Rescuing the Horses of St. Bernard Parish

Jay Addison, DVM, of New Orleans, La., hasn’t been able to see if his home withstood Hurricane Katrina, and the house of one of his partners in veterinary practice, Ronald Giardina, DVM, was completely destroyed. Regardless of their situations,

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Jay Addison, DVM, of New Orleans, La., hasn’t been able to see if his home withstood Hurricane Katrina, and the house of one of his partners in veterinary practice, Ronald Giardina, DVM, was completely destroyed. Regardless of their situations, Addison, Giardina, and other area veterinarians, technicians, and volunteers are making their number one priority to rescue horses out of severely affected areas of Louisiana, particularly St. Bernard Parish, which is south of New Orleans.


Addison said, “I took a crew in yesterday. This area has quite a large horse population, a lot of green space down there and a variety of horses. There are several Thoroughbred trainers that stable down there, and there are a lot of gaited horses, Paso Finos, Walking horses, and Miniature horses. The water is so nasty and high, if they’re not on high ground, they’re not going to survive.


“The area is pretty inaccessible,” Addison continued, explaining that the team had to take a roundabout route to get into the St. Bernard area. “We went on the west bank of the Mississippi area and got in there on a ferry. It’s just inundated with water. Some roads are passable, but some are still covered with water and the material that’s in it.


“There is a lot of raw sewage, spilled oil, and gas,” he explained. “There are a lot of dead, decaying fish in the water and decaying animals that died with the flood

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Written by:

Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director, grew up riding and caring for her family’s horses in Central Virginia and received a B.A. in journalism and equestrian studies from Averett University. She joined The Horse in 1999 and has led the editorial team since 2010. A 4-H and Pony Club graduate, she enjoys dressage, eventing, and trail riding with her former graded-stakes-winning Thoroughbred gelding, It Happened Again (“Happy”). Stephanie and Happy are based in Lexington, Kentucky.

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