Vets Help Horses, People

Every year on the weekend before Thanksgiving, a group of 10-15 veterinarians travel to a remote area of Arizona that can only be reached by helicopter, pack animal, or on foot. These members of Veterinary Christian Fellowship (VCF) gather to

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Every year on the weekend before Thanksgiving, a group of 10-15 veterinarians travel to a remote area of Arizona that can only be reached by helicopter, pack animal, or on foot. These members of Veterinary Christian Fellowship (VCF) gather to care for the horses of the Havasupai tribe (“people of the blue-green water”), and to share their Christian faith.


“A (regular) vet comes down twice a year to the canyon (to care for the horses),” explains Greg Smith, DVM, of East County Large Animal Practice in El Cajon, Calif. Smith has traveled annually to the Supai reservation for more than 15 years to provide free veterinary care for the horses and minister to the tribe. “Horses are pretty expendable. If something’s wrong, they might try to take them up out of the canyon for treatment, but that is rare,” he says.


The Supai tribe is made up of about 600 people whose primary means of income is tourism. Their residence is a canyon that is approximately 90 miles northeast of Kingmon, Ariz., off of Route 66. Tourists visit the canyon on the tribe’s horses and mules. All food and supplies for the tribe, including the feed for the horses, are brought in on these pack animals, and not all of the animals are cared for optimally. Many have pack sores and are underfed.


The group, headed by Richard Marshall, DVM, has been working with Native Americans since 1983, primarily the Navajo and Supai people. Missions of the VCF spread throughout the Four Corners region where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona meet. VCF primarily conducts preventative medicine, deworming, vaccination, wound treatment, and castration of horses

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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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