the facility. Overhead hoists to move an animal of this size between rooms are installed, as well.
“This really has been a dream of mine for quite a while,” Radtke said.
Tracy Galloway and her family own a horse farm in State College. Just as they have a variety of horses at their farm, the horse industry in the area is very large and diversified, she said. There are owners that have horses as pets, for farming, trail riding, competitions and even therapeutic riding programs.
“To most people, horses seem like they’re strong, hearty, steady, large creatures. And that is true, but they also have parts to their body that are very small, very fragile, and can break. And as people who own horses know, even a small injury can be a career ending, or even ... a life ending injury to a horse,” Galloway said.
If a horse is gushing blood from a laceration to its leg that requires more than a few simple stitches, or if a foal needs emergency surgery for a ruptured bladder, the owner only has a short period of time to get the horse to a facility to save its life.
“The comfort that we horse owners are going to know from having this facility here is just immeasurable. Horses are like a member of your family and not being able to get treatment in a quick and in a place that’s in close proximity to you is frustrating and it’s disappointing for horse owners. So this is just amazing,” Galloway said.
Continuing education opportunities for externships and internships will also be possible with the opening of the facility, Radtke said.
“We have a lot of kids that come through and they’re not sure yet what they want to do. They’re not sure if they want to do small animal or large animal or equine and … it’s good for them to be able to ride around with the vets or come into surgery and really see what we do all day. So, being so close to Penn State, we really can offer a lot of opportunities to those up and coming professionals,” Radtke said.
The groundbreaking for the facility was held in summer 2021; the project was supported by a $370,000 grant from the Keystone Communities program, a private-public partnership that supports local initiatives to foster local economic growth.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Benner Township, said he was happy the state was able to help offset some of the costs through the grant. But it takes someone like Radtke, who had the vision and courage, to build something like this.
“The growth of this industry and what it’s meant to Centre County is very, very exciting to the local community,” Corman said.
