Rood & Riddle Surgery – Let our experience work for you

From the very beginning, Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital has been driven to provide the best equine medical care available and to continually strive for new solutions for both old and new problems in equine health. Since opening in 1986, the Rood & Riddle Surgery Department has exemplified excellence and assembled a team of 5 surgeons considered leaders in their field. The facility has also kept pace with advancing technologies and has expanded to offer 5 operating rooms, 9 recovery stalls, with 74 stalls available for hospitalized surgical cases and 35 stalls strictly reserved for outpatient procedures. Additionally, the facility is the only one in Kentucky and surrounding states to have nuclear scintigraphy, high speed treadmill, high field MRI and stem cell laboratory capabilities on the same campus, enabling clinicians to provide state of the art diagnosis and therapy at a single site.

All 5 of the Rood & Riddle surgeons completed rigorous residency programs at universities well known for their equine surgical training programs and are board certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Collectively, they have performed over 40,000 elective and emergency surgical procedures over the last 10 years. They have been on the forefront of equine surgical innovation including arthroscopic, limb corrective surgery, simple and complex fracture fixation, arthrodesis techniques, and innovations in equine upper respiratory surgery as well as abdominal and reproductive procedures. 

The Rood & Riddle surgeons have comprehensive experience with all types of elective orthopedic and soft tissue procedures. Although Lexington is best known as a center for Thoroughbred racehorses, our surgeons have experience with all breeds and disciplines, and are knowledgeable of the unique needs of each breed or discipline from the early developmental needs of foals to the athlete in training.

In addition to elective surgery expertise, our surgeons have extensive experience with emergency disorders of the abdomen, upper airway, reproductive and musculoskeletal systems, admitting approximately 700 surgical emergency patients annually. At the time of admission, each patient is evaluated by an experienced surgeon and supporting staff. This enables immediate surgical attention if needed. This approach to emergency care produces the best possible outcomes.

The clinical successes of the Rood & Riddle surgeons have reached far beyond the 24 acre campus in Lexington, Kentucky. Rood & Riddle surgeons are recognized by their peers as experts in equine surgery and are sought after to give multiple scientific presentations at national and international continuing education meetings each year. Collectively, they have published over 140 articles and 40 book chapters in equine surgery and are leaders in professional organizations such as the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, American Association of Equine Practitioners and Association for the Study of Internal Fixation (Fracture Repair).  The Rood & Riddle surgeons also annually lead courses which train current and future equine surgeons in techniques of upper airway surgery and fracture repair in the horse. The Rood & Riddle surgeons recognize the best way to improve themselves, the veterinary profession and your horse’s care is through their involvement with professional equine associations. They are fully committed to professional service and to the advancement of equine surgery.  

The success of the Rood & Riddle surgery department is not based on individual effort. The surgeons are supported by an experienced group of technicians, administrative assistants and other support staff dedicated to give each horse the best care and each client the best service possible. In addition to support staff, the surgeons consult when needed with the other Rood & Riddle clinicians who are also recognized as experts and leaders in their fields in internal medicine, neurology, neonatology, cardiology, ophthalmology, reproduction and podiatry, to provide complete medical care for each patient.

The Surgery Department at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital is dedicated to provide compassionate, high quality, state of the art diagnostic and surgical treatment of your horse on either an elective or emergency basis. The facility and staff is designed to fill all your needs in a professional, efficient and timely manner. Each surgeon’s goal is to have optimal patient outcomes with good value for you and your horse. They recognize that the only measuring stick is your success and put the full measure of their education, training and experience into each and every patient.