SARATOGA SPRINGS — Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital is growing, and its operations are expanding along with it.
The hospital is currently constructing a new barn, which will allow Rood & Riddle to increase its capacity and offer higher-quality treatment, among other improvements.
Practice manager Jennifer Van Alphen said the hospital is growing with the area’s population of horses. The new barn will feature eight stalls and is being constructed in a similar style as a pre-existing barn on the property.
Van Alphen said construction will “hopefully” be finished between the end of February and mid-March.
“As long as weather cooperates and everything like that, it should be the end of February, middle of March, we’re hoping,” said Van Alphen. “We’re a little bit further behind than we would’ve hoped, but we will definitely be ready for the summer, so we’re excited about it.”
Shannon Hinton, a surgeon at Rood & Riddle, said they are excited to be better equipped to treat horses.
“The fact that we’re able to expand our facilities reflects our dedication to the horse community in this area,” said Hinton. “I think it just represents the fact that we’re happy to be here, and excited to stay. We’re happy that the horse community trusts us with their horses.”
Van Alphen said the new barn will replace a temporary structure the hospital had been using during summers.
“This (barn) will basically replace having that temporary housing, so we have more permanent structure,” said Van Alphen. “The summer time, for the most part, is when we are busy, because there are so many horses in the area, and so many come into us.”
“That barn is also nice because it has the capability to have two stalls that have hoist systems in them, so we can manage neurological horses, or downed horses, or horses with injuries that require them to be managed,” added Hinton. “That will be quite helpful.”
The stalls are roughly 12 feet by 12 feet, Hinton said. Each has its own drainage system, with concrete floors covered by mats. Stalls also have their own windows, as well as two exit points. Hinton added that the sling stalls have larger doors for easier access.
The additional capacity will also help Rood & Riddle increase biodiversity, Van Alphen said, by having to flip over stalls less frequently.
“I’m not saying that we were limited on that, but we have space so each horse that comes in can maintain in that one stall for the duration of its stay,” Van Alphen said. “Sometimes what was happening was we were having to move some horses around to make room for something that would triage above that horse.”
Hinton said it is important for the hospital to be able to accommodate as many cases as possible, saying there are not many other “full-service” equestrian hospitals in the area.
“I think it’s just a reflection of us being able to better accommodate the horse community and be able to take in more cases and do more work on different types of horses,” Hinton said. “There’s not a ton of referral clinics in this area, so sometimes people are making a long drive to come to us, and it’s important we have appropriate space and facilities to manage those cases.”
Rood & Riddle has two surgeons and an internal medicine doctor on staff, in addition to six ambulatory doctors that travel into the field, Van Alphen said.
Van Alphen said that the hospital is growing as a whole, seeing an increase in staff as well as facilities.
“With our growing barn, our staff and team have been growing as well,” Van Alphen said. “We’re growing as a whole, which is definitely a really good sign.”
